Slow Cooker Carnitas

5 from 2 votes

You can make this easy slow cooker carnitas recipe overnight and use the meat for a carnitas plate, burritos, tortas, tacos, and more.

Servings lbs

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 8

Resting Time 1

Total Time 9 5

Equipment

Slow cooker 4- or 5-quart
Meat thermometer optional

Ingredients

5 lb bone-in pork shoulder sub pork butt
2 cups orange juice
½ cup lime juice
Dash liquid smoke
2 tbsp onion powder
2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp Mexican oregano
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp ground red cayenne pepper
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Place pork in a large slow cooker.
Mix together orange juice, lime juice, and liquid smoke in a bowl. Add onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, Mexican oregano, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper and stir well to combine.
Pour the marinade over the pork to cover it completely. Add bay leaf, making sure to submerge it in the liquid.
Cover and cook on LOW for approximately 8 to 9 hours, or until the internal temperature of the pork reaches 155-165 degrees.*
Transfer cooked pork to a cutting board and let rest for 1 hour. Reserve juices for later use in other recipes.*
Pull the pork by hand, picking out and discarding excess fat. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Notes

How to check for doneness: The best way to tell if your pork is cooked (without over-cooking it and drying it out) is to monitor the internal temperature with a high quality meat thermometer, starting around the 6-hour mark. It's a much better indicator than cook time and ensures perfectly tender pork every time.

Reserving juices: We recommend reserving all the cooking liquid and pork juices that are left in the slow cooker. It makes a flavorful base for our spicy verde sauce, which you can use in our carnitas burrito recipe (here), drizzle over tacos, or dip tortilla chips into! Simply strain it into a bowl, refrigerate for at least 8 hours, then scrape off the layer of fat that rises to the top before using.

Serving suggestions: Carnitas make a great filling for burritos, tacos, and quesadillas - or a hearty and flavorful topping for nachos! Use this protein in basically any Mexican dish and it'll taste amazing. Check out our blog post above for more suggestions!

Author: Alex

Calories: 546kcal

Course: Dinner, Ingredients, Lunch, Main, Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: bay leaf, crockpot, lime juice, liquid smoke, orange juice, pork shoulder, slow cooker

Nutrition