Low-fat Carnitas Tacos I Made It

Low-fat Carnitas Tacos

frankieanne 11 years ago
posted by Pleclare
Low Fat Carnitas Tacos
My first time using chipolte chilis in adobo sauce. I really loved the smokey smell but when I tasted the sauce I was worried this would be too hot for me. Surprisingly, it was just right! I really loved it. No tenderloin in the store (huh?) but the butcher gal suggest a cut that shredded up wonderfully. I only used one can of beans because I knew this was going to make a lot of food for me. I prepped everything last night and put it in the refrigerator. I put the cold crock in the pot before I left for work, came home at lunch and turned the meat over and stirred things up a bit. Mine cooked a total of 10 hours. Didn't use cilantro (on purpose) forgot the lime and used a Mexican blend cheese. The only issue I had was there is a lot of liquid in this dish. I guess it came from the tomatoes. But, I am just going to drain it off in a colander when I put away the leftovers. Not that big of a deal and it sure didn't stop me from eating two tacos. Thank you, Pat. Cheers!
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chuckieb 11 years ago said:

Wow! Gorgeous pics Frankieanne! They look totally delectable. I'd never ever cooked with chipolte chilis before until Wynnebaer introduced them to me a year or so ago. The flavour is very smoky and unique and I loved it too. I like the looks of this recipe but the cinnamon scares me a little. Was it quite noticeable in the dish? To me cinnamon is a baking ingredient, not a dinner ingredient. :) Pat also talked about queso fresco cheese which I've run into on other GR recipes and I have not yet been able to find that where I am. Did you use it or sub it? Your tortillas look really good too. Are you able to just buy those in your grocery store? Canada doesn't seem to stock nearly as much in the way of Mexican type ingredients as the stores in the States seem to so I'm hard pressed to find decent tortillas.

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frankieanne 11 years ago said:

Oh, thanks, Chuckie. I didn't notice the cinnamon at all. Its actually not a very large amount of it. I just got through putting the leftovers away and I must have 8 cups! I better check into freezing it or I'll look for some hungry neighbors. :)
I didn't use queso fresco. A few years back, there was a bad bunch near here and some people got sick. Kinda scared me off, which is probably kinda silly. Still I can't forget it when I see it in the store. I just used a Mexican blend. We have quite a huge Mexican section in the store where I shop and I got the tortillas there. There is quite a large Hispanic population here in Ukiah and there is a store in town that is totally dedicated to those types of ingredients as well.

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mommyluvs2cook 11 years ago said:

It's been so long since we've had pork tacos! Low fat too! Those look delicious and yes, freeze!!!

Chuckie if you can find cojita, that's a Mexican cheese as well that would probably work well. I always do feel guilty buying those Mexican cheeses because we don't use them often and they end up going bad before I use all of it. I hate to waste!

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mrpiggy 11 years ago said:

I like the sound of these and have a feeling they would be great.....however, I would probably use the whole can of chilpolte. I just love that stuff. I never knew what they were until about 6 or so months ago. Keni told me about them in some thread after I posted not being able to find them(was looking in the produce isle). Now I have 6 cans in the cupboard.

The recipe looks just about what my little crockpot would hold. I dont know if I would have 8 cups left over tho. Y'all and your little servings :)

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wynnebaer 11 years ago said:

Looks great, Frankieanne. Happy to hear the chipotle worked out for you too.
Janet, if you can find a mild feta, that would be a great sub for queso as they are both crumbly cheeses with a little bit of an acidic bite.
Mr. P....A whole can of chipotles???....You are a bigger lover of them than I, for sure!!..LOL

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frankieanne 11 years ago said:

Thank you for your help with that, Wynne. Much appreciated. :)
MrP, you may be happy to know that I had three of these for dinner tonight. :)
Ml2c, the cut of meat my butcher suggested in place of the tenderloin, the pork sirloin roast, had absolutely no fat on it. I will find try to find that cut again whenever I make a pork recipe like this. It shredded up very nicely just as she said it would.
Luckily for me, one of my co-workers who had a huge painting project this weekend was happy to take some of my leftovers home with him. So, I'll only be eating these through Sunday instead of next Wednesday. :)

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mrpiggy 11 years ago said:

Wynne, I have made a 2lb loin with a bunch of veggies a while back using a whole can of chilpoltes in adobo sauce. It was pretty spicy with just the meat and veggies with the juice over it. I think it would have been perfect to shred and wrap in a tortilla. I never even thought of that then. I still need to make your Grilled Chipotle Flank Steak I have a flank in the freezer waiting, too :)

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chuckieb 11 years ago said:

No, I've looked for Cojita too ML2C with no success either. That's a neat idea about subbing with the feta Corinne. Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.
I would think that this would freeze quite nicely wouldn't it Frankieanne? Why don't you put it away as 'investment cooking' for a meal in a few weeks!

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frankieanne 11 years ago said:

Yes, Chuckieb and ml2c, I have decided to freeze the rest. I loved it but I think I need to eat something else for the rest of the weekend. :)

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mrpiggy 11 years ago said:

Great recipe. Not having much time in the kitchen lately, I have been doing a lot of crockpot dishes. This was a great one. I also had a lot of liquid. About 2 cups. I used 3 chipotles and all the sauce from the can and doubled the cayenne. At first taste there was a ton of heat, most of which went after draining the liquid. This makes great left overs. Toss some on a couple tortillas and 60 seconds in the microwave and a beer and you have a mini meal. Still trying to get rid of those mini 8oz beers : )

I used the drained liquid that evening in a crockpot to make beans overnight which added a great flavor.

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frankieanne 11 years ago said:

That is a very clever thing you did with the excess liquid, MrP. I am impressed! Great idea! :)

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mrpiggy 11 years ago said:

The beans came out so good that I will have to make this again just for the liquid. Ive been loving my crockpot lately. So great to toss things in before work and getting in late and not having to cook

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mommyluvs2cook 11 years ago said:

Wow that is clever, I would have NEVER thought of doing that!! Right up there with points on not wasting ANY food ;)

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mommyluvs2cook 9 years ago said:

These were delicious!! I used black beans instead of cannellini (that's all I had) and only used 1 can like FA did because but mainly because my pork loin was a little smaller than 2 lb. and it seemed like it would be a lot, but I think it would have been fine. I could smell the cinnamon while it was cooking but I don't think I could taste. Served them in lettuce wraps of course :) We topped ours with crumbled feta (forgot to put in on for the pic.) Yay, I finally caught a little natural sunlight!!

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NPMarie 9 years ago said:

Lovely pic Michelle! I already have this one bookmarked. I'd like to try it for my DH..he'll love that I made something besides chicken or turkey LOL

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frankieanne 9 years ago said:

Looks like yesterday was Pat Cooking Day. :)
I remember these. They were really good. Black beans are a really good sub, Michelle. Its getting a bit easier to find that natural sunlight, thank goodness. Your picture looks fantastic! So colorful.

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