Cook With Me | Carnitas Tacos @ Home
Street tacos were a discovery I made when I was a freshman in college and I really haven’t looked back since. I’m first generation and to be frank, taco trucks were not something that my parents would ever approach or think to take me to. The closest I got to these were at restaurants but even then we were likely ordering enchiladas and fajitas (lol). I’d always had an affinity for Mexican cuisine and this further solidified it. I went to school at UC Davis (go Aggies!) and there was a taco truck up in Woodland, CA that I would make the trek out to to satisfy my taco cravings. They had an amazing carnitas taco that I still dream of to this day.
My husband also went to school in Davis and our story (re)started over those very tacos. We were chatting about our favorite foods and when I mentioned tacos he commented how Davis didn’t have any good tacos. I quickly pointed out the Woodland taco truck and we basically established a date to get them. He understands how good they are and indulges me to go get them whenever we’re up near there 😂. (In sad news, we went about a year ago and it just wasn’t the same. RIP tacos of my college years.) As such, we’ve been on the hunt for good carnitas tacos that were just as crispy - and we decided to start making them ourselves at home. We typically just go to our local Mexican Supermarket and pick up a pound of carnitas to fry up at home. It’s good! But with COVID and quarantine, we decided to look up our own recipes and try our hand at it.
We landed on this recipe for Crispy Pork Carnitas and it was *chefs kiss*. One of the obvious pros of COVID has been the amount of time we’re spending at home, which in turn has allowed us to really break out of our comfort zone and test our (read - T’s) cooking skills to see where we can get.
Some substitutions we made to the carnitas seasoning recipe:
In place of dried oregano we used dried basil (mostly because we didn’t have oregano) - and it still tasted amazing.
In place of coke, we used Modelo and it was 👌🏼
T and I are fortunate enough to be working from home these days, which means we’re cooking both lunch and dinner 7 days a week. It’s been a challenge. And also I feel like there’s a never-ending pile of dishes at all times.
We cooked this in our slow cooker for ~6 hours on high heat. We prepped this during our lunch and it was very quick and easy and was ready by dinnertime! The 6 hours was more than enough time and the meat was literally falling apart as we transferred it from our slow cooker to our bowl. The meat was so easy to shred with two forks as everything basically shredded itself.
We like our carnitas meat crispy so after shredding the meat, we heated our cast iron and let it all crisp up. We ended up not adding extra leftover sauce over over our meat and thought it was still extremely flavorful. We did however scoop up all the grilled onions from the slow cooker and toss that over our tacos. Yum.
Some of our favorite toppings/sides to have when eating tacos:
Chopped white onions // We usually use 1/4 - 1/2 of an onion. We like onions! Usually we make enough meat for 2 days of tacos so it’s easy to just have them set aside for the next day.
Chopped cilantro // I know cilantro may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I love it! Sometimes we mix this in with our onions, sometimes we leave them separate. Depends on the day I suppose.
Radishes // Radishes. Are. The. Ish. They add a nice crunch and have a very neutral and refreshing kick when you’re inhaling your delicious savory tacos. (We couldn’t find any this time around so we had to go without 😔)
Jalapeños // Sometimes we buy fresh ones, sometimes we buy canned ones. It really depends on our mood lol. The canned ones are easiest and they taste great so I don’t really have an issue. Sometimes we buy an extra can to keep on hand in case we spontaneously decide to make tacos.
Grilled onions // Grilled onions are the taco game changer. Whether you’re eating them on the side to your tacos or layering them in, they are delicious. With this particular carnitas recipe we had some savory cooked onions that had a ton of flavor. When we buy pre-made meat, we’ll usually take half an onion and leave it on our pan while we fry up the carnitas. We wait until the bottom burns up and the onion softens up. Then once it’s soft and translucent, it’s ready to go and yum.
Corn Tortillas // There’s team corn and then there’s team flour. Personally, T and I are in team corn. It just adds a heartier flavor and there’s really nothing like it. If you end up making this recipe, dip the tortilla in the sauce before heating it up - I beg of you. It is such a game changer. (I only learned this from my years of ordering from taco trucks and seeing them dip it in their vat of simmer sauce 😅.)
Limes // What’s a taco without lime?? Make sure you buy 1-2 limes to have on reserve! Roll your lime before you cut it to get the juices flowing. If you cut it open and it feels dry, pop it in the microwave for 5-10 seconds and you’ll find yourself with a juicy lime in no time.
Sallllsssaaaa // This is what brings it all together. I usually like to buy the pre-made salsa at the supermarket but we didn’t go there this time around. I had one in my pantry from Trader Joes and it does the job! (I personally like green salsa with my carnitas tacos ☺️). One of my cooking goals for the rest of quarantine will probably be to learn how to make my own salsa!
And that’s a wrap. Overall tacos are SO super easy to make and they’re very enjoyable. It hits the spot of eating “junk food” without feeling overly junky. As much as I love eating at taco trucks, the older I get the more “oof” I feel afterwards. But when we cook them at home, it’s obviously less oily and I don’t completely regret my decisions.
What are your favorite taco recipes??
I think we’re going to try making our own Al Pastor tacos next 😉
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If you end up trying this recipe, let me know what you think!