Tender Slow Cooked Pork Tacos

These slow-cooked pork tacos are fall-apart tender with a sweet, spicy citrus flavor. By using a slow cooker, it’s easy to get the tacos ready the night before and let cook all day long.

This dish is a variation on carnitas, which is traditionally served with corn tortillas. These tacos are delicious using either corn or flour tortillas, so use whichever you like better. If you use corn, you will want to double up and use two tortillas for each taco.

If you want to learn more about what makes this recipe work and how to use a slow cooker to make delicious tacos read An Easy Way to Make Great Slow Cooked Pork Tacos.

A couple of delicious side dishes that go with these tacos are Sweet Corn with Anaheim Peppers and Instant Pot Mexican Rice.  Pico de Gallo and some homemade Guacamole are also nice additions.

Slow Cooked Pork Tacos

5 from 1 vote

Print SaveSaved! Pin

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 hours hours

Total Time: 10 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

Shredded Pork

• ▢ 3 lb pork shoulder
• ▢ 1/2 large white onion
• ▢ 4 cloves garlic
• ▢ 3 tsp chili powder
• ▢ 2 tsp cumin, , ground
• ▢ 1 tsp Ancho chili powder
• ▢ 2 tsp salt
• ▢ 1 tsp pepper
• ▢ 1/4 cup lime juice
• ▢ 1/4 cup lemon juice
• ▢ 1 4 oz can diced green chilies

Cilantro Topping

• ▢ 2 bunches cilantro
• ▢ 1/2 large white onion
• ▢ 1/3 cup lime juice
• ▢ 8 ozs Cotija cheese

US Customary – Metric

Cook ModePrevent screen from going dark

Instructions

• Start by slicing half a large white onion lengthwise into long thin slivers. Peel and chop four garlic cloves. Mix the onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, Ancho chili powder, and pepper with the lemon and lime juice.
• Cut the pork shoulder into large chunks and place into a slow cooker. Add the green chilies and spice mixture to the cooker and mix it up with the pork. Turn the slow cooker on low and cook for seven to nine hours. If you’re home mix everything up every few hours, if you’re not it will be ok.
• Cook the pork until it is so tender it just falls apart when you pick it up with a pair of tongs. For the next step, you’ll want to shred the pork. You can do this by using a pair of tongs and a fork with the pork in the crock pot or by placing it on a cutting board.
• Once you’ve shredded the pork put it back into the slow cooker and the sauce and let it cook for another hour. This helps make sure that every piece of pork has the chance to absorb all the wonderful flavors from the cooking liquid.
• While the pork is finishing up, dice the remaining white onion and finely mince the cilantro. Mix the cilantro and onion together with the remaining lime juice. Chop up the Cotija cheese and set aside.
• To make the tacos warm up the tortillas and place some pork along with the cilantro mixture and a little Cotija cheese into them.

Recommended Equipment

Slow Cooker

Tried this RecipeLet us know what you think of this recipe. Leave your thoughts and rating in the comments.

Nutrition Information Hide

The nutrition information shown is an estimate based on available ingredients and preparation.