Super Tender Carnitas. Now, traditional carnitas are made by slow cooking pork in spices and fat (normally lard). Then when it's super tender, it gets fried in the rendered fat and lard to crispy perfection. But with a few thoughtful adjustments, we can make this a little easier.
They're filled with meltingly tender pork that's finished with perfect, crisp edges.
Just make your carnitas in a slow cooker (super easy) and add some fresh toppings.
Combine all the ingredients in a large Dutch oven, including the spent orange halves and juice.; Braise: Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, uncovered.
You can cook Super Tender Carnitas using 10 ingredients and 5 steps. Here is how you cook it.
Ingredients of Super Tender Carnitas
- Prepare 3.5 pounds of pork shoulder, cut into 1.5"chunks.
- You need 2 teaspoons of salt to start.
- You need 1 of onion, peeled and sliced into 1/2" strips.
- You need 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed.
- Prepare of optional: 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 Tablespoon dried oregano.
- Prepare 1 of large orange.
- It's 1 of large lime.
- It's 2 of bay leaves.
- It's 1.5 cups of water.
- It's 1 Tablespoon of distilled white or apple cider vinegar (makes it extra tender).
Once it simmers, cover pot and transfer it to the oven. Some people like them crunchy, others like them tender and moist. Like many things in life, I want the best of both worlds when it comes to homemade carnitas. I want the chunks of pork to be fork-tender, moist and flavorful, but there's something about the end process of roasting the.
Super Tender Carnitas step by step
- Cut your pork into roughly 1.5" chunks and season with the salt. Then, in a large pot preheated to medium high with about a teaspoon of oil, sear on two sides in 2 or 3 equal batches for about 3 minutes per side, until they have a good brown crust on them..
- Throw all the seared carnitas back into the pot and add onion, garlic, bay leaves (and optional cumin and oregano) into the pot and mix, letting the onions saute until they start to turn translucent. (A minute or two.).
- Squeeze all the juice from the orange and lime into the pot then add the water and vinegar..
- Bring to a boil, covered, for a minute or so. Once it's been boiling for a minute, turn the heat down to medium low and simmer, completely covered, for 45 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Maybe every 15 minutes or so.) Check the seasoning at this point - you might like more salt or a little more acid from the citrus. Then simmer for another 15 minutes with the lid askew..
- Your carnitas should be moist, delicious, and fork tender by this point. Enjoy!.
To make carnitas (which literally means "little meats"), cubed pork butt is cooked low-and-slow in lard and citrus - then browned under the broiler. The result is an extremely moist texture with an amazing, flavorful caramelized crust! Easy Pork Carnitas - Oven Baked Citrus Carnitas AUTHENTIC PORK CARNITAS are easy to make and are JUICY and CRISPY at the same time! Roasting in the oven makes the meat SUPER TENDER and a quick trip under the broiler gives you those EXTRA CRISPY bits. Using pork loin or tenderloin means no hard-to-find ingredients, and the result is super tender.
