Crock Pot Pork Carnitas

I love Pork Carnitas and as a busy mom to a new baby, cooking it in a crock pot is perfect because it's super easy and I get tons of leftovers to make into other things like tacos, quesadillas, and tamales... but let's face it, it's so darn yummy that I just eat it straight most of the time! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

• 2-3 pounds boneless pork shoulder (aka boston butt)
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1.5 tsp Cumin
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper
• 10 cloves of Garlic
• 1 medium Orange (or about 1/3 cup of orange juice)
• Onion (optional)

(Note: I have coconut oil in the picture, but I didn't actually use it... ooops!)

If you are using onions, then cut it into quarters and place it in your crock pot. Then, place the pork on top of the onions.

If you're not using onions, then place the pork directly in the crock pot.

If you don't have a fancy citrus press or a citrus reamer, then do what I did to juice the orange over the pork:

1. Cut the orange in half.
2. Stick a fork in the middle of an orange half as a makeshift reamer.
3. Squeeze the orange shell in half while moving the fork around to break up the orange pulp.

It's okay to get some pulpy bits on your pork, but you will want to remove any seeds that fall in.

I have to admit that I love garlic, so I use a lot! If you have some really large garlic cloves, then you can cut it in half like I did. Then using a paring knife, cut slits into each side of the pork and insert the garlic into the slits.

Mix the spices together in a small dish and sprinkle it evenly onto the pork. You can also pat the spices into the pork gently.

Set the crock pot to low and cook for 6-8 hours. Go to work, run some errands, hit the gym, and come home to the delicious aroma of perfectly cooked carnitas! Use two forks to shred it up and it's ready to be paired with some beans and yellow rice, stuffed into purple corn tacos, or anything!

Note: If you want it crispier, you can put the shredded pork on a cookie sheet and broil for 3-5 minutes. I never get to this step because it smells so good, I have to dig in! ;-)