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These crispy pork carnitas are as close as you are going to get without a plane ticket to Mexico.
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5 from 1 vote

crispy pork carnitas

Serve crispy pork carnitas in tacos, on nachos, in a grilled cheese sandwich or with eggs. Anywhere you can think of really. It will probably work.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time4 hours
Total Time4 hours 20 minutes
Course: Main
Cuisine: Mexican
Servings: 12

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs boneless pork shoulder cut into 2-3 inch cubes
  • 1 orange halved
  • 2 onions quartered
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 4-5 cloves garlic split
  • 1 cup rendered pork lard melted (vegetable oil can be substituted if you can't get lard)

Instructions

Dry-brine the pork

  • One or two days before you want to serve the carnitas, slice the pork shoulder in half (for a 3 lbs roast).
  • Salt liberally.
  • Wrap and refrigerate.

Make the carnitas

  • Pre-heat your oven to 275F.
  • Cut the pork into large 2-3 inch cubes.
  • Place the pork, bay and quartered onions in an oven proof dish just barely big enough to hold the ingredients. Make sure there's a bit of extra height so you don't spill hot oil onto your floor (yes, I did that the first time I made these)
  • Squeeze the juice of the orange over the pork then nestle the two rinds in with the pork and onions.
  • Pour enough pork lard overtop to just cover the meat.
  • Cover tightly with foil and cook until the pork is fork tender. This takes about 4 hours. This step will vary from oven to oven. Temperature control in ovens is not all that precise.
  • When the meat is fork tender use tongs to remove the pork. Shred the pork. A couple forks works well for this.
  • Pour 6-7 Tbsp of the pork lard over the top of the shredded pork. Save the rest to do other things. It's now become about the best thing there is on the planet for frying eggs FWIW.
  • The pork will give off some liquid as well. Use a fat separator. Serious eats suggested making a cooked salsa with this leftover liquid. Not a bad idea at all.
  • When you are ready to serve, set your oven to broil with the rack about 4 inches from the element. Place the pork and fat on a sturdy cookie sheet. Broil until crisp (4-5 minutes), then give it stir to expose the not yet crispy side and crisp that up too.
  • Taste and season. Depending on how much salt you added for the dry-brine you may or may not need more salt.