Crock Pot Beef Carnitas Tacos

Today's post is inspired by my friend Jasmine who cooked it for a Christmas Party a few years back. Jas is brilliant in the kitchen, so I offer to help her whenever I can in the hopes that I'll learn something via osmosis. It must not be working because I helped with this one but couldn't remember a damn thing. So with a little Google action I came across this recipe. Be sure to check out my tips at the bottom of the page as I made A LOT of changes.

It was pretty tasty when it was all said and done. And required little to no work, a necessity as we were out celebrating my daughter's first birthday all day. I love a recipe that cooks in the slow cooker!

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Beef Carnitas Tacos

serves 6-8

Ingredients:

2 lbs flank steak
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
for spice rub—
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
for serving—
corn tortillas
avocado slices
cilantro
your favorite salsa
limes

Directions:

Mix together all spices in a small bowl. Rub the spices all over your flank steak—be generous here! Then, place your steak at the bottom of your crock pot.

Cover the steak with the chopped onions, bell peppers and jalapeno pepper. Turn heat on LOW and cook for 8 hours.

After 8 hours, remove meat from crock pot and shred with a fork. It should be incredibly easy to shred. You can either stick the shredded meat back in the pot for another hour or serve as is.

To serve, heat your corn tortillas in a skillet on the stove. Spoon some carnitas on a tortilla then top with salsa, avocado, cilantro and a squeeze of lime.

Enjoy with a margarita for best result.

Time:

active time–10 min
total time—8 hours

Funday Tips

1. Jasmine used beer for hers, so I did the same. A nice dark ale. However, I think I should have seasoned it more because when I tasted it with my other foodie genius, Amanda, it tasted under seasoned. So we added a ton more of all of the spices listed above.
2. Also, we found the meat was quite tough, even after 8 hours in the slow cooker, so we added balsamic vinegar and lime juice to try to break down the meat a bit more. Next time I think I would try a softer piece of meat, like perhaps a roast beef.