Salsa Verde Pork Tacos

Pork, marinated in salsa verde is slow cooked until juicy, tender and easily shredded.  The pork is then piled into a grilled tortilla and topped with cilantro, pickled red onion, guacamole and Cotija cheese.  These are the most juicy delicious "closest-to-authentic" Mexican tacos we've made to date.  Make sure you are hungry because they are quite addicting!   This recipe can be made in the oven or the crockpot, please see recipe below for cooking instructions.

Ingredients:

Pork Ingredients:

3 lbs Pork Butt (trim off the excess fat - leave some fat for flavor)
3/4 Jar Wozz! Kiwi Lime Salsa Verde
1 Chipotle In Adobo (you find these in a can called "chipotle peppers in adobo sauce"- use only 1 chili out of the can - they are flavorful, smoky and fairly spicy)
1 Medium Onion Sliced
2 Cloves Garlic Sliced
1 1/2 Cups Water
Salt to season

Pickled Red Onion Ingredients:

1 Red Onion sliced
2 Cups Vinegar
2 Tbs Salt
2 Tbs Sugar

Guacamole Ingredients:

2 Avocados - pitted, peeled and rough chopped
1/2 Tomato - diced
1/4 Medium Onion - diced
1 Clove Garlic - minced
2-3 Tbsp of Fresh Cilantro Chopped
1/2 Jalapeno or Serrano Chili - diced
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Salt
Pepper to taste
Squeeze of 1 Lime
1 Tbsp Wozz! Kiwi Lime Salsa Verde (optional)

Additional Ingredients:

Flour or Corn Tortillas
Cotija Cheese
Fresh Cilantro
Sour Cream

Recipe:

To Make Your Pickled Onions: 

In a small saucepan on stovetop, add vinegar, sugar, salt and let come to a boil.  Add your red onion slices, poach and turn off heat.  Let onions cool in the pickling liquid.  Set aside in the refrigerator.  Serve with tacos. 

To Make Your Guacamole:

In a medium bowl, add avocado, tomato, onion, cilantro, garlic and jalapeno.  Mash it together so it's roughly combined (I like mine a little chunky and rustic).  Add your cumin, salt, pepper, Wozz! Salsa Verde and squeeze of lime.  Set aside to serve with your tacos.

To Make Your Shredded Pork: 

Trim excess fat off of your pork butt.  You can leave some fat, as this adds to the flavor and juiciness of the pork.  Season with salt.  On the stovetop in a large thick bottomed skillet or Dutch oven on medium high heat, sear all sides of your pork butt until browned.

Transfer pork to a thick bottom baking pan or continue to use your Dutch oven and add sliced onion, garlic, water, Wozz! Kiwi Lime Salsa Verde and 1 chili in adobo sauce.  Cover with lid or foil and roast at 375 degrees for about 2.5 hours.   Roast until pork falls apart and is nice and juicy and can be easily shredded with fork.  *Cooking times vary so keep an eye on it at the 2 hour mark to make sure it doesn't dry out.  If you need to add additional water you can, we did not need to.

Crock Pot Version ** After searing your pork, you can also transfer to a crockpot instead of cooking in the oven.  If you do this method - you only need about a cup of water instead of the 1 1/2 cups for the oven method.  Cook in the crockpot on high heat for about 3 hours or until juicy, tender and pork shreds with a fork.  

Once cooked, shred pork in the liquid to serve with tacos.

Cook Your Tortillas:

You can either wrap a stack of flour or corn tortillas in foil and warm up in the oven or you can flame grill them on an open flame or dry toast them in a skillet on the stovetop.  

Serve Up Your Tacos:

Set up a taco bar.  On the table add your bowl of guacamole, add your bowl of pickled onions, add some fresh cilantro, a bowl of sour cream and crumbed cotija cheese.  Add your stack of tortillas and your serving dish with shredded pork.   Now dig in, let everyone make their tacos as desired.  Enjoy!