Spotting Dinner - Carnitas Soft Tacos

When it comes to tacos, I love soft ones. I think they hold their stuffings much better than hard taco shells. I don't eat tacos very often, but sometimes I get a bit of a craving for them. With all the upcoming wonderful seasonal vegetables expected to show up in markets in the next few months, tacos would be a delightful treat. When I was poking around on TasteSpotting I found cookingontheside's soft tacos and knew I'd be trying this recipe out.

Photo from cookingontheside

Carnitas Soft Tacos
via cookingontheside
Adapted from the National Pork Board’s Arizona Carnitas with Green Chiles recipe on a pork shoulder package

Serves 8-10

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into bite-size pieces
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 large yellow onion, cut into thin slivers
• 1 4-oz. can diced green chiles, undrained
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• Flour or corn tortillas

Recommended Toppings:

• Shredded Cheddar cheese
• Chopped tomato
• Chopped cilantro
• Guacamole
• Sour cream

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 350° F.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in ovenproof heavy large covered pot over high heat. Add half of the pork cubes; sprinkle with half of the salt and half of the black pepper. Cook pork until starting to brown, stirring often. Remove pork. Repeat with remaining pork cubes, salt and black pepper, adding more oil if necessary. Drain drippings from pot.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in the same pot over medium heat. Cook onion in hot oil until tender. Stir in undrained chiles and garlic; cook for 2 minutes. Return pork to pot. Add chicken broth. Cover and bake for 1 hour. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

Serve pork in tortillas topped with toppings.

You could definitely add some fresh hot peppers like jalapenos or habanaros depending how spicy you like things and of course salsa.

Here's to peppers and full bellies.

- Cait