Put some flavor back into your evening dinners with this incredible recipe: Carnitas Tacos with Raspberry Pico de Gallo. Doesn’t that just sound delicious?! Your family will be begging for more. Follow these steps and make sure you have around 3 hours to prepare this treat.

How to Make Carnitas Tacos

Ingredients you will need:

  • Soft corn tortilla
  • Lettuce
  • Raspberry Pico de Gallo*
  • Chipotle Cream*
  • Pork Loin
  • Carnitas Spice Rub*
  • Fresh Cilantro
  • Queso Fresco (or any cheese of choice)

*Recipes detailed below.

Mix the pork rub together.

Start by making a pork spice rub. For this you will need:

  • 1.5 Tablespoon coriander
  • 1 Tablespoon cumin
  • 2 Tablespoon Kosher salt
  • 1 Tablespoon Garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • pinch of cinnamon

Rub the pork loin down.

Rub the pork loin down with the spice rub. Make various slits into the pork to fill it with the spice. Make sure all edges are covered for the best flavor.

Braise your pork.

Next braise the pork with these ingredients:

  • 2-3 # of center pork loin
  • 1 small cinnamon stick
  • 1 fresh (or dry) bay leaf
  • 2-3 quarts pork broth depending on size of pan (you may use a chicken broth if you can’t find a pork broth)
  • 2 garlic cloves

In a saucepan, bring to boil the pork broth with the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and garlic cloves. Set aside.

Fill with braise ingredients.

In a sautee pan that fits the piece of pork, heat over medium to high heat. Add light oil to the pan and sear the meat turning heat to medium and let brown all the way around, adjusting heat accordingly to get desired browning.

Transfer the meat into a roasting pan that fits the piece of meat so that you can pour the broth in and cover 3/4 of the pork, and roast for 2.5-3 hours at 325 degrees uncovered. Afterward, the pork should be pull-apart tender.

Chop up Pico De Gallo ingredients.

While the pork is cooking, make Raspbery Pico de Gallo:

  • 1 large ripe tomato, gutted and diced omitting all seeds
  • 1/4 small red onion, diced into small cubes
  • 1/4 fresh pepper (sweet bell or jalapeno), diced into cubes
  • Juice from 1 lime
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 6-8 fresh raspberries, diced and smashed
  • Few sprigs of cilantro, roughly chopped

Raspberry Pico De Gallo completed.

Here is what your Raspberry Pico de Gallo should look like completed. It is best to use the Rada French Chef Knife while dicing your ingredients.

Make chipotle cream.

Also make the chipotle cream:

  • 1/2 C. sour cream
  • 1/4 t. chipotle powder OR 1/4 t. chipotle adobe sauce.

Warm your tortillas.

Place corn tortillas on a dry skillet which is under a low heat until they are able to bend and not break, then place on a plate.

Spread chipotle sauce over tortillas.

Spread a little chipotle cream on each taco.

Add lettuce and pulled pork.

Add chopped lettuce and seasoned pulled pork.

Top with pico de gallo, lime, and cilantro.

Top with raspberry pico de gallo, fresh cilantro and queso fresco.

Carnitas Tacos

Put some flavor back into your evening dinners with this incredible recipe: Carnitas Tacos with Raspberry Pico de Gallo. Doesn’t that just sound delicious?! Your family will be begging for more. Follow these steps and make sure you have around 3 hours to prepare this treat.

Ingredients

  • Soft corn tortilla
  • Lettuce
  • Raspberry Pico de Gallo*
  • Chipotle Cream*
  • Pork Loin
  • Carnitas Spice Rub*
  • Fresh Cilantro
  • Queso Fresco or any cheese of choice

Instructions

Start by making a pork spice rub. For this you will need:

  • 1.5 Tablespoon coriander
  • 1 Tablespoon cumin
  • 2 Tablespoon Kosher salt
  • 1 Tablespoon Garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • pinch of cinnamon

Ready to rub

  • Make various slits into the pork to fill it with the spice. Make sure all edges are covered for the best flavor.
  • Braise your pork.

Next braise the pork with these ingredients:

  • 2-3 # of center pork loin
  • 1 small cinnamon stick
  • 1 fresh (or dry) bay leaf
  • 2-3 quarts pork broth depending on size of pan (you may use a chicken broth if you can’t find a pork broth)
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • In a saucepan, bring to boil the pork broth with the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and garlic cloves. Set aside.
  • Fill with braise ingredients.
  • In a sautee pan that fits the piece of pork, heat over medium to high heat. Add light oil to the pan and sear the meat turning heat to medium and let brown all the way around, adjusting heat accordingly to get desired browning.
  • Transfer the meat into a roasting pan that fits the piece of meat so that you can pour the broth in and cover 3/4 of the pork, and roast for 2.5-3 hours at 325 degrees uncovered. Afterward, the pork should be pull-apart tender.

Ready to chop

  • While the pork is cooking, make Raspbery Pico de Gallo:
  • 1 large ripe tomato, gutted and diced omitting all seeds
  • 1/4 small red onion, diced into small cubes
  • 1/4 fresh pepper (sweet bell or jalapeno), diced into cubes
  • Juice from 1 lime
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 6-8 fresh raspberries, diced and smashed
  • Few sprigs of cilantro, roughly chopped
  • Raspberry Pico De Gallo completed.

Make chipotle cream.

  • 1/2 C. sour cream
  • 1/4 t. chipotle powder OR 1/4 t. chipotle adobe sauce.
  • Place corn tortillas on a dry skillet which is under a low heat until they are able to bend and not break, then place on a plate.
  • Spread chipotle sauce over tortillas.
  • Spread a little chipotle cream on each taco.
  • Add lettuce and pulled pork.
  • Add chopped lettuce and seasoned pulled pork.
  • Top with pico de gallo, lime, and cilantro.
  • Top with raspberry pico de gallo, fresh cilantro and queso fresco.

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Stubby Butcher

These knives are great for slicing larger meats, fruits, and vegetables, but they’re distinctly different. Check them out! You can order any of these knives from the Rada Kitchen Store.

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Expert Cooking Tips

Get insider tips from professional Chef Blake to make the best carnitas tacos you are able to make. He’ll let you know some extra tips while cooking as well as teach you how to properly gut and cut the produce needed for the raspberry Pico de Gallo.

Carnitas Tacos Video Transcript:

Hello, welcome back to Rada’s Test Kitchen, my name is Blake and I’m going to be teaching you how to make carnitas tacos today. We have a piece of pork loin we’re going to cook up, we’re going to put together a spice and rub it down, we’re going to saute it and put it in the oven so it’s nice pull-apart tender, we have corn tortilla shells, we’re going to make a raspberry Pico de Gallo, chipotle cream, and put together some tacos.

We’re going to go ahead and get started by putting together the spice mixture. I have a bunch of spices here: some cumin, dried oregano, dried garlic powder, onion powder, coriander, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Mix that all together. So I’ve got the center cut of the pork loin and what I want to do is cut some slits in the pork to allow the seasoning to get inside there. Put the spices in there all the way around.

Take it over to the stove and sear it really good. We’ve got our saute pan, heat it up but don’t get it too hot. I’ve got it a little below medium. Take the piece of pork, fat side down. Here that sizzle, give it a shake and let that sear and caramelize a little bit. Every once in a while, I’ll lift it up and let the oil back under, and you can see the nice carmelization that’s going on. Flip it over to get both sides. Try to get it all the way around. Set it up on its side to brown. Look for a nice caramelization on top and don’t cook it through. Transfer it to another pan. Put some fresh oregano in the pan, fresh bay leaf and a cinnamon stick. Put a light stock (pork stock, chicken stock, or a vegetable stock) in the pan. So we’ve got this a little over halfway submerged in the stock. Put a lid on it and put it in the oven, being very careful. Try to keep it in the center.

Let that cook for about 2.5 hours at 325 degrees and it should be pull-apart tender when we’re done. While that’s cooking, we’ll make the other ingredients. Here we have some sour cream and I’m going to add some chipotle and salt to make a chipotle cream. You can use chipotle powder or chipotle in adobe sauce. Mix it together and let it set.

Now we’re going to make a fresh salsa or Pico de Gallo, a little bit different than the traditional. We’re going to use Roma tomatoes, red onion, fresh cilantro, garlic, raspberries, pepper, and lime. Cut your tomatoes. We’re going to filet them, taking out the seeds. Now cut the onion in the same size as the tomatoes. Move on to the pepper, cut into quarters and cut the seeds and pith out. Add garlic to help out the tacos. Rough chop your fresh cilantro. Add some fresh lime juice and some salt and pepper. Chop some raspberries real fine. Blend this all together.

Lightly spray a pan and wipe it out and under some medium heat, take some corn tortillas and warm them.

Pour some juices over the top of the pork loin after cooking for 2.5-3 hours. What we’ll do is we’ll pull it apart. Strain these pieces out and then some people will refry it in a pan, crisp it up a little. Put some chipotle cream over the warm corn tortillas. Add some chopped lettuce and the pork. Add the raspberry-fresh salsa and some queso-fresco. Then add some fresh cilantro to garnish it. Carnitas tacos are easily one of my favorite foods in the world. This is unique, a different style. Hope you enjoy!

End of Video Transcript.