Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas
by Chungah
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The easiest carnitas you will ever make in the crockpot. Cooked low and slow for the most amazing fall-apart tender goodness! Yes, please!
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Why you’ll love slow cooker pork carnitas
- Feeds a crowd. This recipe feeds a big crowd, great for entertaining, weekend company or gifting to new parents or a loved one recovering from surgery.
- Great summertime recipe (as well as the rest of the year). Keep your kitchen cool during the hot summer months! The slow cooker allows for no fuss, hands-free cooking without warming up the kitchen.
- Versatile recipe. Pork carnitas can be served as tacos, burritos, salads, grain bowls, nachos and so much more. The sky is the limit here.
- Make-ahead convenience. This is one of those great slow cooker recipes where you can prep everything the night before and throw it right in the crockpot just before leaving for work. And when you get home, you’ll have the most tender, juicy pulled pork. So effortless, so good.
- Freezer-friendly. Pork carnitas can keep in the freezer for up to 3 months, perfect for meal prep for those busy weeknights, thawing overnight and reheating in a pan for a quick and easy dinner.
What is carnitas? What is the best cut of meat for carnitas?
Pork carnitas
Carnitas is a Mexican pork dish from Michoacán, and translates to “little meats” in Spanish and often times described as Mexican pulled pork. Carnitas is traditionally slow cooked until incredibly tender and falling apart, using heavily marbled (inexpensive) pork butt or pork shoulder, then shredded and roasted until the edges are caramelized and crispy.
Best cut of meat
Pork shoulder is typically best for carnitas due to its high fat content, containing enough fat to stay moist during long cooking times, yielding tender, juicy meat when cooked low and slow (especially in the slow cooker).
How to make slow cooker pork carnitas
- Season the pork shoulder. Combine all the dry spices together first, then rub the mixture all around the pork.
- Place all ingredients in the slow cooker. Add everything to the slow cooker – garlic, onions, orange and lime juices along with the well seasoned pork.
- Cook on low heat. Cover and cook for 8 hours, or until the pork is extremely tender and easily shreds with a fork (there should be no resistance when shredding). If the pork is not shredding easily, it will need more time to cook. Freeze or store as needed here, crisping up just before serving.
- Make it crispy. Heat the broiler to high heat, placing a rack 6 inches from the broiler. Broil the shredded pork on a sheet pan in a single layer with some of the leftover cooking juices until crispy and caramelized.
- Serve. Serve carnitas as tacos, burritos, bowls, quesadillas, enchiladas or nachos.
storage and freezing pork carnitas
Storage
Leftover carnitas can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Freezing
Portion the meat into plastic freezer bags in individual servings with some of the leftover cooking fat and liquid (to prevent it from drying out), squeezing out any excess air before sealing. Label, date and freeze up to 3 months.
Reheating
Thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating in the oven at 350°F or in a skillet (adding a splash of broth or water if the meat looks dry) until warmed through and crispy.
What to serve with slow cooker pork carnitas
Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas: Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe works very well with pork shoulder or pork butt due to its fat marbling (the high fat content helps keep the meat moist and flavorful) as well as its easy shredding capabilities.
Yes! If you do not have a broiler or want to crisp up just a small batch of carnitas, cook the shredded pork in a hot cast iron skillet over medium high heat until crispy.
Absolutely! Cook and shred the pork ahead of time, storing as needed (fridge or freezer) and broil just before serving for crispy, tender goodness.
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Yes! We have a recipe for that here.
We have an easy 30 minute stovetop recipe here!
Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons salt, or more, to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 pound pork shoulder, excess fat trimmed
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 2 onions, quartered
- ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper. Season pork shoulder with spice mixture, rubbing in thoroughly on all sides.
- Place garlic, onions, orange juice, lime juice and seasoned pork shoulder into a 6-qt slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours or high for 4-5 hours.
- Remove pork shoulder from the slow cooker and shred the meat before returning to the pot with the juices; season with salt and pepper, to taste, if needed. Cover and keep warm for an additional 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to broil. Place carnitas onto a baking sheet with some of the cooking fat and liquid, and broil until crisp and crusted, about 3-4 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Equipment
Notes
- Use the right size crockpot. A 6-qt slow cooker is ideal for this recipe. If the slow cooker is too small, the pork may not cook evenly. If the slow cooker is too large, the liquid may cook down too quickly, causing the pork to burn.
- Avoid lean meats. Opt for pork shoulder or pork butt, avoiding lean meats such as pork tenderloin or pork chops (lean cuts tend to dry out).
- Make it crispy. Broiling is essential for perfectly browned, crispy edges. Broil the shredded pork, about 6 inches from the broiler, in a single layer on a sheet pan with some of the leftover cooking juices until crispy and caramelized. Watch carefully as the pork can quickly burn under the broiler!
- Make ahead of time, but skip the broil. When making ahead of time, shred the meat and store as needed, broiling just before serving.
- Meal prep for the week. This recipe is ideal for big batch cooking! Repurpose the leftover pork throughout the busy weeknights for tacos, quesadillas, burrito bowls and salads.
- Freeze for up to 3 months. Let the carnitas cool completely. Portion into plastic freezer bags in individual servings with some of the leftover cooking fat and liquid to prevent the meat from drying out. Label, date and freeze up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating in the oven or stovetop until crispy.
Did you make this recipe?
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Looks great – perfect for me, can’t wait to try it. Have made several of your receipes and enjoyed them all.
This is my go-to recipe for carnitas and a family favorite! We usually serve the carnitas right from the slow cooker instead of broiling first and often over rice, but tacos are great too. I love the aroma wafting through the house as the pork is cooking. Highly recommend and thank you for an amazing recipe!
We love this recipe but found a 7lb bone in to use for cheap. It is to big for my slow cooker. Have anyone ever tried this in a ninja cooker? If so what are your recommendations? Thank you 🙂
My family loves this recipe! It is awesome! I usually use juice from a jar of lime juice and orange juice, today I purchased the fruit and will be adding that. I’m excited to taste the difference. I also am going to try to take juices after cooking and reduce them then put on top before I put in broiler. Thank you for your amazing recipe!!
I’ve made this recipe countless times from start to finish. Always delicious, always flavorful! We typically make into tacos but I’ve also paired with a fried egg and fresh salsa for a protein packed breakfast. This time I used a 7lb cut of meat and am excited to freeze some for enjoyment later. Don’t keep reading reviews, recipe is excellent as is!
Did you change the cooking time using the bigger cut of meat?
These are the best carnitas! I make them exactly as written and they are wonderful and easy. Mine always take longer to cook, so I start them the day before I want to eat them and just cook them however long it takes for them to easily shred. It makes enough to feed an army, so I freeze multiple portions and broil when I defrost. Delicious! Making them for the holidays!
I cook these all day and all night, shred and toast in the morning. I make these every year for my daughters birthday party. It is a BIG hit.
This recipe is perfect! I had an 8lb pork butt and doubled everything. It barely fit in my crockpot, but came out amazing! I did need to add some salt to taste, but that was easy enough. I brought it to feed tacos to a group and everyone asked for the recipe. I didn’t even do the broiling step, so if you don’t have time for that, know that you’ll just have extra saucy, delicious carnitas.
I love that this recipe doesn’t call for beer, because I’ve tried others that do and enjoyed them, but we don’t usually have beer on hand.
I enjoyed the flavors so much that I’m trying the ingredients with some frozen chicken thighs in my instant pot right now. How bad could it be, right? Provided I cook them long enough of course…
Thank you for this gem!
Hiii with doubling your meat, how long did you end up cooking it for?
I’m don’t remember exactly, but I know it wasn’t quite done (part of it didn’t quite shred). I think maybe 8.5/9 hours… I had to bring it for a group and couldn’t wait.
Depending on your slow cooker, I’m guessing 9-10 hours and check for easy shredding. You can also Google around for other recipes that use an 8 lb piece of meat and just borrow the cooking time.
I made this with two pork tenderloins in the instant pot. I didn’t change any of the ingredients. I pressure cooked it for an hour with a natural release. The tenderloin was falling apart. I removed it from the pot and used an immersion blender on the remaining ingredients. I then replaced the meat. It was delish!!
As always your recipes are absolutely amazing! This is my go to recipe for carnitas and it never fails me! Thank you!!
8 hours seems like a long time! but wow that looks so delicious. I give it 5 stars because of how tasty that looks. Hope when I try it, it ends up being the same.
Delish! We will be making this again!
Thank you for this recipe! I’ve used several others from Damn Delicious and each one is fabulous! We’ve made these many times. In fact, I just put some in the crock pot this morning. My family likes a little heat, so I add 3 fresh jalapeños to the crock pot. I serve the meat on tortillas with fresh pico de gallo, cilantro, queso fresco and a lime wedges. Absolutely amazing!!!
Could the meat be frozen after cooking?
I’ve got this in the crockpot as we speak! I’m sure it’ll be delicious. I love your recipes! I read your post and saw how you like The Walking Dead….I was an Alexandrian and worked on the show for a few years. 🙂
I used a 2 lb Pork Loin and halved the ingredients except the onion, lime and orange these ingredients truly are the flavors of Carnitas. I did not add chili pepper I’ve been making this for years and no recipe ever called for it before. I cubed the pork loin and shook it up with the seasonings to cover thoroughly then cooked it in the crock pot on high for 4 hours and low for 1 hour, I shredded all the meat and returned it to the crock pot on low for 1 hour (we were not ready to eat) it had absorbed most of the liquid by now so I pulled it out, spread it out on a cookie sheet and put it under the broiler for 5 minutes. I served it with Tortilla’s, Mexican crumble cheese, lime & cilantro, absolutely delicious. I’ll use the leftovers for a quesadilla, should be amazingly good!
Our carnitas turned out REALLY tender and juicy. We didn’t have oranges or lime so we just used some chicken broth. It was still yummy.
Great! We halved the recipe and will be using leftovers for quesadillas this week!
This is amazing! I used a 19lb pork butt from Costco and put everything in times 5! (Except the onions. I think I only had six so I did that).
A-mazing!
I use Damn Delicious for a lot of recipes. My favorite one is the Carne Asada recipe with flank steak. Always a winner with company and with my five kids. It’s a discipline not to eat the steak while I’m cutting it.
Hi Hanna! I too purchased a very large Pork butt from Costco. Did you cut it up to fit in your crock pot? Or did you cook it in two pots? We are making this for Christmas and I don’t want to mess it up.
So easy and delicious. I made this last week and here I am making it again this week. The day after I made this I decided to just warm them up on my griddle since it was just for me, and they tasted even more authentic! When my husband tried them he said the same thing. This was an absolute winner in our house!
Made Carnitas for my first holiday get together. This recipe is a winner! I followed the recipe using the 8 hour slow and low cook. The meat was so tender and succulent! The guests absolutely enjoyed this delicious dish! I will definitely make this again and again! Mele Kalikimaka! Merry Christmas from Hawaii!
This is delicious!! My family asks for it all the time now!