Crockpot Carnitas from Pork Tenderloin #diet #familyeat
These Crockpot carnitas are made in the slow cooker for a super easy paleo or Whole30 dinner. Pork loin or tenderloin makes these Crockpot carnitas a budget-friendly, healthy Mexican recipe, and they’re so full of flavor! Used in my Whole30 carnitas chilaquiles recipe, as well as my copycat Chipotle carnitas bowl.
So on our first Chipotle outing during a Whole30, I wandered up to the glass with my phone in my face and ordered off a post I’d found on the Whole30 forums.
“Carnitas and lettuce and, um… extra guac, of course,” I emphasized. “and like 2 cups of each salsa.”
Because, you know, that roasted salsa verde is damn good, but not as good as the one I made!
I was surprised, then, when I liked the carnitas bowl as much as I did, considering there was no, GaSP, cheese, and no, aLSO GaSP, steak, and no corn salsa and no crunchy chips and generally lots of saying no to lots of things. But what I got instead was crunchy and crisp, tender and juicy, bright and flavorful and garlicky and a little smoky. I left feeling satisfied but not grossly full, and I didn’t immediately need to take a nap or top off my steady caffeine drip.
PALEO LEMON BUTTER CHICKEN
Rub
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil
Crockpot Carnitas
- 2 pounds pork tenderloin or loin
- 1/2 onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 jalapeño chopped
- 2 teaspoons salt
Juice of one lime
- Juice of one navel orange
- To Serve
- avocado oil
- Equipment Needed
- slow cooker
Instructions :
- Pat dry pork tenderloin with paper towels. Combine rub ingredients and rub all over tenderloin then place in your Crockpot.
- Top with remaining ingredients, cover, and cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours. When done, the meat will be cooked through and very tender, easily separated with a fork.
- Remove the tenderloin from the Crockpot and shred the meat with two forks. Do not discard juices.
- To Serve
- Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. add enough carnitas to cover the surface without crowding and ladle a little of the carnitas juice over. Cook until juice has evaporated and bottom of carnitas is crispy and browned. Flip and cook briefly, but not until too brown.
- Remove from skillet and drizzle with a little more juice. Serve.
