Crispy Carnitas (Juicy and Tender)

How to make carnitas that are unapologetically porky, juicy, and tender with crisped-up edges. These are surprisingly simple to make and delicious.

Watch The Video

How to Make Carnitas Recipe Video

Carnitas (meaning “little meats”) are the Mexican version of pulled pork here in America. They are unapologetically porky, juicy, and tender. Depending on where in Mexico you have them, they also have plenty of crisped-up and browned edges.

You’ll see the pork slowly cooked in a big pot of lard in many authentic recipes (Woah and yum!). However, to make our carnitas recipe a little more home-friendly, we slow-cook our pork with a few aromatics and a few tablespoons of oil to keep it moist. Our method produces moist and tender pork that’s not quite as rich as the traditional lard-cooked version but is still quite delicious.

How to Make Carnitas

Here’s the recipe overview so you have a better idea of how we make carnitas (the full recipe is below). I’m happy to say that it’s surprisingly easy!

  • Buy boneless or bone-in pork shoulder (it doesn’t matter which) with a good amount of fat left intact. It is the fat that keeps our pork moist and tender. This is the same cut of meat we use for our Slow Cooker Pulled Pork.
  • Season the pork well with salt and pepper.
  • Slow-cook the pork, covered, in a 300° F oven with a bit of onion, garlic, orange, bay leaf, and a cinnamon stick. It takes about 3 hours.
Cooking Carnitas
  • Shred the pork — I love a combination of big chunks and tiny shreds.
  • Broil the pulled pork with some of the rendered cooking liquid (it’s mostly fat) until the tips are well-browned and crisp.
  • Serve and enjoy!!
Crispy Carnitas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to cut the pork into small pieces before cooking? Cutting the pork before cooking is entirely up to you. The idea behind cooking smaller pieces of pork is that more of the pork comes into contact with the rendered fat. You can see that in our photos, we kept our pork shoulder uncut. We did this because it was a bone-in pork shoulder.

Can I make carnitas in a slow cooker? Yes, you can make this carnitas recipe in a slow cooker! This recipe is the perfect use for your crockpot. We recommend seasoning the pork just as you would with the regular recipe and that you add the same aromatics (onion, garlic, orange, bay leaf, and cinnamon). Cook the pork, fat-side-up, on LOW for six to eight hours or on HIGH for four hours. When the pork is pull-apart tender, shred it and then crisp it up using your broiler (explained in the recipe below).

Can I make carnitas in an Instant Pot pressure cooker? Yes, you can, although our recipe might not be the best for this method. You will likely need to add a little liquid for the pressure cooker to work correctly (we estimate 1 to 1 ½ cups of broth). We plan on testing this recipe in a pressure cooker soon, so we will keep you posted!

Crispy Carnitas Ready to Eat

Storing and Make-Ahead Tips

I love making this recipe and saving half for another day! You can keep carnitas in the refrigerator for up to five days and in the freezer for up to three months (probably longer). When cold, the pork fat will firm up. It will melt when you reheat the pork.

What to Serve With Carnitas

A Plate of Carnitas in Tacos

Crispy Carnitas (Juicy and Tender)

  • PREP
  • COOK
  • TOTAL

How to make carnitas that are unapologetically porky, juicy, and tender with crisped-up edges. These are surprisingly simple to make and delicious.

Makes 8 cups

Watch Us Make the Recipe

You Will Need

4 pounds pork shoulder with the fat left on; use bone-in or boneless

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 small or 1 medium orange, halved

Half large onion, quartered

5 cloves garlic

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick, broken in half

Directions

  • Prepare Pork
  • 1Adjust an oven rack towards the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 300° Fahrenheit.

    2Season the pork, on all sides, with two teaspoons salt and one teaspoon pepper.

    3Add one tablespoon of oil to a wide, heavy-bottomed, oven-safe pot (like a Dutch oven). See the tips below if you do not have a Dutch oven.

    4Place the pork into the pot with the fattiest side facing up.

    5Squeeze the oranges over the pork, then place them around the pork.

    6Nestle the onion, garlic, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf around the pork.

    7Drizzle the remaining two tablespoons of oil over everything.

    8Cover the pot with its lid, and then place into the oven until the pork is fork tender, 3 to 3 ½ hours.

  • Shred Pork
  • 1Transfer the pork to a cutting board and cool until you can handle it. Pull the pork with forks or your fingers — pull into larger chunks or shred, depending on your preference. Discard the bone (if there is one), any connective tissue, and larger clumps of fat. I like leaving a few smaller bits of fat.

    2Strain the cooking liquid and save it. Discard the onion, oranges, and spices.

    3Store the pork and cooking liquid in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. Both will keep stored in food-safe containers in the fridge for up to four days.

  • To Serve
  • 1Spread the shredded pork on a baking sheet and pour over enough of the saved cooking liquid to moisten the pork. If your cooking liquid has solidified, rewarm some of it in a small saucepan before adding it to the pork.

    2Set an oven rack four to five inches below the broiler and turn it on. Slide the pork underneath and broil for 2 to 5 minutes. Stir the pork around once or twice so that the tips of the pork caramelizes. Keep a close eye while it broils; it can burn or smoke quickly.

    3Serve carnitas in tacos, burritos, salads, rice, or with your favorite sides.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

  • No Dutch Oven: Cut the pork into 2-inch chunks and arrange it in a large baking dish. Place the other ingredients around it, and then cover the dish with aluminum foil.
  • Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

Nutrition Per Serving Serving Size 1/8 of the recipe (about 1 cup) / Calories 353 / Total Fat 12.9g / Saturated Fat 6.6g / Cholesterol 136mg / Sodium 705.2mg / Carbohydrate 5.2g / Dietary Fiber 1g / Total Sugars 2.4g / Protein 51.6g
AUTHOR:  Adam and Joanne Gallagher
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13 comments… Leave a Review
  • Karen February 12, 2024, 11:26 am

    Does the orange give any kind of sweetness?

    Reply
    • Joanne February 14, 2024, 3:35 pm

      The orange contributes a subtle sweetness, but it’s more about the bright citrus flavor that balances the richness of the pork. It also adds a delightful, complex aroma to the carnitas.

      Reply
  • Hannah January 19, 2023, 8:05 pm

    Just curious if you guys were able to try this out in a instapot/ pressure cooker? If so (please say you have, oh pleaseeee say you have lol) could you let me know the times and pressure settings used exp: high/low pressure. Thanks so much for the great recipes. I’ve so far in just the first day of finding your site was able to make peanut butter, chocolate version minus the choco chips, granola bars with the peanut butter, added figs and raisins on top! I can say this for sure, I’ve never liked cooking, mainly because almost every online recipe I’ve ever tried has turned out awful. Usually because of a typo the drastically changes the outcome exmp: oven temp, time needed to cook or a vital ingredients just missing altogether. After trying your simple recipes I am so happy to be able to say I not only wasn’t half bad at the but I rather enjoyed myself as well. so thank you so much for more then just the great content but for the huge confidence boost as well. <3

    Reply
    • Joanne February 27, 2023, 4:27 pm

      Hi Hannah, Thank you for such a kind comment!! We have included instructions for cooking carnitas in an Instant Pot as well as in a slow cooker in the article above.

      Reply
  • Loan McLeod January 1, 2023, 1:42 pm

    I loved your recipe pancakes. Thank you so much 😊

    Reply
  • Esther December 31, 2022, 5:42 pm

    Hi Joanne, love the sound of this. Is the cooking temperature for conventional oven or fan assisted? Thanks so much.

    Reply
    • Adam December 31, 2022, 5:58 pm

      Hi Esther, the cooking temperature is for a conventional oven setting.

      Reply
  • Alison December 31, 2022, 4:43 pm

    Can this be done in a slow cooker? What would be the cooking time?

    Reply
    • Adam December 31, 2022, 5:57 pm

      Yes, it should work. Just cook the pork on low or high until fork tender. For our slow cooker pulled pork we cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or HIGH for 4 to 6.

      Reply
  • Mayra November 23, 2022, 11:06 am

    You are the very best!! Even though us Mexican are very special about our recipes, you guys do our cusine with a lot of respect! Love all your baking recipes but with this types of recipes, I love you even more!! The only thing I would add, its some Salsa Verde with your taco Carnitas!!. Keep up the awesome work!! you guys rock!!

    Reply
    • Adam November 23, 2022, 1:00 pm

      Hi Mayra,

      That means a lot to us! We top these with salsa verde all of the time. We almost always have some of our homemade salsa verde in our fridge.

      Reply
  • Joanna Phipps November 21, 2022, 10:39 am

    Hi. I want to try this, but my husband is allergic to oranges and tangerines. What would be a good substitute? He is not allergic to lemon, lime or grapefruit – just oranges and tangerines. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Joanne November 21, 2022, 2:44 pm

      Hi Joanne, Lime is an excellent substitute. Many carnitas recipes actually call for lime instead of the orange.

      Reply

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