Cochinita pibil
Yucatán-style pulled pork slow cooked in bright achiote and citrus, tucked into warm tortillas with quick pink pickled onions.
- 515 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $2.66 a serving
- 760 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 package achiote paste, 3.5 oz block
- 2 oranges, juiced
- 3 limes, juiced, divided
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- 3 lb pork shoulder, boneless
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 18 corn tortillas
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- ¼ cup white vinegar, divided
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2½ tsp salt, divided
Each serving has about 760 calories, 45 g protein, 53 g carbs and 42 g fat, and costs about $2.66 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No red onions? White onions or yellow onions work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the achiote paste into a blender and add the orange juice, the juice of 2 limes, 2 tablespoons of the vinegar, the garlic, cumin, oregano, allspice and 2 teaspoons of the salt. Blend until smooth.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Dolly’s tip: Achiote stains everything it touches bright orange, cutting boards and fingernails included. Rinse spills right away.Cut the pork into 3-inch chunks, off any thick fat, and put it in the slow cooker. Wash your hands and the board.
Trim. Trimming means cutting off the parts you don’t eat, like stem ends, tough bits or thick fat. It keeps chewy or bitter bits out of the finished dish.
How you’ll know: What’s left is the good part, with no dry ends, woody stems or thick white fat.
Pour the achiote sauce over the pork and turn the pieces to coat.
Dolly’s tip: You can do this the night before and keep the covered insert in the fridge. It only gets better.Cover and cook on low 8 hours, until the pork falls apart when you press it with a fork.
Timer: 480 min
Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
About 30 minutes before serving, the onion in a bowl with the juice of the last lime, the rest of the vinegar and ½ teaspoon salt, and let it sit until bright pink.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Timer: 30 min
Dolly’s tip: The onion softens and blushes pink in about half an hour. The onion keeps a week in the fridge. The pork keeps 4 days, so freeze what you won’t eat by then.the pork in the pot with two forks and stir it into the juices. Taste and add salt if it needs it.
Shred. Shredding means making thin strips, either on the big holes of a grater or by pulling cooked meat apart with two forks. Shreds soak up sauce and mix evenly through a dish.
How you’ll know: Cooked chicken pulls apart into strands with little effort, and cheese comes off in long, loose strips.
Warm the tortillas in a dry over medium heat about 30 seconds a side and stack them in a clean towel.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Pile the pork into the tortillas with a spoonful of its juices and top with the pickled onions and cilantro.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
