Carnitas Crockpot Meal For Two
Spanish for “little meats,” this staple is used as a filling in tacos and burritos and boasts tender chunks of pork with a lightly crisped, caramelized exterior.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 3 ½ pounds boneless pork butt roast trim away large sections of fat and cut into 2-inch chunks . Note: Cooking for two? Use the pork shoulder blade steak for a smaller cut of meat.
Carnitas seasoning
- ½ small onion peeled and halved
- ¾ cup fresh squeezed orange juice (1 large orange)
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice (2 - 3 limes)
- 5 garlic cloves smashed and thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano - I recommend using Mexican oregano
- 2 ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Tortillas and Garnishes
- 10 taco sized 6 inch corn or flour tortillas
- Fresh cilantro (optional)
- Chopped white onion (optional)
- Lime wedges (optional)
Chipotle Carnitas Sauce
- ½ cup Sour Cream
- 1 tablespoon Canned Chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (sauce only - freeze the remaining peppers and sauce for another use); found in the Mexican Aisle
- 1 teaspoon Fresh squeezed lime juice (1 lime)
Instructions
Carnitas Seasoning
- Juice the limes and oranges, reserving the juice and the spent orange and lime halves.
- Place the trimmed pork in the slow cooker and sprinkle the pork with salt and pepper. Add the onion half, reserved orange and lime juice, lime and orange spent halves, garlic, cumin, oregano, and bay leaves. Stir together. Then cover and cook until until fork slips easily in and out of the pork, this will take about 5 to 7 hours on high or 8 to 10 hours on low.
Crisping Exterior
- Using a slotted spoon or tongs remove pork from slow cooker to a large bowl. Using 2 forks, pull each piece of pork apart until coarsely shredded. Strain the cooking liquid from the slow cooker through a strainer set over a separate bowl and discard the orange and lime halves, onion and bay leaves.
- Heat oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Make sure your skillet gets nice and hot. If you do not have a cast iron skillet you can use a nonstick skillet. Add the amount of pork to the skillet you wish to use for this meal and freeze the rest for a future meal. Whisk the cooking liquid as you will see separation of the juice and fat, but do not skim off the fat. Pour 1 cup of the liquid over the pork in the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally until the liquid has evaporated and you notice that the pork is well browned (not charred) and the edges are slightly crispy. This will take about 8 - 10 minutes.. Remove from heat, pour remaining cooking liquid over browned pork (reserving some to freeze with meat not being served). Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Taste again and add lime juice for more of a citrus zing. Serve with warm tortillas, chopotle sauce and garnishes.
Chipotle Carnitas Sauce
- Mix together sour cream and 1 tablespoon of chipotle pepper adobe sauce (use only the sauce and freeze the remaining peppers and sauce in a freezer container for another use). Add 1 teaspoon of lime juice. Taste and adjust the seasoning by adding 1 teaspoon of lime juice at a time. Taste again, adjust seasoning as needed.
Notes
Cooking for two?
Carnitas meat freezes well! Hold off on the browning and crisping the meat you want to freeze. You can crisp the meat after thawing but you will need to also freeze some of the cooking liquid (or substitute with chicken broth).