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easy-pork-carnitas

Easy Pork Carnitas

An Authentic Pork Carnitas Recipe Served With Warm Tortillas and Sauces.

For this meal you don't need to cross the border or take a plane. You just need your oven, a Ziploc Endurables® Large Pouch and a few hours. If you follow every step, you’ll enjoy delicious Mexican food right at home.

Total cook time

4 hours

Prep time

30 mins

Servings

4 to 6
  • Authentic and crispy pork carnitas served within wam tortillas in a Ziploc® Endurables™ Pouch
Ingredients
3½ lb boneless pork shoulder butt
2 tsp salt
1 orange
1 onion, cut into wedges
4 garlic cloves, cut in half
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsp dried oregano
¼ cup vegetable oil

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Endurables™

Ziploc Endurables® Large Pouch

Freeze it. Bake it. Boil it. Microwave it. Ziploc Endurables® Large Pouches are designed to go directly from freezer, to oven, to table.

Made with durable and reusable platinum silicone they withstand extreme temperatures. Use to bake (up to 425 °F), sous vide, or provide protection in sub-zero temperatures.

Thoughtfully designed with Cool Grab Tabs™ which allow for safe handling when heating. Ziploc Endurables® Large Pouch is an all-in-one solution to simplify mealtime. The options go as far as your creativity. Secure Seal Technology helps prevent spills and seal in flavors.

The Large Pouch size holds up to 8 cups and is perfect for family dinners. Dishwasher safe on the top and bottom racks make for easy cleaning. They are mindfully designed to be continuously used, reused, then recycled.

Front of Ziploc large pouch
Directions
1.
Heat oven to 300 °F.
2.
Cut pork into 8 pieces; sprinkle evenly with salt.
3.
Use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest from the orange, being careful to just remove the orange part of the peel. Reserve peeled orange for another use.
4.
Pack 4 pork pieces in single layer on bottom of Endurables® Pouch; top with orange zest, onions, garlic, bay leaves, cinnamon stick and oregano. Top with remaining pork pieces; press firmly into other ingredient layers in Pouch. Drizzle with oil.
5.
Squeeze air from Endurables® Pouch; close zipper, leaving a one inch opening to vent. Place Pouch in a 9x5-inch loaf pan.
6.
Bake on bottom oven rack 3 to 3½ hours or until pork is fork tender. Remove loaf pan from oven; cool pork in Endurables® Pouch 15 mins.
7.
Place large strainer or colander over large bowl. Carefully pour liquid from Endurables® Pouch through strainer. Transfer the strained juices into a small bowl. Let stand 5 mins. or until fat rises to surface. Spoon the fat into a different small bowl; set aside along with the strained liquid.
8.
Remove pork from Endurables® Pouch; discard all Carnita ingredients remaining in the Pouch. Remove and discard fat and connective tissue from pork, then break pork into bite-size pieces.
9.
Heat 2 Tbsp. of the reserved fat in a large nonstick skillet over high heat. Add single layer of pork; drizzle with about ¼ cup of the strained liquid. Cook, without stirring, 3 to 4 mins. or until bottoms of pork pieces are crisp and lightly browned. Turn pork pieces over; drizzle lightly with some of the remaining strained liquid. Cook until other side of pork pieces are crisp and lightly browned. Remove from skillet. Repeat, in batches if necessary, to cook remaining pork pieces.
10.
Serve crispy carnitas plain, or as a filling for tacos. For tacos, serve with warmed tortillas, topped with pico de gallo, guacamole and/or diced avocados, shredded cheese and dollops of sour cream. Or, you can use the pork carnitas as a filling for your favorite burritos, quesadillas or enchiladas.

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