Simply the BEST Pork Carnitas
The most versatile dish to make for fall that’s comfort food, game food and kid friendly? Pork Carnitas!!!
Ingredients
5-7 lbs of pork butt- white parts (fat) trimmed as much as possible. Not all of it will be trimmable
1 white onion sliced
1 bell pepper diced
5 cloves of garlic
2 bags of Frontera barbacoa cook sauce or whichever other kind of frontera flavor you’d like
6-8 tblspoons of Taco seasoning
Serve with:
Corn or flour tortillas
Mexican shredded cheese or feta cheese
Avocados or guacamole
Salsa
Directions
Cut the pork into 4-6 large chunks. You’re going to use a 5qt slow cooker pot for this. Chop the onions & red bell peppers and garlic and place into the bottom of the crock pot. Rub the taco seasoning all over the pork chunks. Trim the white pieces of fat off the pork chunks either with a sharp knife or my preferred method which is the poultry shears. It’s more practical & faster and frankly safer when working with slimey pork. Discard the fat or keep it & you can use it for other things if you’re creative enough. Turn on the slow cooker at this point to high for 7 hours. Give it a chance to start warming up. Place the pork chunks on top of the chopped veggies. Pour the 2 bags of the Frontera cook sauce on top. Top with the crock pot lid and walk away for 3.5 hours.
**After 3.5 hours***
Use tongs to move the chunks around and even try getting the veggies on top. Place lid back on top and walk away. After the 7 hours are up, take a large bowl & start transferring the chunks of pork to the bowl. Take 2 forks & start shredding. The gravy will be left in the crock pot along with a layer of fat. The trick here is if you don’t have a fat separator, transfer gravy to a cold bowl and let the fat harden on the top. You can scoop out the fat once it’s hardened & you’ll be left with just the au jus (gravy). You want to transfer some of the su jus to the shredded pork to keep it moist and flavorful!
Once pork is shredded and ladled with the au jus you can make it into tacos, pulled pork sandwiches, Cuban style sandwiches with ham, pickle, mustard and onions and potato rolls — possibilities are endless! Enjoy and send me pictures if you make it!!!
