Carnitas Tacos with Tomatillo Salsa

Carnitas Tacos with Tomatillo Salsa is a classic Mexican dish featuring tender, slow-cooked pork (carnitas) that’s crispy outside and juicy inside, tucked into warm corn tortillas.

They are topped with vibrant, tangy tomatillo salsa from roasted tomatillos, chilies, garlic, and cilantro. The rich, savory pork pairs perfectly with the bright, slightly tart salsa, creating a bold and satisfying bite every time.

Having some boneless pork shoulder in the freezer, all cut up in 2-inch cubes was the only way to make carnitas with them.

What we love most about this recipe is that you can boil the pork the day before for the carnitas tacos. 

Please return it to room temperature before proceeding with the final cooking step.

The combination of grapefruit, I have a tree in my backyard that gives out the sweetest juice, and milk leaves the meat savory.

Once all cooked off, the meat will sear to perfection because of the sweetness left on it by both milk and grapefruit.

At this point, you can prepare any sauce you wish.

We do enjoy Smoked Salsa with it quite often. The flavors are just incredible together.

In this Article

What are carnitas made of?

Carnitas, which means little meat in Spanish, is a Mexican pork dish. It consists of a cost-effective, nicely marbled cut of pork, such as pork shoulder or picnic ham, braised or simmered for several hours with seasoning and fat until it is tender enough to shred.

Below is an adaptation from one of my favorite Mexican cookbooks, “Mexico The Beautiful Cookbook,” which is no longer on prints

Here is where it gets exciting and a bit challenging for me. I do not embrace spicy hot food, thus making it a bit difficult for the sauce to go alongside.

However, I did make it a bit more tolerable for my palate.

I am giving you the recipe for Carnitas tacos with tomatillo sauce and avocado with the whole spicy hot sauce.

How do you eat Carnitas?

It can be a dish all in itself. Depending on where you eat them, they can be served with chopped cilantro, diced onions, salsa, guacamole, tortillas, refried beans, lime, and or radishes, as I have it here.

A two-part recipe

This recipe of carnitas is a combination of two recipes coming together beautifully.

The carnitas tacos require a long preparation, and the tomatillo sauce can be prepared the day you want to enjoy it.

However, I recommend that you prepare them both the day before. The longer the flavors stay together, the more savory this dish will become.

If you are like me, there are a few things that you can omit or substitute

• First of all, I decided to go with Poblanos peppers instead of Serrano peppers. The poblanos are milder in flavor than the serranos counterparts. 

• Replace the poblanos with the serrano if you like hot in the recipe.

• Another of my little changes was taking off the seeds of the poblano before blending them into a puree.

The seeds pack the heat. Keep the seeds if you like the heat.

I did not make enough, as it was gone at the speed of light.

Flour and corn taco-size tortillas are warmed before serving. We also had some extra lime to squeeze over it all.

We will add radishes and queso fresco to it as per our preference.