Chipotle's Carnitas

A couple people have asked me for the recipe for the Carnitas we made for the Fiesta this past summer.  I posted it in the comments section there, but we have been making these pretty routinely around our house, so I thought I'd post the recipe here as well.

The Carnitas end up tasting very similar to Chipotle's carnitas, and if we ever figure out how to successfully duplicate their rice, you'll be the first to know.

Here's what you need:
•One 7lb pork butt, cut into 10 large chunks
•1 very large onion, quartered
•5 chipotle chiles in adobo, seeded & chopped, plus 3 tablespoons adobo sauce from the can
•1 tablespoon ground cumin
•1 tablespoon ground coriander
•1 tablespoon dried oregano
•1 tablespoon salt
•2 bay leaves
•2 to 3 quarts low sodium chicken broth
•2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Just so you know, it's almost impossible to find a 7 lb pork butt.  Also, it's embarrassing to yell the words "Pork Butt" to the local butcher across a crowded meat section.  Take it from me.

Okay, moving on.  You will most likely end up with a 5 pounder at most so just adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Rob usually makes this.  I spent 7 years in a food safety lab do far worse things to raw meat than just cutting it up, but still, if I can avoid it, I do.

Add the onions.

It's nice that you don't have to cut the onions much, just big chunks.  You know what my super power is?  Cutting onions....they don't bother me at all.

From here, you just add the rest of the ingredients right into the pot, except for the oil...save that for later.  A note on the chiles, they can be found in the authentic Mexican food section of your grocery store, not the "Ortega Taco Mix" Mexican section.  Take it from Rob.

A little 7.5 oz can will give you plenty of chiles.

Then just pour in enough chicken broth to cover everything up (I don't measure that part, but one super large can was enough for this one).  Stir it up, cover it, and bring it to a boil.  Once it's boiling, uncover it and let it simmer for 3 hours. 

After only a half hour, your house will smell delicious.

After 3 hours you'll be drooling, but take this moment to heat your oven up to 450.  Drizzle some olive oil (or vegetable oil) on a shallow pan.  Use a slotted spoon to take out the large meat chunks and place them on the pan.  With a fork, you can pull apart the meat into smaller, more manageable pieces.

Pop that baby in the oven for 20-30 minutes until it's nicely browned.  The picture above is pre-oven.  Just picture it slightly darker and you have post-oven.

We serve ours with a semi-tasty version of Chipotle's Lime Rice plus cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream.  Whatever you happen to like.  Rob makes his into tacos or burritos.  I prefer the burrito bowl style.