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!
This just replaced every other carnitas recipe in my book. So glad I found it! Such an easier process of getting the brown edges, which I agree, are crucial to a good carnitas recipe!
This was amazing. My whole family loved it! (Even picky eater). My kids had this in a taco shell. My husband and I made lettuce wraps (which ended up being more of a salad)! I served it with guacamole too. Definitely don’t skip that last step of pan frying. It’s a game changer! (I tried some before pan frying & was not impressed. Afterwards, it was amazing)
My God lady! We just finished these off. I followed the recipe entire and I was stunned at the flavors of the meat. Not sure if you described how to serve but next time I will serve with cilantro and a slaw made of jicima and mango.
Thank you! You helped me to level up as a home cook tonight! Haha
Love hearing that Warren!! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know – N x ❤️
Thanks for this recipe!! I have made it so many times its just great. I can never make enough my boys love it. I do only a few things different, I add juice from one lime and a bay leaf and only 1 whole garlic clove (hubby is not a garlic fan but he loves this dish). I on the other hand hate hate hate orange in recipes I mean I hate it, cant even drink orange juice and was so scared the first time I made this that I made my son try it first to see if it tasted like oranges but nope no orange at all. I truly love this recipe its quick simple and in my crock pot right now lol. Waiting for it to cook is the hardest part…….
Love hearing that Nikki!! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know – N x ❤️
Do the jalapeños make it spicy? I want my 3 year old to eat it.
Thank you!
Not at all 🙂 Wouldn’t even know it’s there!
Do you brine the pork first? If so, what’s your process?
Hi Johnny! Nope, definitely not required for this recipe!
Do I have to use orange juice?
It’s the broth for this recipe 🙂 Don’t worry, it doesn’t taste like orange at the end!
Hi Nagi.
I’m going to make this recipe for taco nachos. Was wondering if I could marinate the pork overnight before placing in the crock? I thought this would maximize the flavours.
Hi Danielle! You can if you want but I haven’t noticed any difference in the end result! 🙂 N x
K. Thanks
Hi Nagi! I love all of your recipes! Thank you so much for taking the time to taste test and perfect and share your recipes. I was wondering for this recipe if I could use the Instant Pot to pressure cook the pork. And if so, for how long and on high or low pressure?
Thanks so much. Looking forward to making this!
Hi Kavi! You sure can 🙂 Follow the directions in the recipe for the pressure cooker! N x
Nagi my 8.35lb roast is too big for my slow cooker, if I cook it in the oven following your directions (covered then uncovered) how long do you think this would take? Thanks!
Hi Kathy! I think 3 hours covered instead of the 2 hours per recipe notes 🙂 (Then the uncovered time) 🙂 N x
Do you know what the nutritional facts are for this recipe? I’m on keto and this looks delicious!!!
In the recipe!! N xx
I don’t see the nutritional info in the recipe? Am I missing it?
I am going mad…. I just added it back in!
I need to make this for 16 people with large appetites, other than chips salsa and queso this will be the main dish. Is the recipe as is enough for such a large group? Maybe double?
Hi Melissa! Scale the recipe by using the slider on Servings 🙂 N x
Hi, is there a cook length difference if using a boneless pork butt??
Nope, just cook for the same time 🙂
I just tried making this recipe for the first time, and it was fantastic. One mistake I did make was leaving the jalapeno seeds in, but I didn’t mind the heat! Will definitely be making this again, thanks for the share 🙂
That’s terrific to hear Jordan! So glad you enjoyed this, thank you for letting me know! N x
Ohhhhh My, Been in the Crock Pot “on low” for 2 hrs
& WHAT A WONDERFUL SMELL IN THE HOUSE!
HOPE YOU LOVE IT!!!
I’ve made this recipe twice and I’ve loved it both times. I wanted to make it to impress my boyfriend’s mother but she doesn’t eat pork. Can I substitute beef?
You sure can!! So glad you loved this Diane! N x
Oh excellent! I’m so excited! So what kind of beef would you suggest? Beef shoulder?
Brisket or chuck!
Thank you so much!
Pork butt, same as pulled pork meat. Carnitas is usually pork meat.
It’s ALL meat! Pork butt is used for carnitas.
Old Town Mexican Cafe in Old Town San Diego changed our lives upon visiting them 2 years ago! We now visit them at least twice a year 🙂 Thank you for sharing this recipe! Made it last night and it was fantastic. I’m half mexican and this was my first time making carnitas. Easy peasy with the crockpot and now my family has requested this to the winter comfort food menu.
The orange juice and lime juice combo tenderises them to incredible fall apart tenderness, while the natural sugars in the juices and the coke combined turn what would be just another pulled pork recipe, into crispy heaven with every mouthful.
Oh my goodness this looks amazing, Nagi!
I don’t have a slow cooker so I’m wondering if I can cook this in my dutch oven using the same cooking times you’ve suggested for cooking this in the oven?
Thank you!! 😀
Hi Maggie! Absolutely this is terrific made in the oven!! N x
I was looking for a carnitas recipe and chose yours because it sounded really good. I used a bigger roast, but did not increase any of the other ingredients – and it turned out just fine. The time in the frying pan really makes these. I must say, though, that shredding a large pork roast is something I wouldn’t want to do again, at least for a very long time – I couldn’t’ believe how much energy it too, and I had to have my husband do the second half of it. I love how thorough your instructions are. Hope you are doing well – I’ve been gone from your site for a long time.
Hi Susan! So glad you enjoyed this one, sorry shredding was such an effort! Did you increase the cook time for using a larger roast? I’m going great over here, hope you are well too! N xx