Description
Smoked Carnitas – delicious and easy smoked carnitas that are beer braised and packed with flavor! Perfect for a crowd!
Ingredients
Scale
Pork Shoulder + Seasoning:
- 3–4 pound pork shoulder
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
Braising Liquid:
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- zest of 1 orange (+ the juice)
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- zest of 1 lime (+ the juice)
- 12 oz Mexican beer
- 1 sweet yellow onion, diced
- 1/2 jalapeno, diced (remove seeds and membrane)
- 1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For serving:
- salsa verde
- fresh lime wedges
- cotija cheese, crumbled
- fresh cilantro, chopped
- quick pickled onions
- guacamole
- tortillas of choice
Instructions
- Smoker: Ensure grill grates are clean and set smoker to 225 degrees F.
- Prep Pork: Place pork shoulder on a large plate or platter. Pat dry with clean paper towel. Rub worcestershire all over, ensuring it gets into every nook and cranny. Repeat with the yellow mustard.
- Season Pork: In a small bowl, combine cumin, chili powder, cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano leaves, pepper and salt. Mix well. Sprinkle seasoning all over pork shoulder ensuring it is fully coated.
- First Smoke: Place pork shoulder directly on the grill grates and close the smoker. Let it cook 4-5 hours.
- Prep Braising Liquid: Meanwhile, in a deep baking dish or aluminum pan, add garlic cloves, orange juice, orange zest, lime juice, lime zest, beer, onion, jalapeño, olive oil, bay leaf and salt. Stir to combine.
- Braise Pork: After 4-5 hours, remove pork shoulder from the smoker and place in the pan with the braising liquid. Cover with aluminum foil and return to the smoker. Let braise 3-4 hours or until the internal temperature of the pork shoulder reaches 200-203 degrees F.
- Crisp: Remove from smoker and let rest 30 minutes. Shred with two forks. Reserve the braising liquid and transfer the shredded pork to a baking sheet. Pour some of the braising liquid over top and then broil until meat starts to crisp a bit – just 2-3 minutes.
- Serving: Serve with a tortilla of your choice along with some fresh cilantro, cotija cheese, guacamole, lime wedges, orange wedges, or whatever sounds good! Definitely keep the braising liquid and pour a little over top your tacos if you have any left or store your leftover pork in it!
Notes
- Pork Shoulder: feel free to use a pork shoulder or pork butt.
- Spice: if you are concerned about spice feel free to omit the cayenne – the jalapeno shouldn’t add much spice if you remove the seeds and white membrane, but you can omit that to if you prefer.
- Cook Time: how long your pork shoulder ultimately takes to come up to temp depends on a variety of factors such as width, humidity, hot spots, etc. Use an internal meat thermometer or probe to track your temp for best results.
- Beer: I used a Modelo, but feel free to use the beer of your choice, although a light beer generally works best here, so I wouldn’t go too heavy.
- Nutrition Info: this was calculated for the carnitas & braising liquid. It will vary depending on how much braising liquid is eaten and did not include the serving ingredients because those can vary.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6oz
- Calories: 225
- Sugar: 2.4 g
- Sodium: 635 mg
- Fat: 6.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 7 g
- Protein: 32.1 g
- Cholesterol: 92.9 mg