Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

Delicious flavors of freshly squeezed orange juice, cumin, and, oregano combine to create a succulent slow cooker pork carnitas dish that will make everyone in the family happy.

Oh my goodness, these carnitas are magnificent.

With freshly squeezed orange juice, minced garlic, onion, cumin and oregano, these flavors mingled in with the pork is perfection.

But, the best part of this recipe is the browning of the cooked carnitas. After the pork has been cooking in the slow cooker for 6 hours, you shred the meat, then saute in a skillet turned to high heat.

After browning the meat for a few minutes, you will achieve a nice crunchy texture that takes this dish to whole new level.

Tips for these slow cooker pork carnitas:

1. Make sure to squeeze the juice directly from oranges – these little steps make a big difference. The freshly squeezed juice is so refreshing and makes the house smell amazing as the pork cooks in the slow cooker all day.
2. Brown the pork in 4 batches. The pork browns and crisps much quicker this way. The browning is SO important to this recipe tasting amazing – DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. You will not regret the extra few minutes you have to commit to the browning process.

We enjoyed our pork carnitas over fluffy white jasmine rice. We then sprinkled leafy green romaine lettuce and fresh mild salsa on top for a delicious carnitas bowl. You can also serve in tortillas, or create an amazing salad. The sky’s the limit.

Hope you enjoy these as much as my family did!

You might also like:

Chipotle Burritos

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

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Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

Delicious flavors of freshly squeezed orange juice, cumin, and, oregano combine to create a succulent carnitas dish that will make everyone in the family happy.

Course Dinner

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 6 hours

Total Time 6 hours 20 minutes

Servings 20

Ingredients

• 4 lbs pork shoulder
• 2 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup juice from (from 4 oranges)

Rub

• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. Rinse and dry pork shoulder.  Rub all over with salt and pepper.

2. Combine the rub ingredients and rub all over pork shoulder.

3. Place pork (fat cap side up) in slow cooker and cover with garlic, chopped onion and juice from oranges.

4. Slow cook on high for 6 hours.  

5. Pork should be tender enough to shred at this point.  Shred with two long pronged forks.  

6. TO CRISP PORK:  Pour 1 tbsp olive oil in skillet turned up to high heat. With tongs, take a quarter of the shredded carnitas, and place in skillet. Drizzle in some of the leftover juice from the slow cooker.  Cook for a few minutes until one side is brown and crispy and liquid has mostly evaporated. Turn over and cook for about 30 seconds – 1 minute. You only want one side to be really brown and crispy so that you still have the tender pork in the mix. The mix of textures is amazingly delicious.
   

7. Note:  You will want to crisp in about 4 batches.  It works best to not over crowd the pan.  The browning process moves quicker.

8. Serve your delicious carnitas over fluffy rice or in soft or hard taco shells or over greens for a yummy salad.  Garnish with salsa, sour cream, etc….  Many different ways to enjoy these heavenly carnitas – Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Recipe Tin Eats