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Pork carnitas is a favorite at many Mexican restaurants in San Diego.  We have a traditional method of cooking carnitas.  However, there is also a sous vide pork carnitas method that is simple and delicious.

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Carnitas is a dish we love to cook for parties.  It is incredibly easy and really impresses the guests.  Our oven method is not difficult.  However, it does require taking up oven space for several hours.  This can be problematic when doing several dishes for a party.

The sous vide method allows you to start the pork the night before.  After cooking in the sous vide bath, you simply do a final broiling in the oven right before serving.

Another advantage of sous vide pork carnitas is you can cook the pork to different temperatures and experiment with different textures and flavors.  Traditionally pork shoulder is cooked to around 190 degrees to break down the meat.

With sous vide pork carnitas you can cook the meat for a longer time at a lower temperature and have great results.  In addition, the juices from the melting fat help add to the flavor.

We use the Anova Sous Vide cooker  and we got the idea for sous vide pork carnitas from their website. (NOTE: they have a recipe but I strongly recommend not using cinnamon as it can overwhelm this dish). They suggest 3 different temperatures to experiment with.  The lower the temperature, the longer the cook time.

• 145 degrees: Cook for 24 to 36 hours. It comes out as more cube like pork carnitas.
• 165 degrees: Cook for 12 to 18 hours.  The meat can be pulled and it is moister than the traditional method.
• 185 degrees: Cook for 8 to 16 hours.  This comes out as the more traditional method.

The cube style that comes from cooking at a lower temperature is served at many Mexican restaurants.  However, we prefer the more traditional shredded pork style.  We cook ours at 165 degrees.  If we wanted the more traditional style, we would probably just do the basic method.

Our large 2-gallon sous vide bags can hold about 5 pounds of meat.  You simply add the ingredients to the bag, drop it in the water and let it cook overnight.  You do need to add more water as it evaporates.

When the meat is cooked you simply shred it and place it on a foil lined baking sheet.  Right before serving you broil it in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes to get your desired level of crispiness.

For serving we usually cook up a batch of our refried beans.  Often, we will offer a variety of tortillas, flour and corn.  The favorite seems to be the small corn tortillas that are what you find in Mexican street tacos.  Traditional condiments on the side include lime wedges, diced onions, salsa and cilantro.

Cole Cooks: Instant Pot Refried Beans Recipe

I love Mexican food but do not eat it that often.  I know it can be made healthy but the stuff I love the most tends to be pretty decadent.  A great example of this is refried beans.  These beans are commonly served as a side dish at Mexican restaurants and often they are nothing […]

Unless you have a really large party you will likely have leftovers.  These are great for burritos, nachos or one of our favorites, taquitos.  Taquitos are simply tacos with the meat rolled up like tobacco in a cigar.  Check out our taquitos recipe using leftover carnitas.

Be sure and check out our full guide to sous vide cooking for more suggestions and recipes.

Sous Vide Cooking Guide

Sous vide is a cooking technique that has hit the mainstream in recent years.  We love this technique because it allows you to perfectly cook meat.  This is our guide to getting started with sous vide cooking. Overview The idea behind sous vide is that you heat food in a water bath to the exact […]

For more sous vide recipes go here.

Top 10 Sous Vide Recipes

Sous vide is a cooking technique that has hit the mainstream in recent years.  We love this technique because it allows you to perfectly cook meat.  This is our regularly updated list of our top sous vide recipes. Overview of Sous Vide For an overview of sous vide and the equipment you need be sure […]

Sous Video Pork Carnitas

Dave Cole

This is a recipe for Mexican shredded pork carnitas that is cooked overnight in a sous vide bath and finished in the oven right before serving.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 hours hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 11

Ingredients

  

• 1 large onion
• 5 pounds pork shoulder or pork picnic shoulder outside fat and bone removed cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons oil butter or lard
• 1 medium orange
• 6 cloves garlic roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 cup chicken stock

Instructions

 

• Cut pork into large chunks. Mix salt, coriander, cumin and chili powder into a rub. Season pork chunks with rub.
• Heat sous vide cooker to 165 degrees. Add pork, orange, onion, garlic, bay leaves, vinegar and chicken stock, to 2-gallon sous vide bag. Place in sous vide bath and let cook for 12 to 18 hours.
• After 12 to 18 hours remove pork from bath and let cool. Discard liquid, orange peel, onion, garlic, and bay leaves.
• When ready to serve heat oven to broil. Shred pork and add in a single layer to a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Broil pork for 5 minutes and flip. Continue broiling until crisp on all sides, about 10 to 15 minutes total.
• Serve with tortillas and desired condiments.

Keyword Carnitas, Mexican Food, Pork Recipe, Sous Vide

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