Yes, most the time carnitas are pork just like this recipe for Pork Carnitas on Cooking Light; however, I decided to adapt it to use chicken!
Why?
Because it was more healthy than pork, plus the chicken was on sale! Yes, I know that completely changes carnitas into something else since that means pork…but I just decided to keep it!
I mentioned I’m a frugal shopper, right?
One of the huge bonuses of this chicken is that you can cook it in the slow cooker, plus it makes a lot of chicken! What does this mean? We used it for tacos, nachos, burritos, and pizza! I’ll be sharing the Chicken Carnitas Pizza tomorrow!
This chicken was much more spicy than what I like, but it wasn’t too spicy by any means. I’m simply a wimp when it comes to spice! My husband loved it topped with Homemade Salsa, plus a little corn and cilantro!
This recipe can easily be adapted to use just about any meat that you have on hand. I will be trying pork soon; however, we were very impressed with the chicken. After all the leftovers and re-purposing we still had leftover chicken! So, it makes for the perfect freezer meal! I simply packed the chicken in freezer safe storage for quick and easy dinners later on this year!
Enjoy!
Disclosure: I am a partner with Cooking Light; however, this is not a compensated post.
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Slow Cooker Chicken Carnitas
Ingredients
- 2 Medium Sized Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
- 3 Garlic Cloves Crushed
- 1 Tsp Ground Cumin
- 1 Tsp Dried Oregano
- 1/4 Tsp Salt
- 1/4 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 3/4 Cup Orange Juice
- 2 Tbsp Fresh Lime Juice
- 2 Chipotle Chilies Canned in Adobo Sauced Drained and Chopped
- Topping:
- Taco Shells
- 1 Cup Cooked Corn
- Salsa
- Cilantro
- Shredded Mexican Style Cheese
Instructions
- In a 5 quart slow cooker, combine all the ingredients except the topping ingredients. Let this cook on low for 8 hours.
- Once it is cooked, shred the chicken either with the paddle attachment in the bowl of the stand mixer or with a fork.
- Stuff the taco shells with the chicken and top with corn, cilantro, salsa, and cheese.
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Oh dear sweet girl. Carnitas means pork in spanish.
Yes, I know… I did some research before naming it since I knew I was changing the meat out. I decided to just keep ‘carnitas’ in there since I was using everything else from the original recipe and note that in the post.
Carnitas means “little meats”. Don’t worry about changing it up.
This was delicious! My husband and I both enjoyed it. The chicken was very flavorful. This one will be going into our regular rotation. Thank you!
So glad that you enjoyed them, thank you so much for sharing!
I love your recipes wish you would add how many each recipe serves.
Thank you! Yes, I totally understand that. I’m working on adding it to all past recipes. It will be on all future ones.
Any insight on the right taco shells?