This garlic and citrus Slow Cooker Cuban Pork (Mojo Pork) is tender and flavorful! Excellent, along with rice for a complete meal. Slow cooked to perfection and a perfect meal to change up your menu plan.
If you want to use your slow cooker for another Cuban recipe, try my ropa vieja recipe for a flavor explosion!
About two weeks ago, I tried Slow Cooker Mojo Pork for the first time at a potluck. I didn’t realize I needed a new recipe for pork until that day. The Cuban pork roast has an excellent citrus and garlic flavor, which is different from other shredded pork recipes. This recipe has ten garlic cloves in it and smells great while cooking.
Recipe Ingredients
- Pork Shoulder – This is often labeled as a pork butt or Boston butt. It has plenty of fat and flavor.
- Citrus – You will need orange juice, lemon juice, and lime juice for this recipe. You will need one of each of these citrus fruits.
- Mojo seasonings – Garlic, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper
- Olive oil – The olive oil, along with the citrus and mojo seasonings, creates a beautiful marinade for the porks (marinates while it cooks).
- Onion – Cut the onion into rounds instead of half rounds for this Cuban pork recipe.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Add the pork shoulder to the crock pot. Cut small slits into the pork with a knife. Doing this will allow the entire pork to be flavored with the sauce.
Step Two – To a large bowl, add the olive oil, then cut the lemon, lime, and orange in half. Squeeze the juice out of the citrus into the bowl. Add the oregano, cumin, garlic, salt, and pepper. Whisk until combined. Pour this Cuban mojo sauce over the pork roast.
Step Three – Add the sliced onion rounds on top. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 10 hours.
Step Four – Shred the pork and remove any bones. Serve pork with black beans and rice, and enjoy!
What goes well with Mojo Pork?
- Cuban Black Beans – Make a big pot of black beans to serve with this pulled pork, and you will have something great in the fridge to eat all week!
- Yellow Rice – I find packaged yellow rice mix at my grocery store! It has a fantastic flavor for a packaged rice! You can make Spanish rice or white steamed rice if you can’t find it.
- Fried Plantains – While the average home cook may not make fried plantains, you may want to try it out if you want the whole Cuban experience.
- Lime Wedges – I like to serve Cuban mojo pork with fresh lime wedges; lime juice really brightens the pulled pork.
- Mojo Pork Tacos – Yes, I know, this is not a Mexican meal, but you can make the BEST tacos with Mojo pork, just wrap the shredded pork and onions up in charred corn tortillas
Recipe FAQs
You can make Cuban pork with a pork loin, but it will be much leaner and taste more on the healthy side.
You can use chicken thighs instead of the pork shoulder if desired. You will only need to cook on low for 8 hours.
Add two diced jalapenos to this recipe for a spicy dish. Or you can add one habanero instead.
This is the type of meal that freezes very well! Freeze for up to three months in small ziplock bags or airtight containers.
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Slow Cooker Cuban Mojo Pork Recipe
Equipment Needed:
Ingredients:
- 5 lbs pork shoulder
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil, extra virgin
- 1 lemon
- 1 lime
- 1 orange
- 1 Tbsp. dried oregano (leaf, not ground)
- 1 Tbsp. ground cumin
- 10 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 1 white onion, cut into rounds
Instructions:
- Add the pork shoulder to the slow cooker. Using a small knife cut slits into the pork, about an inch down.
- In a large bowl add the olive oil. Cut the lemon, lime and orange in half. Squeeze the juice out of the citrus into the bowl. Add the oregano, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper. Whisk until combined.
- Pour the mixture over the pork roast. Using a spatula squish the garlic and sauce into the pork.
- Add the onion rounds.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 10 hours without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- Shred the meat with 2 forks and remove the bone. I left about half of the juices with the meat to keep it moist.
How to Video:
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Would the 8 hour setting on the crock pot work also? I got it started too late for the 10 hour option. Thanks!
I would do 6 on low and the last two hours on high (or vise versa).
I followed the recipe exactly and thought it was a bit bland
I realize this is a slow cooker recipe, but can I bake it in the oven? I want to do this for dinner tonight but don’t have 10 hours to cook in the crock pot.
It would still take a long time in the oven, like 3+ hours. I’m unsure how long though. You’ll need a dutch oven-style pot.
Do you think it will come out good if I add chopped up bell peppers and mushrooms in it
I think those are great additions.
Bell peppers don’t mesh with the flavor of this dish, and mushrooms aren’t something very common to Cuban cuisine.
Add this today….it was AMAZINGLY flavorful. I threw in the juices from my olives, and added some pasillo chilies that I had just fried for another recipe….definitely adds that smoky Mexico flavor.
EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT. I cooked on high in my crock pot for the 5 hours.
Mexican flavor in a Cuban dish is just disrespectful.
The meat was super tender which was awesome. We weren’t a fan of the taste but maybe that was something I did wrong.
I have not made this yet but in looking at the recipe, it should be calling for sour orange. You can find that in Hispanic markets. They also have mojo criollo which should work well
Made this and served it as a semi Cuban sandwich (minus ham). It was amazing! My house smelled delicious the whole day while I cleaned for the party. Served with fried plantains and mojitos.
How many does thus serve?
I served it as sandwiches for a group of 8 people and had plenty of leftovers
where would we find dried oregano leaves??? why not just use the powder???
Leaf oregano to me is easier to find than ground, it’s usually higher up on the spices shelves at the store (still in a jar, like ground). Ground is very potent and a tablespoon may ruin this dish. If you have to use ground, cut the amount in half at least. 🙂
Congratulations in not adding anything Hot like Habaneros, Serranos and things like that because we never, ever use them in our cuisine. I would double the garlic and cut the cumin down to 1 tsp as it would overpower the tastes and then be more middle eastern than cuban. As for the orange, if you could find sour oranges, that would be ideal.
Thanks for the tips Carlos. I will try next time.
What kind of rice did you use?
What other sides would you serve with the pork? Back beans, fried plantains?
Traditional Cuban sides include sweet plantains (maduros), yuca (a potatoe-like root), fried plantains, black beans with rice (white or yellow). Then, serve flan and Cuban coffee for dessert and you have a perfect Cuban meal!
I also agree with Carlos.]
I would also add 1tsp of smoked Spanish paprika.
You forgot the Cuba Libre.
I’ll be making this next week.
Thank you for your recip, bye for now.
Have a nice dat & stay safe.