Pork Carnitas – slow cooked pulled pork – offers that elusive combination of juicy and crispy with perfect seasoning – and this Carnitas recipe from RecipeTin Eats requires just 5 minutes prep!

Nagi, the author of RecipeTin eats – who lives in Sydney, Australia, says Carnitas are the first thing she seeks upon landing in Mexico. It’s why she “trawled the back streets of Mexico City in torrential rains, hunting down a hole-in-the-wall carnitas joint that was popular with locals.”

And Lauren, our cook for this dish at our Mexican fiesta, proved this is a great recipe! Thanks Nagi, for sharing it in such excellent detail!

Nagi says some people regard carnitas as the best of the best of Mexican food. Done well, its seasoned pork slow cooked until tender before gently teasing apart with forks and pan frying to golden, crispy perfection. She says she may have originally got this recipe from celebrated chef Rick Bayless many years ago and has adapted it.

Made with all natural ingredients like traditional Mexican Carnitas, these Carnitas can be made in the slow cooker, pressure cooker or oven –we’ve provide directions for slow cooker and oven. all.

Made by slow cooking pork fully submerged in lard, this traditional confit method of cooking yields pork that’s unbelievably rich and tender with loads of crispy golden bits.

Unfortunately for most home cooks, a huge cauldron of lard isn’t viable or practical.

But fortunately, it is possible to make carnitas that tastes very similar to authentic Pork Carnitas without gallons of lard. And it’s unbelievably simple.

Best Pork Cut for Pork Carnitas – for ultimate juicy pulled pork full of flavour, you can’t beat pork shoulder, aka pork butt. Bone in or out, it needs to be skinless so it can be rubbed with the Carnitas seasoning
Carnitas seasoning – rub pork with a simple spice mix of oregano, cumin, salt and pepper.
Flavour for cooking – top pork in slow cooker with onion, garlic and jalapeño, then pour over orange juice (the secret ingredient!). It sounds so simple, but with hours of slow cooking, mingling with the pork juices, it transforms into the most incredible braising broth that more than makes up for the absence of gallons of lard.
Slow cook until the pork is pull-apart tender and infused with incredible flavour
Pan fry until golden, doused with the juices from the slow cooker. Pan frying is so much better than broiling/grill or oven!

Print Recipe

Pork Carnitas

Ingredients

2/4 kg/lbs Pork shoulder Skinless and boneless
2-1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 onion chopped
1 jalapeno de-seeded and chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
3/4 cup orange juice (2 oranges)

For the Rub

1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

Rinse and dry the pork shoulder, rub all over with salt and pepper.
Combine the Rub ingredients then rub all over the pork.
Place the pork in a slow cooker (fat cap up), top with the onion, jalapeño, minced garlic (don't worry about spreading it) and squeeze over the juice of the oranges.
Slow Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 7 hours. (Oven method outlined alternative below)
Pork should be tender enough to shred. Remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly. Then shred using two forks.
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.

To Crisp the Pork

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large nonstick pan or well-seasoned skillet over high heat. Spread pork in the pan, drizzle over some juices. Wait until the juices evaporate and the bottom side is golden brown and crusty. Turn and just briefly sear the other side – you don't want to make it brown all over because then it's too crispy, need tender juicy bits.
Remove pork from skillet. Repeat in batches (takes me 4 batches) – don't crowd the pan.
Just before serving, drizzle over more juices and serve hot, stuffed in tacos.

For Oven Cooking

Oven: Follow recipe but put pork in roasting pan. Add 2 cups water around pork. Cover tightly with foil, roast in 325F/160C oven for 2 hours, then roast for a further 1 to 1.5 hours uncovered. Add more water if the liquid dries out too much. You should end up with 1 1/2 to 2 cups of liquid when it finishes cooking, and you can skip the pan frying step because you will get a nice brown crust on your pork. Shred pork then drizzled with juices.

Notes

The Pork: Use pork with the skin removed but leaving some of the fat cap on. The fat adds juiciness to the carnitas – and excess fat can be skimmed off later.

Different sizes: Recipe fine as is for 1.7 – 2.5kg / 3.5 – 5 lb pork. If larger / smaller, scale recipe using recipe scaler (hover/click on servings and slide) and the other ingredients will change. These are boneless pork weights (add 0.5kg/1lb for bone):

1 – 1.5 kg / 2 – 3 lb: 8 hours on low.
1.5 – 3 kg / 3 – 6 lb: Cook time per recipe.
3 – 4 kg / 6 – 8 lb: Use large oval slow cooker, 12 hours on low.

Can Carnitas be made in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker?

Yes! The outcome is exactly the same – no one can the difference once browned in the skillet. I make this in a pressure cooker when time is of the essence!

Don’t skip the step to brown the Pork Carnitas! This is the key that makes this the best Pork Carnitas you will have outside of Mexico.

Hand on heart, Nagi says it is as good as the carnitas she had at a really authentic Mexican joint called Old Town Mexican Cafe in San Diego which is famous for its Pork Carnitas.