Crispy Pork Shoulder Carnitas Recipe (Stovetop and Broiler)
If you can boil water, you can make carnitas. Easy stovetop carnitas recipe simmer and get super crispy thanks to a quick trip to the broiler. A great Sunday supper recipe to make into bowls, wraps, nachos or salads.
Servings 6
Equipment
- medium sized Dutch oven
- wire rack
- zester
Ingredients
- 4 lbs boneless pork shoulder roast *see note below
- 1 orange
- 1 lime
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp ground pepper
- 2 cups water
Accessories:
- guacamole or sliced avocado see below
- roasted or sauteed peppers and onions
- black beans
- brown or white rice
- tortillas
- cilantro
- lime wedges
Instructions
Cooking the Pork
- Preheat oven to 300˚.
- Trim fat cap on pork (the thick white part that is on the bottom of the roast.) You want to trim it so that 1/8" remains. Don't remove too much or you risk the pork being dry.
- Cube pork into 2" cubes. Place in Dutch oven or large pot that has a lid.
- Zest orange and then cut in half. Juice orange. You should have 1/3 cup of juice.
- Juice lime. You want about 2 tsp-1 Tbsp of lime juice. (FYI... 3 tsp= 1 TBSP)
- Add juices to pork in pot.
- Add spices and dried herbs to pot along with water.
- Cover pot and place on stove at medium high heat. Once the pork comes to a simmer, remove the pot and place in the oven. Cook pork for 2 hours.
Broiling the Pork
- Preheat broiler to 500˚ or low if you don't have a temperature setting.
- Once the 2 hours is up, remove the pot from the oven and place on the stove. Using tongs, a slotted spoon or skimmer, carefully remove the pork and place on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Also fish out the bay leaves and discard.
- Leaving the lid off, boil the remaining braising liquid for about 7-10 minutes until it reaches a syrupy consistency and a spatula dragged through the sauce leaves a trail.
- Add the meat to the syrupy sauce and lightly toss to coat.
- Remove the meat back to the wire rack/baking sheet combo.
- Broil the pork about 4-5" below the heating element until it is nice and crispy. Keep an eye on it as it could go from perfect to burnt pretty quickly!
Notes
- If you can't find a boneless pork shoulder in the store, you can ask the butcher to remove a bone-in one for you. You can also braise it with the bone as well and remove it yourself after braising.
