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Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas {in Sweet Potato Skins}

January 17, 2017 by Keri 12 Comments

An easy slow cooker recipe for carnitas with a unique way to enjoy them! These slow cooker pork carnitas are served in crispy sweet potato skins to make them Whole30 and Paleo compliant!

Hello again! Did you all have a nice 3-day weekend? I know it wasn’t a 3-day weekend for everyone, but since Kyle was off yesterday, I decided to take the day off, too! We spent the day driving around to different Pier 1 stores for gold-hammered wine glasses to complete our bar in the dining room. ?

I didn’t actually plan on buying new wine glasses, but while in Pier 1 for a completely different reason, I stumbled on beautiful hammered-gold wine glasses. I really don’t need another wine glass, but I have an amazing wine rack made out of a pallet that my dad and I constructed. Well, my dad did all of the work, I basically watched.

Anyway, it has slots to hang four wine glasses underneath where the bottles go. I’ve been working on decorating our dining room for months now, so when I saw these wine glasses I just had to have them! The glasses that I had in there were colorful ones that didn’t go with my new color scheme.. which is cream, black, and gold. If you can’t tell, I love me some neutrals!

Of course the local store only had two glasses in stock. No big deal… I’ll look online. We leave and I start looking. Nothing. Not available on their website and nothing similar anywhere. Well, then I started to obsess over these darn wine glasses. I checked every store within reasonable distance and none of them had the glasses! I finally found one that was an hour away and my incredibly understanding husband agreed to go and get them. So, we drove an hour to pick up the glasses and drove right back home. But, the glasses look perfect in the dining room, so I’d say it was totally worth it!

Now let’s talk about slow cooker pork carnitas!

This recipe is insanely easy you guys. Plus, it uses very few ingredients! Pork shoulder is cut up into large chunks and tossed in the slow cooker with orange zest, orange juice, cumin, salt, and pepper. Set it to low and forget about it for 8 hours. So easy and so darn tasty!

A few notes about the recipe:

  1.  One of the best characteristics of carnitas is the crunchy, caramelized bits of pork. Obviously you won’t have that in a slow cooker. My solution to that is to broil the shredded pork! It’s SO delicious! Now, before you think it’s too much work, just trust me here. You have to shred to the pork anyway, so just do it on a baking sheet while you preheat your broiler. Pop it under the broiler for a few minutes and you’ve got crispy bits. 
  2. You can use a pork shoulder or a pork loin for this recipe. I recommend a pork shoulder for best results and flavor as it has more fat. However, the one I photographed is a pork loin. Still very tasty, but since it’s lacking some fat, you will want to drizzle the shredded pork with some olive oil before you complete the broiling step. 
  3. You can keep things traditional and serve the carnitas with corn tortillas, or you can go the fun route and try the sweet potato skins! Basically, you bake off some sweet potatoes until they are tender throughout. Then, hollow them out (save the potatoes for another use!) and crisp up the skins. Pile ’em high with the pork and top them with salsa, avocado, and red onion. If you aren’t doing a Whole30, you can top them with cheese or sour cream, too!

We enjoyed these slow cooker pork carnitas for dinner with a side of sautéed green beans, but they would also make a great game-day snack! The leftovers are just as tasty the next day, too.

Have a great week, friends! ?


Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas {in Sweet Potato Skins}
2017-01-17 11:59:38
Serves 4
An easy slow cooker recipe for carnitas with a unique way to enjoy them! These slow cooker pork carnitas are served in crispy sweet potato skins to make them Whole30 and Paleo compliant!
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
8 hr
Total Time
8 hr 15 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
8 hr
Total Time
8 hr 15 min
For the Pork
  1. 1 (2-4 lb.) Pork Shoulder or Pork Loin*, cut into large chunks
  2. ¾ Cup Fresh Orange Juice, plus the zest of 1 orange
  3. ¼ Cup Water
  4. 1 ½ Teaspoons Ground Cumin
  5. 1 ½ Teaspoons Salt
  6. 1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
For the Sweet Potatoes
  1. 4 Medium/Large Sweet Potatoes, scrubbed well and pricked a few times with a fork
  2. Extra-Light Olive Oil, for drizzling
  3. Salt
For Serving
  1. Salsa, homemade or your favorite store-bought
  2. Avocado, or guacamole if you’re feeling ambitious!
  3. Finely Diced Red Onion, optional
  4. Fresh Limes and Cilantro
Instructions
  1. Place the pork chunks in your slow cooker and add in the orange zest, orange juice, water, cumin, salt, and pepper. Set the slow cooker to low and allow the pork to cook until it shreds easily, about 8 hours.
  2. About an hour and a half before you’re ready to eat, preheat the oven to 400º. Rub the sweet potatoes with olive oil and a few pinches of salt. Bake the potatoes until they are tender throughout, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cut each potato in half and when you can handle them, scoop out the flesh leaving a thin layer of sweet potato so the skins stay in tact. Return the hollowed out skins to the baking sheet and drizzle very lightly with oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the potatoes and set aside.
  3. Preheat the broiler.
  4. Remove the pork chunks to a baking sheet. Shred it apart with two forks and pour over half of the cooking liquid. Place the baking sheet under the broiler in 3-5 minutes increments, stirring it each time. I did this 3 times to get the desired color and crispness. Before serving, toss the pork with the remainder of the cooking liquid.
  5. Pile the pork into the sweet potato skins and top as desired.
Notes
  1. *If you use a pork loin (NOT a tenderloin), keep in mind there won't be as much fat as in a pork shoulder. Before you complete the broiling, drizzle the pork with olive oil.
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Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Comfort Food, Dairy-Free, Dinner, Gluten-Free, Healthy Choices, Make Ahead, Meat & Poultry, Paleo, Slow Cooker, Whole30

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Lovely comments

  1. [email protected] says

    January 18, 2017 at 10:49 am

    I love shopping for any kind of kitchen stuff too and those gold wine glasses sound really pretty! I love love slow cooker all year round and what better to cook this delicious pork and then stuff it into sweet potatoes! Easy dinner!
    [email protected] recently posted…Make Ahead Breakfast Recipes For EverydayMy Profile

    Reply
    • identiconKeri says

      January 19, 2017 at 8:54 am

      Thanks, Ami! It’s very easy indeed!

      Reply
  2. Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary says

    January 18, 2017 at 3:33 pm

    LOL! Ummm we are totally cut from the same cloth, because I would drive around from store to store looking for one particular thing for the house too! Those wine glasses sound pretty! AND SOOOOO cool that you and your Dad made a wine rack together! Anyways, I looooooove carnitas! Like, dangerous kind of love. 😉 So I’m digging that you stuffed that deliciousness in some sweet potatoes! Helps me feel better about the amount of carnitas I can down. You know, because veggies cancel out calories… right?! I say right. <3 Such a delicious dinner!! Cheers, girlfriend!
    Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary recently posted…Spicy Honey Glazed Skillet ShrimpMy Profile

    Reply
    • identiconKeri says

      January 19, 2017 at 8:55 am

      Totally cut from the same cloth because I can down a lot of carnitas, too. Perhaps we should have a carnitas-eating contest?! 😉 And YES, veggies always cancel out calories! Thanks, Cheyanne!

      Reply
  3. Gayle @ Pumpkin 'N Spice says

    January 19, 2017 at 6:54 am

    I love Pier 1…one of my favorite stores! Sounds like you got some gorgeous wine glasses for your collection! And these carnitas…YUM! I’ve never made it in the slow cooker before, so I’m loving that you piled this on top of sweet potatoes. Sounds like such a good weekend meal for this cold and rainy weather in my area!
    Gayle @ Pumpkin ‘N Spice recently posted…Spinach and Feta TortelliniMy Profile

    Reply
    • identiconKeri says

      January 19, 2017 at 8:56 am

      Pier 1 is the best! And yes, these carnitas are definitely good for cold weather! Thanks, Gayle 🙂

      Reply
  4. Christine says

    February 12, 2017 at 6:03 pm

    I just made this for dinner tonight! YUM! Loved crisping the pork in the broiler! Great recipe!

    Reply
    • identiconKeri says

      February 13, 2017 at 8:22 am

      Thanks for sharing, Christine! So glad you liked it 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. March 12th-March 18th Recipes – Karah Carroll says:
    March 11, 2017 at 4:09 pm

    […] Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas {in Sweet Potato Skins} […]

    Reply
  2. March 19th-March 25th Recipes – Karah Carroll says:
    March 11, 2017 at 9:48 pm

    […] Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas {in Sweet Potato Skins} […]

    Reply
  3. Simple Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas | Derby City Mom says:
    March 14, 2017 at 2:01 pm

    […] The original recipe for this meal calls for a little more work because it serves the carnitas in baked sweet potato skins and broils the carnitas in the oven for the few minutes to get it more crispy, but I’ve omitted that for this post.  You can serve these with sweet potatoes, certainly, but you can also serve it with salsa and avocado, over a bed of greens, or in corn tortillas if you aren’t doing Whole30.  As written, this recipe is Whole30-approved, so make sure you pair it with other compliant foods to make it a full meal. […]

    Reply
  4. Simple Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas | Derby City Mom says:
    March 15, 2017 at 6:54 am

    […] The original recipe for this meal calls for a little more work because it serves the carnitas in baked sweet potato skins and broils the carnitas in the oven for the few minutes to get it more crispy, but I’ve omitted that for this post.  You can serve these with sweet potatoes, certainly, but you can also serve it with salsa and avocado, over a bed of greens, or in corn tortillas if you aren’t doing Whole30.  As written, this recipe is Whole30-approved, so make sure you pair it with other compliant foods to make it a full meal. […]

    Reply

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I'm Keri: the passionate foodie behind the blog. I created Fashionable Foods to share fresh, homemade food with a creative twist. I live in Delaware with my husband Kyle, our son Nolan, and cat Basil. Favorite things include beach days, wine, and popcorn.
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