Easy Pork Carnitas Recipe
Yield: 16 servings
Pork is seasoned and slow-cooked until it's fall-apart-tender in this easy carnitas recipe. Serve this taco night favorite tucked into tortillas with sautéed sweet peppers!
Ingredients
- 5 pounds bone-in pork shoulder a.k.a. Boston butt
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1 white or yellow onion peeled & quartered
- 1 Tablespoon dried oregano leaves
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 3 to 4 sweet bell peppers I like to use a colorful variety
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
Carnitas:
- Remove pork from refrigerator one hour before starting to cook. Rinse and pat dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle all over with salt and pepper, fairly generously.
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Heat a large (5 to 7 quarts) Dutch oven over medium to medium-high heat. Add oil. When oil is hot and starts to shimmer, add pork. Cook until nicely browned and then turn, repeating that same process until all sides are browned. Add broth, onion, oregano, cumin, and paprika. Turn heat up a bit to bring liquid to a boil. Then spoon some of the hot liquid over the top of the meat.
- Place the cover on and transfer to preheated oven. Cook until meat is literally falling apart, about 4 hours, spooning liquid over meat once or twice during cooking.
Sautéed Sweet Peppers:
- About half an hour before the meat is done, prepare the sweet peppers. Cut into long slices, about 1/4″ wide or so. Heat a large, wide skillet over medium heat - I like to use a large cast iron skillet. Add butter and olive oil. When the butter has melted, add the peppers, stirring to coat. Cook for about 10 minutes, letting them soften up..
- Then turn up the heat to medium-high. Let the peppers start to darken and char, stirring every couple minutes. Transfer peppers to serving dish.
To Crisp the Carnitas:
- When the pork has finished cooking, remove from the oven and place on stove top. Transfer meat to a platter. With a large spoon, push meat off the bone in chunks; discard bone and any large pieces of fat.
- Transfer pork back to Dutch oven and turn on heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring with a large wooden spoon to break up pork, until liquid in Dutch oven has almost entirely evaporated and meat begins to sizzle and caramelize, 5 to 10 minutes. The meat should pull into shreds very easily.
Video
Notes
To serve: Serve with small warmed tortillas, the sauteed peppers, and your choice of taco toppings. Also great served over tortilla chips, in rice bowls, or with a taco salad.
adapted from Braises and Stews cookbook by Tori Ritchie
Nutrition Information:
Serving: 1 Calories: 459kcal Carbohydrates: 5g Protein: 34g Fat: 33g Saturated Fat: 12g Polyunsaturated Fat: 18g Cholesterol: 129mg Sodium: 153mg Fiber: 1g Sugar: 2g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by Spoonacular. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee accuracy. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate again with your own favorite calculator.