Get ready to win taco Tuesday with this Pork Carnitas Taco recipe! Featuring succulent, tender pork shoulder, sweet and spicy pineapple salsa, charred tortillas, and your favorite toppings for pork tacos, Carnita tacos will always get the party started! Recipe can be scaled up or down by using the slider if you hover your mouse over the number of Servings.
Marinate Pork: Place the cubes of pork into a large nonreactive bowl or resealable bag. Pour the jerk sauce and roll/stir pork around until thoroughly coated. Refrigerate and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight, turning pork occasionally.
Make the Pineapple Salsa Topping: Add all the ingredients for the salsa to a medium sized mixing bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then stir well to combine. Cover the bowl of salsa and refrigerate until ready to use.
Bring Pork Shoulder to Room Temperature: Remove the marinated pork from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Remove the cubed pork from the marinade, discarding the marinade, and pat thoroughly dry with paper towels. Then, season the pork all over generously with salt and pepper.
Sear Pork: Set a Large Dutch Oven or large sauce pot over Medium-High Heat. Add ONE Tablespoon of oil to the pot. When the oil is shimmering, add half the pork to the hot pan (SEE NOTE), and sear the pork for about 2 minutes per side, or until well browned all over, for a total of 6-10 minutes. Remove the pork from the pot and transfer to a plate. Repeat the searing process, adding more oil and the searing the remaining pork.(Note: I recommend working in at least two batches to prevent over-crowding the pan. If you add too many cubes of pork to the pan, the meat will steam instead of sear and brown. Also, try to avoid overly flipping or stirring the pork as it browns.)
Deglaze the Pan: Reduce the heat under the pan to medium and add the Beer, Orange Juice, Beef Stock, and Lime Juice to the pan. Use the back of a wooden spoon to scrape up all the brown bits (sucs) from bottom of the pan.
Add the Rest of the Ingredients: Add Onion, Garlic, Bay leaves, cumin, oregano, black pepper, chili powder, and red pepper flakes to the pan. Then, add all the browned pork cubes along with any accumulated juices back to pan.
Cook Pork: Bring the pork to a simmer, and then immediately reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cover and cook the pork shoulder for 2 hours, or until the pork is very fork tender. Remove the pot from the heat.
Transfer pork to baking sheet: Line a large sheet pan or baking dish with aluminum foil. Then, use a slotted spoon to transfer the pork carnitas to the prepared pan.Strain Liquid: Carefully strain the hot cooking liquid into a large bowl or glass measure. Set aside.
Heat Oven to Broil: Arrange oven rack to the Upper-Middle position and preheat the oven to high broil.
Drizzle liquid over pork: Drizzle half a cup of the strained cooking liquid all over the carnitas on the sheet pan. Toss to coat and moisten the carnitas.
Broil Carnitas: Place the baking pan in the oven and broil for 4-5 minutes. Remove from oven and flip the cubes of pork carnitas over. Drizzle more cooking liquid over the carnitas. Toss the pork again to coat. Return to oven and broil for an additional 4-5 minutes, or until caramelized.
Serving Carnitas Plain: Drizzle more strained cooking liquid over the caramelized carnitasmeat and toss to coat. Serve as is or use two forks to shred the pork shoulder carnita meat.
Serving Pork Carnitas as Tacos: Char or warm your tortillas. Then, top each tortilla with a bit of shredded cabbage, followed by the carnita pork shoulder, pineapple salsa and your favorite pork taco toppings. Enjoy immediately.
Notes
To Cook Carnitas in the Oven: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Bring Pot to simmer as indicated as above, once simmering, cover, and transfer pot to preheated Oven. Continue with directions as stated in recipe.
To Prepare Carnitas in Advance:
Prepare carnitas through step 10.
Remove Carnita meat to a container and allow to cool slightly before covering and transferring to the refrigerator. Strain the cooking liquid and transfer to a separate container with a tight fitting lid. Refrigerate.
When ready to use- allow the carnita meat and liquid to come to room temperature on the counter for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Toss the cold carnita meat with 1/3 cup cooking liquid. Warm in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove and proceed with recipe as directed.
5Scallions– both white and green parts, trimmed and roughly chopped
1smallSweet Yellow Onion– roughly chopped
5clovesGarlic– peeled and smashed
½Bunch ofFresh Thyme– leaves only (about 1 TBS)
2fresh Bay Leaves– stalks removed
1tspGround Allspice
½tspGround Cinnamon
1TBSCoarse Kosher Salt
2TBSWhite Wine Vinegar
1TBSHoney
1TBSDark Jamaican Rum
3TBSExtra Virgin Olive Oil, or more as needed to thin out sauce
Directions
Place chiles, scallions, onions and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Process until all ingredients are minced. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth. If sauce is too thick add more oil, more tablespoon at a time, until a smooth pourable sauce is achieved.
Nutritional information is an estimate based upon 8 servings. Exact information will depend upon the brands of ingredients and precise measurements used.