Everyone will adore this taco lasagna recipe because it’s a tasty dish. In such case, give it a try and delight in it!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 45 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 2 1/2 pounds |
Ingredients
- 1 (3 1/2) pound boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 2 inch chunks
- 2 oranges, quartered
- 1 large white onion, quartered
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- ¼ cup kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Place pork shoulder, oranges, onion, garlic, kosher salt, cumin, black peppercorns, and bay leaves into a large Dutch oven. Add water to cover.
- Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Skim off any foam that rises to the top.
- Cover loosely and simmer until meat is tender, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Allow pork to cool, covered, in broth for 1 hour.
- Shred meat with two forks.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 188 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 7 g |
| Cholesterol | 63 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 18 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 2332 mg |
| Sugars | 4 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I did mine in a slow cooker. Delicious!
Broth, broth, beautiful broth! Not only did it make great carnitas tacos, but adding broth to the borracho beans and the Mexican rice made them exceptional! Great recipe, and I will take Ken’s advice and make pulled pork sammies, with the leftovers.
First time I ever made carnitas, and this recipe was terrific. I substituted 3/4 can of frozen orange juice concentrate, for the 2 Oranges. I added two green chiles and two roasted poblanos. And instead of adding water, I used a 12oz can of Dr. Pepper. Fall apart tender. These were amazing!
I made these today in the crock pot. I had to improvise on a couple ingredients but it still turned out fabulous. Will make them ag.
Very simple, easy to make, and tasty. I believe the best recipes are simple, easy, and tasty so this deserves 5 stars. As a note, one time I made this, I accidentally added way too much salt (I think 1/3 cup instead of 1/4 cup). It still came out pretty good! Wouldn’t recommend it, definitely noticeable amount of salt, but it wasn’t ruined.
These were the best! I really enjoyed the flavor. I made it in my crockpot, added 2 cups of water and cooked it on high for 6 hours. I will definitely make these again!
Simple says only half of it, delicious too! So easy to make, we all loved it!
4 stars because I altered recipe since I had bone in my 7 1/2 pound pork butt and couldn’t cut into cubes. Also thought it called for too much salt. Somewhat doubled the spices, except for the salt…reduced it to 2 Tbl, which was plenty. Didn’t have oranges, so used 1/2 cup OJ and hot water to cover. Cooked in crock-pot on high for about 4 hours until reached 190 degrees. Cubed meat would be great, because the outside seasoned part is better than the inside. Sieved and poured juice on shredded meat. Saved remaining sieved juice for broth. Delicious! Everyone in my family loved it!
Made this as written and wouldn’t change a thing! Easy and delicious with plenty of leftovers. I love pan-frying until crispy and serving in tortillas with Salsa Lisano. It’s a favorite of everyone I’ve made it for.
Love it! This was my first attempt at carnitas and was not disappointed. I followed the recipe as close as possible only leaving out the cumin, as I didn’t realize I was out (and I know will only make it better). I bought @5 lbs of meat so I used my electric roaster which worked perfectly. We used part of it to make our own burrito bowls and will probably have tacos next. Mmmmm, pork carnitas tacos…
I made this in an Instant Pot and it turned out delicious. Perfect for burritos. I crisped them up for tacos.
I follow this recipe exact and my family LOVES it. The only thing I do different it once the meat is shredded I put it on a pan and in my oven on broil until the top is crisp that way we have some softer meat with crisp meat. Then we make the carnitas according to taste usually with cilantro, avocado, and some hot peppers (habanero or what ever your heat preface is). These are amazing. I like them more on corn tortillas which is healthier (bonus).
I changed oranges to lemons and i will make it again
Awesome pork shoulder recipe! We make this in large batches, portion and freeze in vacuum sealed bags. This is a perfect base for many of our staple meals, tacos, burritos, pulled pork sandwiches. Use as is or add your favorite BBQ sauce. The recipe is spot on and the taste is amazing!
I use this recipe a lot! But it is a little dry and not like traditional Mexican carnitas. Still has great flavor. I double the amount of bay leaves.
2-5-2016 ~We enjoyed this well enough once it was in tortillas with a few fixings, but only because I reduced the salt to a mere one-third of the amount called for. (And I did use the directed Kosher salt, not table salt) Even then it was plenty salty. Also, we appreciate the “simple” in the title, but in its simplicity we found it tasted heavily of just cumin… and salt. We also missed the traditional step of crisping the meat up at the end, whether it’s by broiling, baking at 400 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, or briefly frying.
I LOVE this recipe. It is so great for serving a group of friends. I have made many times and it never gets old. Sometimes I fry it up in a little oil in a skillet to make it crunchy, which is how I like to eat pork tacos.
I loved these! I followed a few other readers in some modifications. I used pork loin. I used 1 Tbls kosher salt and about 1 Tbls salt substitute just to cut down on sodium. (It was still a tad salty.) I added 1 Tbls mexican hot chili powder, used fresh cracked black pepper instead of the whole peppercorns. I used limes instead of oranges, and added 2 packets of sodium free chicken bouillon. I cut the pork into good sized chunks, about 2.5″x2.5″x1″ and cooked per instructions. When they were done, I dumped out the broth into a container (not sure what to do with it, maybe freeze and use it later.) And oh my, if you haven’t tried this, forget the forks, take your hand mixer to the meat to shred it! Never again will I use forks to shred!! I tried, like other reviewers suggested, heating up a little olive oil and tossing the meat in. It didn’t get crisp, but browned some of it for a nice flavor! I will definitely make this again!
Reduced the salt as suggested by many reviewers. The subtle orange flavor was interesting, but this was not what I expected for carnitas.
I use a pressure cooker…and add cummin
Very easy to put together and such a tasty, versatile meat!