Slow Cooker Carnitas Burrito Bowls
Published 4/10/2021 • Updated 7/25/2024
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Make these Slow Cooker Carnitas Burrito Bowls with tender pork carnitas, street corn salad, cilantro-lime rice, and all your favorite fixings.
Best Burrito Bowl!
These carnitas burrito bowls are one of Fit Foodie Finds’ most popular meal-prep recipes! So many of you have made this recipe and we recently gave it a bit of a makeover to make it even better.
We love bowl recipes because they are composed of many different things all in one! This carnitas bowl recipe is made up of a few of our favorite recipes.
Components of the bowl
Let’s Talk – Carnitas
In order to make perfectly cooked, juicy carnitas, we highly suggest using the slow. Our slow cooker carnitas recipe is incredible tasty, fall-off-the-bone tender, and so easy to make!
Here’s what you need:
- Pork shoulder: pork shoulder is an excellent cut of meat for carnitas because it’s a tougher part of meat so it needs to be cooked longer,
- Spices: this pork is all about the spice rub! Star spices include garlic powder, chipotle powder and chili powder.
- Olive oil: olive oil is used to sear the meat to get the outside nice and crunchy before slow cooking.
- White onion: white onion is slow cooked with the pork to infuse it with flavor.
- Garlic: when in doubt, add more garlic.
- Broth: broth is used to help tenderize the pork while cooking.
- Orange Juice: orange juice? Just trust us! It adds amazing flavor.
How to Cook Carnitas
Once you’ve got all of your ingredients for the carnitas, cooking it goes like this:
- Dry rub the meat
- Sear the meat
- Slow cook
- Shred
- Bake
To get the full instructions for this carnitas recipe, check it out HERE or scroll down to the recipe card.
Try it!
Slow Cooker Carnitas
This carnitas recipe is slow-cooked for 8 hours and then broiled so that they are super tender on the inside, but nice and crispy on the outside.
Cilantro Lime Rice
Cilantro lime rice is one of my favorite side recipes on Fit Foodie Finds. It’s flavorful, filling, and goes so well with any burrito bowl recipe.
Our cilantro lime rice recipe is super basic, made with just a few ingredients. Here’s what you need:
- Long-grain brown or white rice
- Water
- fresh cilantro
- Garlic powder
- Sea salt
want to make this low-carb?
Get all of the same flavors of cilantro lime rice, but with less carbs and calories. Try swapping the white rice for cauliflower rice!
Try it!
Cilantro Lime Rice
Make this u003cstrongu003ecilantro lime riceu003c/strongu003e for an easy and flavorful addition to any of your favorite meals!
Mexican Street Corn Salad
Mexican street corn salad on its own is a flavor burst of a salad! It’s fresh, packed with veggies, and so delicious in this carnitas burrito bowl.
We simplified this corn salad in this recipe a bit so you didn’t need as many ingredients as our classic Mexican street corn salad. Here’s what you need:
- Corn
- Lime juice
- Apple cider vinegar
- Cilantro
- Red onion
- Cotija cheese
- Paprika
- Salt and pepper
Other Burrito Bowl Ingredients/Toppings
Once you’ve got the three main components of this burrito bowl ready to go, it’s time to assemble your bowls! Now, you have a couple of choices. You can either assemble these right in a bowl or make them in a meal-prep container for later.
Other ingredients you will need include:
- Black beans
- Romaine lettuce
- Cotija cheese
- Greek yogurt/sour cream
Storage
We recommend meal-prepping this Carnitas Burrito Bowl recipe into separate glass meal-prep containers so that you can have an easy grab-and-go option.
These burrito bowls will last for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Slow Cooker Carnitas Burrito Bowls
Ingredients
Pork Carnitas
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1.5 teaspoons chipotle powder
- ½ tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ tablespoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground oregano
- ½ teaspoon paprika powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2-3 pound pork shoulder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium white onion, chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup broth, any kind
- ¼ cup orange juice
- fresh lime juice, for serving
- cilantro, for serving
Cilantro Lime Rice
- 2 cups uncooked long-grain white rice
- 4 cups water
- ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped (not packed)
- ⅓ cup fresh lime juice
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt*
Corn Salad
- 1 15- oz. can yellow sweet corn, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/3 cup minced red onion
- 1/3 cup crumbled cotija cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- salt and pepper, to taste
Other Bowl Ingredients
- 1 15- oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- Lime wedges, for serving
- Optional: Greek yogurt/sour cream
Instructions
Pork Carnitas
- Combine the spices for the dry rub in a small bowl and set aside.
- Season the pork shoulder with the dry rub by massaging the pork with the spices on all sides. Let it sit for at least 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place the white onion, garlic, and broth into the slow cooker and turn your slow cooker to high.
- Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat. Add olive oil. When olive oil is fragrant, add the pork shoulder to the pan. Brown both sides of the pork shoulder for 3-4 minutes on each side.
- Transfer the browned pork shoulder into the slow cooker and pour the orange juice over the meat and then cover the slow cooker. Cook the pork shoulder on high for 7-8 hours or until the pork falls apart.
- Once the pork is done cooking, preheat the oven to 450ºF and spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
- Uncover the slow cooker and use 2 forks to carefully shred the pork. It should be super tender and easy to shred. Toss the shredded pork with all of the juices in the slow cooker.
- Transfer the shredded pork to the baking sheet and spread it out. Then, bake at 450ºF for around 5-7 minutes to make your carnitas nice and crispy.
- Remove the pork from the oven and squeeze on fresh lime juice. Then, sprinkle on fresh cilantro.
- Serve in a taco, in bowls, in a burrito, etc.
Cilantro Lime Rice
- Place 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water into a medium-sized pot. Then, bring to a rolling boil over medium/high heat.
- Reduce heat to low and cover for 35-40 minutes, or until water is absorbed, stirring halfway through.
- Transfer the rice into a bowl and let cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes.
- Next, chop fresh cilantro and juice limes.
- Once the rice has cooled, add in chopped cilantro, lime juice, garlic powder, and sea salt. Stir to combine. Set aside.
Corn Salad
- Place all of the ingredients for the street corn salad in a large mixing bowl and stir until combined. Set aside.
Bowls
- Place about 1 heaping cup of romaine lettuce on the bottom of your bowl. Add around 4-oz. carnitas, about 3/4 cup cooked cilantro lime rice, 1/2 cup street corn salad, and 1/4 cup black beans to the top of the romaine lettuce. Repeat in three other bowls.
- Serve with fresh lime, cilantro, Greek yogurt, and more cotija cheese.
Tips & Notes
- Instant Pot: If you’d like to make Instant Pot Carnitas, turn your Instant Pot to the saute function. Add olive oil to the bottom and sear all sides of your pork for 1 minute. Then, turn your Instant Pot off and add garlic and a little more olive oil to your Instant Pot. Close lid, turn the valve to seal and cook on manual high for 60 to 90 minutes. Once the timer has gone off, quick release your Instant Pot to let out the steam. Shred and add the rest of the carnitas ingredients. Option to follow THIS recipe.
- This recipe was updated on April 2, 2021. Get the original recipe HERE.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Erin from The Wooden Skillet.
Would this recipe work with chicken instead of pork? Would I need to alter the recipe at all?
It absolutely would! I’ve actually made it that way before. Just monitor your chicken in your slow cooker. When I cook chicken on high in mine, it usually only needs about an hour and a half!
I was wondering if you could freeze these? Would they be after defrosting them?
Hi Amanda! I’ve never tried freezing these, but I don’t see why not! Throw them in individual glass/tupperware and top it with a piece of plastic wrap and press it down onto the food to prevent freezer burn before putting the top on. If you do it- please comment back and let us know how it went!
Hi, for the slow cooker part, what do you use for the liquid? Because it says just add the pork loin and minced garlic in there and there’s no liquid to add in there. Wouldn’t it be dry?
Hiyah! You can add a little olive oil, but the pork will give off a lot of liquid itself!
When using chicken dip you use any liquids in the crock pot?
I’d use a little olive oil!
I did freeze them and they tasted just as good as the fresh ones. I didn’t do anything special, just froze them in Tupperware. I did eat them within a week of freezing them.
So delicious! And very easy too!
Seriously this is a very healthy recipe and we should try it. I am sure the taste will be also good and refreshing. Thanks
So, I saw this over the weekend and said, “Wow, this BOWL looks delicious!” and subsequently made my first meal prep evah on Sunday.
I made 5 days worth along with the cilantro brown rice and let me tell you this is fantastic! I’m not organized so it took more than an hour, but next time will be easier. Great spices and filled me up.
Now I can’t wait to try your BALLS!
WOOHOO!!! I am so glad you loved this meal. Believe me in 5 days you will be so happy that you don’t have to prep any dinner 🙂
This carnita bowl is crazzzzzzzy good — I agree with Lindsey, made these last week and I had to come back and comment on how delish they were. Ate them for lunch like a week straight, I swear lol.
Made them again last night!!! So glad you loved them 🙂
This looks so delicious! I am in eating disorder recovery right now and I love how your bowls always have all of the components of my meal plan in them! They make me feel a little bit more like I am eating like a healthy person instead of following a rigid plan! Thanks for the recipe!
<3 this makes me so happy! Gotta get dat protein, whole grain, healthy fats, and veggies!
Yum! These looks delicious. I love that there’s beans and meat in this to up the protein factor. I’m trying to add more to my diet.
LOOK so yummy! Mexican food all the time all summer long!
I testify, this bowl is bomb.com, especially with a side of Way Better Snacks chips! Thanks so much for sharing this deliciousness with me yesterday! Safe travels!