Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

These slow cooker pork carnitas lettuce wraps are a great low carb dinner that take minutes to prepare. Get the slow cooker ready the night before and have diner on the table in 5 minutes! Best of all the lettuce wraps make this a low carb dinner too!

You might also like these keto chicken Asian lettuce wraps.

I love pulled pork as does my family and I’ve prepared it many different ways. However these slow cooker pork carnitas that we used lettuce wraps with, is one of my favorite recipes. I like it because it’s so easy but flavorful and it’s a wonderful low carb meal for me.

All you do is prepare the roast the night before and let the slow cooker do all the work. Then when it’s dinner time you get all your fixings ready it minutes. So it’s a good low carb meal for busy days. And if you don’t care about carbs just use flour tortillas to make tacos, burrito, Mexican bowls, etc. I have more suggestions below of what to do with leftovers and ways to eat this.

Lettuce wraps are often used in Asian dishes but really they can work with any kind of meat. The citrus and Mexican spices make this roast perfect Mexican lettuce wraps. These pulled pork carnitas are very similar to my zesty garlic pork roast that I made a long time ago. The difference is the addition of orange juice. The sweet citrus flavor of the oranges adds a bit of brightness to the dish.

Recipe ingredients and substitutions.

The simple ingredients I used for this recipe was a pork shoulder roast, fresh lime juice and zest, fresh orange juice, fresh garlic, ground cumin, oregano, salt and black pepper. And for the lettuce wraps, used avocado slices and fresh jalapeno slices.

• Pork Roast – I used a shoulder roast but you can also use a pork butt roast or tenderloin. However I would not use a pork loin. They are just too lean and dry.
• Fresh Limes & Oranges – I use the lime juice and zest so you should use fresh limes as the zest really add flavor. However you can use bottled orange juice if you don’t have a fresh orange on hand.
• Fresh Garlic and Spices – Fresh garlic is a must because I used slivers to stud the roast and infuse all the garlicky flavor. And the spices are just come ones you probably have in your pantry. Use kosher salt if you have it.
• Lettuce Leaves – I used a baby romaine lettuce I got at Aldi. Other types of greens to use are regular romaine, leaf lettuce, bibb lettuce or even butter lettuce. Ice berg would also work but these other types are more tender but offer a cup surface to make your wrap.

For eating the wraps you can use any topping you want. Pick from fresh or pickled jalapenos, sour cream, avocado slices, guacamole, hot sauce, salsa, pico de Gallo, salsa verde, fresh tomatoes, cheeses like cheddar or Mexican blend, black olive slices, red onion, green onion, etc. You can also use fresh herbs like cilantro leaves.

How to make slow cooker pork carnitas.

Step 1: The night before prepare the roast. Slice the fresh garlic into slivers. Then cut holes all around the roast and stuff the garlic slivers in the holes. Get out a small bowl and mix the spices, lime juice and zest and the orange juice to make a paste. Rub the spice mixture all around the roast and then place the roast into a plastic bag. Place in the refrigerator over night.

Step 2: The next morning place the roast into the slow cooker and cook on high for 4-6 hours or low for 6-8 hours until it’s fall apart tender.

TIP: I like to take out the cooking liquid half way through so you get those crispy edges that have so much flavor. Save the juices in case you want to use them if you roast is dry.

Step 3: When pork is fall apart tender, take two large forks and shred the pork. Let it sit for a few minutes to absorb the juices. Note if you don’t drain the liquid half way through there might be too much liquid so drain it a bit before shredding the meat.

You could also crisp up the meat in the oven. Spread the shredded carnitas on a sheet pan and place in the oven and broil for a few minutes to brown.

Step 4: Place the shredded meat in a big bowl along with the lettuce leaves and toppings to make the wraps.

Store leftovers in an airtight container. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.

This slow cooker carnitas recipe is great in that when you are ready for dinner, all you have to do is grab some garnishes and lettuce leaves and you are ready to go. 

What to make with leftover pork carnitas.

Of course you can use the leftovers to make more lettuce wraps for a low carb lunch the next day. But other ideas and ways to eat this dish are:

• Use the meat in Mexican dishes like burritos, tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas or on top of tortilla chips to make a more Tex Mex nachos.
• Add pasta sauce to the meat and cook for awhile to let the flavors meld. This will surprising make a delicious pasta meat sauce.
• Make rice bowls with rice, corn, black beans, cheese, guacamole, salsa, etc. This is a good idea for meal prep.  I often buy cilantro lime rice from Costco and sometimes Aldi that is just takes 90 seconds in the microwave for a quick meal with leftovers.
• While this is not a low carb idea, I’ve seen pulled pork use in poutine on top of fries with cheese curds and gravy.
• Use on pizza or flatbread along with cheeses even bbq sauce similar to this bbq chicken flatbread pizza.

These slow cooker pork carnitas were very filling but refreshing too.  My son ate them with cheese on a flour tortilla but my hubby and I enjoyed them as shown above. I hope you enjoy this low carb and Paleo dinner.  

The nutritional information for 1 serving of these slow cooker carnitas is 209 calories / 13.2g fat / 3.5g carbs / 0.1g fiber / 18.4g protein = 3.4g net carbs