Pork Carnitas for Tacos
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Pork Carnitas Recipe
Updated August 2025
Have you ever heard of Mexican carnitas? They are a popular ingredient from central Mexico. This recipe requires a long cooking time, but the result is absolutely delicious. Meat that is so tender it just shreds very easily. It makes the best tacos, but can be used for burritos or eaten just on its own with some rice and beans.
The best cut to use for carnitas is pork shoulder (boneless preferred). Cut the meat into chunks and then add the rest of the ingredients. The small amount of sweetened condensed milk will contribute to gorgeous browning at the end of the cooking time, allowing for a bit of caramelization that makes these carnitas irresistible. If you cannot find Mexican oregano, then regular oregano is a perfect substitute.
If you prefer to do this in a crock pot, just mix everything, including the condensed milk. Cook on low heat for 10-12 hours, or until meat is fall-off-the-bone tender, then remove from the braising liquid and shred. Proceed to make some of the best tacos!
Ingredients
- Pork Carnitas
- 2 kg boneless pork shoulder cut into 1.5 inch pieces
- 1 1/2 cups Farm Boy™ Orange Juice
- 1 1/2 cups Farm Boy™ Organic Chicken Broth or water
- 1 white Spanish onion cut into quarters
- 8 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 Tbsp Farm Boy™ Organic Ground Cumin
- 2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
- 1 Tbsp salt plus more if necessary
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk
- Tacos
- 30 g Farm Boy™ Yellow Corn Tortillas
- 2 cups white Spanish onion diced small, rinsed and drained
- 1 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1 cup radishes thinly sliced
- 2 cups Farm Boy™ Fresh Hot Salsa
- 3 limes cut into wedges
Directions
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- For the carnitas: In large baking or roasting pan, place pork cubes, Farm Boy™ Orange Juice, Farm Boy™ Organic Chicken Stock (or water), onion, garlic cloves, Farm Boy™ Organic Cumin, oregano, 1 Tbsp salt, and 1 tsp black pepper. Mix well and cover with foil.
- Place in the oven and bake for 3 hours, or until pork is tender.
- Remove from oven, stir in sweetened condensed milk and remove foil.
- Increase oven temperature to 375°F and place pork back in the oven, uncovered, for another 20-40 minutes. This will reduce the amount of liquid and allow the pork to caramelize a bit. When pork is falling apart tender, and most of the liquid has reduced, remove from the oven. It is OK if there is a bit of liquid left - this will keep the meat moist.
- Discard the chunks of onion and garlic cloves and shred meat using two forks. Discard any big chunks of fat.
- Adjust seasoning, adding more salt only if necessary.
- For the tacos: Mix rinsed and drained onion and cilantro and use this as topping for your tacos. Mound pork on warm tortillas and top with onion-cilantro mixture and radishes.
- Serve with Farm Boy™ Fresh Salsa and lime wedges.