A traditional Mexican dish without the work! I couldn't believe that something that good was SO easy to make. The achiote paste can easily be found at most Mexican grocery stores. Mouthwatering!!!!
I'm Mexican, and I love when people try authentic Mexican food and not just the popular tex-mex style. Just a couple of things: For the onions and pepers, you can use a mixture of orange and lime juice so it is not so sour. It is not necessary to cook the meat in oil, as a matter of fact you shouldn't as the original thing is not done like this. Originally it is marinated for a good couple of hours or overnight with the achiote sauce and then baked in a ground type of oven....modern homes just use the normal oven, slow cooker or pressure cooker (up to you). You can skip the use of guajillo, but is also nice with it, and yes it has liquid after you cooked it, that is NORMAL. The correct amount of salt is the key for all the ingredients to come together. This is not a spicy dish, the spice comes from the habaneros, but that should be added individually at the dinner table. Remember that Mexican food is very complex and what is prepared in the south is completely different form the northern part of the country. This is a southern dish. Hope you enjoy it!
Read MoreThis recipe wasn't as flavorful as I'd hoped. The pork swam in the sauce, I suspect this was the problem. Most other recipes I see for this use much less liquid. That said, the pork was very moist and we enjoyed it it tortillas.
Read MoreI'm Mexican, and I love when people try authentic Mexican food and not just the popular tex-mex style. Just a couple of things: For the onions and pepers, you can use a mixture of orange and lime juice so it is not so sour. It is not necessary to cook the meat in oil, as a matter of fact you shouldn't as the original thing is not done like this. Originally it is marinated for a good couple of hours or overnight with the achiote sauce and then baked in a ground type of oven....modern homes just use the normal oven, slow cooker or pressure cooker (up to you). You can skip the use of guajillo, but is also nice with it, and yes it has liquid after you cooked it, that is NORMAL. The correct amount of salt is the key for all the ingredients to come together. This is not a spicy dish, the spice comes from the habaneros, but that should be added individually at the dinner table. Remember that Mexican food is very complex and what is prepared in the south is completely different form the northern part of the country. This is a southern dish. Hope you enjoy it!
Delicious!!! I didn't expect that this was going to be that GOOD. I would rate it 10 if I could. I haven't had something that exquisite in a long time. Being easy to prepare is a bonus. We made some hand made tortillas and dinner was a major hit. I can't wait to have leftovers for lunch.
Lo Mejor! I'm going to have to stock up on achiote paste, because this made a fantastico slow-cooker meal. We sprinkled with a little cotija cheese and served with tortillas. Too easy and too good to not be tried.
This is the REAL thing!! Finally an authentic Mexican recipe without cumin!!! Traditional Cochinita Pibil does include habanero peppers... they are extremely hot. If they're too much for you, you could substitute serranos or green chiles de árbol. My compliments to the poster.
Giving it four stars only because I very loosely based last night's pulled pork on this - I'm sure it's great as written, but my 6-year-old is anti-spicy, and I have only my own stash of hot sauce - no chillies, peppers or Achiote paste (never even heard of it before) in the house. So - I basically rubbed and seared the pork, mixed the vinegar, OJ, and garlic, and popped it in the slow cooker all afternoon. What came out was awesome. I pulled the pork and drizzled the juice on it and had it on sandwich buns - it was like a citrus-y vinegar-style pulled pork. The picky kid scarfed it down excitedly.
We liked this a lot! It is such an easy way to make puerco pibil. I saw another recipe that added 1.5 TB of cinnamon and bay leaves so I added those (8 bay leaves). I also took the advice of another poster and added 1/3 can OJ concentrate to the liquid and another 1/3 can to the juice of 5 limes (not 10 limes)in the salsa. I chopped the onions slices and added cilantro to the salsa, and it was GREAT. I can see using this citrus onion sauce on other dishes, it was really tasty. I served this piled on thick cheese arepas (thick central-american corn tortillas/pancakes)and we ate with a knife and fork. Next time--I don't really like the taste of achiote paste that much so I think next time I will halve that to 3.5 oz, it was just too strong. Thank you for posting this recipe!!
This recipe wasn't as flavorful as I'd hoped. The pork swam in the sauce, I suspect this was the problem. Most other recipes I see for this use much less liquid. That said, the pork was very moist and we enjoyed it it tortillas.
I generally love Mexican food even very spicy recipes. But this one I really did not like. First time I tried Achiote paste. Can't say I am a great fan.
First time I tried achiote past & not the biggest fan of this....it was a great mending of flavors: spiciness/sweet/& sour; but didn't care for the achiote component. Also, wanted to include that the achiote amount in this recipe IS WAY TOO MUCH. For 3 pounds of meat you should be using in the TEASPOON OR TABLESPOON ARENA....NOT 7 OUNCES. This could have had definite potential had it not been for the ridiculous measurements of achiote.
made an authentic mexican meal and this was one of the dishes. it was perfect with a crunchy coleslaw and black bean soup.
We loved it!! Everyone that tried it loved it! We marinated the pork overnight and then smoked it. After it was smoked we put the leftover marinade and the pork in the crockpot and cooked until it fell apart. We served it burrito style with cheese on top and sour cream, lettuce and tomatoes. Amazing! We will do it again and again and again. So much flavor. We can give our local mexican restaurants a run for their money with this recipe.
Perfecto! I made this to use as a filling for Enchilladas and have frozen the left-overs and used them again. A little time for the flavors to meld only makes this pork better! One caveat: The amount of achiote paste called for is over the top in my estimation -- possibly a typo? I used just one tablespoon of achiote paste that I made according to a recipe on this site and it flavored the meat perfectly. The salsa is HOT with those peppers -- whew an experience! But fresh tasting just the same, I'd cut down a bit on the amount of juice added to the salsa, the fresh vegetables were kind of swimming in it. The salsa also benefited from some alone time in the fridge for the flavors to meld. Great food to come home to simmering in a crock pot after a long day's hike! Recommend for a great filling for any of your Latin/Mexican dishes!
I did not care for this recipe. I cooked mine in a large cast iron pot in the oven at 285 degrees for 8 hrs and it had no flavor and believe it or not, it was dry. I am a very seasoned at home cook and really thought this was going to be great.
I've made this many times now. I 've cook the meat in the slow cooker. I don't use the lemon juice listed and a VERY small amout of the habanero chile for the onion topping. I also just use one 3.9 oz package of achiote paste. Turns out great...very authentic. Super easy!!
