Easy Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas
Since this easy Crock-Pot pork carnitas recipe hangs out doing its thing in the slow cooker for up to ten hours, it's a great choice to throw into the slow cooker before you leave the house for the day.
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 5-6 lb boneless pork butt (shoulder), remove string if present
- 2 medium yellow onions, roughly chopped
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1.5 teaspoon Kosher salt
- Black pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 small limes
- Juice from 1 orange, or ¼-1/2 cup of prepared orange juice, optional
- 1.5 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (omit, if sensitive to spice)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon oregano
- 10 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 chipotles in adobo + 1 teaspoon adobo sauce (minced (cut down to 2-3 peppers, if sensitive to spice)
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Add the onions and broth to the bottom of your slow cooker, then place the pork roast on top. Season the roast with Kosher salt and black pepper.
- In a separate bowl, combine the olive oil, lime juice, orange juice (if using), cumin, paprika, chili powder, cayenne, cinnamon, and oregano, then toss the squeezed lime halves into your Crock-Pot around the roast.
- Pour the olive oil/spice mixture over the entire roast, then top it with the minced garlic, chipotles, and bay leaves. (With the garlic and chipotles, it's a huge time saver just to mince them together in a little food chopper!) Cook the carnitas on low for 8-10 hours.
- Remove pork from slow cooker with a slotted spoon and shred it into a metal roasting pan, discarding any large pieces of fat, the bay leaves, and the lime halves. (Shred some of the cooked onions right on in there with the pork, too -- the meat should be soft enough at this point that it's basically falling apart.)
- Broil the pan of carnitas on high for 8 minutes, or until the meat is nicely browned and crisped up on top. Remove from oven and stir, then broil for another 5 minutes to crisp up more of the meat.
- Serve with fixings of your choice!
Notes
I left the orange juice out of mine for tangier carnitas. To cut the tang and add a bit of sweetness, however, you can either add the juice of one navel orange (throw the squeezed orange in there with the lime halves, too) or a little OJ into your slow cooker along with the lime juice. Sometimes I also make these with a can of mild diced green chiles rather than the chipotles in adobo -- it's hard to go wrong either way; you just need some kind of mild peppers to add the underlying heat & flavor to this recipe.