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These Hawaiian pulled pork tacos with tropical BBQ aioli bring the flavors of Hawaii to your own kitchen table.
We were dreaming of the kalua pork tacos we had in Hawaii on our honeymoon and decided to recreate our favorites. Now these aren’t truly kalua pork tacos because unfortunately we can’t make real kalua pork at home without an imu. Thankfully, our slow cooker pulled pork does the trick! And if you want to really go above and beyond, there are some kalua pork recipe versions that don’t require an imu like this one from our favorite Hawaiian cookbook author Alana Kysar.
Not only does this recipe transport us back to the island of Kauai (the power of food is AMAZING) but we also love that there’s very little cooking involved. It’s such an easy, comforting dinner to shake up any Taco Tuesday or for a fun, flavorful Friday night treat!
What This Recipe Entails
With pulled pork ready to go, you can make these tacos for dinner in about 15 to 20 minutes! Simply prep the aioli and slaw, warm the pork and tortillas, and serve.
- Prep time: 10 minutes
- Cook time: 5 to 7 minutes
If you’re planning on making the pork yourself, remember that any slow roasted or smoked pulled pork will take around 8 hours to cook and will need to be made ahead of time. Alternatively, you can generally buy pre-cooked pulled pork at the grocery store!
Ingredients
- Tortillas – Corn tortillas are our favorite for tacos. We like to make them from scratch using Masienda masa harina – the flavor is so much better than store-bought!
- Pulled pork – Make our slow cooker pulled pork ahead of time, or use store-bought.
- Slaw – You’ll need green cabbage, shredded carrots, lime juice, and salt to make a crunchy slaw for these pork tacos, plus some of the Hawaiian BBQ aioli.
- Hawaiian BBQ aioli – A Hawaiian BBQ inspired sauce made with mayo, chipotle puree, lime juice, Worcestershire, pineapple juice, and salt. It’s sweet, savory, smoky, and a little spicy all at the same time!
How To Make Pulled Pork Tacos
We love making tacos because they’re the classic assemble yourself style dinner. All you have to do is make each ingredient and then let everyone make their own tacos at the dinner table.
- Make the slaw. Combine cabbage, carrots, lime juice, and salt in a bowl and toss well. Let this sit while you make the aioli, then add a spoonful of the aioli to the slaw and toss to combine.
- Make the aioli. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo, chipotle puree, pineapple juice, Worcestershire, lime juice, and salt. Taste and adjust as needed (see Expert Tips section or recipe card notes for details).
- Heat the pork. In a large frying pan, warm the pork over medium heat. Add a splash of pineapple juice and lime juice for extra flavor.
- Assemble and serve. To a warm tortilla, add slaw on the bottom, then pork, and finally drizzle with aioli. Enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
- DIY style – Bring all the fixings to the dinner table and have a build your own taco night! That way everyone can customize their tacos, and it’s less work for you 🙂
- Sides – In our house, taco night always needs a side of chips, salsa, and guacamole. To celebrate the tropical flavors of your Hawaiian pork tacos, try making our mango pico de gallo as a side dish.
- Drinks – It’s not Taco Tuesday without a margarita! Try pairing these tacos with our spicy mezcal margarita or even something more decadent like a tequila pina colada so it feels like you’re on vacation. If you don’t drink alcohol, a lime flavored seltzer goes great with tacos!
FAQs
There are two main ways we warm up tortillas: 1. Place the tortillas on a skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium heat for about a minute per side. 2. Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for about 5 to 10 seconds per tortilla.
We recommend storing the pork, aioli, and slaw in separate containers. They’ll stay fresh in the fridge for up to 4 days (the aioli will last up to 2 weeks).
If you stored the ingredients separately, reheat the pork in a frying pan over medium-low heat for a few minutes until warm.
If you don’t have a smoker, you can make pulled pork in a slow cooker or crockpot! It’ll take about 8 to 10 hours so you can easily make it overnight and pull it in the morning, or let it cook all day long so it’s fresh for dinner. Check out our slow cooker pulled pork recipe for details.
Expert Tips
- Chipotle puree – Grab a can of chipotles in adobo from the store and puree the whole thing in a food processor! It’s a quick and easy way to add chipotle flavor to anything. Any that you don’t use for this recipe can be stored in the fridge for a few weeks.
- Aioli – If your aioli tastes a little too spicy, add a dash more Worcestershire and/or pineapple juice to balance the flavors. The sauce should be equal parts sweet, smoky, and spicy.
- Slaw – Adding a spoonful of aioli to the slaw helps give it some extra moisture and flavor to tie the dish together. This recipe makes plenty of aioli to account for this, but you can easily 1.5x or 2x the aioli recipe if you love saucy tacos and don’t want to worry about running out.
- Tortillas – Taco night tastes so much better with homemade tortillas! If you’re adventurous enough to try making them yourself, we recommend investing in a cast iron tortilla press and high quality masa harina.
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Hawaiian Pulled Pork Tacos with Tropical BBQ Aioli
Ingredients
- 12 4-inch corn tortillas
- ¾ pound pulled pork
Slaw
- ¼ head green cabbage chopped
- ½ cup shredded carrots
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ medium lime juiced
- 1 tablespoon Hawaiian BBQ aioli see below
Hawaiian BBQ Aioli
- ½ cup light mayo
- 2 tablespoons chipotle puree
- 1½ teaspoons pineapple juice
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ medium lime juiced
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Make the slaw. Combine cabbage, carrots, lime juice, and salt in a bowl and toss well. Let this sit while you make the aioli, then add a spoonful of the aioli to the slaw and toss to combine.
- Make the aioli. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo, chipotle puree, pineapple juice, Worcestershire, lime juice, and salt. Taste and adjust as needed (see Expert Tips section or recipe card notes for details).
- Heat the pork. In a large frying pan, warm the pork over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add a splash of pineapple juice and lime juice for extra flavor at the end of cooking and mix to combine well.
- Assemble and serve. To a warm tortilla, add slaw on the bottom, then pork, and finally drizzle with aioli. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.
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Such a quick and easy dinner when we’re craving tacos! I love how there’s not a ton of cooking involved in this recipe.