TexMex Crockpot Carnitas
Sooooo they opened a Chipotle near me. You know what this means, right? Yeah, I basically have guacamole for blood. Seriously, what is IN that stuff? It surely can’t be legal. (It is. And stop calling me Shirley.)
I find their prices for the amount (and quality) of food you get totally reasonable. And I truly don’t think it would be cheaper to buy all the stuff and make it at home so I justify it way too often. However, last week my local supermarket had a full pork loin on sale so we bought the whole thing and butchered it into roasts and chops. I had a few defrosting for today and – not unlike any other day – had a craving for carnitas. So I decided to make them myself but add a little twist.
What if I added BBQ spices and some sweetener with some citrus juice to the Mexican flavors of the green chiies, lime, onions and tomatoes? I’ll tell you what. THIS IS WHAT!
Sorry if you watched that. For now you will have that song (and the dude’s perfectly triangular eyebrows) stuck in your head for days. (Pink, fluffy unicorns riding on rainbows….)(You’re welcome.) (What? It’s better than Wilson Phillips.)(HOLD ON FOR ONE MORE DAY.)
Seriously, they came out better than I thought they would. I served them in lettuce bowls with some cheddar cheese, fresh tomatoes and guacamole, which I’ve incidentally found out you can just buy large quantities of from Chipotle. Although they look at you crazy. WHATEVS. My husband and kids ate these on GMO-free corn tortillas and you can serve it with rice and refried beans if you’re not strict paleo and can tolerate those.
Recipe: Crockpot TexMex Carnitas
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs pork (butt/shoulder works best)
- 1/4 c. diced yellow onions
- 1/4 c. diced green chiles (canned is okay)
- 1 tsp. fresh minced garlic
- 1 1/4 c. (1 small can) diced tomatoes
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp agave/honey
- 2 tsp. lime juice
- 2 tbsp. orange juice
- 1/2 c. barbecue sauce
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a crockpot on low 6-8 hours.
- About an hour prior to eating (if possible), shred the pork with a fork and stir.
- Serve in lettuce bowls/wraps.
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I am seriously drooling. I pretty much like anything topped with guacamole, salsa (and sour cream and cheese). Mmmmmmm…..
That just looks to die for!
We have a pork shoulder in our freezer that we’ve been planning on doing something with this very week so good timing, AndreAnna! So you just put the pork in whole without cutting it up at all??
I’d recommend trimming it a bit and cutting it up into smaller pieces, this way the flavors can really mix in with the meat.
Hey, I didn’t know you could guac in bulk over at The Chipooter. Good to know. This looks delish. I pretty much never have less that 20 lbs of pork in my freezer so I’m happy to have a new recipe to try. What kind of BBQ sauce do you use?
I use this one: Barbecue Sauce, Pebble Creek, No Sugar Added Grill Glaze & BBQ Sauce
Mmmmm….pork!
And if you don’t have time for all that, doing the exact same thing with only salt and some garlic slivers shoved into holes yields just as delicious results. I often do that overnight, with no liquid or anything, with my locally raised pork shoulder, and wake up to extremely delicious smells and tastes. I have a little with my eggs, right away!
That sounds good too, Sara, but the point of a crockpot recipe is that this shouldn’t take much time at all! Assuming you have all ingredients on hand, tossing them in the crockpot with the meat takes no more than 5 minutes and then the minute or so it takes to shred the meat.
I love Chipotle. It’s one of the few fast, convenient places where I can get something to eat that still has good, reasonably healthy stuff in it, and I won’t get sick. And yes. Their guacamole is like crack. Yum. I get a giant salad with carnitas or barbacoa and pico and they spoon a gigantic amount of that green heaven on top. Yum. Love that you did a crockpot version! Might have to try!
(HOLD ON FOR ONE MORE DAY…crap, now it’s in my head again. Thanks a LOT!)
OMG, this looks heavenly, I must try
This recipe has been on my To-Do list ever since you posted it. I finally made this a couple days ago and it is very tasty! I’ve made carnitas before in the crockpot, but the flavor was bland. The citrus juices and barbeque sauce in this recipe add the perfect amount of punch to the traditional carnitas. I’m not a fan of spicy food so I left out the chiles and it was still really good! Thanks for sharing!
Looks amazing! Quick question…could you do this with Chicken instead of carnitas???