The easiest pork carnitas you will ever make in a slow cooker, cooked low and slow for the most amazing fall-apart tender goodness! Every tortilla dreams of being filled with Carnitas.
Crispy Pork Carnitas Tacos Recipe
The best of the best of Mexican food, seasoned pork is slow cooked until tender before gently shredding with forks and pan frying or broiled to golden, crispy perfection.
Pork Carnitas are that elusive combination of juicy and crispy with perfect seasoning – and this Carnitas recipe requires just 10 minutes prep!
What is in Pork Carnitas?
The combination of all of these ingredients give you an incredibly tasty slow cooked pork carnitas.
Once topped with your favorite taco accompaniments these will be the best pork carnitas tacos you have ever had.
Some of my favorite accompaniments are:
- Onions marinated in lime
- Guacamole
- Sour cream
- Crumbled queso fresco or feta cheese
How to make Pork Carnitas:
With the help of a slow cooker this is a set it and forget dish.
Full Printable Recipe Card Below
1 Combine and mix dry rub ingredients together. Set aside.
2 Cut the boneless pork shoulder into 3-4 smaller pieces. Make very small cuts in the pork and insert garlic slivers. Any leftover garlic can be put into the slow cooker.
3 Season the pork by rubbing the dry rub ingredients all over each piece. Place the pork into slow cooker.
4 Top the pork with orange juice, chicken broth, garlic, onions, jalapenos, chipotle peppers, bay leaf and salt. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
5 Remove the pork from the slow cooker and shred the meat before returning to the pot with the cooking juices. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, if needed. Cover and keep warm for an additional 30 minutes.
6 Preheat oven to broil. Place shredded pork onto a baking sheet and broil until crisp and crusted, about 3-4 minutes. You may also pan fry. Don’t skip this step to brown the Carnitas! This is the key that makes this the best crispy Pork Carnitas.
For Serving
My favorite toppings for crispy carnitas tacos are:
- Gucamole
- Crumbled cotija cheese, or queso fresco or feta cheese
- Sour cream
- Finely diced green onion with a squeeze of lime and diced cilantro or parsley
- Fresh lime wedges for squeezing over the tacos
- Sliced jalapenos for a bit of spice
Leftover Carnitas?
If you happen to have any left overs are your taco night here are some ideas for using leftover pork carnitas:
- Nachos – layer tortilla chips, leftover carnitas, salsa, shredded cheese, and your favorite toppings. Bake until the cheese melts.
- Quesadillas – top a tortilla with leftover carnitas, cheese, salsa and another tortilla and heat in a frying pan flipping once to toast both sides.
- Burrito Bowls – fill a bowl with rice, leftover carnitas, cheese, guacamole, salsa, and fresh cilantro!
Looking for More Simple Delicious Taco Recipes?
- Street Corn Chicken Tacos – all the great flavors of elotes combined with flavor packed chicken tacos! A smoky and spicy crema finishes off these light and healthy tacos.
- Fish Tacos – the perfect fun healthy dinner! Served with mango salsa, cabbage slaw and a fresh tangy lime crema. Each component is so easy to make.
- Sweet Chili Chicken Wonton Tacos – unique starter or party finger food! Flavor packed chicken tossed in sweet chili sauce, served in crispy wonton taco shells with an Asian slaw.
Enjoy!
– Sab
Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, may earn me a small commission.
Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas Tacos
Equipment
- Slow Cooker (Crock Pot, Instant Pot, Pressure Cooker)
Ingredients
Carnitas
- 3-4 lb boneless pork shoulder, excess fat trimmed, cut into 2-3 smaller pieces
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tsp salt
- 1-2 Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce, minced or 1 tbsp Chipotle powder
- 1 Jalapeno, deseeded and sliced
- 5 cloves garlic, slivered
- 2 onions, quartered
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ¾ cup orange juice
- 2 tsp ground cumin
Dry Rub
- 2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
- 2 tsp salt, or more, to taste
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp chili powder
Accompaniments
- 12 Tortillas
- 1/2 cup Guacamole
- 1/2 cup Sour cream
- 1/2 cup Cheese of choice
- 1/2 cup Diced onions marinated in lime juice
- Sliced Jalapeno
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Combine and mix dry rub ingredients together. Set aside.
- Make very small cuts in the pork and insert garlic slivers. Any leftover garlic can be put into the slow cooker.
- Season the pork by rubbing the dry rub ingredients all over each piece. Place the pork into slow cooker.
- Top the pork with orange juice, chicken broth, garlic, onions, jalepenos, chipotle peppers, bay leaf and salt. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
- Remove the pork from the slow cooker and shred the meat before returning to the pot with the cooking juices. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, if needed. Cover and keep warm for an additional 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to broil. Place shredded pork onto a baking sheet and broil until crisp and crusted, about 3-4 minutes. You may also pan fry. Don’t skip this step to brown the Carnitas! This is the key that makes this the best crispy Pork Carnitas.
- Serve the crispy carnitas with the listed accompaniments and enjoy!
NUTRITION
Anthony
Sunday 28th of November 2021
So delicious ! Can’t wait to make them again.
Maria
Wednesday 15th of September 2021
So easy to make and packed with flavour. Thanks for the recipe!