Slow Cooker Carnitas Tacos
Are you ready for another rendition of Hungry Ali tacos?? I think the answer is yes!
I clearly love me some easy peasy, slow cooked shredded taco meat. Of course it's super simple to throw together, that's a given. But that's not even the main reason why I love throwing together different shredded taco meat recipes on the reg. There's something magical that happens when meat is cooked low and slow for hours. The meat tenderizes and breaks down in such a way that make it literally melt-in-your-mouth. And who wouldn't want that?! And while I think slow cooked chicken makes for some darn tasty tacos, there's really no comparison to slow cooked pork, or carnitas for tacos. What a treat indeed!
Carnitas are typically slow cooked, succulent morsels of pork that are then fried in their own fat (uh, yeah) to make them extra delightful. My slow cooker method achieves the same affect with a few shortcuts, thanks to the slow cooker and a final crisp in the oven. From the combination of the sweet, tangy fresh orange juice paired with spicy jalapeño and warm, fragrant cumin, oregano, onions and garlic, the flavor of the carnitas is on point. I dare you not to sneak little tid-bits of pork to snack on while you wait to assemble your taco!
Slow Cooker Carnitas Tacos
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 2-3 pound boneless pork shoulder
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, chopped
1 orange, cut in half
To serve:
Corn tortillas, I LOVE the La Tortilla Factory yellow corn tortillas
Red cabbage (you can obviously do green cabbage, but I think the red cabbage adds gorgeous color, don't you agree?!)
Avocado slices
Crumbled cotija cheese
Directions
Combine salt, pepper, oregano and cumin. Rub evenly over pork shoulder. Place pork shoulder in a slow cooker and add onions, garlic and jalapeño on top. Drizzle olive oil and freshly squeeze orange juice on top. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove pork from slow cooker and place on baking sheet to shred. Pour about 1/2 cup of juices over pork and bake for 10-15 minutes, until pork is crispy. Serve in corn tortillas with red cabbage, avocado and cotija cheese!
