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!
Awesome Recipe Nag!!
I do exactly as the recipe says, however, instead of skimming and discarding the fat/oil , I put it on the side and use it to pan fry the carnitas. The fat has flavor too 🙂
Thank you Daren! So glad you love it!! 🙂
Do u leave the fat on the pork? Also hubby l8kes Chipotle in adobo could i throw some of that in there? Thanks
Hi Auds! You certainly can add chipotle 🙂 And yes I leave most of the fat on, though if you have a very thick layer of fat I’d recommend cutting some of it off 🙂
This is my favorite crock pot carnitas recipe by far. I’ve done it with throwing the orange halves in, peel and all, and it comes out too orangey for my taste. I use a boneless pork picnic roast and it’s great.
It’s my go to recipe when I need food ready to go in the fridge all week. I fry up handfuls for eggs in the morning with some greens over rice, put it in quesadilla for my toddler, make nachos, the list is endless. Our favorite is to mix it with black beans, spinach and cheese for enchiladas.
Thanks for the great recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Dylan! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and let me know! N x
Sounds delicious. Going to make this tomorrow for my family. One thing though, its my first time using my slow cooker and wanted to know if you recommend cooking the pork shoulder sitting on the bottom of the pot or on the meat rack to keep it elevated?
Thanks
Hi Miro! I don’t use a rack 🙂 Actually I don’t even know where mine is!!
Hi Nagi,
Sounds delicious, going to make it tomorrow. I have the option to cook in the oven or in the crock pot, which method do you prefer?
Jessica
Crockpot! Less maintenance! 🙂
I’m confused why pan frying the pork butt first wasn’t listed as step 1 or 2….or any…in the instructions.
Hi Kelly! You do that step once the pork is cooked and shredded. 🙂
Nevermind! My phone wasn’t scrolling properly!!
BA HA!! Oops, just responded anyway!!
Hi, Nagi–
I am in the midst of cooking large amounts of food to take to my elderly parents. This made the entire house smell WONDERFUL!!! However, I just got tired and crashed last night before shredding this. Separated it from the juices and refrigerated both.
Should I just cut the meat into chunks to freeze it with some of the juices, or warm is up, shred it, and add some juice before freezing?
I’m so sorry for the delay responding! I would warm it up slightly which will make it nice and easy to shred, then freeze it. How lovely you are to make this for your parents! Can you add me to your roster of people to look after! 😉 N x
So glad I found this recipe!! I have also tried others, but none that came out as delicious! I used a small pork tenderloin but cooked it on low for 6 hours and was amazed at how tender pork tenderloin could get. Thank you for sharing!! I think I’ll use the leftovers for cuban sandwiches?
Thank you Courtney! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
Hi!!
How spicy is it?
Not at all! That is very little jalapeño for a LOT of pork, and also the spiciness cooks out!
I plan on making this for dinner tomorrow. Do I strain the juice or leave in the onion and jalapeños?
Hi Cliff! Your choice 🙂 I find that because of the slow cooking, the onion because so soft you barely notice it once mixed in with the meat. 🙂 I don’t strain it.
Hi Nagi! I want to make this for my game night group. I really don’t know if I’ll need 5lbs of meat though. If I wanted to cut it down to 3, how long would I have to cook it? Also, would I be able to substitute Hatch Green Chiles for the Jalapenos? Thank you!
Sarah
Hi Sarah! I still think you need 8 hours on low. 🙂 Shoulder is a tough cut! It will need that long to break down. Don’t worry, it won’t dry out! Shoulder is a fatty cut so it will stay beautifully moist!
hi, I was a prepared for the slow cooker however the butcher has given me a 10lb piece so I am going to have to do this in the oven I am at a loss of how long to cook on 160 for? Any help would be greatly appreciated I have a dinner party tonight and it’s stressing me out lol x
Hi Jo Jo! I’m sorry I missed this message and it’s too late 🙁 However, I’ll answer anyway! For a rush job, I’d recommend a 335F/170C oven, cover with foil and cook for around 4 1/2 hours in total. If you are desperate, cut the meat up i.e. cut out two or 3 big chunks off the bone and cook it for around 3 hours. 🙂 Same method – just multiply the flavourings!
Hi Nagi. I need to make this recipe a day ahead of time. How would you recommend handling the pan frying and juices? Can I pour the juices over the meat and keep it in the fridge and pan fry before serving? Or follow the whole recipe and just reheat the next day? So many possibilities… I don’t want to take the chance of ruining it!
Hi Emily! I would keep the juices separate and keep both in the fridge. Then pan fry to reheat the next day! This recipe is pretty forgiving, don’t worry, you won’t ruin it! I have even pan fried then reheated it the next day in the microwave, it is still delicious!!
Sounds great and want to make this weekend. What I’m wondering is this…after it’s done do you just eat a pile of meat or does it go in a warmed flour tortilla or what?
Hi Kimberly! The classic way to serve this is in tacos but you can use it in burritos, serve it over rice, in enchiladas even in soups! The possibilities really are endless. 🙂 I have a bunch of pork carnitas recipes on my site!
Oh my goodness! You weren’t kidding when you said pan frying is not optional – and I wouldn’t have it any other way again! This was DELICIOUS! I, too, found myself nibbling on the crusty pieces as they finished in the pan! Afterwards, I put the meat on a toasted flour tortilla and drizzled on some of the liquid from the crock pot (didn’t bother reducing). It was so, so GOOD! When I warm the leftovers tomorrow, I think I will warm them in a frying pan!! More crust = love! Thank you for an easy and delicious crock pot recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this Lisa!!! And that you agree that pan frying is not optional! 🙂
I am going to serve this over a bed of Spanish rice. You can make tacos or quesadillas or pork nachos!
I am going to make this tonight, so you are saying to pour the left over juices (2 cups) over the pork after shredded in the pan to brown the bottom. Correct? Thank you. This sounds like a great recipe!!!!!
Hi Krissy! Yes that’s right 🙂 Hope you love it!!
I’m planning to make this tonight, also! As I read the recipe, you first shred and brown the pork. Then pour the juices over the pork after it has been browned and before serving.
Hi, I don’t have oranges, can I use the juice of 2 limes instead? Can’t wait to try it! I have orange juice also. Thanks
Orange juice will work a treat!! Limes are a bit sour 🙂
This recipe is incredible. I’ve tried others but this is by far the best! Crisping it just before serving just took it to a whole new level!! Sooo good.
Thank you Ashlee! I’m so glad you love this!!!
Googled carnitas 2 days. My mom would make the most amazing carnitas for Christmas. As a butcher she could get her hands on enough lard. I found you and your recipe. I made it today. Thank you. I’ve tried other recipes over the years none came close. Mom’s been gone a long time. Everyone loved it. Thank you.
Oh gosh, thank you for your message! I love that this reminds you of your mum’s carnitas. What wonderful memories you must have of her, and what amazing food she must have made! Lucky you, that she could get enough lard to make real real carnitas! But I’m so glad that this came close!! N x
This may be a silly question..but do you start by putting it in a skillet to seal in the juices before it goes into the crock pot..or just wait till you are ready to serve??
Hi Tia! That’s not a silly question at all, no such thing! 🙂 Just follow the recipe, there is no searing beforehand, only afterwards. This is one of the very few recipes where I do not sear the meat before cooking it. You can get away with it because shoulder is so juicy and fatty. 🙂
This looks yummy. Could I use a boneless pork loin? Will it shred and have the same flavor?
Hi Shawna! I don’t recommend using a pork loin, it is much leaner than shoulder so it will be a bit dry. You could add more fat when pan frying it to make up for it, but I still don’t think it will be the same. Sorry! 🙂