Go Back

Oven Baked Carnitas

What I love is that there is no searing or frying. Everything goes into the pot in 5 minutes. And you let the oven do the rest of the work. If you work at your laptop it works out perfectly.

Ingredients
  

Ingredients (for 6)
  • 2.24 lb. Pork collar shoulder or butt (recipe works for 2-3 lbs. pork)
  • 1 ¼ tsp. Salt
  • ½ tsp. Black pepper
  • ½ onion chopped
  • ½ jalapeño inused Serrano
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • cup orange juice
  • 1 dried guajillo chile optional
Rub:
  • ½ Tbsp oregano
  • 1 tsp. Cumin
  • ½ Tbsp olive oil.

Method
 

Directions:
  1. Pat down the pork with paper towels to dry. Then season with salt and pepper.
  2. Combine rub ingredients and rub onto pork all over.
  3. In a Dutch oven place pork in there with the fat cap up. Add in the onion, Chiles, garlic and orange juice. Add in 2 cups of water (it shouldn’t cover the pork).
  4. Place in the oven with lid (or foil tightly) on at 325 F for 2 hours.
  5. after 2 hours uncover pork and return to the oven for 1-1.5 hours or until pork shreds easily. Add more water if needed during cooking.
  6. Remove pork ans place in a baking dish. Let cool a bit. Then shred with two forks. Strain the cooking liquid and keep it for reheating the pork.
  7. Place cooking liquid and pork in fridge if eating later. I like to make it up to a day ahead and heat it up. Best pork in a nonstick pan until a little crispy.
  8. I served it two ways. One was with barbecue sauce (primal brand) on a brioche bun like a pulled pork sandwich. and the other was in tacos with salsa. I was partial to the tacos!