Pork Tenderloin Carnitas

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4.43 from 14 votes

Juicy and delicious, these healthy Pork Tenderloin Carnitas are fall-apart tender. Make delicious pork tacos or fajitas today with these healthy citrus-infused carnitas.

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🐖Ingredients
👨‍🍳How to Make Pork Tenderloin Carnitas
🍽️Serving and Leftovers
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
📖 Recipe

Great tasting pork tenderloin carnitas infused with a spicy citrus flavor that are fall-apart tender and juice. A low-fat alternative uses chunks of pork tenderloin to replace the more traditional pork butt and no lard.

Easy to make by following the simple step-by-step photo instructions. It uses a Dutch oven to braise the pork than cook off the fluid to concentrate the flavors. And uses the fond from the evaporated spicy braising liquid to add extra flavor to the vegetables.

These carnitas will fit a healthy diet like a low-calorie or low-fat diet or even a low-carb keto diet.

It makes terrific pork tacos but has many other uses. Serve with refried beans and Mexican Rice. And it goes will with Pineapple Mango Salsa and corn chips.

Check out some other carnitas recipes, like Oven Baked Pork Carnitas, Crock Pot Pork Carnitas, or Chicken Carnitas AKA Carnitas de Pollo.

🐖Ingredients

Pork tenderloin
Chicken broth
Vegetable oil
Jalapeno - cored and seeded chopped
Aromatics—onion and garlic
Vegetables—bell peppers and onion
Fruits—orange and lime
Pantry ingredients—cumin, paprika, kosher salt, black pepper
Tortillas and toppings—for serving

👨‍🍳How to Make Pork Tenderloin Carnitas

Trim and cube a pork tenderloin then coat with mince jalapeno and garlic with spices.
Saute the pork in a large Dutch oven for about 10 minutes than add chicken broth and juice of the orange and lime.
Cover and bake Dutch in an oven for 2 hours undisturbed.
Increase the oven temperature and remove the lid. Cook another 20 minutes until all fluid is evaporated.
Saute trimmed bell peppers and onion.
Remove the carnitas and add the veggies and scrape the fond loss with a wooden spoon to get that taste.
Serve as tacos on tortillas with toppings of your choice.

✔️Tips

You must have a pan that is stovetop and oven safe. Also, it must clean easily, or you will not be able to clean it after this cooking technique. A Dutch oven with a baked-on porcelain coating is ideal.
Orange juice and lime juice can be used for fresh fruit. Garlic powder and onion powder can be used, also.
You can add other spices to the braising fluid.
You can simmer the fluid off on the stovetop or use the oven. As the fluid goes away, the flavors concentrate and produce a wonderful fond in addition to the concentrated flavor in the pork.
You should never waste a good fond. I use the remaining fond to flavor the vegetables.
I used citrus flavors added to the carnitas. What you use is a personal choice, but the tenderloin absorbs flavor well.

🍽️Serving and Leftovers

How to serve pork tenderloin carnitas?

Serve the carnitas as shredded pork tacos on flour tortillas topped with sour cream, shredded cheese, and cilantro. Sides of refried or black beans, along with chips and salsa, are all I need.

If your carnitas are not browned well, you can shred them onto a baking sheet and place them under a broiler for a few minutes.

In addition to pork carnitas tacos, the pork can be used in burritos, on nachos, enchiladas, or other dishes.

What to do with leftover carnitas?

Leftovers can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or frozen for 3 months.

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Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

pork tenderloin trimmed and cut into cubes.

Start with about 1 ½ to 2 pounds of pork tenderloin. I used one large, but two smaller ones would be okay—just a few more leftovers. Rinse and pat dry. Remove silverskin and extra fat. Cut into 1 ½ inch cubes.

Mince 1 jalapeno without seeds and 2 cloves of garlic.

Mixing cubes of tenderlion with spices in clear bowl

Mixed pork, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika. Mix well until the pork is covered.

Add 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil to a porcelain-coated Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, saute the pork until well browned — about 10 minutes.

When pork is browned well, remove from heat. Add 1 ½ cup chicken broth and juice of one orange and one lime. Scrap the bottom of the pan to loosen up the built-up fond (browned bits and caramelized drippings on the bottom of the pan).

Place covered in a 325° oven (no need to preheat) for 2 hours undisturbed.

cooked pork in Dutch oven uncoverd in oven

After 2 hours, increase the oven temperature to 425° and remove the lid. Cook another 20 minutes or so until all fluid is gone.

While the carnitas are finishing in the oven, cut up one green pepper, one red pepper, and one large onion and saute with 2 teaspoons oil over medium-high heat until tender and browning.