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Tacos Al Pastor featuring marinated pork shoulder roasted in the oven with fresh pineapple and chilis in your kitchen to juicy perfection. Served with onions, cilantro and hot sauce. Make this recipe for an authentic Mexican dinner! 

 

We are huge fan of Tacos and Mexican food so naturally we had to make our own version of tacos Al Pastor. The traditional method for making Al pastor is spit-grilling for hours or days. We just don’t have that kind of time. For this version of Al Pastor we sliced our pork shoulder, marinated it over night and then stacked the pork over some pineapple and roasted it in the oven for just over 2 hours. You can also use the grill. 

We of course also made our own chili blend. Amazon has an amazing selection of Mexican chili’s since most of these are not easily accessible and you can also find achiote pasta on Amazon which gives the pork its vibrant red colour. For our chili blend we boiled in hot water some guajillo chilies, ancho chilies and chili de arbol. We boiled these for 15 mins then added them directly into the blender with the rest of the marinade ingredients. When working with chili’s make sure to wear cloves or use tongs to avoid touching the chili’s directly. 

No need to make your own chili blend, you can opt to use chili powder here. 

If you are not familiar with al pastor tacos, they are pork tacos. The pork is marinated with spices, pineapple juice and vinegar and then grilled. The combination of smoky, tangy, chile pork, with grilled pineapple is so crave worthy our mouth starts to water just thinking about these tacos and the flavors.

We were up for a challenge to create a traditional al pastor tasting recipe that was homemade and we can honestly say this recipe comes pretty close to competing against your favorite authentic Mexican taco joint. 

To serve the tacos we added some chopped onions and cilantro, fresh made guacamole and then finished them off with some habanero hot sauces. We used two different kinds of hot sauces, a red habanero and a pineapple habanero to compliment the flavors of Al pastor and bring out the pineapple notes used in the marinade.  


We hope you enjoyed this recipe! Don’t forget to share on Instagram and tag us! @thecommunalfeast 

 

Al pastor tacos

Tacos Al Pastor featuring marinated pork shoulder roasted in the oven with fresh pineapple and chilis in your kitchen to juicy perfection. Served with onions, cilantro and hot sauce. Make this recipe for an authentic Mexican dinner! 
Prep Time25 minutes
Cook Time2 hours 30 minutes
Additional Time4 hours
Total Time6 hours 55 minutes
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Mexican
Servings: 6
Author: the communal feast

Ingredients

  • 5 lbs pork shoulder boneless
  • Marinade:
  • 3 dried Guajillo chilies
  • 2 chili’s de arbol
  • 1 ancho chili if you don’t have authentic dried Mexican chili’s use 1/3 cup chili seasoning
  • 2 tbsp achiote paste
  • 1 white onion skin removed and halved
  • 3/4 cup pineapple juice
  • 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 3 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp Mexican oregano or regular oregano
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp ground clove
  • Assembly
  • corn or flour tortillas
  • 1 white onion sliced or diced
  • 1 bunch cilantro chopped
  • limes quartered
  • Hot sauce we use both a red habanero and pineapple habanero to go with the tacos store bought
  • Optional garnish
  • Fresh made guacamole
  • Salsa Verde
  • Roasted Tomato Salsa
  • Pico de Gallo

Instructions

  • If Making Chile Blend: bring a pot of water to a boil and add the chili’s (ancho, guajillo and de arbol). Bring to a boil and boil for 15 mins.
  • Marinade: To a blender add the boiled chili’s, achiote paste, onion, pineapple juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, Mexican oregano, cinnamon, clove. Blend until pureed.
  • Trim fat from the pork shoulder and slice meat into 1/4 inch slices. Place pork in a plastic bag that seals or container that can be covered with a lid and pour the chile mixture over the pork. Using gloves, mix the chile marinade and pork then chill in refrigerator, covered, 4 hours or overnight. Allow meat to come to room temp prior to cooking.
  • Remove all racks except bottom one from oven. Preheat oven to 250°F.
  • Shake off excess marinade. In a cast iron skillet or baking tray place the cut pineapple bottom(s). Insert a wooden or metal skewer or long wooden chopstick in the center of the pineapple. Start layering pieces of marinated pork, repeating until meat is used, or you have 1 inch of skewer left. Leave 1 inch of skewer on top and cap it with trimmed pineapple top. Slow roast at 250°F for 2 1/2 hours or until meat is cooked (we want an internal temp of 145°F-150°F). Start basting with pan juices in last hour. Outside will be caramelized and crispy, cut with knife in downward motion.
  • To serve: Serve in small tortillas topped with chopped onion, cilantro, squeeze of lime juice, fresh made guacamole and your favorite hot sauces.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Al pastor tacos

    Dinner

    September 28, 2021

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