Easy Crockpot Pork Carnitas Recipe - The Schmidty Wife (2024)

A simple recipe for delicious Crockpot Pork Carnitas! This Mexican classic comes together in no time using flavorful pork butt, spices, onion, oranges, and beer! With a special trick to get your carnitas tasting better than what you get at a restaurant! Perfect for filling tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and more!

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Let’s Make Easy Pork Carnitas in the Slow Cooker

The best recipes in my opinion are ones that are simple to make, delicious, and can be stretched into multiple meals AND THIS ONE DOES IT ALL!

These Crockpot Carnitas are:

1. Easy to make. Basically a dump and go slow cooker recipe!
2. Super flavorful, a recipe the WHOLE FAMILY will devour.
3. It is a large recipe that keeps really well so it is perfect for stretching into multiple meals!

I love these Carnitas so much in fact that I am working on a whole recipe series of what to make with your Leftover Carnitas!

What you need to make Easy Crockpot Carnitas:

Equipment you need:

• Slow Cooker/Crockpot
• Standard Kitchen Tools (Cutting Board, Knife, Fork, Measuring Spoons)
• Oven
• Sheet Pan/Tray

Ingredients you need:

• Pork Butt: Around 4 pounds & preferably boneless, also called a Boston Butt. It is actually the cut of pork that comes from the upper part of the front shoulder. It is the cut of pork typically used for making pulled pork.
• Onion: Diced, a sweet, yellow, or white variety will work.
• Spices: Chipotle Chili Powder, Dried Oregano, Cumin, and Salt. NOTE: The Chipotle Chili Powder is different from just normal Chili powder, most big brands like McCormick Spices do carry the Chipotle variety, known to be more smoky and slightly more subtle.
• Orange: Just 1 orange, a navel variety works best but any standard size orange will work. You will be using the zest and the juice.
• Blue Moon Beer: Or similar beer, Blue Moon is a Belgian-style Witbier AKA a Wheat Ale, so look for something similar if you can’t find Blue Moon. You will just need one bottle for this recipe.

How to make Crockpot Carnitas Recipe:

Carefully cut the pork butt into 4 even pieces. Leave any fat pieces on, this adds to the flavor and the fat can be picked off when it is time to pull the pork. I cut the pork but into pieces to allow more flavor soak into the meat.

Transfer pork pieces to the crock. Add the diced onion, chipotle chili powder, oregano, cumin, and salt over top pork.

Zest entire orange over top the spices and juice the entire orange into the crockpot.

Now slowly pour the beer overtop the crockpot contents.

Cover the crockpot and set to LOW for 6 to 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. Cooking times will vary depending on size of meat and equipment used.

Once the pork is done in the crockpot (able to be easily pulled apart) there is one last step that is a game changer for making these carnitas better than a restaurant. You will shred the pork and then it will be crisped up in the oven.

So set your oven to BROIL. Transfer all the pork to a sheet pan. Pull/shread pork apart and spread over the entire sheet pan.

Measure out about 1/4 cup of the liquid from the crockpot and sprinkle evenly over the pulled pork.

Transfer to the middle rack of the oven and broil 5 to 6 minutes until the pork gets nice and crispy edges.

Serve immediately. Suggested serving, for delicious tacos serve with warm tortillas, queso fresco cheese, cilantro, and red onions.

If you like this recipe you might like:

• Slow Cooker Chipotle Pineapple Carnitas
• Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken
• Crockpot Clean Eating BBQ Pulled Chicken
• Slow Cooker Chicken Shawarma
• Crockpot Bolognese

Have Leftover Carnitas?? Here are some great recipe ideas on how to use up those leftovers:

• Carnitas Bowl
• Loaded Carnitas Nachos
• Leftover Carnitas Quesadillas

Need Chipotle Chili Powder? Order some here:

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