Oven Baked Carnitas from 101 Cooking for Two

Name: Easy Oven Carnitas
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 270 min
Total time: 285 min
Ingredients: 3-4 pounds boneless pork butt; 1 juice of lime; 1 tablespoon chili powder; 1 teaspoon cumin; 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder; 1 teaspoon kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Recipe Table of Contents

4.24 from 25 votes

Pork carnitas are simple. Cut up a pork butt, coat it with lime and add a few spices. Pop them into the oven for slow roasting—no big fuss or mess. Crispy, tender, and flavorful, you can make perfect carnitas tacos at home.

Jump To:

😊Why you should make this recipe
🐖Ingredients
👨‍🍳How to bake carnitas
✔️Tips
What are Carnitas?
❓FAQs
❄️Storage and reheating leftovers
📖Other Carnitas Recipes
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Recipe

😊Why you should make this recipe

Carnitas are a standard in every Mexican restaurant. If you are not familiar with them, think of them as Mexican pulled pork
It makes wonderful carnitas tacos but has many other uses.
This low-and-slow method is perfect for home cooks. With easy prep and 4-5 hours in the oven.
It uses pork butt, which will give the most tender results.

🐖Ingredients

Pork butt—boneless
Lime—or lime juice
Spices—chili powder, cumin, kosher salt, pepper

👨‍🍳How to bake carnitas

Trim and cut a pork butt into 2-inch cubes.
Place the pork into a large bowl, squeeze a lime over the pork and add the spices. Stir to coat.
Place on a baking tray with a rack and cover with foil.
Bake for 2 ½ hours, remove the foil, then bake for about 2 hours more to an internal temperature of 195° to 200° on the biggest pieces.
Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

✔️Tips

Pork butt and Boston butt are the same. But pork shoulder (AKA picnic shoulder or picnic) is further down the front leg. It is also leaner, so it is better used as a roast or ham. Many people get the difference confused. For more info, see more at American Test Kitchen.
Use a boneless pork butt to simplify your life by letting the butcher cut the bone out, which can be more work than you appreciate.
Use a rack to lift the meat out of the rendered fat and improve cooking on all sides without flipping.

What are Carnitas?

Known as "little meats" and sometimes called Mexican pulled pork, they can be found on the street in Mexico cooking in large vats of lard. Not a good option for us home-cooking Yankees.

The most common home method is braising a chuck of pork butt in a spiced-up fluid of some type and then cooking off the liquid on the stovetop—a major mess. With baking, there is almost no mess, and much of the fat drains due to the rack, so the "greasy factor" is markedly decreased.

❓FAQs

How to season pork carnitas?

The seasoning of carnitas is highly variable. It can just be salt or use lots of other spices and herbs. There may or may not be citruses like lime or orange. So season to your taste.

How to serve pork carnitas?

Carnitas are shredded to serve. These baked carnitas are already browned, but cooked in other ways usually require browning by shredding and broiling a few minutes on a baking sheet.

The most common of the carnitas shredded pork is a taco. It is then topped with typical taco toppings like sour cream, shredded cheese, or cilantro. Or anything you like.

Other users of carnitas shredded pork are burritos, enchiladas, or quesadillas.

❄️Storage and reheating leftovers

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or freeze for 3 months.

To reheat, thaw overnight in the refrigerator if frozen. A microwave can be used to reheat small amounts. Otherwise, reheat shredded carnitas on the stovetop or cover them with foil in the oven.

📖Other Carnitas Recipes

Crock Pot Pork Carnitas

Healthier Pork Tenderloin Carnitas

Chicken Carnitas AKA Carnitas de Pollo

This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.

🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions

Preheat oven to 250° convection or 275° conventional.

Prepare a sheet pan with foil and a rack. Give the rack a heavy spray of PAM.

pork butt cut into chunks on black board

Cut a 3-4 pound boneless pork butt into about 2-inch chunks. Trim big pieces of fat only. You could do bone-in butt, but you will make your life harder.

mixing chunks of pork butt with spices in a white bowl

Place pork in a large mixing bowl. Add the juice of one lime—mix well. Add 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Mix to coat.

Transfer meat to the prepared pan. Distribute evenly but the largest chunks in the corners.

Cover with foil.

Roast in the preheated oven for 2 ½ hours. Remove the foil and roast for about 2 more hours until the internal temperature is 195° to 200° on the biggest pieces.

Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe

Easy Oven Carnitas

From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

Pork carnitas are simple. Cut up the pork butt, add a few spices, and a lime. Pop them into the oven for a slow roast—no big fuss or mess. Have one of your favorites at home today.

Tap to leave a Rating

4.24 from 25 votes

Print Collection

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 4 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes

Servings #/Adjust if desired 6

Ingredients

US Customary - Convert to Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 250° convection or 275° conventional.
Prepare a sheet pan with foil and a rack. Give the rack a heavy spray of PAM.
Cut a 3-4 pound boneless pork butt into about 2-inch chunks. Trim big pieces of fat only. You could do bone-in butt, but you will make your life harder.
Place pork in a large mixing bowl. Add the juice of one lime—mix well. Add 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Mix to coat.
Transfer meat to the prepared pan. Distribute evenly but the largest chunks in the corners. Cover with foil.
Roast in the preheated oven for 2 ½ hours. Remove the foil and roast for about 2 more hours until the internal temperature is 195° to 200° on the biggest pieces.
Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

See the step-by-step photos in the post. Some recipes have an option to display the photos here with a switch above these instructions but the photos DO NOT print.

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Recipe Notes

Pro Tips

The recipe calls for a 3-4 pounds boneless pork butt, but you can use a bigger butt with no problem. A bone-in butt is fine, but just more work.
It is important to put the thicker pieces of pork to the corners and the outside edge of the tray.
Time estimates are based on 2 to 2-½-inch chunks. Smaller chunks of pork will cook much faster.
You can do this without the rack, but the bottom will be set in the fat and drainage.
Season as you want.
The final temperature endpoint is the most important part of this recipe. Never cook by time alone.
Serve with tortillas and toppings of your choice.
Good refrigerated for 3-4 days or frozen for 3-4 months.

The nutrition information on this recipe is variable due to the nature of pork butt.

To adjust the recipe size:

You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.

Nutrition Estimate

Nutrition Facts

Easy Oven Carnitas

Amount Per Serving

Calories 307 Calories from Fat 117

% Daily Value*

Fat 13g20%

Saturated Fat 5g25%

Cholesterol 136mg45%

Sodium 558mg23%

Potassium 801mg23%

Carbohydrates 2g1%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 1g1%

Protein 43g86%

Vitamin A 395IU8%

Vitamin C 2mg2%

Calcium 39mg4%

Iron 3mg17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Serving size is my estimate of a normal size unless stated otherwise. The number of servings per recipe is stated above. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

Course : Main Course

Cuisine : Mexican

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Editor's Note: Originally Published October 1, 2017. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.

Oven Baked Carnitas