Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas
Course: Dinner, LunchCuisine: MexicanDifficulty: MediumSlow Cooker Carnitas are an easy way to prepare a meal, slowly marinating and cooking all day. Then, you can use them the rest of the week in tacos, sandwiches, or with some healthy side veggies. We used a really cleanly prepared, USDA inspected Pork Butt from our good friends in Marion, VA Laurel Springs Farm. They have an amazing selection of natural beef, pork, and chicken and the best part is they deliver!
Ingredients
1 10-12 lb Boston Butt or Pork Shoulder
2-3 Oranges
2 Limes
2 Onions chopped in eighths
8 Cloves Garlic
1 Tbsp dried Oregano
1 Tbsp Basiks Jerk or Taco Seasoning Blend
pepper
1-2 Bay leaves
Directions
- Rinse and dry the pork shoulder, rub all over with 18-Year Balsamic.
Rub with Oregano, fresh cracked pepper, and choice of Basiks Seasoning, - Place the pork in a slow cooker (fat cap up), top with the onion, smashed garlic cloves (don’t worry about spreading it) and squeeze over the juice of the oranges/ limes, leaving the rinds in the pot.
- Slow Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. (see notes for other cooking 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.
- If you like your Carnitas crispy, you can add the pork to a sheet pan and broil in the oven, or do small batches pan fried over medium with your favorite olive oil (we tried AOOC Cilantro and Onion, AOOC Baklouti Green Chili, and AOOC Persian Lime all super delicious!)
