Turkey Carnitas for Tacos & Burritos - Video Recipe

My latest recipe is a lighter version of Mexican-style Pork Carnitas. I often look for Pork Carnitas being slow-cooked by street vendors, like Leo's Taco Turck, in a Los Angeles alley or sidewalk. I just pull over and get in line for a luscious Carnitas taco after being on the town late at night.

Hey, with my easy to make Turkey Carnitas recipe, you can cut in line and have a taco or burrito anytime!

I know there are a lot of you who have dietary restrictions against pork products, so this recipe is for you. So all my Jewish or Muslim readers can now enjoy real L.A. street tacos, right at home.

And with Christmas right around the corner, Turkey is extra cheap. And this recipe travels well if you are a designated potluck provider.

For my recipe, I use two dark meat drumsticks, that weigh in about a pound each. They are often on sale for less than a $1.50 per pound at my local Latin grocery store. For extra-tender and juicy Turkey Carnitas, dark leg meat is the way to go, you can use thigh meat or even turkey wings, too. For Thanksgiving or Christmas Turkey Carnitas the sales are on full blast!

I get my spices and dried herbs at the local Dollar Tree and 99c only Stores. I use garlic powder and dried onion, but you can use fresh veggies if you like. So between dollar store spices and meat sales at an ethnic grocery, a lot of dinero is staying in your pockets!

Click on any photo to see larger.

I first noticed Turkey Carnitas in cafeteria-style heating bins in the deli section of my local Latin  market. And they are not cheap at about $7 per pound, so I decided to just make some myself.

Latin market Turkey Carnitas

Theirs seem to be drier than my fresh made, but that could be the result of  hours under heating lamps - which do give Turkey Carnitas an extra chrispy edge. To get that I just bake some cooked meat in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes to get some crunchy bits.

I flavor Turkey Carnitas with typical spices and herbs that Pork Carnitas also use. The most important ones are: cumin, chili powder, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Extra spices include thyme, bay leaf, and chopped or dried onion - so if you don't have those, it's okay to leave them out.

The trick is to slow-cook or braise the turkey legs in water and/or broth for 2 to 3 hours until tender. With Pork Carnitas, pork shoulder is used that has fatty skin and marbling. They are slow-cooked in it's rendered fat, for that luscious flavor.

My Turkey Carnitas are lean and mean, since there is little fat in turkey legs. I do leave the skin on, but you could take it off. Since turkey is much more pungent than pork, this helps make up for the extra fatty flavor you get with typical Pork Carnitas. And two turkey legs will feed the whole family!

Flour and corn tortillas are cheap these days, too. All I do is add a little oil on a pan and heat them up for a minute - stack on a plate and cover with a paper towel to keep warm.

You can use your fave jar of salsa for your taco topping. If you like your tacos gringo-style then chop some tomato, iceberg lettuce and open a bag of shredded cheddar cheese. Or kick it up a notch and click on any of the following salsa names to get my homemade recipes: Roasted Salsa Verde (tomatillo,) Red Chili (2 dried types - but same recipe,) Pico de Gallo, Mango, and an Avocado Crema.

My cheap$kate recipe is easy to make, just turkey legs and a few spices and herbs that are slow-cooked -- so all you need is a little patience, and the payoff is bigtime. And I just use dried herbs and spices, so you don't even have to chop anything.

So if you're looking for a dish to serve at your next taco party then try out my Turkey Carnitas. Let your guests do all the work and build their own. Just set out some chopped onion, cilantro and your fave salsa, oh and kick it up a notch with some sliced avocado, too.

Turkey Carnitas - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 3 minutes 10 seconds

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Ingredients (about 12 tacos)

• 2 turkey legs - about 3-4 pounds total. Okay to use thighs or wings. Use a turkey breast too, although it's a bit drier to my tastes.
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano - fresh or dried. 
• 1 teaspoon thyme - fresh or dried.
• 1 tablespoon dried onion - okay to use 1/2 chopped onion.
• 1 tablespoon dried garlic - okay to use 2 chopped cloves garlic.
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder - okay to substitute with paprika
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups water or broth

Directions

Add turkey legs to a large pan or pot, over a medium heat. I leave the skin on. It renders very little fat, but okay if you want to remove it.

Sprinkle on the spices including cumin, oregano, thyme, dried or fresh onion and garlic, chili or paprika powder.

Salt and pepper to taste, or about a 1/4 teaspoon salt and half teaspoon pepper.

Pour in 2 cups of water or a favorite broth. On your stovetop, bring the cooking pot to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce heat to a low simmer and cook covered for 2 - 3 hours until meat separates easily with a fork.

You are cooking the Turkey Carnitas so the broth reduces and intensifies and the meat becomes flavorful.

Check every hour or so, and add water or broth if it cooks out, but it's okay for the liquid to reduce by half for an intense pot liquor to drizzle over finished Turkey Carnitas.

Rotate the meat a couple times during simmering so all sides evenly cook through.

Done when meat is fall-apart tender. Use a fork to see how easily turkey flakes off the bone.

Traditionally Carnitas are fine chopped and piled into flour or corn tortillas. When you peel turkey from the bone, look for small fine bones and chewy cartilage to remove.

For serving, just take turkey pieces and chop them into small 1/4 inch pieces. You could also do the "pulled pork" method of using 2 forks to pull the tender chunks apart to shred.

You can drizzle on some of the "pot liquor" or broth if you are storing the Turkey Carnitas to serve later. Or if you are keeping it warm in the oven, make sure to drizzle on plenty, so cooked meat stays moist.

The above method is the easiest way to make Carnitas. Outdoor sidewalk vendors cook it similar in a large pot or pan filled with pork shoulder and thick skin, intestines, tongue and other parts, slow cooking for hours in the rendered fat and broth. And when you order, the cook just plucks out a hunk of meat and chops it into small pieces to pile on a warmed corn tortilla. The main difference here is way less fat and grease! 

You can top Turkey Carnitas Tacos with my Pico de Gallo (recipe here,) or simply with chopped onion and cilantro. Go Americano with your favorite salsa, iceberg lettuce, tomato, and shredded cheddar cheese.

For a Carnitas Burrito, add some of my Mom's Mexican Rice (recipe here) with a heated can of pinto beans, along with the above mentioned chopped veggies. If you have a favorite salsa then use that...and don't forget the hot sauce!

I've also had Turkey Carnitas with a crispy crust.

Roasting for Crispy Bits

This is a lean way. Just add the larger chunks of tender braised turkey to a roasting pan and bake about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees. To keep the Turkey Carnitas extra moist add some of the broth to the roasting pan, just enough to barely cover the bottom. You just want to lightly brown some of the turkey pieces for crunch. Don't worry about all the small boiled bits, just add them to the larger roasted pieces and chop them up altogether.

Deal of the Day - 2 Chicken Burritos

My latest Deal of the Day review is a lucha libre battle royale between two 99 cent chicken burritos. In this twofer blogpost, Jose Ole Burrito Chicken Monterey goes mano-a-mano against a Del Sol Grilled Chicken Burrito.

Does a flamboyant green chile and cheese flavored Jose Ole Burrito Chicken Monterey body slam the more traditional rice and bean stuffed Del Sol Grilled Chicken Burrito? Which burrito will be unmasked as the loser in this Deal of the Day? And with a rating of 1 to 9, 9 being best, who will be declared the champ?

For the first round let me introduce the Jose Ole Burrito Chicken Monterey. It's the smaller of the two at just 5 ounces. However I will not deduct points, it's all about  flavor in this Mexican fast food smackdown. First off, after a 2 to 3 minute microwave, the burrito must be named for a hot cheesy filling of Monterey cheese and green chiles. You are immediately walloped with the savory combination. However, there is a weak smattering of rice mixed in the yummy sauce. 

The flour tortilla is fine, no points lost for the wrapping.

But the Achilles' heel is the white meat chicken. While there is actually plenty of poultry cubes, it's made from a processed loaf. For such a serious foul this chicken burrito gets an immediate 3 point deduction.

So while I like the chile and cheese sauce, Jose Ole Burrito Chicken Monterey throws in the towel because of the fake processed chicken pieces. On a Deal of the Day dining scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give the Jose Ole Burrito Chicken Monterey a 4 count.

Next up, please welcome to the wrestling ring a Del Sol Grilled Chicken Burrito. This is a stripped down burrito. No no fancy show off moves or glittery attire here, just beans, rice, and chicken.

At 7 ounces this fat burrito body slams you to the mat and keeps you in a headscissors armlock of Mexican traditional flavors. I like the use of whole pinto beans with refried beans. Usually Mexican frozen fare mushes pinto beans into a paste. And there is a good balance of rice to beans.

On the package cover, cheese and a "zesty green chile ranch sauce" is listed. The top billing status is deceiving though. As a tag team member, it enters the fight too late and only plays a minor role. The flour tortilla holds it's own, with no fancy moves.

 But the winning wrestler's hold is the use real white meat chicken! The pieces are small but moist and tasty.

Overall the Del Sol Grilled Chicken Burrito is a simple opponent, it's been knocked around and is a bit slow in the ring, but it delivers the knockout punch.

So on the Cheap$kate Chef's Deal of the Day dining scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I declare Del Sol's Grilled Chicken Burrito the champ, with a rating of 7!

Congratulations Del Sol Grilled Chicken Burrito, and wear your 99 Cent Chef Cheap$kate wrestling winners belt proudly.

20 Tacos - Carnitas Recipe Video, Mexican-Style Pork

My favorite taco truck or Taquería order are a couple of Carnitas Tacos. There is nothing better than luscious slow-cooked pork presented simply on a corn tortilla, sprinkled with chopped onion and cilantro. Even when the pork is spooned from a heated metal container that has been driven around all day, it keeps moist. I'll order Carne Asada, or chopped steak, when they grill it fresh, but usually it's been sitting there and drying out.

Sometimes when I'm out shooting my Restaurant Noctunes, I'll spy a temporary Taqueria, which is usually just a few plastic chairs and a folding table with a selection of salsas and a jug of pickled carrots, onion and jalapenos. Often there is a gas stove top bearing a bubbling cauldron of stewing meats that include: sausage (chorizo,) intestine (tripas,) fried skin (chiccarones,) intestine (buche,) and pork shoulder (carnitas.) You place your order and they fish out a hunk of meat and chop away -- this is when you get the best tasting tacos.

Well, now you can enjoy your own Carnitas Tacos (or burritos) in the comfort of your abode. Just check out the video halfway down below to see my recipe directions presented in an easy-to-follow and fun stop motion animated style.

Carnitas are easy to prepare with minimum ingredients. I'm sure every Taqueria has it's own recipe, so feel free to change mine to suit the ingredients you can find. Mainly you need a hunk of pork, onion, garlic, bay leaves, dried or fresh oregano and water. I also added orange juice and a bottle of Mexican coke.

You can use any cola really, but I would stay away from diet - what you are looking for is the cola flavor with real sugar sweetness. And fresh squeezed, pasteurized or frozen orange juice is fine. (To strip the Carnitas recipe down even more, it's okay to leave out these flavorful liquids.)

My local Latin markets sell their own cooked Carnitas in heated deli cases for more than $7 per pound. But I have a new Latin market (Superior Grocers) within walking distance that has been selling freshly butchered pork shoulder for less than 99 cent per pound. It comes partially wrapped in skin, that you cut away -- although I use a big piece of it for extra flavor in my simmering one-pot recipe. And pork shoulder comes in large 5-8 pound hunk, so you can make enough for a party - I got about 20 tacos out of this recipe.

The trickiest part is prepping a shoulder of pork. It takes a bit of work and you need a sharp knife. An easy substitution is a large package of sliced meaty pork Country-Style ribs. (Don't use spareribs as they are skimpy with the meat.) You could even use pork that already cut and sliced for stews or stir frying, although this is the most expensive way to go. And at the end of this post under Hindsight, I also have directions for cooking a whole pork shoulder - the easy way.

 If you don't want to toss out and waste the skin, you can fry it up for chicharrones (my recipe for Chicharron Tacos is up next) -- or what they call it in the South: Fried Pork Cracklins. I also cut the meat off the bone and added the bone to the pot as well. (To get a crispy exterior on the meat, you do need to have enough fat so the meat slow fries during the last hour of simmering.) Of course, you can drain the pork and skim off the fat when you are done cooking.

I included a couple of techniques to make extra crispy Carnitas. All it takes is baking some of the larger cooked pieces for 15 minutes. A tasty way to crisp up cooked Carnitas is by deep frying some of it - but you don't need fry it all up, just a few big pieces. Of course, you can serve it right from the pot, chop it up, and make your tacos and/or burritos.

For the typical street Carnitas Taco all you add is a sprinkling of chopped onion, cilantro and some salsa. I also have a tasty Pico de Gallo salsa (click here) you can easily make. For an Americano version just top with shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, American cheese, and your favorite cheapie jar of gringo salsa.

If you are burrito bound, then go all out and cook up my Mom's Mexican Rice (recipe here,) and simply heat up a can of pinto beans to stuff into the burrito. (My Breakfast Burrito recipe breaks it all down for you, just click here.) Now most markets carry flour tortillas as well as whole wheat.

My Carnitas recipe uses humble and cheap ingredients slow-cooked together. You do have to have patience though, it takes about 3 hours of simmering, but it's worth the wait. And you'll have enough Carnitas for a Taco Party!

20 Tacos, Carnitas Recipe  - Video

Play it here, video runs 3 minutes, 29 seconds.

And check back for plenty of taco blogging and recipes during my March Taco Month, including: part 2 of my Carnitas recipe, Chicharron Tacos, and a cautionary taco tale video with the most outrageous ending I've come up with yet !

To view video or embed from YouTube, click here.

Ingredients (depending on weight of meat, about 20 tacos or more)

• 1 pork shoulder (or butt) - about 4 to 7 pounds. Remove meat from around bone. Cut into large chunks - anywhere from 3 to 6 inch pieces. Thick and meaty pork country style ribs (not the thinner short ribs) are a "no chopping needed" substitution, along with pork stew meat. And go to Hindsight at the end of this post for a "whole hog" easiest version.
• 1 onion - roughly chopped
• 1 head of garlic - about 8 whole peeled cloves.
• 1/2 cup of orange juice - optional. Fresh squeezed or frozen.
• Juice of one lemon - about a 1/4 cup, fresh or from plastic bottle. (Not included in the video, but I've been adding it lately.)
• 1 12 ounce bottle of Mexican cola - optional. Okay to use a regular cola (but not diet.) If you don't use a coke then add a tablespoon of sugar, or a favorite sweetener like honey.
• 3 cups of water
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Sharpen your knife and cut off meat from bone of the pork butt. Cut into approximately six inch (or smaller) pieces - this will help pork tenderize quicker and gives more surface area for browning. Don't worry about trimming off the fat at this stage -- you can remove any offending fat chunks just before serving. (Personally, I like me some small pieces of pork fat.)

If you don't want to deal with butchery, then substitute pork shoulder with a large package of country style sliced pork ribs. They have plenty of meat, bone and a bit of fat (but don't trim it all off ). So they are ready to cook right out of the package! Or go Hindsight at the end of this post for an easy "whole hog" cooking method.

In a large pot add meat and bone. You can add or discard skin. I added a 6 inch piece of skin to the pot for the flavor of it. (For the final cooking stage you will remove the pork and bake it or fry it -- so the fat rendered from the skin is not used.) You could also use a crock pot and let it slow cook all day, like you would a pot roast.

Roughly chop one whole onion. Peel one whole head of garlic - you want at least 8 whole cloves of garlic.

Add veggies to pot. Pour in 3 cups of water, one cup of orange juice, and a bottle or can of coke. Sprinkle on a tablespoon of dried oregano, plus 2 whole bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

On your stovetop, bring the cooking pot to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce heat to a low simmer (low/medium heat) and cook covered for 2 hours, then uncovered for about another hour until meat seperates easily with a fork.

(Pork stew meat that's already cubed will cook quickest, about an hour or so, just take out a larger piece to check for tenderness.)

You are cooking the Carnitas uncovered for the last hour so the broth reduces and intensifies and the meat becomes more flavorful.

The meat will contract and shrink as the broth cooks down by half, so you shouldn't have to add more liquid. Just make sure to rotate the meat and bone a few times during simmering so all sides evenly cook through.

After 3 hours take out a large-sized piece of boiled pork, let it cool for a minute, then see if it shreds apart easily with a fork and knife. If not then keep cooking in half hour increments until fall-apart tender. When Carnitas are tender turn off the heat and allow the meat to just sit in the broth for 5-10 minutes, so the meat softens even more while soaking up all the delicious pot-liquor deliciousness.

Traditionally Carnitas are fine chopped and piled into flour or corn tortillas. Just take pork pieces and chop them into small 1/4 inch pieces. You could also do the "pulled pork" method of using 2 forks to pull the tender chunks apart into strands.


You can drizzle on some of the "pot liquor" or broth if you are storing the Carnitas to serve later. Or if you are keeping it warm in the oven, make sure to drizzle on plenty and cover, so Carnitas don't dry out. (Save the chopping until the last minute.) And save a couple cups of pot liquor. It's great drizzled over Mexican Rice.

The above method is the easiest way to make Carnitas. This is the way I've seen it done by outdoor sidewalk vendors -- just a vat of pork, intestines, stomach, chorizo and other parts, slow cooking for hours in the rendered fat and broth. Under Hindsight below, I write about how to closer follow the way they do it on the street.

You can top Carnitas Tacos with my Pico de Gallo (recipe here); or simply with chopped onion and cilantro. For a Carnitas Burrito, my Mom's Mexican Rice (here) and a heated can of pinto beans, along with the above mentioned chopped veggies, is the classic taco stand method. If you have a favorite salsa then use that...and don't forget the hot sauce!

I've also had Carnitas with a crispy crust. You can deep-fry or roast the largest chunks of braised pork. And here's how I do it.

Roasting
This is a lean way. Just add the larger chunks of tender braised pork to a roasting pan and bake about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees. To keep the pork extra moist add some of the pork broth to the roasting pan, just enough to barely cover the bottom. You just want to lightly brown some of the pork pieces for crunch. Don't worry about all the small boiled bits, just add them to the larger roasted pieces and chop them up all together, just before serving.

Frying
A quick finish is to fry in oil some of the large cooked pieces of Carnitas. You want a wide pan to add oil an inch deep. Heat oil until hot over a medium/high heat. Carefully add the larger pieces of boiled (braised) pork to the hot oil (you can add the pork then heat the oil, to reduce splattering.) Watch carefully as the pieces brown along the bottom edges. Turn pieces as they brown on a couple of sides. It takes about 3-5 minutes for each side to brown.

For safer deep frying it's okay to slow fry pork over a low/medium heat, it just takes longer, about 10 minutes each side.

You don't have to fry it all, just some of the larger pieces. I like the mix of tender and crunchy fried pieces -- all chopped together. And don't forget to drizzle-on some of the pungent broth for extra flavor.

Hindsight
In my recipe above I cut the meat from the bone, but if you have a large enough pot you can boil the pork butt (or shoulder) whole, with the skin on. Just add another hour or two of extra cooking time. It takes longer to tenderize the meat all the way to the bone. If the outer pieces of meat break off, or are tender, it's okay to remove pieces and set them aside, until all the meat is tender.

When you hangout at a Taqueria or a makeshift taco stand, Carnitas are usually mixed with other meats in a large caldero (extra-wide metal skillet) and slow-cooked in liquid for hours. The liquid is lard or pork fat, and seasoned marinade.

For my version above, I break the recipe into two steps. First cooking the meat in a marinade, then crisping on the stove top in oil, or baking the meat in the oven.

I've made this recipe a few times so here's a refined version. Go ahead and follow the boiling directions above. And make sure to add the pork skin so there is rendered fat.

But when it comes to crisping the meat, I like to oven roast the cooked meat with some of the marinade. Just get a oven pan and load it up with chunks of tender boiled Carnitas. Add cooked marinade until it half covers the pork pieces. Finally add it all to an oven at about 350 degrees. Allow the Carnitas to lightly brown and crisp-up for about 15-20 minutes. The marinade will keep the pork moist, while the meat browns and you get those crunchy bits.

If you are cooking for a taco party this is a good method because you can have the meat braising slowly until ready to serve. (Add more cooked marinade as it evaporates.) Carnitas also micorwaves nicely, just drizzle on some of the marinade for moisture.)

For storing any leftover Carnitas, make sure to add a cup or two of cooked marinade to container, so the meat stays moist and you have some liquid to heat it up with.