Pork Crock Pot Carnitas Recipe - Slow Cooker Carnitas (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good carnitas? ›

Carnitas seasoning – rub pork with a simple spice mix of oregano, cumin, salt and pepper. Flavour for cooking – top pork in slow cooker with onion, garlic and jalapeño, then pour over orange juice (the secret ingredient!).

Carnitas doneness temps

The USDA's recommended minimum temperature for pork is 145°F (63°C) for safety. but safe and palatable are two different needs, in this case. The connective tissue needs to be heated to at least 170°F (77°C) to start to dissolve properly.

Making a big batch of carnitas is a great way to feed a crowd. Boneless pork butt loses about half of its weight during the cooking process. For a party, you want to plan for about ⅓-1/2 pound of pulled pork per person.

You can plan on 3-4 servings per pound.

Adding the oranges is very much like braising pork Cuban-style for the traditional cubano sandwich. The milk acts as a tenderizer, a secret I learned while growing up watching dad make his carnitas which, by the way, were always exceptionally tender.

The orange juice in the cooking liquid provides acidity that helps break down the meat so it's extra tender and juicy.

Any cut of meat can become overcooked, even in the crockpot. Avoid cooking this pork carnitas recipe for longer than the times listed below, or the meat will end up tough and chewy.

Although difficult to do, you can overcook pork carnitas (or any other meat) in the slow cooker if you cook the meat for an extended amount of time. Because of the citrus in the cooking liquid, the wrong cut of meat can become mushy after certain amount of time.

Just go for water, then. Water and a touch of neutral flavoured vegetable oil or lard or suet if you have any of those. And don't overdo the water, just sprinkle a few spoonsful and keep the meat covered. Another alternative is to add a bit extra water and then cook off the water when you're ready to serve.

Most people will eat about 1 to 2 ounces of meat per taco. For 20 people figure at least 70 to 80 tacos. That's about 10 pounds of meat roughly. People tend to fill tacos with solid meats like not ground beef or chicken with less meat fillings than ground meats.

What do you put on carnitas for a party? ›

You can go crazy with the toppings or keep it simple. I made this for a dinner party for a group of 8 so I went the extra mile but the pork is so good, just a simple green salsa (store bought is fine), onions, and cilantro are more than enough. 2 dozen corn tortillas, heated before serving.

About four pounds is enough to serve eight to 12 people once the meat is cooked. You can easily make a half batch, but carnitas freeze extremely well, so think about making the full order!

Each taco shell or small soft taco-size tortilla fits about 2 ounces or 1/4 cup of meat. If you add diced onions, you could stretch a pound of ground beef to make about a dozen tacos. With just the meat and spices, you can make about 8 tacos from a pound of meat.

Some tips for success

Once you're getting ready to start cooking, don't trim it off. The fat will keep the carnitas moist on the inside, flavors the meat and provides the “lard” that will render during the final cooking stage to give that desired crunchy exterior that good carnitas always have.

How many people does a pound of pork feed? Well, it depends on the person, but on average 3-5 people.

You'll see the pork slowly cooked in a big pot of lard in many authentic recipes (Woah and yum!). However, to make our carnitas recipe a little more home-friendly, we slow-cook our pork with a few aromatics and a few tablespoons of oil to keep it moist.

They are braised until they are fall apart tender. Then they get roasted in the oven to make the outside crisp. So part of them should be soft, and part of the outside should be crusty. Some recipes don't crisp up the meat at the end but authentic carnitas should be crispped.

Vegetable oil: Traditional carnitas recipes use lard as their cooking fat, but we'll use vegetable or canola oil today. Pork shoulder roast: The best cut of meat for carnitas is pork shoulder AKA pork butt AKA Boston butt because it is well-marbled with fat and cooks up incredibly tender with a long braise.