Carnitas (Authentic)

Submitted by babygirl65

"Carnitas is a very famous Mexican dish. It does involve a lot of cooking time, so I make it when I have time. Serve with fresh homemade corn tortillas, guacamole, cheese and pico de gallo with cilantro.....yum."

 

• Ready In: 5hrs 15mins
• Ingredients: 6
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• 4 lbs boneless pork shoulder
• 2 (16 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 5 -6 garlic cloves, grounded in a mortar
• 1 tablespoon cumin seed, ground in a mortar
• 2 onions, quartered
• 1⁄2 bunch cilantro

directions

1. Cut pork meat into chunks and discard the big pieces of fat. (I leave some fat as it adds flavor).
2. Add pork chunks, broth, garlic*, comino*, onion* and cilantro* to a dutch oven. If necessary, add water so that the meat is covered.
3. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 3 -4 hours or until meat is very soft and pulls apart easily. (Be careful not to shred meat, needs to stay in chunks).
4. Remove the meat carefully from pot and place in a roasting pan. Discard onion and broth. Break the meat apart into smaller chunks (don't shred, it needs to stay in chunks).
5. Bake in the oven at 450°F for about 20 minutes or until the meat is brown and crispy.
6. Heat (or make homemade) corn tortillas, serve with desired toppings.
7. (You may have to adjust garlic, comino, onion and cilantro to your liking, everyone's taste is different. You can add salt and pepper if you like too, I use Nature's seasonings, personal preference).

Reviews

[SeaMonkey76]

I have been looking for a good/EASY carnitas recipe....& I found it! I followed the recipe exactly, but added to it based on other reviews. I added an extra can of broth to cover the meat, juice from 1 orange, a bay leaf and a few good shakes of black pepper, cayenne pepper and garlic salt. When it came time to put it in the oven I added about a 1/4 cup of the broth and 2 tablespoons of bacon fat and carefully flipped the meat halfway through the cooking. Let the meat stand or "rest" for about 5-10 minutes before shredding. These came out perfectly tender and crispy! Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[Tammy Z.]

OH MY GOODNESS....THESE ARE THE BEST I HAVE EVER HAD!! The only thing I did different was add more garlic (I love garlic). I served these will Pico De Gallo Recipe #33861 and they were out of this world....I will be making these often. Thanks a million for sharing!!!

 

[No Stress Chef]

Great! Delicious! After cooking the pork chunks in the broth, I took 1 cup of the broth, reduced it by 1/2 in a saucepan, and then combined it with the pork before placing it in the oven. As it baked in the hot oven, the flavors from the broth permeated the meat, adding an extra layer of deliciousness.

 

[Camden's Mom]

This is a delicious recipe! Made it in the crock pot and it came out wonderfully. I saved and refrigerated the strained broth then skimmed off the fat the next day. I used that broth tonight to replace some of the chicken broth in tortilla soup. Yum! This one's a keeper!

 

[Mechelle M.]

Followed recipe very closely, cheated with ground comino, minced jarred garlic, a red onion and culantro ( a fresh herb that tastes exactly like cilantro but lasts longer in the fridge from the grocery store)... Dinner was excellent.... can't wait to make again!!!