Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas at home
- Prep 10 minutes
- Total 10 minutes
Crispy Slow Cooker Carnitas at home is a pork recipe on Avoteb. Plan on 10 minutes from start to plate. The amounts and the method are both on this page.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup beer, Mexican lager, or chicken stock
- 1/3 cup freshly-squeezed orange juice
- 2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lime juice
- 1 medium white onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 to 2 teaspoons chipotle powder, or 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Mexican oregano
- 1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 (4-5 pound) boneless pork shoulder or pork butt, excess fat trimmed, cut into 3-inch chunks
Method
Stir the sauce. In a large slow cooker, whisk together the beer, orange juice, lime juice, garlic, chipotle powder, cumin, oregano, black pepper and salt until combined. Stir in the onion and bay leaves.
Slow cook the pork. Tip in the pork and toss until evenly coated. Lid and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours, until the pork is completely tender and shreds easily with a fork.
Shred the pork. Discard the bay leaves. Take two forks to shred the pork into bite-sized pieces, then use a slotted spoon to move the pork to two foil-lined baking sheets, spreading it out in an even layer. Reserve the juices in the slow cooker.
Broil until crispy. Warm the broiler to high. Set one baking sheet under the broiler for about 5 minutes, or until the edges of the pork begin to brown and crisp. Lift the sheet from the oven, ladle about 1/4 cup of the slow cooker juices evenly over the pork, and toss with tongs. Broil for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, until the pork is crispy to your liking.
Finish with juices. Lift the baking sheet from the oven and ladle an additional 1/4 cup of the slow cooker juices over the crispy pork. Repeat with the second baking sheet.
Plate Plate while it is hot in tacos, burritos, salads, bowls, nachos, or whatever sounds good. Leftovers can be refrigerated in a sealed container for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
