This easy Pork Carnitas recipe is sure to win you over. They are crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside! Let the slow cooker do all the work and you will make restaurant-quality Mexican carnitas with little mess or fuss.
We love re-creating our favorite Mexican-inspired recipes at home, from Guacamole to Fish Tacos and even Chicken Fajitas. These pork carnitas are another family favorite that will be on your regular rotation. You’ll also appreciate that leftovers keep really well.
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Carnitas
We love slow cooker recipes that require simple ingredients and minimal clean-up. I’m SO looking forward to sharing this recipe with you! For years, I’ve worked on creating the perfect carnitas. They either came out too dry or too greasy. But, these are JUST right. Here’s why you will love this Carnitas Recipe:
- Easy – there’s no need to pre-sear the meat, just season it and add it to the slow cooker along with all the other ingredients.
- Crisp and Tender – the slow cooker makes the meat super tender and finishing it off in the oven (or skillet – see below) creates the dreamiest crispy edges.
- FLAVOR – the addition of lime and orange juice create a richly flavored broth that bastes the meat as it slowly cooks.
- Leftovers – Pork carnitas store really well in the refrigerator or freezer so they a great idea for your weekly meal plan.
- Crowd-Pleasing – this recipe is easy and makes a generous batch which is perfect for feeding a crowd. It’s a great option for hosting, birthdays or events.
What is Carnitas?
Carnitas, or “little meats” in Spanish, is a popular Mexican recipe. It’s essentially braised or simmered pork that has been cooked in a flavorful broth until ridiculously tender.
If they already aren’t one of your favorite dishes to order at your local taqueria, get prepared to fall in love. This pork packs some serious flavor and is the perfect candidate for weekend meal prepping. From carnitas tacos to burritos to salads, carnitas go great on almost anything.
Ingredients
- Pork Roast – The best roast for Carnitas is a boneless pork shoulder or pork butt.
- Carnita seasonings – Salt, black pepper, and dried oregano make a simple and delicious seasoning.
- Onion and Garlic – add rich flavor to the broth.
- Lime juice and Orange juice – add bright flavor and keep the carnitas from feeling too greasy. The acidity also helps to tenderize the pork roast. This is the key to the best carnitas.
- Bay leaves – If you don’t have bay leaves on hand, you can skip them, but just as with soups, we like to add them for more aroma and flavor.
How to Make Carnitas
Let the slow cooker do ALL the work for you. Cooking your pork low and slow ensures that it will be nice and tender when it is time to chow down. There’s nothing worse than spending a bunch of time prepping carnitas for them to simply turn out bland and dry. Follow this easy step-by-step process for perfect carnitas every time:
- Season – Pat your pork dry and season pork roast liberally.
- In the slow cooker, add your veggies, broth, citrus and bay leaves.
- Add the roast and slow cook on high heat for 5 hours (or on low for 7-9 hours) or until pork is very tender and shreds easily with a fork.
- Shred pork – transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and shred pork with 2 forks. Drizzle 1/2 cup of the slow cooker juices on top.
- Broil the shredded pork for 5 minutes, until the edges are delicious and crispy.
How to Serve Pork Carnitas
- Carnita tacos: Grab your favorite corn tortilla, some onions, Cowboy Caviar, cilantro, and lime wedges. Pack each tortilla with crispy pork. This is the perfect party food!
- Nachos: Oh yes, everyone’s favorite snack food is made that much more delicious with some homemade carnitas. Top your chips off with a scoop of carnitas, cheese, sour cream, and Pico de gallo.
- Burrito: I mean, who doesn’t love a good burrito? Stuff a large, flour tortilla with all the usual suspects and dip it into jalapeno ranch.
- Salad: Add carnitas for our favorite Mexican Salad! This makes for a great weekday lunch.
Common Questions
Unfortunately, a pork tenderloin or pork loin would not work well in this recipe because they are too lean and will end up tough and dry.
Be sure to thaw your pork roast before putting it into the slow cooker, otherwise, your cook times will be off and your pork won’t cook properly. The USDA recommends you always defrost meat before putting it into a slow cooker.
Yes, you can crisp up the carnitas in a skillet after you shred the meat. Oil a skillet, add pork and drizzle with some of the slow cooker juices. Let the meat cook and sear until golden brown on the first side, then flip and briefly sear on the second side to your desired crispiness.
Carnitas are often confused for another dish called “barbacoa”. While the concept is similar, barbacoa is typically beef that has been slow-cooked in dried chiles and spices until tender. Also, barbacoa is much spicier!
Make Ahead
We love that this Mexican pulled pork can be made ahead.
- Refrigerating – Before the final crisping step, carnitas can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
- To freeze – Carnitas can be frozen for up to 3 months. Pack carnitas in a freezer-safe bag with some of the juices from the slow cooker. To prevent freezer burn, remove as much air as you can when sealing.
- To reheat – Thaw carnitas if frozen, then you can crisp them on a skillet or in the oven per the recipe instructions.
More Pork Recipes
- Roasted Pork Tenderloin
- Pulled Pork Recipe
- Instant Pot Ribs
- Grilled Pork Chops
- Pork Chops in the Air Fryer
- Cuban Pork Sandwich
Carnitas Recipe (Mexican Pulled Pork)
Ingredients
- 4 lb boneless pork roast, (pork butt or pork shoulder)
- 3 tsp fine sea salt, (or 2 1/2 tsp table salt)
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 5 garlic cloves
- 4 Tbsp lime juice, (from 2 limes)
- 1/2 cup orange juice, (from 2 oranges)
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves, optional
Instructions
- Pat the pork dry with a paper towel. Combine salt, pepper and dried oregano and rub pork with the seasoning.
- In the slow cooker, add chopped onion, garlic cloves, broth, lime juice, orange juice, and bay leaves if using.
- Add the pork to the slow cooker. Cook on high for 5 hours or on low for 7-9 hours.
- Remove the pork from the slow cooker and transfer it to a rimmed baking sheet. Shredded the pork with two forks and drizzle the top with 1/2 cup of the slow cooker juices.
- To get crispy edges, broil in the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until golden brown.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Hi! I’m Natasha Kravchuk, a New York Times bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, food photographer, and writer. Here you’ll find delicious, reliable recipes made with simple ingredients, plus easy step-by-step photos and videos to help you cook confidently at home. 
If we to replace the pork with a vegetable; to make it for a vegetarian what vegetable would you use for this? We are going to make the Pork Carnitas but we also need to make a small portion of this (without meat) for a guest who is a vegetarian. So, if there is a vegetable that you would recommend to use or a meat alternative please let us know.
Thank You 🙂
Hi Ken, I haven’t tried a vegetarian substitution myself to advise on the outcome. If you happen to experiment, I’d love to know how it goes!
Hi Ken, next time you need to make it vegetarian how about using black beans. If using canned I would just drain it really well first. I’m not vegetarian but I’m going to try making some this way just for variety.
Good luck!
These were a hit at my husbands birthday. The only negative is you could not eat the meat on its own because it was so salty! When added with all the taco fixings it was good. My husband usually likes things much saltier than I do and even he said it was a bit much for him. I triple checked that the recipe actually called for 3 TABLESPOONS. I would definitely cut this to 1.5 next time.
Hi Courtney, we use fine sea salt, but if using table salt, I would definitely recommend using 2 1/2 tsp. I added that note in the recipe card to clarify.
Do you have to use juice straight from lime or orange? Would bottled juice be ok?
Hi John, I haven’t tried bottled juice to advise on the outcome; it truly works best with fresh squeezed!
OMG! These were amazing! Even my picky 12 year old liked them too! We added pico, guacamole, coijta, and the jalapeño ranch. Sooooo good! We will be making these again soon. ❤️
Fantastic! So great to hear that the recipe was a hit. I hope you and your family will love every recipe that you will try for them.
I have made this two times. The first time it was okay, nothing to write home about. I had made a mistake the first time by forgetting to place under the broiler for a few minutes. So it tasted just okay. The second time I did the broiler and WOW what a difference. It was so good and tasty. I also changed the recipe by using a can of beer in place of the chicken stock because beer makes me a jolly good fellow. You have to be old to know that song. Anyway going to make it again. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Randy, nice to know that you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for sharing your experience making this recipe, that was helpful!
Could I cook in a roasting pan in oven on low heat? If so, what temp do you suggest? I need to make for 30 people. TiA!
Hi Bonnie, I haven’t tested this recipe in the oven so I can’t speak to that. If anyone else has advice on that, please let us know.
I have done it in the oven only. I usually cook at about 325 for several hours until it starts to pull easily and then shred and finish under the broiler.
This was such a great recipe! I loved the carnitas!
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Amy!
OMG the title of this from Pinterest did not lie. This was hands down THE BEST tasting and juiciest carnitas ever!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite!
OMG the title of this from Pinterest did not lie. This was seriously THE BEST tasting carnitas I’ve ever had. 😍😍😍 hands down, most tastiest and moist carnitas!
Thank you for the wonderful review!
After reading other reviews, I cut back on salt to 1 T. Then I followed the directions as written. It was fabulous! I made Carnitas Burritos, with shredded cheese, pico de Gallo, sour cream and shredded lettuce!
Best carnitas I’ve ever had!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Barbara!
What temp do you usually cook this meat at? Our slow cooker is always fast!
Hi Katie, we used the slow cooker function on our instant pot for this. The low setting is about 170 degrees, and high is 210 degrees.
What did I do wrong?? It’s sooo salty! 😩
Hi Giana, I would double-check the ingredients and measurements you used based on the amount of meat. It sounds like something was not proportioned correctly.
You didn’t do anything wrong. That is way too much salt for this recipe. Even the nutrition facts show that’s enough salt to cause a problem.
I used low sodium broth and cut the salt to 3 tsps. You can always add more later.
Cut back on the added salt. Chicken broth has a lot of salt in it already, so you can skip the added salt all together, or cut it to about 1 teaspoon.
I’m a rebel, and I got tired of turkey and Ham on Thanksgiving. So I made Carnitas. Coming from California I know Good Carnitas. Now I live in a small town. I had friends ove for Thanksgiving all Mexican menu…
Carnita tacos
Spanish rice
refried beans
pico de gallo
margaritas Virgin
I have a feeling a lot of people are coming next year, because some of my guest are still talking about the best carnitas they ever had. i guess I’ll make some tamales.
Thank you Natsha The recipe was a star!
That’s so great! That sounds like a very tasty and special Thanksgiving Dinner! THank you so much for sharing that with me!
Best carnitas I ever had!! Accidentally bought a bone in pork, still worked though. Amazing, so good!!
Fantastic! Thank you for your excellent rating, Heather. I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe!
could I use a pork tenderloin for this?
Hi Katherine, I have not tried this with pork tenderloin to advise. If you experiment I would like to know how you like this recipe.
I used a 2 pound pork tenderloin, halved the recipe and it was delicious!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me!
Hi! Can this be made in the instant pot? What time would you suggest?
Hi Sydney, typically for this amount of pork, you could make pork carnitas in an instant pot on high pressure for 30 minutes with a 15-minute natural pressure release.
Do i use all the seasoning? Seems like a lot but don’t want to not use it if need be.
Hi Nallely, we used everything listed in the recipe!
I bought a massive pork shoulder/butt from Costco. So I split up the pork and made 2 different carnitas recipes. This recipe totally annihilated the other recipe!!! This recipe is sooo good, my whole family enjoyed it, including my 5 yr old and 1 yr old! I definitely want to make this for an upcoming celebration/party. Thanks for sharing! One note: I did have to cook mine slightly longer, maybe 8.5 hours in the slow cooker, but I also could have had closer to a 5 lb pork shoulder. Totally worth the wait!!!
Yay so great to read your comments and awesome feedback. Thank you so much for sharing, Steve!
Excellent, I used coke instead of stock
I’m so glad you enjoyed that! Thank you for sharing that substation idea with us!
Can I cook on low? How long?
Hi Annie, I bet that could work. I imagine it will take significantly more time and without testing that I can’t say. I would recommend checking it with a temperature probe to be sure it is fully cooked.