Every tortilla dreams of being stuffed with Carnitas. Picture seasoned pork slow-cooked into tender submission, gently shredded and pan-fried to golden, crispy perfection. Carnitas has that elusive combination of juicy and crispy that’s so irresistible. The best part of this Carnitas? 5 minutes prep!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Carnitas
Is there anything better in this world than pork slowly cooked until it’s crazy juicy and fall apart tender, then crisped to golden perfection?
Yes.
When it’s inside a taco. 😂
Carnitas is one of my specialities. I make this recipe often – for everyday purposes, a freezer standby and for taco-bar gatherings with friends!
The one and only Pork Carnitas
I went through A LOT of Pork Carnitas recipes before settling on this as The One. I’ve been loyal to it for over a decade because it ticks all my boxes:
✅ Extremely quick 5 minute preparation
✅ Made with easy to find natural ingredients
✅ Enough flavour to eat plain (and you will pick it out of the pan!)
✅ Subtle enough flavour so it can be used in any Mexican dish (over salting and over spicing is a common problem);
✅ Perfect caramelized brown bits while retaining the incredible juiciness from slow cooking;
✅ Perfect freezer food – reheats 100% perfectly; and
✅ Excellent food for gatherings – big batch recipe, stays fresh even hours after cooking it
What are Carnitas?
If you’re new to Carnitas, let me be the first to welcome you to your new addiction.
Carnitas are Mexico’s version of pulled pork. It’s the first thing you seek upon landing in Mexico. It’s why we trawled the back streets of Mexico City in torrential rains, hunting down a hole-in-the-wall carnitas joint that was popular with locals.
Made by slow cooking pork fully submerged in lard, this confit method of cooking yields pork that’s unbelievably rich and tender with loads of crispy golden bits.
Unfortunately for most home cooks, a huge cauldron of lard isn’t viable or practical.
But fortunately, it is possible to make carnitas that tastes very similar to authentic Pork Carnitas without gallons of lard. And it’s unbelievably simple.
How to make Pork Carnitas
Best Pork Cut for Pork Carnitas – for ultimate juicy pulled pork full of flavour, you can’t beat pork shoulder, aka pork butt. Bone in or out, it needs to be skinless so it can be rubbed with the Carnitas seasoning
Carnitas seasoning – rub pork with a simple spice mix of oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.
Flavour for cooking – top pork in slow cooker with onion, garlic and jalapeño, then pour over orange juice (the secret ingredient!). It sounds so simple, but with hours of slow cooking, mingling with the pork juices, it transforms into the most incredible braising broth that more than makes up for the absence of gallons of lard.
Slow cook until the pork is pull-apart tender and infused with incredible flavour
Pan fry until golden, doused with the juices from the slow cooker. Pan frying is so much better than broiling/grill or oven!
Can Carnitas be made in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker?
Yes! The outcome is exactly the same – no one can the difference once browned in the skillet. I make this in a pressure cooker when time is of the essence!
The BEST Pork Carnitas are browned in a skillet!
Don’t skip the step to brown the Pork Carnitas! This is the key that makes this the best Pork Carnitas you will have outside of Mexico.
Hand on heart, it is as good as the carnitas I had at a really authentic Mexican joint called Old Town Mexican Cafe in San Diego which is famous for its Pork Carnitas.
So if you think you’ve had great carnitas before, but you haven’t tried browning in a skillet, this is going to be a game changer!
What to serve with Pork Carnitas
While I have a great fondness and tendency to favour Tacos de Carnitas (Pork Carnitas Tacos), pork this juicy and full of flavour is highly versatile – plus it freezes 10000% perfectly.
I use Pork Carnitas to make Enchiladas, Burritos, Quesadillas, Sliders, Mexican pizzas. I toss them into my Mexican Fried Rice (don’t laugh, this is a firm favourite with many readers!), and I make Carnitas Plates – pile Carnitas over Mexican Red Rice with a side of Pico de Gallo or Guacamole, and steamed corn.
And of course, I eat it straight out of the skillet. 😂
And the best part?
• You’re just 5 minutes away from getting this Pork Carnitas in your slow cooker, pressure cooker or oven.
• It can be frozen without any loss of quality.
• There are easy ways to pan fry to golden perfection and still be juicy and fresh hours later – even after refrigerating.
There’s a reason I am rarely without a stash of Carnitas in my freezer!!! – Nagi xx
Mexican recipe favourites
Mexican Fiesta Menu and recipes
Carnitas
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
Is that a pressure cooker in the video??
Yes and no! My slow cooker (Breville Fast-Slow Cooker) is like an Instant Pot. It’s multi-functional, a pressure cooker and slow cooker in one. Hence why it looks like a pressure cooker with the twisting top. The slow cooking function is no different to any standard slow cooker.
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Carnitas (Mexican Slow Cooker Pulled Pork)
Ingredients
- 2 kg / 4 lb pork shoulder (pork butt) , skinless, boneless (5lb/2.5kg bone in) (Note 1)
- 2 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 onion , chopped
- 1 jalapeno , deseeded, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup juice from orange (2 oranges)
Rub
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Rinse and dry the pork shoulder, rub all over with salt and pepper.
- Combine the Rub ingredients then rub all over the pork.
- Place the pork in a slow cooker (fat cap up), top with the onion, jalapeño, minced garlic (don’t worry about spreading it) and squeeze over the juice of the oranges.
- Slow Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 7 hours. (Note 2 for other cook methods)
- Pork should be tender enough to shred. Remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly. Then shred using two forks.
- Optional: Skim off the fat from the juices remaining in the slow cooker and discard.
- If you have a lot more than 2 cups of juice, then reduce it down to about 2 cups. The liquid will be salty, it is the seasoning for the pork. Set liquid aside – don’t bother straining onion etc, it’s super soft.
To Crisp:
- Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large non stick pan or well seasoned skillet over high heat. Spread pork in the pan, drizzle over some juices. Wait until the juices evaporate and the bottom side is golden brown and crusty. Turn and just briefly sear the other side – you don’t want to make it brown all over because then it’s too crispy, need tender juicy bits.
- Remove pork from skillet. Repeat in batches (takes me 4 batches) – don’t crowd the pan.
- Just before serving, drizzle over more juices and serve hot, stuffed in tacos (see notes for sides, other serving suggestion and storage/make ahead).
Recipe Notes:
1.5 – 3 kg / 3 – 6 lb: Cook time per recipe.
3 – 4 kg / 6 – 8 lb: Use large oval slow cooker, 12 hours on low. 2. Other cooking methods: Electric pressure cooker or Instant Pot: 1 h 30 minutes on high. Let pressure release naturally. Proceed with Step 5 of recipe. Stove pressure cooker: use a rack or balls of scrunched up foil to elevate it from the base OR add 3/4 cup of water. Cook 1 h 30 minutes. Proceed with Step 5 of recipe. Oven: Follow recipe but put pork in roasting pan. Add 2 cups water around pork. Cover tightly with foil, roast in 325F/160C oven for 2 hours, then roast for a further 1 to 1.5 hours uncovered. Add more water if the liquid dries out too much. You should end up with 1 1/2 to 2 cups of liquid when it finishes cooking, and you can skip the pan frying step because you will get a nice brown crust on your pork. Shred pork then drizzled with juices. 3. Taco Fixings: Diced avocado or make a real proper Guacamole, Pico de Gallo or Restaurant Style Salsa or even just sliced tomato, grated cheese, sour cream. Sliced lettuce or pickled cabbage / red onions would also be great, but unlike other tacos, you don’t need it for the texture because the carnitas have the crispy bits! Also see this Carnitas Tacos dinner spread. 4. Other Ways to use Carnitas: Burritos (switch for the beef), Quesadillas (baked version here), Enchiladas, Sliders, with Mexican Red Rice, in Taco Soup or Enchilada Soup. 5. Storing / Make Ahead: Crispiness is retained very well, main thing is loss of moisture as meat cools (happens with all meat, shredded meat cools faster). a) Best way to store: Shred pork but don’t pan fry. Keep pork and juice separate, refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months (for freezer, I put pork in containers/ bags and put juice in ziplock bags in the same container). Gently reheat juice to make it pourable (congeals when cold). Pan fry per recipe, drizzling with juice. b) Storing leftovers after pan frying: Keeps extremely well, but tends to lose juiciness when it cools down. Just drizzle with juice, cover with cling wrap and reheat – the crispy bits hold up very well. It’s not quite as crispy as when cooked fresh, but still seriously tasty. c) Brown pork a few hours ahead / keep warm: Works extremely well. Brown pork per recipe, then transfer to slow cooker on warm setting or food warmer and drizzle generously with juices to keep it moist. Cover loosely. As long as the pork is warm when served, it’s really juicy. The crispiness holds up extremely well. 6. Source: This is a recipe I’ve been making for over a decade now, with minor tweaks over time so I can’t remember the exact source. I want to say Rick Bayless but I can’t find the recipe, however, I did find this one from Food Network which is very similar. However, I’m not sure when it was published. 7. Nutrition per serving, pork only, assuming 12 servings. Calories is higher than it actually is because it does not take into account discarded fat.
Nutrition Information:
Carnitas recipe originally published 2014. Updated with new photos and video in 2018, and some housekeeping in March 2019. No change to recipe, I wouldn’t dare! This has been one of the all time most popular recipes since I first published it!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use pork tenderloin? Sorry to say it’s not suitable for this recipe. Tenderloin is too lean so the long cook time will dry it out. Also, it does not shred into strands well.
Just to confirm – no liquid other than the juice from the oranges?? Really? YES, really. 🙂 The small amount of liquid from the oranges is all you need to keep it from drying out while it comes to temperature, then while it cooks the pork will drop juices. When this finishes cooking you will have more liquid than you started with.
Will it taste of oranges???? Nope, not at all! It magically turns into the most incredible broth that is then poured over the shredded pork.
Can I cook a frozen pork? Please don’t! This will mess with the cook time a lot because it will take sooooo long for the middle of the pork to cook, by which time the outside will be overcooked and when you shred it, it will almost look like mush! The pork must be defrosted!
After I skim off the fat, do I include the onions garlic and jalapeños when topping the meat, or do I discard these and only use the juices? It is up to you! Because it’s been slow cooked, the onion etc is really soft and it just melds into the pulled pork. I don’t bother straining it, but you can if you want to.
Will this work with pork stew chunks? It will definitely work and still be tasty but won’t be quite the same because smaller pieces of pork will cook faster so you won’t get quite the same amount of flavour. 🙂
Just to confirm – no pan frying to brown the pork before putting it in the slow cooker? That’s right! You brown the pork AFTER it is cooked and shredded.
What size slow cooker do you use? Mine is 6 quarts / 6 litres. I use this Breville Fast / Slow Cooker (I’m in Australia) which I love because it’s a pressure cooker and slow cooker in one, plus it has a saute setting! It’s basically an Instant Pot – but without one touch cook functions (like rice etc).
Life of Dozer
I first published this recipe back in 2014, when I was new to blogging. I took sooooo long with the photos – prolonged torture for Dozer!
Valerie Collord says
Hi! Tomorrow I’m excited to be making this recipe for family and friends. However, i purchased a 5 lb. pork loin roast and am wondering what adjustments do I need to make to the recipe to accomodate this particular cut of meat? Looking forward to hearing from you. Valerie
Nagi says
Hi Valerie – sorry to say this isn’t written for pork loin 🙁 I’m sorry!
Angie says
Sounds like the perfect mix for our volleyball fundraiser- we want to make carnitas in large quantities (10+ roasts). We were going to have moms cook and shred meat ahead, and just add seasonings after… would you suggest a large-batch variation to pour over/mix in after cooking?
Aaron Lasky says
Thank you for the recipe, Nagi, I made it last night, and it was a bit hit with my family! The only change was to add a little lime into the OJ, otherwise, seasonings, timings and procedures were spot on. I look forward to seeing more recipes from you, and thank you again, it was delicious, and I plan to make it again very soon!
Dale says
Made this tonight and YU-UM!!! Was absolutely delicious. I just served it in a tortilla with some shredded lettuce and homemade salsa – couldn’t stop eating it. Thank you!
Brian says
Wow Nagi! I decided I wanted to make mexican style pulled pork tacos for a group I’m having over in about two weeks and thought I’d review some recipes. Sometimes you just look at a recipe and know you’ve found the right one. This looks amazing!!
I have two questions. I normally do my pulled pork in an electric smoker with a light to medium load of apple wood chunks. I’m thinking of starting my pork in the smoker after applying your spice rub with a light load of apple for just an hour or two before moving to a crock pot to finish with your crock pot additions. Do you think this would work OK?
Secondly in the pic with the avocado slices you have a wonderful looking small bowl of taco sauce or maybe pureed pico de gallo. Do you have a recipe for that as well?
Many thanx for the well written and fabulous looking recipe.
Katie says
I made this last night with a bone in 4.7lb pork shoulder. I opted for the orange juice vs actual oranges. This was AMAZING! And so easy. I cooked it on low for 10hrs just like the recipe. My boyfriend loved it too. I shared this recipe with all my friends. Also i don’t care for cumin too much and I was concerned I wouldn’t like it. But it’s prefect. I cannot get enough of this pork!
Diana Orr says
Hi,
I would like to make this for a group of 12-14 people I am serving on Friday night. I can use a bigger pork shoulder (8 lbs.) and double the ingredients but my question is…. can I used canned jalapenos instead of fresh? Thank you, Diana
Connie Merritt says
We used a 7 lb. pork butt and it was Delicious!!! We cooked it all night on low. The house smelled great too. After shredding it we put 5 meals away (in baggies) in the freezer. The flavor is amazing. Thank you so much.
We have also made your Irish stew, with Guinness (among others). It is now our “special occasion” dinner. We know that any recipe of yours is worth following to have an excellent meal.
Thank you again Nagi!
Sylvia Gonzalez says
We love it!! We adjusted for pork tenderloin as is advised and it turned out perfect!!!
Nagi says
That’s great to hear Sylvia! Thanks for taking the time to leave your feedback! N x ❤️
Alyssa says
I’m unable to figure out where to find the sliding scale. I’m hoping to make this tomorrow with an 8lb pork shoulder. I see that it needs to cook for 12 hours, but how many oranges/garlic cloves/jalapenos will I use? Thanks so much!
Nagi says
Hi Alyssa! Click on the servings and a slider will appear 🙂
Kat says
I had to buy 10 lbs of pork butt, so I had the butcher half it. So, I made it twice within 6 days, and it was just AMAZING both times. Can’t believe how easy it is and the flavor that comes through is unbeatable. THANK YOU!
Nagi says
That’s great to hear Kat! Thanks for taking the time to leave your feedback! N x ❤️
Kelsey says
I made this last night for a group of friends, and it was absolutely incredible! Thank you for sharing this recipe. It will be my go-to in the future for sure 😊
Joe says
Outstanding recipe, Nagi! I made this for Mothers Day and my wife and daughter LOVED it! Thanks for that!
Tricia says
Can I use canned pineapple juice instead of organ juice? Especially since canned doesn’t have bromine.
Nagi says
Yes! I’ve made this with pineapple juice before, it’s SO GOOD!! N x
Tricia says
Couldn’t wait for your reply… even thought it was fast, same night in fact!!! It came out great! Thank you for your recipe and feedback.
Nagi says
SO glad you loved this Tricia!!! N xx
cheryl says
Great recipe! I make it often.
Nagi says
Love hearing that you love this as much as me! 🙂 N x
Shanai says
mmmm made this yesterday…. was amazing!!
Love your recipes!
Nagi says
HIGH FIVE Shanai!!! 🙂 N xx
Lisa Kelly says
Nagi – is this recipe the same as one I may have found on your site last year or is it a new and improved version? I just love the one I have but will gladly update and use this one if it’s a better one.
Nagi says
Hi Lisa! It’s the same 🙂 I tidied up my writing a bit and slightly improved the make ahead / keep warm directions but that’s it really! 🙂 N xx
Lisa Kelly says
Those make ahead/keep warm directions are such a wonderful addition. I’m making this tomorrow because I’m just dying to have it again and those new hints are going to make life so much easier xx
Nagi says
😘
Rosa says
Great receipe!! My family Loved it especially my husband (very picky). I had an 8lb roast so I doubled the ingredients and 6 1/2 hours later Tender and Flavorful pork!! I served them on top of Nachos for the boys, and my husband and I had them in Tacos.This is a receipe that I’ll always will love to make for family and friends. Thank you.😀
Nagi says
Wonderful to hear Rosa! Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed this – N x
Sue says
this was AMAZING! had a 7.86lb pork shoulder, so i just doubled your recipe. THANK GOODNESS i did, because there were 5 people at my house for Cinco de Mayo yesterday – and i had only about 2 servings of leftovers !!! BUT your Mexican Red Rice was an even bigger hit! Thank you for your great ideas !
Nagi says
That’s SO GREAT to hear Sue!!!! I’m jealous – I wish I was there!! N xx
Murray says
I made this recipe for Cinco de Mayo and it was a huge hit with my family! Awesome flavor and plenty of leftovers.
Nagi says
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this Murray!!! Thanks for taking the time to let me know 🙂 N x