Name: Mexican Slow Roasted Pork
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 140 min
Total time: 170 min
Ingredients: 3 pounds boneless pork butt, pork shoulder, or boston butt; 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped; 1/3 cup tomato paste; 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar; 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves; 2 teaspoons table salt; 1 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder; 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Summary:

Pork shoulder, also known as pork butt or Boston butt, is cut into chunks and slow-roasted in the oven with onions and an array of warm spices. This Mexican-inspired dish has tender shreddable meat that can be used as a filling for burritos and tacos.

Mexican Slow Roasted Pork

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Prep: 30 mins

Cook: 2 hrs 20 mins

Yield: 5 servings

INGREDIENTS

▢ 3 pounds boneless pork butt, pork shoulder, or boston butt (Note 1)
▢ 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
▢ 1/3 cup tomato paste
▢ 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
▢ 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
▢ 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Dried Seasonings:

▢ 2 teaspoons table salt
▢ 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
▢ 1 teaspoon dried oregano
▢ 1 teaspoon ground cumin
▢ 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare: Position oven rack in lower half of oven, and preheat to 300 F. Check that all ingredients are measured, prepared, and ready to go.
Cut Pork: Pat pork dry with paper towels. Cut meat into roughly 1-inch chunks or smaller, trimming off excess fat. About 1/2 pound of fat is typically removed, with 2.5 pounds of lean meat remaining.
Cook Aromatics: Add oil to large oven-safe pot (Note 2) over medium heat. Once heated, add onions and cook until turning light brown, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in all dried seasonings for a minute to release aromatics. Stir in tomato paste for a minute until well-mixed. Browned bits should be forming along bottom of pot, adding flavor to dish. Turn off heat.
Add Acid & Pork: Add apple cider vinegar and balsamic vinegar. Stir everything together, using stiff wooden utensil to loosen browned bits stuck to bottom of pot. Add pork chunks, stirring with other ingredients until well-coated with sauce.
Bake: Transfer pot to oven. Bake uncovered for 1 hour, remove and stir, then bake uncovered for another hour or until pork is very tender. As pork cooks, liquid will be released and any meat sitting above liquid level will be nicely browned.
Thicken Sauce: Transfer pot to stovetop. Turn on medium heat and boil for about 10 minutes to thicken from watery liquid to sauce-like consistency. While boiling, use stiff wooden utensil to occasionally scrape along bottom of pot to prevent sticking. Turn off heat.
Serve: Serve pork with sauce (Note 3), and top with cilantro. If sauce looks greasy, use slotted spoon to avoid serving oil with pork.

NUTRITION

Makes 5 Servings

Amount Per Serving:

Calories 570 (60% from fat)
Total Fat 38g	58%
Saturated Fat 9g	44%
Cholesterol 152mg	51%
Sodium 1200mg	50%
Net Carb 5.5g
Total Carb 7g	2%
Dietary Fiber 1.5g	6%
Sugars 4g
Protein 41g

Vitamin A 6% · Vitamin C 8% · Calcium 11% · Iron 14%

PHOTOS

boneless pork butt with savory sauce on a white plate

fresh cilantro leaves garnishing roasted pork shoulder

serving saucy roasted pork in a low carb tortilla wrap

NOTES & TIPS

(1) Pork Cut. Pork butt, or Boston butt, is a cut that comes from the upper part of the pig’s shoulder, and can be labeled by any of those terms. Sometimes it contains the blade bone, which you can remove at home, but it may be easier to ask the butcher to do it for you. Select the leanest pork you can find, which reduces the overall greasiness of the sauce. Since the amount of fat can vary, the recipe lists the weight of the pork butt after removing the bone (3 lb), the amount of fat trimmed off (0.5 lb), and the resulting lean meat (2.5 lb) to help you gauge how much lean meat is actually used in the recipe.

(2) Oven-Safe Pot. I use a 6-quart dutch oven. Any other oven-safe, similarly sized pot will also work. No lid needed.

(3) Serving. My favorite way of serving the pork is using it as a filling for burritos and tacos. Using store-bought low carb tortilla wraps, I divide out pork chunks with accompanying sauce, sometimes topping with a dollop of sour cream. Shredded cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, and guacamole are also delicious. Then I wrap up each tortilla and place it seam side down on a hot pan until the tortilla crisps up a bit. This pork is also excellent by itself. You can serve it as a meaty main dish, even as a stew. It would go well with low carb side dishes like roasted mushrooms and mashed cauliflower.

(4) Recipe Inspiration. This recipe is inspired by cochinita pibil, which is a Mexican slow-cooked pork dish from the Yucatán that uses an orange juice marinade to help tenderize the meat. In my version, the pork is slowly cooked in the oven, with a combination of concentrated tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, and balsamic vinegar making up the acidic content. The pork goes well with warm and earthy tones, so dried spices like cinnamon, cumin, cloves, and cocoa powder are added to provide a rich and savory flavor. The ingredients and their quantities are carefully tuned to minimize carbs without sacrificing on taste.