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Pork Chilorio Tacos

Delicious tender pork slow simmered in a delicious chile colorado sauce with hints of citrus!
Course Pork, Tacos
Cuisine Mexican
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings 6 Servings

Ingredients

For Chilorio Sauce

  • 6 tbsps. pork lard or avocado oil
  • 1/2 large white onion roughly chopped
  • 4 large cloves of garlic
  • 3 large chile ancho stems and seeds removed
  • 2 chile de arbol stems removed
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/2 cup fresh orange juice or 2 large oranges
  • Juice of 1 large lime
  • 3 tbsps. apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp Mexican oregano
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds or 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds or 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • Salt, to taste

You Will Also need

  • 1 1/2 pounds shredded pork previously cooked
  • Corn tortillas
  • Pickled red onions
  • Cilantro chopped

Instructions

Directions

  • In a skillet, preheat 3 tablespoons of lard or oil to medium heat. After a minute, add the onions and garlic and sauté for 3-4 minutes.
  • Tear the chile ancho peppers into smaller pieces. Add the torn ancho peppers and chile de arbol to the skillet with the onions and garlic. Stir frequently until the peppers become aromatic.
  • Pour in the 2 cups of water to the skillet. Bring to a light simmer, reduce heat to low. Cook for 10 minutes. Cover and remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes.
  • Transfer all skillet ingredients to the blender. Add the orange juice, lime juice, vinegar, cumin, coriander, oregano, 1/2 tsp pepper and 1 tsp of salt into blender. Blend on high until very smooth. If you are not using a power blender like a vitamix, you may need to blend for and extra minute. Taste for salt. Reserve the sauce.
  • In that same skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of pork manteca(lard) or oil to medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the shredded pork and fry, tossing as needed, until the pork begins to crisp in some spots. Mix in the reserved sauce to the pork. Continue cooking until it reduces and becomes thick. Some people like to add a little more pork lard to fry the pork in the sauce longer. Serve with warm tortillas, cilantro and pickled red onions.

Notes

Cubed Pork Chilorio Variation
Instead of using precooked shredded pork use 2 lbs of cubed pork butt/shoulder. Cook the lightly seasoned pork(salt and pepper only) in 2 cups of water at medium heat covered. Stir now and then. Once the water evaporates, let the pork cook in it's own fat until it caramelizes slightly. Pour in all of the ancho sauce. Stir well to combine and cook low and slow until the sauce thickens and reduces for the next hour or so. The sauce will darken slightly. The cook time for this version is more than 2 hours.
 
The easiest way to approach recipes that require shredded meat is to cook the meat overnight in your slow cooker the day before. This way the meat will be flavorful and moist and ready to finish the recipe quickly. Reserve the strained broth to use in the recipe instead of water.