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Pulled Pork Tacos with Avocado Lime Crema, Cilantro Lime Slaw, and Homemade Queso

Everyone in your family will love these! Fall-apart flavorful slow-cooked pulled pork tacos with avocado lime crema, a tasty cilantro lime slaw, and homemade queso. We fried our own local flour tortillas to use as dippers!
Servings: 6 people
Author: KitchenKop

Ingredients

Fall-apart Pork:

  • 6.5-7 pounds pork roasts or pork steaks , preferably from a local farmer you trust who raises his animals on pasture. If you don't have a good local source, you can get healthy meat here.
  • 3 Tablespoons bacon grease, lard, beef tallow, butter, or ghee
  • 1-2 Tablespoons butter or avocado spray for greasing the baking pan
  • 1 onion, chopped (I use organic onions)
  • 1 can beer, any kind you like
  • 3 Tablespoons palm/coconut sugar
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon organic pepper
  • 1 teaspoon organic onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons organic garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons organic paprika
  • 2 teaspoons organic cumin

Pickled Onions

  • 1/2 cup organic apple cider vinegar
  • 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 cup organic cane sugar
  • 1/4 cup filtered water
  • 2 small-medium sized onions, thinly sliced (I use organic onions)

Avocado Lime Crema

  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup whole cream , ours was from our local farm--if you buy at the store, get "whipping cream" and be sure it's NOT ultra-pasteurized. Read more here.
  • 2 limes , zested and juiced (I use organic when I can find them)
  • 1 avocado (it's good without this too!)
  • 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
  • 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2-1 Tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 Tablespoon palm sugar or cane sugar, optional (for extra yumminess)

Cilantro Lime Slaw

  • 2 bags organic cabbage slaw , or 1 head cabbage, chopped. (I used half head purple cabbage and half head of green cabbage.)
  • 1 handful organic julienned carrots, optional
  • 1 batch homemade mayo (made with lime juice instead of lemon juice)
  • 2 limes, one in the mayo and another lime juiced and zested (again, I use organic limes when possible)
  • 2 teaspoons organic garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon organic pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt , more to your taste--keep in mind that the mayo also already has some salt.
  • 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
  • 1/3 cup whole cream (see note on cream above)

Homemade Queso & Tortilla Chips

  • 1 batch queso dip
  • your favorite organic corn or flour tortillas --these go fast, so get plenty depending on how many you're feeding! (You could also just buy some organic corn chips from the store for dipping.) We had these organic locally made tortillas that are so good!
  • lard or beef tallow for frying

Pull it all together!

  • More tortillas for those who are eating them with their tacos (I like mine without for a lower-carb meal!)
  • Shredded cheese , for those who would like that instead of the queso dip on their tacos.
  • More chopped cilantro for the top!
  • More sliced avocado for the side if you'd like

Instructions

Pulled Pork for Tacos

  • Cut pork up into smaller pieces no bigger than 2-3" wide. Melt bacon grease in a large skillet or an electric pan like mine. Cook meat on each side until browned nicely. Grease an 11 x 14 baking pan with avocado spray or soft butter. Put the meat into the baking pan.
  • Preheat oven to 350*.
  • In the remaining juices, cook onions until soft and golden. Add onions and remaining drippings into the baking pan with the pork.
  • Pour beer into the pan.
  • Sprinkle sugar and spices all over the top of the meat.
  • Loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil (poof it up so the foil isn't touching the meat). Lower heat to 300* and place pan in the oven for 90 minutes.
  • Uncover, spoon juices over the top, put meat back into the oven for another 60 minutes.
  • At this point you may want to cut the meat off any bones (and put the bones into another pot to make broth later) and remove any big hunks of fat. Increase the oven heat to 400* and bake another 60-75 minutes or longer depending on the type of meat you're using--just check it every so often until it's fall-apart tender.
  • Once done, use 2 forks to break pork into small pieces for tacos.

Pickled Onions

  • In a medium sized bowl, mix together everything but the onions, then add onions and make sure they're all covered by the liquid. Let set for at least 1 hour, but the longer the better, so the onions can absorb the flavors. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Avocado Lime Crema

  • Just mix everything together! Refrigerate until pork is done.

Cilantro Lime Slaw

  • Make mayo using lime juice instead of lemon juice (see recipe + video here). 
  • In the same bowl/blender where you made the mayo, add juice from the other lime + zest, and all the other ingredients except the carrots and cabbage. Blend/mix until well combined. Taste-test to see if it needs more of anything. You may want to add more spices or more sugar.
  • Add cabbage and carrots to a large bowl, pour the dressing over the top and stir everything together well. If there's not enough dressing for the amounts of cabbage and carrots you have, add a little more cream. Stir well and taste-test again. Refrigerate until pork is done.

Homemade Queso & Tortilla Chips

  • Make queso following instructions. Melt beef tallow in a deep frying pan or in an electric pan like mine. Fry tortillas until golden on each side, remove to a paper towel. Sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool then cut (or break) into triangles for dipping into queso.

Pull it all together!

  • Work on the onions, avocado lime crema, cilantro lime slaw, and queso dip while the pork is cooking. When everything is done... Use tongs to fill a tortilla (or just a plate) with pork, add queso dip or shredded cheese, avocado lime crema, cilantro lime slaw, and the pickled onions on the tacos or on the side. Add more cilantro to the top and more sliced avocado if desired!
  • Serve with queso dip and homemade dippers (or just some organic corn chips from the store).
  • Let me know what you think!

Notes

For a faster method to cook the pork, just use your pressure cooker!  Brown the roast in bacon grease, then add a beer, the spices and more water and pressure cook 'til tender.  Once cool, pull the meat apart and remove bones or other icky parts.  If you want a tasty singe on the meat, put it in a frying pan with bacon grease and more of the same spices.