Citrus Marinated Pulled Pork Tacos

If you are making these potluck style, just leave the pork in the crock pot, and create a taco bar buffet for people to assemble their own pork tacos. I would recommend stocking the buffet with tortillas, avocado, cilantro, jalapenos, and some queso fresco for a totally outrageous taco bar. NOTE: This recipe serves 4-6 at about 3 tacos each. If you want to double the recipe, keep the same cooking time and just check to make sure the pork is done. You can always continue to cook for longer, but since you’re using a pork loin, it is easy to overcook and dry the meat out. If you are tripling the recipe, I would suggest adding 1 more hour onto the cooking time just because of the amount of meat you need to cook.

Citrus marinated pulled pork tacos

• 1 1.5lb pork loin
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt + more for sprinkling
• 1 pinch red pepper flake
• 1 tsp lime zest
• 1.5 tsp orange zest
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbs olive oil + more to crease crock pot
• Juice of 1/2 orange
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 cup light beer

First, zest the orange and lime. You can use a zester, which is what I find easiest, or you can grate the zest off. If you do use one of these zesters, (which I absolutely LOVE) make sure to chop the zest up finely so it evenly distributes over the meat. Next, mix the zest in a small bowl with ground cumin, coriander, salt, red pepper flake, and finely chopped (or crushed) garlic. This is going to be your rub, so set it aside.

Next, take your pork loin and clean off any white or silver parts. You want the loin to be a beautiful, pink loin with minimal (if any) white or silver pieces, because those are either fat or other ligaments/tendons that will make the meat tough. I usually cut the loin in half so I have two shorter logs instead of one long one. Pat the meat dry with a paper towel and generously rub it down with the citrus rub. Use all of the rub.

While the rub is permeating the meat, Slice the onion. I usually use a mandoline because I think it is the fastest way, but you can slice it however you are most comfortable. Next, spray a croc pot with cooking spray or rub it with a bit of olive oil and throw the onion slices in to cover the bottom.

Next, heat up a cast iron or heavy bottomed pan until it is very hot, add in the oil, and sear the meat on all sides to seal in the juices. Once the meat is nicely browned, place it on top of the onions in the croc pot. Deglaze the pan you used to brown the meat with the beer. Deglazing is when you pour a liquid in a pan you used to cook in to scrape up all of the crusty brown bits at the bottom. Scrape up all the browned bits from the pork with a wooden spoon and pour the hot beer over the pork into the croc pot. Next add in the citrus juice, and you’re all ready to go!

Set your croc pot to high for 2 hours and 15 minutes and wait for your house to fill with the incredible smell of citrus marinated pulled pork tacos! Once the timer is up, pull the meat apart with two forks, and it’s ready to go! You can either have people put together their own tacos, or you can make plates for them.

Whichever you choose, these citrus marinated pulled pork tacos are sure to be a show stopper!