Pork Carnitas

Have you ever seen a photo of a recipe on Pinterest that looked amazing.  Totally drool worthy and you couldn’t wait to try it?  If you’re lucky it tastes half as good as the photo looks. Except of course if you are trying one of my recipes!

Today’s recipes is one of “those” recipes.  Not only did it taste half as good as the photo looked it tasted just as good if not better than the photo looked.  The photo looked pretty good.  Today’s recipe is from my friend Martha over at A Family Feast.  When I saw her recipe for Pork Carnitas I knew it was going on the menu plan for the week.

This pork reminds  me of the yummy pork carnitas you get when you order street tacos.  Crispy on the outside edges but moist and flavorful on the inside.

I tweaked the recipe just a bit and I shredded my pork up into smaller pieces than Martha did because I knew I was going to use it in tacos.  You can leave it in bigger chunks if you’d like.

This pork is done in the oven on low head for about 5 hours but could easily be done in the slower cooker too.  Probably take a few more hours to get the pork nice and tender though.

I used pork carnitas cut up into about 2 inch pieces and put it into my big heavy roaster pan along with cut up oranges, limes, onions, garlic and seasonings.

The other thing this recipe calls for, and don’t freak out, is a pound of lard.  Yes, a pound although I think I may try it with less next time just to see what happens.  You can find lard in the baking aisle near the Crisco.  This dish is totally worth whatever calories that lard adds in!  I promise.

After it is done baking remove the pork and cut up or shred to t he size desired. Brush it with a little olive oil before  you put it back under the broiler to get that nice crispy outside.

Crisp it up on both sides and then you are ready to eat!  So good!  Give it a nice sprinkling of cilantro and you are ready to go.  We had it with some lime cilantro rice and sliced avocado served on corn tortillas

I just love it when this happens – a Pinterest success!  Thanks Martha!

For some other yummy pork dishes try these:

Slow Cooker Pork Chili Verde – Crock Pot Brown Sugar Maple Pork Tenderloin – Lemon Hazelnut Porkchops

Print

Pork Carnitas

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

5 hr

Total Time

5 hr 15 mins

 

Servings: 4 -6 servings

Ingredients

• 2½ - 3 pound pork butt carnitas or shoulder cut into large pieces at least 2x2 inches in size
• 1 pound lard
• ½ orange skin on, quartered
• 1 lime skin on, quartered
• 4 medium garlic cloves skinned and left whole slightly smashed
• 1 medium onion skinned and quartered
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
2. In a 9x11x2 casserole dish or large roasting pan, place all ingredients.
3. Cover with parchment and foil and bake for five hours.
4. Remove from oven and scoop out meat. Dispose of remaining liquids and solids.
5. Place cooked pork on a foil-lined sheet pan brushed with the oil oil and place under broiler for five minutes. Shred if desired.
6. If the bottoms seem too wet, flip the pork and broil the other side for another minute or two. This step needs to be watched – you want the meat to caramelize without burning it or drying it out.
7. Serve simply in a warmed flour tortilla with chopped onion and cilantro along with some lime cilantro rice.

Enjoy!

Leigh Anne

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Leigh Anne

Hi – I’m Leigh Anne! Food, family and friends are three of my favorite things. I love sharing easy, delicious recipes and entertaining ideas that everyone will love. When she started her blog, Your Homebased Mom, over 9 years ago she had no idea that it would one day house over 2,400 recipes and ideas! .

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Leigh Anne

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