Achiote Shredded Pork Tacos is a beautifully savory dish where a pork shoulder is flavored with achiote paste and lime juice and slow cooked. Achiote turns this everyday pork roast into a fiesta. Try this Rick Bayless Slow Roasted Pulled Pork Tacos Recipe, it’s feeds a crowd, so great for your next party.
I’m a huge Rick Bayless fan and a big fan of real Mexican Food. By real Mexican food I mean authentic dishes from south of the border as opposed to our Americanized versions of dishes we call “Mexican Food”
I was browsing through his cookbooks last Saturday and this jumped right off the page and right onto my dinner table. This is simply delicious. I’ve included an affiliate link if you’re interested in those cookbooks.
Rick tells us in the introduction to this recipe that this type pork recipe would normally be served at a large celebration using a slow pit roasted whole pig. Since most of us don’t have pits in our back yards, Rick assures us a slow cooker or dutch oven and a bone-in pork roast will deliver much of the same flavors. It’s just up to us to provide the celebration.
The major flavor to this dish is Achiote. Achiote paste is a spice used in cuisine in Mexico and South America. The paste is clay red in color and clay-like in texture. It does turn your fingers red when you crumble the paste.
It’s made of crushed achiote seed, vinegar, salt, garlic and spices and is typically formed into a small block. The achiote paste is then diluted and added to stews or used as a rub for meats. It adds a salty and bittersweet tangy flavor. It is a traditional ingredient used to make Ricado, a rub for suckling pig and other meats.
For this dish, I’ve diluted the paste in fresh lime juice.
I lined a Dutch oven with banana leaves. You can also use a crock pot and make slow cooker pork tacos. Make sure you place the banana leaves so that you can fold them over to surround your pork roast.
Pour the diluted achiote paste seasoning over the roast, top with rings of sliced onions and pour a little bit of water on the sides of the roast. Fold the banana leaves over to surround the meat and onions. Put the lid on and slow roast the meat either 6 hours on high in a crock pot, or 3 hours in the oven at 300 degrees.
Serve these shredded pork tacos with Roasted Fresh Chili Salsa, some good quality warm corn tortillas and a fresh green salad and you’ve got a beautiful and delicious meal. A note about corn tortillas. Hopefully you can find a good hand-made brand like the one I found at Marczyk Fine Foods. They don’t even resemble the rubbery cheap brands that you find at Safeway. NO comparison.
Recipe for Achiote Shredded Pork Tacos
I hope you give this recipe for Shredded Pork Tacos a try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating.
Your feedback is valuable to me for developing future recipes. And if you have a favorite Mexican Pork Tacos recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
We ate these shredded pork tacos on soft white corn tortillas. Warm the tortillas, lay some of the tender pork on top. If you’d like to drizzle with salsa, This Homemade Roasted Tomatillo Salsa is a great choice. A wedge of avocado is always nice. Or a simple dollop of Mexican Crema is delicious. Make these shredded pork tacos your own, roll them up and enjoy.
I don’t always have banana leaves on hand for this recipe and have made it many times with out using them to wrap.
I can’t wait to serve this at my next dinner party. Rick Bayless has done it again! And serving this with a traditional Mexican Christmas Salad would be a wonderful combo.
And if you love Southwestern braised pork recipes, you won’t want to miss this one for New Mexico’s most celebrated dish of Carne Adovada. Tender pork roast cooked in a luscious red chile sauce.
And more pork taco recipes? Take a look at this one for Tacos al Pastor.
Achiote Shredded Pork Tacos is a beautifully savory dish where a pork shoulder is flavored with achiote paste and lime juice and slow cooked. Achiote turns this everyday pork roast into a fiesta. Try this Rick Bayless Slow Roasted Pulled Pork Tacos Recipe, it's feeds a crowd, so great for your next party.
- 2 ounces achiote seasoning
- 1 teaspoon New Mexico Chimayo Chile Powder or ancho chile powder
- 3/4 Cup lime juice
- Salt
- Banana leaves
- 3 pound bone-in pork shoulder roast
- 1 large white onion sliced about 1/4 inch thick
- 1 large red onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 C roasted fresh chile salsa
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Place the achiote seasoning in a small bowl. Pour in 1/2 C. of the lime juice and 2 t. salt. Add the Chimayo or Ancho Chile powder. Use a fork to work the mixture into a smooth thickish marinade.
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Line your slow cooker with banana leaves. Lay in the pork and pour the marinade over and around the meat.
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Scatter the white onion over the meat.
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Pour 1/2 C. water around the meat.
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Fold banana leaves to roughly cover everything.
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Cover and slow-cook on high for 6 hours, until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender. If you roast this in the oven, 300 degrees for 3 hours.
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While the meat is cooking, combine the red onion with remaining 1/4 cup lime juice in a small bowl. Sprinkle with salt and set aside to marinate, stirring from time to time..
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Use tongs to transfer the meat and onions to a cutting board. With forks, shred pork. Spoon off any rendered fat that's floating in the juices. Ladle brothy sauce into a saucepan and boil it down to about 1/2. Season with salt and add the shredded meat to the sauce and toss well. Top with the lime-marinated red onions and serve with the salsa and warm corn tortillas.
I don't always have banana leaves on hand, and have made this many times with simply slow roasting the pork in a Dutch oven or Slow Cooker.
Rick Bayless Achiote Shredded Pork Tacos …It’s What’s For Dinner
LeAnn Osborne says
January 31, 2010 at 9:59 pmLooks like fun.
leaannbrown says
January 31, 2010 at 11:26 pmThanks for stopping by LeAnn
George says
January 31, 2010 at 10:32 pmThis sounds absolutely incredible and quite simple, as well. Thanks for giving me an idea for my next “pot party”. It might not be what most would think. Pot parties are dinners where my guest serves themselves from the pots the dinner is cooked in. And I think they will be quite surprised when then lift the top off the Crockpot Pork Achiote and find banana leaves. I’ll let you know how it goes…
leaannbrown says
January 31, 2010 at 11:08 pmIt is very easy! Which is quite different for Rick Bayless recipes. They are usually an extravaganza and only weekend fixes. I hope you have a source for good tortillas. If not, the supermarket ones will be fine. A pot party sounds like a lot of fun! What a great idea. The title would most certainly get everyone’s attention. 🙂 As always thanks for stopping by George.
Melody says
January 31, 2010 at 11:23 pmI love being able to throw things into a slow cooker! I’m excited about the achiote paste, which I haven’t actually used before. I might also suggest adding some roasted tomatillos or poblano or ancho chiles to the salsa.
Bob says
February 1, 2010 at 12:49 amRick Bayless is the man. The pork looks wicked good, slow roasted pork rules.
leaannbrown says
February 1, 2010 at 1:19 amRick Bayless IS the man, I agree. Slow roasted pork is so sinfully good. Thanks for stopping by Bob.
Zia Liz says
February 1, 2010 at 3:13 amThis looks wonderful! I’ve been hankering for Mexican food lately, and can’t seem to get enough. This recipe is next on my list!
leaannbrown says
February 1, 2010 at 1:01 pmIt’s really easy too. Thanks for stopping by Liz
Leah says
February 1, 2010 at 3:28 pmWow, that looks really yummy! I might have to get over to Savory and pick me up some of that achiote paste. Where did you get the banana leaves this time?
leaannbrown says
February 1, 2010 at 10:13 pmI bought them frozen at H-Mart. I still have quite a few left in the freezer. Thanks Leah
Katherine says
February 1, 2010 at 3:48 pmYou really went all out on this beautiful and very authentic dish! I haven’t heard of achiote paste before and am going to look for it. This sounds like a dish my family would really enjoy!
leaannbrown says
February 1, 2010 at 10:12 pmIt’s pretty darn easy too! Thanks Katherine
Barbara @ VinoLuciStyle says
February 1, 2010 at 4:44 pmI love Rick Bayless too…not only for his authentic recipes but because he seems like such a nice unassuming guy!
You and I are quite obviously both big fans of Savory Spice Shop; it’s an experience that’s addictive. My cooking has improved as a result too so have to mention to your fans that aren’t local to Denver, they have an online shop at http://www.savoryspiceshop.com. Shouldn’t we be considered sales reps by now?
You know I’m a Twitterholic…I’m gonna tweet this recipe to Rick and my tweeps…beautiful!
buffalo dick says
February 1, 2010 at 6:32 pmRemindful of a Cuban roast pork I’ve done… looked great!
leaannbrown says
February 1, 2010 at 10:06 pmDid you use Achiote? Cuban Pork Roast sounds right up my alley. I’ll have to google it.
Vickie says
February 1, 2010 at 8:09 pmBeautiful and looks delicious! I’m excited to taste achiote paste and look for good tortillas in California next week. Such great photos – made my mouth water!
leaannbrown says
February 1, 2010 at 10:05 pmI wouldn’t know how to cook with it if I didn’t have a recipe. I’m just learning about it too. If you find those thin flaky good tortillas, but a few packages, as they freeze well.
doggybloggy says
February 1, 2010 at 9:42 pmpork and banana leaves are a match made in culinary heaven – this sounds so good!
leaannbrown says
February 1, 2010 at 10:03 pmI’m loving these banana leaves. I think my next adventure will be with fish. Thanks for stopping by doggyB
Phoo-D says
February 1, 2010 at 10:44 pmThis looks terrific! I have a bit of achiote paste that I purchased a while back but haven’t used yet. Now to find banana leaves…
leaannbrown says
February 1, 2010 at 11:05 pmWell good luck! Even in Denver it was a challenge. I suppose you could order some from somewhere. Thanks for stopping by!
noble pig says
February 2, 2010 at 1:04 amI bet the flavor is quite amazing in this dish, wow, it’s just a good layering of stuff ging on.
leaannbrown says
February 2, 2010 at 1:48 amThanks Cathy, you’ve got that right.
Natashya says
February 1, 2010 at 9:44 pmWonderful! I would love to learn about Mexican cooking. We don’t see much of it here in suburban Canada.
leaannbrown says
February 1, 2010 at 10:02 pmRick Bayless is your man!
Thanks for stopping by Natashya
pam says
February 1, 2010 at 10:07 pmRick Bayless never disappoints!
leaannbrown says
February 1, 2010 at 10:12 pmI agree and thanks for stopping by Pam
Steph says
February 2, 2010 at 2:03 amLooks great!! I’ve never used achiote paste. I’ll have to look for it.
leaannbrown says
February 2, 2010 at 2:57 amIt’s an interesting flavor to play with. Very interesting.
Barbara says
February 2, 2010 at 11:33 amAnything Rick Bayless does is perfection. And this is simpler than most of his recipes. Sound delicious, Lea Ann.
leaannbrown says
February 2, 2010 at 1:11 pmThis is much simpler than most of his recipes. I usually reserve getting out his cookbooks for weekends only. Thanks for stopping by Barbara.
orchidgirl1979 says
February 2, 2010 at 8:08 pmooh the pork looks so tender! I’ve never cooked w/banana leaves before.
Chris says
February 3, 2010 at 10:45 pmAwesome job! Great looking roast and I like the info about the paste. I need to look for that in the ethnic market nearby.
leaannbrown says
February 4, 2010 at 12:00 amThanks Chris, and as always, thanks for stopping by
Chris De La Rosa says
February 4, 2010 at 8:17 pmIf there’s ever a perfect marriage it’s got to be “slow roasting” and “pork”> The use of banana leaves reminds me of “bush” cooking in the Caribbean.
happy cooking
chris…
mjskitchen says
August 5, 2018 at 8:57 pmThis is straight from taco heaven! Just want to grab one and start eating. I’ve never worked with achiote paste before so I’m excited about discovering a new ingredient. Just added it to my Mexican mercado list. Can’t wait to try these.