Carnita Tacos

5 from 1 vote

These carnita tacos have a sweet and spicy shredded pork with crispy bits on the edges, fresh and fiery tomato salsa, creamy avocado, salty cojita cheese, and fragrant cilantro all topped off with spicy mayo and lime.

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine Latin American, Mexican

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 3

Total Time 3 20

Calories 347kcal

Author Julie & Debbie

Ingredients

FOR THE CARNITAS

1.5 kg pork butt roast (shoulder)
2 tbsp salt and pepper each
1 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp coconut oil or other oil
1 large onion , cut into quarters or eighths
5 cloves garlic , smashed
1 bottle beer (whatever you have)
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 oranges , juiced
2 limes , juiced
2 tbsp palm (or brown) sugar
1-2 chipotles in adobo sauce depends on how spicy you like things

FOR THE FRESH SALSA

2 tomatoes , roughly chopped
1 dried red Mexican chili , re-hydrated in water
½ large onion , roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 Handful of cilantro
1 lime juiced
1 tsp salt

FOR THE SPICY MAYO

½ cup mayo
1 lime , juiced
1 tbsp siracha sauce (or other hot sauce)

FOR EACH TACO

1 corn tortilla
¼ cup carnitas pork
2 tbsp fresh salsa
¼ avocado , diced or sliced
1 tbsp cojita cheese (or other crumbly cheese)
sprig or two of cilantro
1 tbsp spicy mayo

Instructions

MAKE THE CARNITAS

Rinse your pork roast quite well and pat dry. Season the roast with salt, pepper and the cumin all over. Be generous with the salt and pepper.
Turn your oven on to 350 degrees.
Get out a big oven proof pot with a lid and put it on high heat on the stove. Put the couple tbsps of coconut oil in, let it get hot, and then brown the roast well on all sides. Turn the heat off.
Add the onion, garlic, and chipotle pepper to the pot. Pour in the beer, apple cider vinegar and squeeze in the lime and orange juice. You can put in the peel as well, but I found that the lime peel gave a tiny hint of a bitter flavor that I didn’t care for. Cover the pot with the lid and slide it in the oven. Cook for 3 hours or until the roast is fall apart tender.
When its ready, remove the roast from the pot, let it cool for a bit and shred the meat, removing most of the fat at the same time. Place the shredded meat on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet.
Turn your oven on to broil and when the broiler is nice and hot, place the tray of meat under the broiler for a few mins or until the meat starts to get crispy and caramelized in some places. If your tray is quite full, you might want to stir the meat a bit so that some other parts can get crispy. Be careful not to let it burn.
Set the meat aside or store in a big tuperware until you are ready to use it.

MAKE THE SALSA

Place all the ingredients for the salsa in a blender or food processor and whiz it up good till it becomes a thick sauce. Give it a taste and make sure it doesn’t need more salt, lime, or cilantro.
Set aside or store in a mason jar or tupperware till you are ready to use it.

MAKE THE SPICY MAYO

Mix the mayo , lime juice and hot sauce in a bowl or shake it in a jar. Add a little more lime if it needs to get a little thinner consistency. I like to keep it in a squeeze bottle so its easy to squirt on the tacos.

TO MAKE THE TACOS

Lay a corn tortilla flat. Add the pork carnita meat, spoon on the salsa, sprinkle on the cheese, avocado, and a little cilantro if desired and then drizzle a little spicy mayo on top. Fold it up and eat it!

Nutrition