This authentic slow cooker carnitas recipe is fairly easy, delicious and will take care of your meal planning for half the week! 🙂
Do you need any special equipment to make slow cooker carnitas?
At minimum, you will need a large slow cooker (depending on how many pounds of meat you plan to make) and a large saute pan. I am obsessed with my Ninja Foodi PossibleCooker. The reason why I love this particular slow cooker over others is that it isn’t just a slow cooker. The Ninja Foodi also has the ability to saute, bake, steam, braise, proof, and keep food warm. These additional functions mean that you can complete any necessary prep work right in the slow cooker versus dirtying additional pans.
If you find that your slow cooker is too small to fit the size of your pork shoulder, you can always cut the meat down into parts, saving the pieces that don’t fit for your next batch of carnitas. Same goes for your saute pan. If your pan is not large enough, you can saute the pork in pieces and then add them to the slow cooker together. Win win! There is always a creative solution! If you run into a problem that you can’t seem to solve on your own, please feel free to message me. I’m always happy to help with a creative solution.
What type of meat is used in an authentic carnitas recipe?
Pork shoulder, aka pork butt (insert jokes from my tween boys here 😆), is used for this carnitas recipe. I plan on about 1/3 cup of pulled pork per person, and I also plan on making enough to last for a few days. I find that 8lbs of carnitas will last about three days for our family of six, although this includes toddlers and kids who are not all eating as much as adults do.
What type of spices do you use for seasoning slow cooker carnitas?
An authentic carnitas recipe is traditionally a Mexican dish, so any and all spices that would be used in Mexican food can be used here as well. Here are some of the spices that I personally love to use when making slow cooker carnitas:
- Cumin
- Chili powder
- Onion granules
- Garlic granules, or freshly minced garlic
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
- Cayenne pepper (just a pinch will do, any more than that and your dish will quickly heat up spice level wise 🥵)
- Lime
How to serve authentic carnitas?
There are so many ways to serve slow cooker carnitas! I like to serve slow cooker carnitas on tortillas with a variety of toppings like avocado, black beans, shredded lettuce, diced onion, cilantro, tomatoes, salsa, hot sauce, and the list goes on.
Carnitas can be served in a bowl on top of any type of rice (I love cilantro lime rice or spanish rice), along with black beans, avocado, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Check out my cilantro lime rice recipe. YUM.
Other ways to serve carnitas are in enchiladas, on top of a big salad, directly on a plate with a side of veggies, potatoes, you name it — the sky’s the limit.
Foods that pair well with an authentic carnitas recipe
If you need a little inspiration for your shopping list, here is a list of staples that I keep on hand when making carnitas. Keeping these items readily available helps to add variety when carnitas is the star of the show for three days in a row 😉
- Tortillas
- Black reans
- Avocado
- Guacamole
- Salsa
- Tomatoes
- Bell peppers
- Onion
- Rice (cilantro lime rice, spanish rice, white rice, brown rice)
- Refried beans
- Lime
- Lettuce
How to store slow cooker carnitas
Carnitas will keep fresh best when stored in a glass container with an airtight lid. The Ninja Foodie pot comes right out of the unit and can be stored directly in the fridge with the glass lid. If you do this, please make sure the pot is cooled before placing it in the fridge. I also like to put a kitchen towel underneath the pot to protect the fridge shelf.
Pyrex dishes are also great for storing carnitas. If you don’t have a glass container, honestly any container that can be covered will do. Here is the Pyrex container that works great for us.
How to Make Slow Cooker Carnitas
Ingredients
- 8lbs pork shoulder
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 tbsp garlic granules
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp onion granules
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- Juice from one lime, approximately 2 tablespoons
- 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 cup orange juice, organic
- 1/2 cup purified water
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 1 yellow onion, julienned
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients (spices and cilantro). Set aside.
- Preheat slow cooker (or saute pan, whichever you will be using to brown your pork shoulder). Drizzle two tablespoons of avocado oil on the pan, making sure the pan is evenly coated. Sauté to brown the pork, 3-4 minutes on each side. Each side is not just top and bottom, but also along each side and both ends of the pork shoulder. This means there are essentially six sides to the pork shoulder that need to be browned. This step is accounted for under preparation time.
- After the pork is browned, massage the spice mixture onto the pork using the back side of a large spoon or by hand. Be careful, at this point the pork is going to be warm to touch. Use a paper towel if needed to buffer the heat. I add the seasonings after browning the meat so that they don’t all cook off while sautéing. We want to retain as much of the flavor for slow cooking as possible!
- Pour 1/2 cup organic orange juice and 1/2 cup purified water over the pork. Briefly lift the pork shoulder to ensure that the liquid runs underneath the meat as well. This will help the carnitas retain moisture, add flavor, and avoid burning while cooking.
- Set on low heat and slow cook for a minimum of 8 hours.
- At 7 hours, add bell peppers and onions. If the bell peppers and onions are added earlier, they will be soft and soggy. At this point, you can also check the pork shoulder’s internal temperature. The thermometer should read around 200 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take. Pulling the meat now will help raise the internal temperature evenly if the temperature still needs to rise. Pull the pork shoulder using two forks while it is still in the slow cooker. You can also remove the pork shoulder from the slow cooker and place it on a plate or cutting board while pulling. Put the pulled meat back into the slow cooker and allow to finish cooking.
- Optional: Once the pork is finished, preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 15 minutes to give the pork a crispy carnitas texture. This step is not accounted for in the recipe cook time.
Nutrition Facts
How to Make Slow Cooker Carnitas
Serves: 12
|
Amount Per Serving: 1/3 lb
|
||
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 314k | |
| % Daily Value* | ||
| Total Fat 15g | 23.1% | |
| Saturated Fat 4g | 20% | |
| Trans Fat | ||
| Cholesterol 123mg | 41% | |
| Sodium 348mg | 14.5% | |
| Total Carbohydrate 4g | 1.3% | |
| Dietary Fiber .96g | 0% | |
| Sugars 2g | ||
| Protein 36g | ||
| Vitamin A 616IU | Vitamin C 29mg | |
| Calcium 40mg | Iron 2mg | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
LeeAnn Neumann | Chucktown Art
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About the author
LeeAnn Neumann is a mom of 4 boys, guitarist wife, cat lady, wannabe yogi, Peloton addict, home chef, pizza eater, who walks everywhere, listens to music all day, sourdough baker, kombucha brewer, developing a green thumb, professional photographer, artist, and potter living in Charleston, South Carolina. LeeAnn connects all the dots while coloring outside the lines. You can find more by LeeAnn at www.leeannneumann.com and www.chucktownart.com.
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