Pork Carnitas
This recipe has amazing flavour, especially considering it is made in a slow cooker. I can't stress this enough, you have to crisp the shredded pork in a frying pan before serving! I would almost go so far as to say its not worth making if you are going to skip that step. The recipe has been adapted from recipetineats.com
Ingredients
- 1 kg Trimed Pork Loin or Shoulder (0 CHO)
- 60 g (1/2 cup) Chopped Yellow Onion (5 CHO)
- 7 g Jalapeno, Seeded and Chopped (0 CHO) ~1/2 a Jalapeno. OPTIONAL
- 1 clove Garlic, Minced (0 CHO)
- 125 mL (1/2 cup) Trop50 Orange Juice - without pulp (6.5 CHO)
- 15 mL or Juice of Half a Lime (1 CHO)
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) Olive Oil (0 CHO)
Rub
- 1/2 tbsp (7.5 mL) Dried Oregano (0 CHO)
- 2 tsp (10 mL) Ground Cumin (0 CHO)
- 1 1/2 tsp (7.5 mL) Salt (0 CHO)
- 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) Black Pepper (0 CHO)
Instructions
Pat the pork dry. Combine all rub ingredients in a small bowl and rub all over the pork using your hands.
Place the pork in the slow cooker with the fattier side up. Top with the onion, jalapeno (if using), and garlic (don't worry about spreading it), and pour the juice over top.
Cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4.
Pork should be tender enough to shred. Remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly. Then shred using two forks.
If you were using a lean cut you should not have a lot of fat in your renderings. If you do you may skim it from the juices now if you would like.
Set aside the liquid, you will pour it over the meat when browning.
Heat olive oil in a large pan. Preferably a well seasoned cast iron, but non stick will do as well.
Add pork to the pan and spread out evenly. Pour the liquid over the pork. Simmer on high until the liquid evaporates and the meat starts to brown.
Turn the pork . You want a good balance of crisp and tender bits.
Before serving squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime over top.
Serve with:
- Corn or Flour Tortillas (follow the CHO on the package)
- Diced Tomatoes (34g or 1/4 cup = 1 CHO)
- Cilantro (0 CHO)
- Avocado (75 g or ~1/2 cup sliced = 1 CHO)
- Sour Cream (15 mL or 1 tbsp = 1 CHO)
- Shredded Lettuce or Cabbage (14 g or ~1/4 cup = 0 CHO)
- Crumbled Queso Fresco (50 g = 0 CHO) or Crumbled Feta Cheese (50 g = 2 CHO)
- Hot Sauce (our favorite is Valentina, 15 mL or 1 tbsp = 0 CHO)
Recipe Notes
The total net carbs for this recipe is 12.5 CHO. The carbs/g will vary depending on how long you cook your meat down for. Our measurement is 0.019 or approximately 0.6 CHO per 1/4 of meat . If you need and exact count it is recommended that you weigh the meat when you are ready to serve and divide that number by 13.5 to get your precise CHO/g measurement.
