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Coca-Cola Carnitas

Carnitas (“little meats”), pork braised in Coca-Cola and orange juice until tender, then shredded and fried in its own fat, are perfectly brown, crisp, and flavorful little morsels of meat. Excellent for filling your tortillas. For Cinco de Mayo or any day!

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with these Coca-Cola Carnita Street Tacos! #carnitas #streettacos #tacos

coca cola carnita tacos


It’s Cinco de Mayo night at Casa de Angie (that’s me)! Except, of course, it’s Tres de Mayo. And actually, this meal was served on Treinta de Abril but is shared with you today.

Look at it this way, I am at least fulfilling my duty as a food blogger. I’m giving you a recipe idea for the real event, 5/5, ahead of time. So you can prepare and plan and organize and scheme and strategize.

Well, maybe not scheme and strategize. Unless of course, that’s your modus operandi. You can confess to me, my friends. The truth shall set you free!

I myself sometimes feel as if I have to scheme my way out of cooking, haha…

There’s definitely nothing wrong about scheming and strategizing. A little of each, or both, never hurts anybody.

So, this Coca-Cola Carnitas! Good for any day, by the way, not just for Cinco de Mayo.

coca-cola-carnitas

Let me start by saying that when I first heard of it, my first reaction was whaaat?! Coca-Cola in Carnitas?! Yucky, right?!

Well, it turned out I was wrong. I was so wrong! Coca-Cola Carnitas es muy delicioso! The sugar in the soda helps to caramelize the meat, and whatever else they put in the cola gives it that slight smokiness. Or maybe it’s the smoked paprika that gives the smokiness. But who cares, right? All I know is that this Coca-Cola Carnitas is a keeper.

I adapted this from a Food Network recipe. I should say, heavily adapted. I use my usual Carnitas recipe that I swear by and basically just add a cup of coke in it.

And then I added kumquats, too… Whaaat?!

Oh, please, relax! It’s okay! What do you have against kumquats?! They’re so cute! You should start using them in your beverages, in place of the usual boring limes and lemons. Okay, limes and lemons are not boring, but kumquats are not boring-er. I think I just turned twelve.

kumquats

Besides, you’re already adding coke in the Carnitas. Kumquats certainly wouldn’t hurt. I just thought I needed to add some acidic element with all the sugary stuff. And these babies have been in my fridge for a month. You can certainly use lime juice and lime zest in place of the kumquats. Remember, it’s your Carnitas!

What I wouldn’t use in this dish, though, is a diet cola. It needs the sugar for the caramelization to happen. But you don’t have to use Coca-Cola. Any cola soda can be substituted. I heard that the Mexican Coca-Cola works even better, since it uses pure cane sugar instead of corn syrup. So give that a try if you can find it.

Serve the carnitas with the usual suspects, i.e., corn or flour tortillas, cilantro, grated cheese, shredded lettuce, sliced avocados & radishes, salsa verde, pico de gallo, etc.

salsa verde and pico de gallo

Or you could be like my son and top your carnita tacos with an unusual suspect like mayonnaise. Whaaat?!

Chillax, people! It’s his tacos; I let him do whatever he wants with them.

Do yourself a favor, make this Coca-Cola Carnitas and top them with whatever you like, and have yourself a Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Can I hear you say ole’?!

carnita tacos

feliz cinco de mayo

 

5.0 from 1 reviews
Coca-Cola Carnitas
 
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Carnitas ("little meats"), pork braised in Coca-Cola and orange juice until tender, then shredded and fried in its own fat, are perfectly brown, crisp, and flavorful little morsels of meat. Perfect for filling your tortillas!
Author:
Recipe type: Main Course/Meat/Pork
Cuisine: Mexican
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
  • 2 pounds boneless pork meat, cut into large chunks (See notes below)
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, smashed
  • 1 cup Coca-Cola
  • 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
  • ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Several sprigs of oregano
  • Several sprigs of thyme
  • 5 kumquats (plus more for garnish, if preferred), seeds removed, sliced thinly
  • 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (See notes below)
Instructions
  1. In a small bowl, mix garlic powder, salt, pepper, and paprika. Season pork pieces with the mixture.
  2. On medium-high, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a Dutch oven or braiser. Sear pork pieces in the oil until browned on all sides. Remove and set aside.
  3. In the same pan, add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent.
  4. Add the Coca-Cola, broth/water, and orange juice. Return meat to the pan.
  5. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Add the herbs and kumquats.
  6. Cover and simmer until the pork is tender, about 1½ hours. Once pork is tender, remove and shred using a couple of forks, then return it back into the pan.
  7. There may still be some liquid left in the pan at this point. If that's the case, turn up the heat and let it boil until it's completely evaporated. This is when the carnitas will begin to fry in its own fat. Or, if you're using a lean cut of meat, you can add more oil. If you have kumquat slices reserved for garnish, add them to the pan now.
  8. Continue frying until carnitas are well-browned and crisp on the outside.
  9. Alternately, you can spread the shredded meat on a baking sheet and put it under the broiler for a few minutes.
Notes
I used lean pork loin and there was hardly any fat rendered, therefore I added olive oil in the end to brown the meat, but if you're using a fatty cut of meat, you may not need to add any oil.

 

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Comments

  3. Angie I love all the gorgeous photos and had a giggle at you being twelve! Boring-er is a great word but I agree, definitely not for kumquats. Do you think would work with anything other than pork? as it sounds like something my boys would love☺

  4. The meat looks heavenly, cooking then frying it – yum! I was trying to decide what to make for Cinco de Mayo and you’ve given me a proven recipe. I use “pop” in a number of recipes and you’re right never use diet. Love working with kumquats – they are just too cute 🙂

    • Lol, I have to laugh. I used to live in Kansas and I remember people saying pop. I’ve also lived in California and now East coast where people say soda. Nowadays to be clear I make sure to say soda pop. ??

  6. Those tacos look so colorful and appetizing! One of my sister-in-laws (I have 6 of them!) is from Mexico, and for a Christmas Eve dinner last year, she made a pork roast braised with Coke. It was so delicious, so I can imagine the meat in your recipe is too! I will definitely keep this in mind next time I make tacos.

    • I didn’t know that about soda! I’ve seen recipes now with Dr. Pepper, too. They all sound good now to me. ??

    • Thanks, Melody! It really is very delicious. And that’s why I bought more ingredients last night. I’m going to make it again, in slow cooker this time ?

    • I did, too, at first! On paper it didn’t seem such a good idea. But I decided to be open-minded about it and I’m glad I tried it ? I think it’s improved my usual Carnitas recipe!

  14. My grandma used to cook chicken drummies in coca cola and orange juice and I loved the flavor the cola gave the meat! So yummy! A spicy Mexican flavor added to that sounds amazing!

    • I actually also remember my grandma using soda (Sprite), too, but for baking these little cakes. I wish I had paid more attention, maybe she used coke when I wasn’t looking, lol ?

  15. Oh wow… Angie, these are absolutely gorgeous! I have fond memories of eating Coca Cola marinated meat in Mexico City as a kid (I thought it was awesome that such a thing existed on a restaurant menu). Must try these!

  17. Looks delicious! Cinco de Mayo or not, I think this will be a hit with any Mexican food lover. Thanks for the recipe! ?

  19. A wonderful recipe indeed! Thank you very much for sharing this. I made these carnitas For the very first time two weekends …ago using lime instead of kumquat.
    Flash forward To this beautiful Sunday afternoon in North Georgia..where they are simmering as we speak, my second go around with these fantastic morsels of deliciousness. My boyfriend is a Carnitas maniac. Needless to say, he ain’t goin’ anywhere. LOL Happy new year and thanks again?

    • I’m so glad to hear, Dena! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Happy New Year to you and your boyfriend. Lucky boyfriend! ?