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Carnitas

29 April, 2013 by Slim Palate 42 Comments

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I have really been getting my fiesta on with Mexican cuisine lately. I have always had quite an innate love for Mexican food, ever since I was little actually. I had a nanny for most of my toddler and childhood ages named Gladys. Well actually we all call her Chachi now and she’s not Mexican she’s Salvadorian but I digress. In fact even all of her friends and people she knows call her Chachi. And of course there is a story behind the name Chachi, that story basically being when I was very little to the point where I could only say a few words I woke up from one of my naps and called for her by yelling for Chachi. So it just stuck. Actually even her family members call her Chachi.

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She was always so insistent and having me learn both English and Spanish for a broader learning perspective, which I’m glad she did because now I can actually still retain some of the stuff she taught me. She of course also shared many of the wonderous Spanish and Mexican cuisines. Granted not all of them were super healthy, but they really taught me an immense amount of information and intuition about flavor and spices that truly widened my palate and taste opinions.

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She was also one the absolute sweetest most loving ladies I have ever had the pleasure to have in my life. She is basically like a second mother to me, she still considers me one of her own sons and I still consider her a second mother. I learned so much about how to truly enjoy life through food and food culture with her around me. She would take me to all of the somewhat skeptical looking hole in the wall places that of course served the true mexican food.

To the core traditional, fresh ingredients, and drop dead tantalizing mexican and spanish dishes. But I’m not gonna lie they were always heavy on the tortillas and beans. But it was still those beautiful irreplaceable experiences that helped shape my palate.

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Sadly she still lives in California and I live in Texas now, but we still keep in touch. Making these carnitas flared up all of the unforgettable memories she forged in my brain. The second the sweet and succulent pork melted away in my mouth all of the memories came flooding back and I could see her face with innocent and caring eyes as she would give me her classic chicken fajitas that she would cook up for me. That’s one of the biggest reasons this recipe touches home so much for me. Which is exactly why I wanted to keep them as traditional as I possibly could.

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Traditional carnitas shouldn’t be completely shredded to tiny threads, they should just be chunked by carefully tearing the tender meat apart into bite sized pieces. In fact the word carnitas means “little meats” in Spanish, so that was a slight hint for me. Traditional carnitas are also supposed to be made by braising them slowly then frying them in lard to give them that beautiful caramelized, crispy and succulent outside and tender, melt in your mouth, voluptuous inside. To be honest nothing really can beat beautifully fatty meat slowly braised to tender perfection then carefully torn apart into gorgeous chunks and fried in it’s own fat to the crispy and caramelized beauty I explained previously.

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It’s also pretty interesting how traditional carnitas are in fact pretty healthy and completely paleo,primal, WAPF you name it. I suppose calling them paleo carnitas would be slightly redundant now that I think about it too. But who cares about labels when you have something this succulent and delicious in front of you. I actually served these on my Cauliflower Tortillas and they were even more drool inducing with that. Although they are pretty irresistible eating just by themselves and so timely for this upcoming Cinco de Mayo. I’m salivating and getting anxious just thinking about these.

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5.0 from 8 reviews
Carnitas
 
Print
Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
3 hours 30 mins
Total time
3 hours 40 mins
 
A classic Mexican dish of succulent pork that is beautifully crispy and caramelized on the outside and tenderly voluptuous, melt in your mouth on the inside. (Inspired by a petite and cute crossfit girl that loves carnitas and is scary strong)
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 5 lbs bone in pork boston butt roast or pork shoulder bone removed then (You could also use a 3-4 pound boneless boston butt roast or pork shoulder to save yourself from having to cut out the bone) cut into 2 inch chunks
  • 1½ teaspoons mexican red chile powder
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3-4 cloves garlic peeled and sliced thinly
  • ¼ cup fresh squeezed lime juice
  • water to cover pork
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil and place to the side.
  2. In a small bowl mix red chile powder, cumin, and sea salt then place cut up boston butt roast in medium sized bowl and toss with spice mixture.
  3. In a large dutch oven or large heavy bottom pot (I used a 5 quart heavy bottomed pot) place spice tossed boston butt roast around bottom of the dutch oven or pot being sure that it is in a single layer, it is okay if they are touching just make sure they aren't on top of one another.
  4. To the dutch oven or pot add lime juice and then pour in water so that it covers ¾ of the pork but doesn't completely submerse it then add sliced garlic, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.
  5. Place in the dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot in oven uncovered for 3½ hours turning the meat a couple of times while cooking.
  6. Once the meat is finished pull it out and discard bay leaves and cinnamon stick but do not discard what is in the dutch oven or pot (the lard), as soon as the meat is cool enough to handle tear into bite sized pieces and add torn meat to foil lined baking sheet and pour fat from the bottom of the dutch oven or pot over the meat so that it's evenly covering the bottom of the baking sheet and meat.
  7. Place meat back in the oven until crispy and caramelized to your liking on the outside. (I usually do mine for 10-20 minutes depending on the size and what I'm feeling)
Notes
The liquid will eventually evaporate but don't worry this is supposed to happen, it should be somewhat close to done when it does, if it evaporates very early on then add an extra ½ cup of water but no more than that. We want the liquid to be evaporated when they're almost done that way they fry a little bit in the fat before we take them out and we have only the fat left to pour over the meat to fry it in the oven with. Also I served this with my Cauliflower Tortillas and they were amazing.
3.2.1753

 

Filed Under: Recipes, Savory Tagged With: braised, browned, caramelized, carnitas, crispy, lime, mexican, pork, traditional

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Comments

  1. Kristen@Change of Pace says

    29 April, 2013 at 10:24 am

    I was hoping you’d share this recipe 🙂

    Reply
    • Slim Palate says

      29 April, 2013 at 2:19 pm

      I couldn’t help myself, it was just so good.

      Reply
  2. Mary Kate says

    1 May, 2013 at 6:25 pm

    Great carnitas recipe! I can’t wait to try it your way in the oven and on the baking sheet instead of on the stove top. The only thing I do differently is add a little fresh orange juice with the water and lime juice. I’ve also never thought to add a cinnamon stick. I will try that next time. And I will definitely have to try the cauliflower tortillas. What a great idea!

    Reply
  3. TJ says

    2 May, 2013 at 11:30 am

    OMG…I have been obsessed with carnitas recently! I can’t wait to try your recipe 🙂

    Reply
    • Slim Palate says

      2 May, 2013 at 4:51 pm

      Same here, and these are really easy too.

      Reply
  4. Gwen J says

    6 May, 2013 at 6:00 pm

    My family had the carnitas and cauliflower tortillas with a side of mango/avacado salsa for Cinco de Mayo last night. Your recipes are absolutely wonderful. My son is 17 and he just kept saying, “These are cauliflower?” Beautiful site. Thanks so much for so many tasty ways to eat clean.

    Reply
    • Slim Palate says

      6 May, 2013 at 7:44 pm

      That’s wonderful Gwen, I’m so glad you liked the carnitas. This is one of my favorite recipes among my Red Wine Braised Short Ribs, probably because I’m somewhat of a meat fanatic. Hope you try and enjoy some more recipe, and let me know if you do try any of my other recipes if you get the chance.

      Reply
  5. Alli says

    13 May, 2013 at 1:13 am

    I am so glad I came across your site (my husband is too, let me tell you…). I made this recipe tonight and w loved it. I did make some changes, like using whole dried chili peppers (then grinding them), 1/2 cup of lime juice (2x), and a whole head of garlic. We ate it like a salad with large scoops of guacamole – major winner. Can’t wait to delve into your other meat recipes.

    Do you grind your own spices? If not I HIGHLY recommend it. It is an extra step but it will open up even more flavors.

    Reply
    • Slim Palate says

      13 May, 2013 at 8:40 pm

      Sounds lovely Allison. I actually do grind a lot of my own spices and I agree, freshly ground spices do give a bit of a more robust and pronounced flavor.

      Reply
  6. Erma says

    7 June, 2013 at 10:21 am

    I want to try this recipe for a gluten intolerant friend. Can I make them ahead and transport? Can they be reheated?

    Reply
    • Slim Palate says

      7 June, 2013 at 12:12 pm

      Yes you can. What I would do is follow the recipe up to breaking the meat apart. Then once the lard is still liquid but not scalding hot pour that over it then when you’re ready to reheat them simply follow the recipe from there. By doing this your just post-poning the extra crisping part that you do in the end to a closer time when you’re serving them. Just be sure all of the residual rendered fat is on the baking sheet when you’re ready to reheat them so they crisp up nicely. It will probably take longer to crisp them up because they will need to be brought back to a high temperature just keep them in the oven at the temperature listed when reheating until they are crispy to your liking. Good luck.

      Reply
  7. Randi says

    22 June, 2013 at 8:10 pm

    I made this tonight. I followed the directions exactly. Incredible. Really, really good! Just couldn’t fit in making the cauliflower tortillas tonight so will make them tomorrow. Can’t wait!

    Reply
  8. Kerri says

    30 June, 2013 at 6:08 am

    This looks wonderful but slightly complicated?….Do you think there’s a way to make this mostly in a crockpot? Maybe sticking it in the oven at the end to crisp it up? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Slim Palate says

      30 June, 2013 at 8:27 pm

      Well you could but the results would still not really be much the same. I’m telling you that it’s not that complicated. It’s as simple as putting it in the oven with the listen ingredients uncovered and turning them a couple of times while they’re in there.

      Reply
  9. Ashley says

    7 August, 2013 at 11:56 am

    I wanted to try this tonight with a 1.34lb pork shoulder. Should I drop the oven temperature to keep the cooking time as long?

    Reply
    • Slim Palate says

      7 August, 2013 at 1:21 pm

      I wouldn’t drop the oven temp. You could probably do it for the same amount of time but you’ll only have like 2 chunks of meat because the meat chunks need to be cut into 2 inch chunks. Just use a smaller pot so they fit snugly with the liquid and cook it until they get nice and deep dark brown on the outside and follow the rest of the instructions as is but I really recommend you get a bigger pork shoulder. Good luck!

      Reply
  10. ivana says

    12 August, 2013 at 9:14 pm

    Can you do this in a slow cooker ?

    Reply
    • Slim Palate says

      13 August, 2013 at 4:39 pm

      You could to start but you would not get the same result.

      Reply
  11. MorganLoftin says

    19 August, 2013 at 11:25 am

    Josh – I made these yesterday. They’re incredibly good.
    Thank you so much for sharing this recipe and all of your others!
    Morgan

    Reply
  12. Elaine says

    27 December, 2013 at 8:27 am

    Hey.
    I recognize that meat wrapper.
    Howdy neighbor.
    Cauliflower tortillas…. that will solve my current GF need. Yum.
    :0)

    Reply
  13. Lindsay / Life by Lindsay says

    6 May, 2014 at 7:56 pm

    My sister and I made these for Cinco de Mayo last night… O.M.G. It was amazing!!!! And so easy to make!! Thanks for sharing!!

    Reply
  14. angela says

    4 June, 2014 at 8:20 am

    what brand of mexican red chile powder do you use? There isn’t anything on Amazon that says exactly mexican red chile powder.

    Thanks! this recipe looks awesome. I am on hunt for a good carnitas. So far, the ones I’ve tried are just okay and missing lots of flavor. But I can tell there would be plenty of flavor in yours.

    Reply
  15. Rona says

    6 August, 2014 at 8:53 pm

    This was so tender and delicious! It was such a hit especially being my first attempt at making dinner. I’m starting to get the hang of this.

    I was wondering if I could use this recipe in a crockpot?

    Reply
    • Slim Palate says

      8 August, 2014 at 9:39 am

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’m afraid you cannot. It would not have the same results. The browning and caramelization of the meat comes from the last part of cooking when all of the liquid has evaporated and the pork begins to cook in it’s own fat. The evaporation of the liquid also contributes greatly to the overall flavor.

      Reply
  16. Mira says

    3 September, 2014 at 10:46 pm

    Do you think this will work with chicken?

    Reply
    • Slim Palate says

      9 September, 2014 at 1:01 pm

      Not really, you would probably need to use a different method.

      Reply
  17. Michelle says

    23 October, 2014 at 11:00 pm

    This is the best carnitas I’ve ever tasted!!! So simple to make! I’m so glad I found this recipe. Everyone loves it!!!

    Reply
  18. adam brower says

    7 February, 2015 at 2:28 pm

    This has become one of my top favorite recipes. Its crispy edges and warmly rich flavor will please anyone.

    Reply
  19. Sue says

    3 March, 2015 at 10:37 pm

    Can the tortillas be frozen? for how long? and Do you know how long they will stay fresh in the frig?

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Cauliflower Tortillas (Paleo, Grain Free, Gluten free) | Slim Palate says:
    29 April, 2013 at 2:17 pm

    […] warm tortilla at the same time. That’s a win win in my book. I made these for a recipe for carnitas that I was working on and they went so good with them. Nice crispy and delectable pieces of pork on […]

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  2. Kara Cooks: Week 17 2013 – Things says:
    29 April, 2013 at 5:44 pm

    […] Carnitas. I’m still introducing my sweetie to true home cooked Mexican and Tex-Mex. He would love these. […]

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  5. A Hidden Gem in Cozumel | Slim Palate says:
    27 June, 2013 at 6:01 am

    […] and melty on the inside. I especially loved the fact that they took traditional Mexican fare like Carnitas and turned them into something a little more extravagant and fun.They were served with elegant dots […]

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  6. CrossFit Great Barrington: Forging Elite Fitness in the Berkshires » Blog Archive » Monday, September 9, 2013 says:
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  10. Paleo Journeys with Joshua Weissman of Slim Palate | Eat Drink Paleo says:
    4 December, 2014 at 10:48 am

    […] with a packet of tuna mixed in and some chopped parsley, and for dinner maybe a pot roast or the Carnitas from my website with cauliflower puree or lettuce cups. This is just day to day though, sometimes I […]

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