Chipotle Copycat Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

This week we relocated to New Haven, Connecticut and left Holland, Michigan, our home for 10 wonderful years. It was bittersweet. While we are excited to start a new chapter in our life as a family, it is truly sad to leave behind a place that was truly our first home after we got married. There were so many memories both sweet and sad that made our stay in Holland truly memorable. For this post, I won’t dwell on this so much as I will make another one – pure reflections on the 10 years we had in Michigan.

This particular post is more like our regular foodie post. Though I write this in honor of our church family and friends who came over to help us move. Going through all the stress of moving, we were carried through by the unselfish dedication we got from our friends who took the time to help us pack our stuff into boxes and eventually loading them into a huge trailer for hauling. We didn’t want to just make them help us without rewarding them with some yummy food so I made this delicious Slow Cooker Carnitas. You may think, it’s crazy for me to cook while we were in the midst of a big move. But that is exactly what I did and because this is such a super easy recipe (just dump it all in the crock pot), it was no trouble at all. I am glad they all totally enjoyed it. So whether you are planning a big move yourself or just need an easy-peasy recipe that can feed and truly please a crowd – I highly suggest that you try this. This is now a favorite for our future gathering with family and friends.

Ingredients

6-7 lbs Pork Shoulder Blade Roast (Boston Butt)
2 Onions, chopped
1/2 cup Tomato Salsa*
1 1/2 teaspoons Garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground Cumin
2 teaspoons dried Oregano
4 whole Cloves
3 Bay leaves
1 1/4 cup Water
3 teaspoons Salt or to taste
2 teaspoons freshly ground black Pepper or to taste

*Choose the heat level you prefer. I use the Trader Joe's brand but feel free to use your favorite.

Procedure

Place the onions at the bottom of the slow cooker.

Place the pork roast on top and add the rest of the ingredients.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours or 5 hours on high (length of time depends on your slow cooker).

Shred the meat. Serve with either soft or crunchy tacos with some salsa, chopped cilantro, cheese or sour cream on the side! Perfect for any gathering!

If you wish to print the recipe, there's a print-friendly icon at the end of the post. Click on the "remove images box" for easy printing.

If you like what you see and would like to receive new recipe updates, we'd love you to subscribe to our posts or join our site. Needless to say, we'd love you to like us on Facebook too where you can get more recipes and updates. Thanks and happy browsing!