Easy Carnitas

Once…I went to Georgia.  It was my cousin’s wedding and the rehearsal dinner was held at this spectacular BBQ place.  The pulled pork literally melted in my mouth.  As a semi-vegetarian (in that I didn’t really like meat all that much, so ate a lot of cheese based dishes instead), I had no idea meat could taste that good.  Every time I’ve eaten at the BBQ place since then, I have ordered the pulled pork off the menu and hoped it would be as amazing.  I’m always disappointed.

This crock pot recipe comes pretty darn close to the deliciousness of that Georgia restaurant.  The best part is that it is super easy and makes the house smell good all day.

You will need:

• 5-6 pound pork shoulder roast
• 2 yellow onions, sliced
• 3 Tbs chili powder
• 1 tsp coriander
• 2 tsps cumin
• 2 tsps onion powder
• 1 Tbs dried parsley
• 2 tsps salt

First, slice up the onions and place them on the bottom of the crock pot.

Then, mix the spices together to form a dry rub.

Rub the spices all over the meat.

Attack any children nearby.

Place meat on top of the onions and close the crock pot lid.  Cook the meat for 5-6 hours on high.  Then lower the heat to low and cook an additional 3-4 hours.  You do not have to add any liquid.  At the end of the cooking time, your pork will look like this:

I recommend taking the roast out and draining all of that fat.  Including the fat is super yummy, but it isn’t needed.  The meat is still very moist and flavorful without it.

Shred the meat and serve.

We chose to have carnitas burritos the night we made it.  We used whole wheat tortillas with sour cream and Tapatio sauce.

You can eat the meat just by itself too (as Erik chose to do).

This recipe makes a lot of food.  Leftover carnitas make an excellent salad topping as well, if you aren’t up to eating a plethora of carnitas burritos.  However, this meat is so good, using a fork to eat it straight out of the refrigerator works as well.

Original recipe from Everyday Paleo.