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!
Hi, I have made this many times and love it! Just wondering if I can sub a beef sirloin roast with everything else the same?
Soooo delicious and easy!
I used an electric steam cooker and my son made tortillas and the house smelled so nice ,as if we were in a Mexican restaurant
I am doing PALEO. No orange juice. Is there a substitute OR will it simply “cook down” and the carbs will not be an issue?
Recipe calls for the juice from 2 oranges, not actual orange juice. Navel oranges have 17.5g carbs each. So you’re looking at ~35g carbs total for the whole pork butt. Probably less since you’re just using the juice not the whole orange. If you divide that out by serving you probably have <3g carbs per serving depending on the size of the butt based only on the carbs in the oranges.
Hi Nagi! Social distancing has me trying some new recipes, unfortunately selection can be limited and my husband came home with a nearly 9 lb pork shoulder! Holy cow! I know that won’t fit in my slow cooker. It’s going to have to go in the oven – how long should I be cooking that meat beast? Haha! Thanks in advance!
Ha ha your darling husband!! 😂 Follow the slow roast times in this slow roasted pork shoulder recipe -> https://salesdock.info/momofuku-bossam-korean-slow-cooked-pork/%3C/a%3E Use the flavourings in this carnitas. If you can, put the salt pepper and Rub on the Carnitas and leave to cure overnight. This will make the inside extra moist for oven roasting (slow cookers keep the meat more moist, but oven gives better caramelisation flavour. If you dry cure then slow roast, it’s tastier than slow cooker!) N x
Just cut in half and cook each according to recipe
HI Nagi, I was searching your site for a no yeast bread recipe and saw the carnitas recipe. As a San Diegian living in Yokohama I dream wistfully about a good carnitas plate weekly. If you are ever in San Deigo again try Los Pinos a small hole in the wall in La Mesa….oishii! I will let you know which recipes I try, even if I don’t your blog is a tasty read. Thank you
Wow! This is SO good. Honestly as good or better than any I’ve had at ANY Mexican restaurant. My husband, and even my son (who’s not a big pork fan) devoured this! Served with choices of pickled red onions, mango salsa, cojita cheese, avocado crema.
My pork was 8#, so I doubled everything and I was a little reluctant on the huge amount of salt & oregano. But it mellows and the flavor is spot on.
I’ve made it before per the recipe and it’s a staple in our house <3 I do have a question, though: if I have to go to work early tomorrow, do you think if I left it on low on the slow cooker for more like 18 hours it would hurt it? I feel like no, but I am not an expert. Thanks! 🙂
Made this several times and just want to say how much we love it! Thank you for an amazing, easy, tasty recipe that can be used in many ways! We love it in tacos and over Spanish rice. Also love all your tips and notes, very helpful!
Hi Nagi if you want to freeze some – am cooking in oven – would you shred it or not? Also assume ok if no fat cap?
Absolutely delicious and easy. I had enough to freeze for two more meals. I forgot to save the juice, however. Can I mix something up to replace the juice so they wont be dry?
Hi Kae, I’d just use a little stock 🙂
Thank you
I made this Monday night and it was fantastic! My husband is from Texas and said it was as good at what he could get there! I did not chop the jalapeno because I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to remove the seeds (my 9 year old does not like spicy). It had the flavor without the heat. Today is Thursday and we are still eating it. Night 1 carnitas as written in the recipe, night 2 some of the leftovers went in chilli for hot dogs, night 3 some went in enchiladas and tonight we will finish it in sandwiches. I will be making this often.
Hello. I have 3 x 2.5kg pork shoulders in the oven at 160 degrees C as i type. do I adjust oven cooking times for this larger quantity?
Hi Jill – I have the cook times I the recipe notes. As the pieces are 2.5kg you’ll just cook as per the recipe. N x
What kind of onions? There are so many kinds! Which ones should I use???
Hi Kevin, yellow, white or brown will work fine in this recipe! N x
I am sure, but which is best?
Yellow onion.
This was a very delicious recipe , full of flavor and easy peasy , loved it 💗
That’s great to hear Sandy, thanks so much for letting me know! N x
Half the reason for visiting your website is actually reading all the thoughts, ideas and reason whys! It’s like reading a letter with plenty of pizzazz!
😂 I’m so glad you love it Lauren! N x
This was so delicious! Better even than our go-to taco restaraunt!
Wahoo! That’s greta to hear!!
My first time cooking PullPork with my instant pot. Why haven’t I tried this before!!! It’s so easy and hassle free! The taste and texture is so kid and husband-friendly
It’s sooooo good and SO easy! N x
I made 8lbs of this recipe for the first time overnight. It barely fit in my slow cooker and I was nervous it wouldn’t cook right but it was great! So tender and flavorful. Served it at my 1 year olds birthday and everyone was blown away. Will definitely make it again
Oh that’s great to hear MJ!! Wahoo!!! N x
Hi Nagi, we are about to try this recipe (after amazing success with other recipes – yum!) but I was also hoping to cook it for a family lunch next week and my SIL can’t have orange – can I substitute this for another citrus or something else? Thanks!
was great. not dead. geese Louise
Great recipe Chef made it yesterday ,,,,love heat so next one will have smashed chipolte in adobo was dead ta see you were at old town dat was my favorite mex . place in San Diego. always watched em women making tortillas in da window ,,,did you try their avocado soup ,I got recipe !!
I’m so glad you loved them Joseph!!! N x