Juicy Pork Carnitas Recipe

So much flavour!

While I was cooking these carnitas the other day, Liz chuckled every time I taste-tested the sauce while I was cooking! That’s because I made that face... and said “oh my gosh”… almost as if I was surprised at how good it was each time I tasted it 🙂

We’re so happy to share this pork carnitas recipe with you. Every time we set out to make a new recipe, we always want to make the best possible dish for us and for our readers. Some recipes, like this one, are just a little extra special… um… yum!

Building great memories!

A few weeks ago, I took a couple of days off during March Break to spend with our boys.

On one of the days, we decided to visit Toronto and make it a day of public transportation and visiting touristy spots. We took trains, buses, streetcars and subways. How fun is that?

Trendy Toronto!

One of the destinations during our outing was Kensington Market, an iconic spot in the city of Toronto. This area is so unique… you won’t find many, if any, chain stores here.

One of Kensington Market‘s main attractions is the food! So many amazing restaurants to choose from… some of them fancier than others, but most of them fantastic!

For lunch, we ended up choosing a tiny taco spot (with one table), called Seven Lives. I was a little worried because our little guy is very picky. We convinced him that these tacos would be like fajitas, which he loves.

The guy serving us was super nice. After describing my son’s pickiness, he suggested a delicious carnitas taco with no heat. It was a winner! Our little guy took one bite and said “Mmmmm! This is so good, you have to make this one day, dad”! Challenge accepted!

Our pork carnitas

I love tradition, but since I’ve never been to Mexico, I can’t claim these are authentic (another one for the bucket list I guess). What I do know is that these carnitas have got some crispy seared ends, slow cooked juiciness and they taste so darn good.

Our little guy took one bite, closed his eyes with a smile and gave me two thumbs up! That’s all the proof I need to know that this recipe is a winner!

Give our carnitas a try! Make your house smell amazing, put a smile on your family’s face, and eat well, friends.

Print Recipe

Pork Carnitas Recipe

These carnitas will put a big smile on everyone’s face. They are so full of flavour! Serve the carnitas with corn or flour tortillas and your favourite toppings for the most amazing tacos!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Total Time2 hours hrs 25 minutes mins

Course: Main, Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings: 16

Ingredients

Carnitas

• 4 lbs boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into large pieces
• 1 tbsp coarse sea salt
• 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small cooking onion, diced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp Spanish chili powder
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 bay leaves

Serve with:

• Small corn or flour tortillas, warmed
• Cilantro, roughly chopped
• Fresh salsa sauce
• Lime wedges
• Sour cream
• Other preferred toppings

Instructions

• Pat down the pieces of pork with paper towel.
• Season the meat with salt and black pepper.
• Heat the vegetable oil on high, in a large dutch oven or other large heavy pot.
  
• Sear the meat on all sides and set aside. Cook the meat in two batches to avoid overcrowding the pot.
• Reduce the heat and add the olive oil and sauté the onions and garlic.
• Add the chicken broth and scrape the bottom and sides of the pot… this is flavour!
• Raise the temperature to medium high.
• Add the meat back into the pot and add the remaining ingredients.
  
• Once the broth comes to a boil, reduce the temperature to medium low.
• Cover the dutch oven and simmer for about 2 hours or until you can easily pull apart the meat with two forks.
• Remove the meat from the pot (reserving the liquid) and pull it apart (shred) using two forks.
• Place the pulled meat in a large deep casserole or baking dish.
• Pour about half the cooking liquid over the meat and mix well. Use your own judgement at this point, if you want it more wet, pour in more of the cooking liquid.
• Serve the carnitas with the tortillas and favourite toppings. Enjoy!