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Taco Tuesday is a trending dinner menu. We decided to try to make it one of our go to items for the week. Less menu ideas to come up with to is always a good thing!
First Things First
To plan for your Taco Tuesday Carnitas, head to the grocery store and pick up about a 4-pound Pork Shoulder or Butt Roast. Also, you will want to get fresh jalapeños or roasted hatch chiles, flour and/or corn tortillas, cheese, tomatoes, onion, cilantro and garlic. Additionally, you will need two oranges, six limes and a can of Dr. Pepper. If you love hatch chiles, check out my post on how to puree Hatch Chiles to use all year.
You can cook this inside if you don’t have a Big Green Egg, just follow the temperature instructions and you will be fine roasting it in the oven.
Get the Meat Ready
The first thing you need to do is rub the meat with a steak seasoning mix. My husband uses a special steak rub he came up with. Hopefully, someday, he will let me publish the ingredients. But, you can use any number of steak rubs available at the grocery store, or invent your own. Be creative!
Second, pre-heat the Big Green Egg to 400 degrees. If you are cooking it inside, you will need to heat a skillet to sear the meat. Once the Egg is at 400 degrees, sear the meat on all sides to seal in the juices. Once the meat is seared, place it in a drip pan or metal baking pan.
Mix The Juices Together
Squeeze the juice of two oranges and six limes. Add a can of Dr. Pepper. Pour this mixture over the top of the seared pork shoulder. Top it with 1/2 onion, sliced, four blocks of pureed hatch chiles (or Jalapeños) and a few garlic cloves. Cover it with foil and roast on the Big Green Egg or in the oven at 300 degrees for 4 1/2 hours.
Let the Meat Rest
Remove the roast from the heat and let sit about 30 minutes. While the meat is resting, get the ingredients ready for your tacos. Chop up tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cilantro, and shred the cheese. Shred the meat using two forks, and let the meat soak in the pan juices.
Just before you are ready to serve, heat up the corn and flour tortillas. I like to heat them in my toaster oven, but a microwave will also work well.
Make it Look Pretty
Since we eat with our eyes first, make your presentation look pretty. Either way, it will still taste delicious! If desired, you can serve them with my Mexican Style Black Beans and my Oven Baked Rice.
Enjoy!
Sherri
Taco Tuesday Carnitas
Ingredients
- 1 Pork Shoulder/Butt Roast 4-5 lbs.
- 2 tbsp Steak Seasoning
Juice Ingredients
- 2 Oranges Freshly Squeezed
- 6 Limes Freshly Squeezed
- 1 can Dr. Pepper
Toppings for Roasting
- 3 cloves Garlic peeled
- 3 Hatch Chile Puree or Jalapeño Puree Cubes
- 1/2 Onion Sliced
Taco Condiments
- 1/2 Onion diced
- 1/2 Cilantro, Bunch chopped
- 1-2 Tomatoes diced
- 1-2 Jalapeños chopped
- 1-2 pkg. Tortillas Corn and/or Flour
Instructions
- Preheat the Big Green Egg to 400 degrees. If searing inside, heat a skillet on high, with a teaspoon of oil to sear the meat on all sides.
- Rub the Roast with steak seasoningSear the roast on all sides.Place the seared roast into a drip pan or metal cake pan.
- Reduce the Big Green Egg or Oven to 300 degrees.
- Combine one can of Dr. Pepper, the juice of 2 oranges and six limes.Pour this mixture over the Pork Butt.Top with ½ onion and 4 blocks of hatch chile puree.Cover with foil.
- Roast for 4 ½ hours at 300 degrees on the big green egg or in the oven.
- Let the roast rest for about 30 minutes.
- Shred it let it soak in the pan juices.
- Heat up corn or flour tortillas to make the tacos.
Serve with Condiments: chopped onion, tomatoes, cilantro, Jalapeños, lettuce, etc.
