For the love of pork! Mexican food is one of my love languages! I grew up in the bay area and have always been able to find delicious Mexican food everywhere. Pork Carnitas are one of my top ordered items when I go out and eat Mexican food. When I go to a restaurant I will literally judge just based on their pork carnitas. Sometimes I find a place that serves an amazing batch of Carnitas to remember. Oh so flavorful and crispy pork, a perfect taco! I will be going back! Then sometimes I think they just boiled the meat in water, no flavor, boring and will be never going back.
No offense Lake Tahoe but this recipe was created because I needed good some good pork carnitas in my life. I couldn’t find what I was looking for at any restaurant or taco shop. We have a ton of Mexican food places in Lake Tahoe, they just all were lacking the flavors that I was looking for. So I took matters into my own hands and started researching and practicing for pork perfection. This pork Carnitas recipe is good, the cinnamon is the secret weapon and gets clients every time. People always ask, “is their cinnamon in this?” Turning plain pork shoulder into a Mexican flavor-packed, crispy pork perfection.
You can always serve this dish with a classic taco bar buffet but you can try some different alternatives like Verde enchiladas, cauliflower rice bowls with greens and sweet potatoes or tamales with pumpkin mole. Get creative and enjoy!
Pork Carnitas
Ingredients
- 4-5 Pounds boneless pork shoulder cut into 5-inch chunks, trimmed of excess fat
- 2 tbsp coarse sea salt
- 2 tbsp grapeseed or avocado oil hight heat, neutral cooking oil
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp ancho chili powder
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tea ground cumin
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 6 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
- 1 yellow onion sliced
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350F degrees.
- Rub the pieces of pork shoulder all over with salt.
- With a dutch oven set the stovetop to medium-high and heat the oil. Cook the pieces of pork shoulder in a single layer until very well-browned, turning them as little as possible so they get nice and dark before flipping them around. If your cooking vessel is too small to cook them in a single layer, cook them in two batches. Be careful of oil splatter.
- Once all the pork is browned, remove them from the pot and blot away any excess fat with a paper towel, then pour in about a cup of water, scraping the bottom of the pan to release all the tasty brown bits.
- Add the pork back to the pan and add enough water so the pork pieces are 2/3rd’s submerged in liquid. Add the cinnamon sticks and stir in the chile powders, bay leaves, cumin, oregano, garlic, and onion.
- Braise in the oven uncovered for 3 1/2 hours, turning the pork a few times during cooking, until much of the liquid is evaporated and the pork is falling apart. Remove the pan from the oven and lift the pork pieces out of the liquid and set them on a platter.
- Once the pork pieces are cool enough to handle, shred them into bite-sized pieces, discarding any obvious big chunks of fat.
- Return the pork pieces back to the roasting pan and cook in the oven, turning occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated and the pork is crispy and caramelized. It will depend on how much liquid the pork gave off, and how crackly you want them.
LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS IF YOU ENJOYED THIS RECIPE!
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