Snacktastic Sundays: Crock Pot Carnitas Tacos

So…this Snacktastic Sunday post is a little late. Sorry, y’all. But hey, I’ve still got a tasty recipe for you, so…let’s just call it even, OK? OK! Alright, moving on then.

Today’s recipe is another Crock Pot recipe, and it’s stupendously easy. I threw everything together around 10:30pm Friday night, set the slow cooker to “low”, and then went to bed for 8 hours. When my alarm went off at 6:30am, the first thing my mind registered was the mouthwatering aroma of roasting pork, and I came instantly and completely awake. This is an unheard of phenomenon; usually the fog doesn’t clear until after I’ve had a hot shower, breakfast, and at least three Diet Cokes. I guess Folgers was wrong – the best part of waking up is a big, fork-tender pile of carnitas in my Crock Pot.

This recipe was great for me this weekend for a whole bunch of reasons. It was delicious (obviously), but also wonderfully time-saving. My parents came over for lunch on Saturday, and carnitas tacos were on the menu. The fact that the main feature of our meal was done by 6:30am meant that, instead of my usual frenzied last minute kitchen/cleaning activities, I had plenty of time to take a long shower, tidy up the house, throw together a cute outfit, and bake a loaf cake for dessert.

Aside from the carnitas, the only other “cooking” I had to do was throw together a quick salsa, chop some cilantro, mash a few avocados, and stick a pan of squash in the oven for roasting. So for once, when my parents walked through the door I wasn’t disheveled, sweating over the stove, and frantically running between the kitchen and dining room putting last minute touches on everything. I think everyone could get used to Calm & Clean Tina.

Did I mention how much food this recipe makes? 4 pounds of pork is…a lot. The tacos we ate at lunch (and we ate a bunch) barely put a dent in the mountain of roast meat hanging out in the fridge. Normally this would be a problem, because there is no way Dan and I could eat that much meat ourselves before it went bad. We’ve lost many, many pounds of delicious meats because of our inability to eat all of it 🙁

Luckily, Dan was hosting guys’ night at our place later that day and was planning to set out a DIY taco bar for dinner. So, not only did I not have to spend a ton of extra time making additional food for the guys (as a food blogger, I can’t just let the guys eat chips for dinner, you know?), four hungry men helped put a much bigger dent in my meat pile. And, at the end of the night, I gave them each an extra baggie of meat to take home, so I’m currently the owner of exactly zero carnitas. Which was a shame when we were hungry last night and only had cheese/crackers for dinner, but on the whole I’m feeling relieved.

If you’re not like me and Dan and can actually manage to eat food before it spoils, or if you have family to feed, this Crock Pot carnitas recipe would be a great weekend/weeknight option for you. As I said, it’s so easy and low-fuss, and it’ll leave you with plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week. (I could see this being great in burritos, quesadillas, rice bowls, etc.)

And have I mentioned that the meat is super delicious? So tender (it basically falls apart as soon as you touch it) and flavorful, and amazingly tasty whether you eat it hot and crispy from the broiler or cold out of the fridge. It’s not at all greasy, and when you serve it with corn tortillas, fresh vegetables  and homemade guac you don’t end the meal feeling like you’ve done irreparable harm to your arteries.

Yes, this is another Damn Delicious recipe – at this point I think my blog mainly exists as free advertising for her blog (and also Cooking Classy’s blog). What I can I say though, true genius cannot go unrecognized, and the girl makes some damned delicious (heh heh) food!  You’ll definitely want to give this carnitas recipe a try soon 😀