I love a good taco (who doesn’t?) and because tacos are a little hard to come by here in Hawaii, I’ve been making them much more frequently than I did when we lived in San Diego. To add variety to taco night, which is seemingly becoming more and more frequent, I like to mix things up, sometimes I stuff our tortillas full of roasted veggies and top with a scoop of hummus other times it’s grilled chicken, fish tacos with lime cashew cream and recently these crockpot carnitas tacos.
The crockpot is something that I use year round but I really take advantage of it’s amazing slow cooking powers during the cooler months. Maybe because it get’s dark so early and I find myself wanting to eat dinner before I even get home from work (and therefore I don’t really have to cook if the slow cooker does!) or because the crockpot is amazing for those comfort foods that I crave this time of the year. Either way, this is one of those great recipes that doesn’t require much effort on your part, aka- the ideal week night meal!
Pork shoulder rubbed with a chili, oregano and cumin then slow cooked in a blend of orange and lime juice resulting in the most insanely tender and delicious shredded carnitas! To get the pork crispy (like true, authentic carnitas) spread the cooked pork on a baking sheet and broil for 10 minutes, flipping the pork over half way through.
Top your carnitas tacos with a bit of cilantro, onion, red cabbage and guac if you have it. And, a good squeeze of lime over the top!
Carnitas Tacos [In the Crockpot!]:
Ingredients:
– 2 pounds pork shoulder
– 1 tablespoon chili powder
– 1 teaspoon dried oregano
– 1 teaspoon cumin
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1 teaspoon pepper
– 1 white onion, roughly chopped
– 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
– juice from 2 oranges (about 3/4 cup)
– juice from 2 limes (about 1/4 cup)
– tortillas
– white onion, minced
– cilantro
– red cabbage
– lime
Directions:
– Add orange and lime juice, garlic and onion to the crockpot
– In a small bowl, combine chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper. Rub the spice blend over the pork shoulder. Place pork shoulder on top of onion and juice in the crockpot.
– Cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8 hours. Check occasionally and if needed, flip the pork shoulder over to continue cooking. Shred pork and allow it simmer in the liquid for the last 30 minutes.
– Remove from the slow cooker and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Broil for 5-10 minutes, then flip the pork over and broil for another 5 minutes or until the edges begin to brown and crisp up. Make sure to keep an eye on the meat while it is under the broiler!
– Assemble tacos and top with a generous squeeze of lime.
Enjoy!
