Best Ever Slow Cooker Carnitas

Submitted by SocialWorkChef

"A mouth-watering Mexican carnitas recipe with a special sweet addition, slow cooked for hours in a crock-pot and served with warm tortillas. After numerous attempts at perfecting the art of carnitas from scratch, this is my best recipe yet. A taste of Mexico in your very own kitchen!"

 

• Ready In: 6hrs 15mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 8 meat-filled tortillas
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 lbs pork loin (Boston butt and shoulder work great. Leaner meats seem to dry out.)
• 1⁄2 cup butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 -6 garlic cloves, peeled with the tips chopped off
• 3 -4 bay leaves, broken
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
• 1⁄3 cup whole milk
• 1 (20 ounce) bottle Coca-Cola Classic

directions

1. Cut the 2 lbs of pork into roughly 2 inch squares and place in the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. Pour the stick of melted butter in the slow cooker coating the meat. Do the same with the 2 Tbs of oil.
3. Break the one cinnamon stick in half and place to the sides of the meat.
4. Peel 5-6 garlic cloves, cutting the tips off, and break 3-4 bay leaves in half. Place the leaves and the garlic in the slow cooker, evenly distributed among the meat.
5. Add the 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 2 tsp cumin, and 1 tsp (or more depending on taste) red pepper flakes, sprinkling evenly across the meat.
6. Pour the 1/3 cup whole milk in the cooker, being careful not to wash away the spices from the meat.
7. Add the Coca Cola, being careful not to wash away the spices from the meat. Add enough to just cover the top of the meat.
8. Turn the slow cooker to the "Low" heat setting. Cook for 6 hours, stirring every few hours.
9. Once cooked, remove meat from the slow cooker with a slotted spoon and place in a separate large bowl. Shred the meat using two forks, and add spoonfuls of liquid from the cooker to ensure meat is moist.
10. Serve on warm tortillas, with pico de gallo, sour cream, and chopped jalapenos.

Reviews

[Sophia Foley]

This was terrible. I followed it EXACTLY and was so disappointed with the results. There is very little flavor and the cola leaves an odd sweet to an otherwise very dull dish. I ended up shredding up the meat and putting a ton of seasoning salt over it all and hoping it would mask the weird flavor. from now on i'm only roasting my carnitas. this was a flop.