We sampled these carnitas in the farm store today and everyone loved them! Since three of you got pork shoulders and asked for the recipe I thought I had better get to it tonight!

When Luke was little, his family worked with a Mexican family and they ate together a lot. When he tried the carnitas from this recipe he closed his eyes and said, “It’s like I’m 8-years-old again and Lupe is feeding me.” So there you go, Lupe status food.

If you want to serve these in the most authentic way, make them in soft fried corn tortillas with salsa, chopped onions, cilantro and lime juice squeezed on top. Some people call them Carnitas Street Tacos. We love them in flour tortillas too, burritos, salads or in a power bowl with beans and rice and avocado. You can even make them with eggs for breakfast, they are just great with everything and one pork shoulder will feed you for days.

Ingredients

4-6 pound pork shoulder roast
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 yellow onion, sliced thin
4 large cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup orange juice

Instructions

Place the roast in the slow-cooker with the fat cap facing up. Add the olive oil, spices, onions, garlic and orange juice over the roast.
Cover with lid and cook on LOW for 9-11 hours, until tender and falling apart. If the fat cap is still intact over the roast, pull the biggest pieces of it off and discard. Using tongs, pull apart the roast into chunks and try not to shred it to tiny pieces. Don’t worry about smaller pieces of fat, they turn out really good after the crisping part. Remove the bones and be aware that some roasts will have smaller bones in them.
Heat a large non-stick skillet over high heat (we use a cast iron skillet and it works great). Spread out about 2 cups worth of shredded pork into the hot pan and press down on it with a spatula. Cook until the bottom side of the pork is crispy and browned, about 2 minutes. Don’t stir, just let part of it get crispy. Repeat until all pork has been crisped.
Return the pork back to the juices from the slow cooker. This is important to keep the carnitas juicy.

Notes

FREEZER INSTRUCTIONS: If you are freezing extra pork or making the recipe in advance, skip the stove-top cooking step and place the shredded pork in a freezer bag along with the crock-pot juices. When ready to use, thaw completely in the refrigerator and then use the above directions to crisp the pork in a pan on the stove. Also, I never actually measure the ingredients out. As long as they are in the ballpark it will turn out good! Enjoy!

“I wonder if there’s a taco out there thinking about me too…”