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 Nagi,
Thanks for an amazing recipe! My daughter was having friends over and this was perfect, easy and makes a lot. They loved it, and we even had leftovers, yay:) I have family coming in for the weekend and am going to try your beef carnitas. I really appreciate your details, helpful notes and great pics! It is only 8 am and I am on my first cup of coffee, , but my mouth is already watering looking at the pics of that delicious sauce and the beef carnitas!!! It looks like I don’t have to fry the beef ones like the pork, so will be even easier.
I’m so pleased you enjoyed it Sue! Thank you for letting me know – N xx
Turned out great! Thanks for the tips about the oven cooking!
You’re welcome Denise, so glad you enjoyed it! N xx
I just bought an instant pot. Can I make this in my instant pot?
Yes! Use the slow cooker function! N xx
I made this tonight and it was a big hit. Even my fussy eater couldn’t get enough!! Will never make tacos with mince again!
I’m so pleased you enjoyed this Mara, thanks for letting me know! N xx
I have made this twice now and both times it was amazing! I live in Southern California so I have eaten a lot of Mexican food and this recipe stands up to some of the best! I did add one cinnamon stick to the slow cooker just because I like the flavor it brings the pork but this recipe is wonderful as is. Thank you for posting!
Thanks for the compliment Jessica! So pleased you enjoyed this 🙂 N x
Awesome recipe. Came out delicious!! I skipped the browning at the end and instead, after shredding the meat, placed it back in the slow cooker with the juices.. it soaked it all up. Wonderful.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
WHOOT! So pleased you enjoyed it Ryan, thanks for letting me know! N xx
I tried this today, put the pork shoulder on high for 6 hours but it’s not falling off the bone tender. What could remedy this? It was almost 5 pounds. I may have left it in about an hour too long cause I took a nap. Do you think it needs less time or more time?
Longer longer! That’s odd, it should with that time – is it definitely on high? 🙂 N x
Thank you so much!!! I’m making this for the second time; it’s sooooo good. I also really love the recipe video!
I’m so happy to hear that Genevieve, thanks so much for letting me know! N xx
Hi,.Nag… 🙂
I have to say this is the most simple easiest delicious carnitas I ever made.
I live in Korea so can’t really find authenic Taco places here. My family wil be having lots of homemade delicious carnita tacos Thanks to you.
I tried two of your recipes and love them both. So excited to try your other recipes.
Thanks for sharing:)
That’s so fantastic Ella! Thanks for letting me know! N x
This will be my second time making the carnitas. Even better this time!
That’s fantastic to hear Matthew! Thank you for letting me know – N xx
I have to admit- when I see recipes online I think to myself “how I can make this better.” I have never made Carnitas before so I am glad I just followed your recipe and directions. These were delicious and didn’t need any altering! I especially loved the last step of crisping up the meat with the juice. Seriously, these were amaze balls and will be on my rotation. I’m also glad it makes so much because I have an “oh crap! 4 pm dinner scramble” dinner now. I’ll just pull it out of the freezer and brown some meat up! Thanks!
ps- Im not seeing a link of where I can follow you. Can you direct me please?
I’m so happy to hear that Tina! Thank you for taking the time to come back and let me know. If you would like to join my free email list, here is a link (and I have 2 ecookbooks I give away to my readers 🙂 ! http://eepurl.com/4kKKD And my social media accounts are on the sidebar! – N xx
This is my new favorite recipe and my new go-to recipe when we are having people over! It was delicious and our friends have asked for the recipe because they liked it so much! I stuck to the recipe exactly as you posted and wouldn’t change a thing.
I love that!!!
Hi! I have a 3 lb pork loin roast on hand, would that be OK to use?
Thanks!
Hi Erica! It won’t be as juicy because loin is not as fatty but yes it will work. Some readers over the years have said they love this with loin!
I have tried both and would not recommend the loin. Less flavor and just not the same. Not even doing the usual burgers on grill this 4th. Doing pork carnitas for my 94 year old mom per her request!! Will have homemade salsa and corn on cob and potato salad and a black bean side dish – any suggestions? Thanks for yummy recipe!!
I LOVE your pork carnita recipe! I have used several different recipes and cooking methods but this is the absolute best. I fully intended to freeze some for future use but it didn’t last long enough. I’m making another one now just to freeze! I’m going to make your enchiladas with some of it. Thank you so much for sharing!
So fantastic to hear that Tracy, thanks for letting me know! N xx
I just purchased an Instant Pot. I have been making your recipe for years and am new at how to make it in my pressure cooker. I also want to make it a day ahead. Do I put in all ingredients with the meat and just seal on the meat setting? And if I am making ahead do I then separate the juices until I pan fry the next day? Thank you for your help.
Hi Leah! Yes just proceed with the pressure cooker setting and yes, separate the juices and pan fry the next day! N x
Hi. I have made this on the stove in a pressure cooker. Unfortunately I left it too long and I reduced the sauce to nothing. The meat tastes great but lacking sauce. Do you think I could make the sauce on its own using the ingredients misses the meat and meat rub?
Hi Ros! You could try adding water in and reviving the sauce? 🙂 N x
Is 2-1/2 teaspoons all that is needed for the 5 pounds.
I thought the flavor of this recipe was robust but not internet enough. The second time I made bit, I used a 5 lb boneless pork butt four jalepeños, an onion and a half, and six cloves of garlic, and almost doubled the amount of seasoning. The result was not too salty or spicy. It tasted the same, just kicked up a notch.
Is 2-1/2 teaspoons of salt all you really need for the 5 pounds. Does the salty come from the pork itself? im gonna make this for Wednesday.
Yes! Pork shrinks by about 25 – 30% once cooked and all those juices concentrates down so that amount of salt is just right! You can always sprinkle more on at the end if it’s not salty enough for your taste, but you can’t undo if you over salt! Always safer to go under then add more later 🙂
So, is the 21/2 tsp of salt & 1 tsp of pepper listed in the “ingredients” the salt & pepper you are referring to in first step where you rub the washed/dried shoulder with salt & pepper?
If so, you do not add any additional salt & pepper to the crockpot mixture, correct?
I hope that question made sense. I’m making this for a baby shower so I want it to be perfect! Thank you!
Hi Jamasa! Yep that’s correct 🙂 No extra salt and pepper into the crockpot! N xx
Made these yesterday for dinner. OMG! So delicious! And so easy too. Will make these many more times in the future.
Thanks!
That’s fantastic to hear Jeff! Thanks for letting me know – N xx
Hi. Dumb question but how did you brown the meat? When I did it the meat burned. For about how long do you sear meat before putting some juice in. ?
No dumb questions around here! Maybe 1 minute? In a heavy based well heated skillet. It is quite quick!