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Hawaiian Pulled Pork Tacos with Tropical BBQ Aioli

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These Hawaiian pulled pork tacos with tropical BBQ aioli bring some of our favorite flavors from our honeymoon back home to our kitchen. Using our slow cooker pulled pork, these tacos come together in just 15 minutes for an easy dinner any night of the week.

Hawaiian pulled pork tacos with tropical BBQ aioli and a carrot and cabbage slaw.

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 To Expect

  • Great for: Tropical inspired weeknight dinners, eating on the patio, and enjoying with a tequila pina colada.
  • Ready in: 15 minutes
  • Makes: 12 tacos, serves 3 to 4 people.
  • Flavor profile: Savory, bright, and tropical. The aioli is the star of the show featuring smoky chipotle and sweet pineapple.
  • How to make it: Make the slaw, mix together the aioli, heat up pulled pork, and serve with corn tortillas. We think they’re best assembled: tortilla → slaw → pork → aioli.

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Key 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!

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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).
  3. 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.
  4. Assemble and serve. To a warm tortilla, add slaw on the bottom, then pork, and finally drizzle with aioli. Enjoy!

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.

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 – We love pairing these tacos with a spicy mezcal margarita or mango mai tai so it feels like we’re still on vacation. If you don’t drink alcohol, try our pineapple coconut water mocktail!
Hawaiian tropical BBQ aioli being drizzled onto a pulled pork taco on a corn tortilla.

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.

Other Tropical Recipes We Love

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We hope you enjoy this recipe! When you try it out, please leave a review and a star rating in the comments below. Happy cooking! – Nicole and Alex

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Pulled pork tacos with Hawaiian BBQ aioli.

Hawaiian Pulled Pork Tacos with Tropical BBQ Aioli

Nicole & Alex Langdon
These Hawaiian pulled pork tacos with tropical BBQ aioli bring some of our favorite flavors from our honeymoon back home to our kitchen. Using our slow cooker pulled pork, these tacos come together in just 15 minutes for an easy dinner any night of the week.
5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine American, Fusion
Servings 12 tacos
Calories 110 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

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!
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Notes

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.

Nutrition

Serving: 1tacoCalories: 110kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 9gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 143mgPotassium: 232mgFiber: 3gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 913IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 35mgIron: 1mg
Like this recipe?Please leave a review below! We read and respond to every single comment.

If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

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90% of Nicole’s thoughts are about food. She’s had a passion for cooking (and eating) for as long as she can remember! Growing up, she started cooking with her mom at a young age, learned family recipes from her Italian grandmother, took every opportunity to make cookies (so many bake sales), and always loved going out to restaurants to try new foods.

Nicole currently works part-time as a marketing professional for OmieLife while also working nonstop on The Candid Cooks. As a former mechanical engineer, Nicole has consistently found herself at the intersection of creativity and logical reasoning. She credits not only her passion for photography, design, and writing, but also her problem-solving nature and desire to learn, as the foundation on which The Candid Cooks was built.

Nicole’s hobbies include anything that gets her moving - mainly hiking, skiing, ice skating, and dancing - as well as reading fantasy novels and scrapbooking. Her favorite food is a big plate of nachos, as long as they’re cheesy enough!

5 from 2 votes

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2 Comments

  2. 5 stars
    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.

    Reply