| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 50 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Cook: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 pounds pork shoulder, skin and bone removed
- Water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 garlic cloves, roughly chop
- 1 medium white onion, medium dice
- 2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
- Salt
- Pepper
- 12 warm corn tortillas
- Tropical Avocado Salsa, recipe follows
- 3 papayas, peeled, seeded, cut into small dice
- 2 mangoes, peeled, cut into small dice
- 3 avocados, cut into small dice
- 1 large red onion, cut into small dice
- 1 red jalapeno pepper, finely minced
- 1 green jalapeno pepper, finely minced
- 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
- 2 large limes, juiced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Cut the meat, with the fat, into 1-inch cubes. Barely cover the meat with water in a heavy wide pan. Add the salt and bring to a boil, uncovered. When the liquid reaches a boil, lower the heat, and continue to cook until all the liquid has evaporated. At this point, the meat should be cooked through but not falling apart.
- Lower the heat a little more and continue cooking the meat until all the fat has rendered out of it. Keep turning the meat until it is lightly browned all over. This entire process should take about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Remove the meat and set aside.
- Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the oil and heat over medium low heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the garlic, reserved meat, and chile powder. Cook for a few minutes more, stirring constantly. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.
- Serve with corn tortillas and Tropical Avocado Salsa.
- To make tropical salsa, combine all ingredients together in a medium bowl and stir well. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 1054 |
| Total Fat | 65 g |
| Saturated Fat | 18 g |
| Carbohydrates | 79 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 18 g |
| Sugar | 35 g |
| Protein | 47 g |
| Cholesterol | 161 mg |
| Sodium | 1822 mg |
Reviews
Excellent!! I used chicken broth instead of water. But this would be excellent as written. I recommend it highly!!!
where to start? from the beginning, the apartment was filled with the TERRIBLE scent of boiled meat. The scent made me want to stop, but I thought that once i got that part, maybe it would taste ok. very wrong. Maybe i’m spoiled, I live in southern california down the street from a little mom and pop shop that sells award winning carnitas, but one bite of this and my husband and I both put down our forks- and he tries to like everything i cook. if i could rate this a zero, I would. absolutely terrible.
Awesome! And very simple to make. Only thing that when wrong for me was with the chili pepper. Tasted too salty after I put it on so i ended up putting about a cup of water in it, strained it, then put it back on the stove. Tastes GREAT! Better than some mexican resaraunts i’ve been to. By the way, this was my first time making carnitas!
This was the HIT at our Cinco de Mayo party. We wanted to make carnitas, but all the recipes we found called for up to 2 lbs of lard!! Yuk! So we were glad to find a recipe without it, and it was definitely not missed. Carnitas is my favorite thing to order at our local burrito shop in Santa Cruz, CA and this was right up there with it! We will definitely be making this again, and again!
The flavor is good but the meat will not be tender in 1 hour and 15 minutes, it takes at least 2 hours to get the meat tender enough and then another 15 minimum to brown it. Great if you have the time.
This is my favorite carnitas recipe. Easy and tasty even without the lard…
If you’re looking to make tasty carnitas without the lard, this is your recipe. Very simple to make. The meat does take longer to cook than the recipe indicates.
As close to authentic carnitas as you can get without doing the full deep fat simmer thing. Great flavor, not too hard. We did not make the salsa, but served it with store bought salsa, guacamole, sour cream, great tortillas, black beans and Mexican rice. Yum!!
origanily been from michoacan mexico carnitas is a favorite here and i remember my grandparents house always having them there
this recepie brought back memories from home i made it for the family and they liked it so i made it for a pot luck with some caucasian friends and they too loved it and since then they ask me to make it for them
with the graduation season approaching they again have asked me to make this for their daughters graduation party i strongly recomend this reciepie for anyone looking for something authentic mexican disfruten su comida
this recepie brought back memories from home i made it for the family and they liked it so i made it for a pot luck with some caucasian friends and they too loved it and since then they ask me to make it for them
with the graduation season approaching they again have asked me to make this for their daughters graduation party i strongly recomend this reciepie for anyone looking for something authentic mexican disfruten su comida
tastsed good