jackfruit carnitas

Easy stovetop jackfruit carnitas that make a flavorful stand-in for the real thing. Smoky and spicy, this gluten-free and vegan recipe will become a taco night staple.

Jackfruit Carnitas

olive oil

yellow onion

garlic (minced)

jalapeno peppers

jackfruit carnitas spice blend ((recipe below))

juice of 1 orange

tbsp red wine vinegar

tbsp low-sodium soy sauce ((or tamari for gluten-free))

tsp liquid smoke

lime juice

yeast

tbsp smoked paprika ((or regular paprika))

oregano

tbsp coriander

tbsp cumin

tsp black pepper

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeno peppers along with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent.

If needed, use a towel to pat excess liquid from the jackfruit. Then add the jackfruit to the pan and stir. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for another 5-6 minutes or until the jackfruit has dried out somewhat.

Add about two thirds of the carnitas spice blend to the pan and stir. Cook for about 60 seconds or until fragrant. Reserve remaining spice blend to season to taste at the end of cooking, if desired. (I use almost all of it, but I like it pretty heavily spiced).

Add the orange juice, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, and liquid smoke, and stir.

Simmer until most of the liquid is cooked off, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with additional salt, spice mix, and fresh lime juice. Serve hot.

This delicious jackfruit carnitas recipe has the perfect texture of shredded pork for your next taco night. Plus it&#x27;s vegan, gluten-free, low fat, refined sugar free, and soy free.

tsp cumin

tsp chili powder

cayenne pepper

paprika

garlic powder

tsp pepper

tsp salt

cinnamon

soy sauce (optional

Tbsp cooking oil (Canola

onion

garlic (crushed)

Homemade spice blend (see above)

20 oz can of Jackfruit in brine (drained)

maple syrup

Place a pan on medium heat. Add oil, onion, garlic, and spice blend.&nbsp;

Stir until onions are clear and coated with spices.&nbsp;

Add jackfruit and maple syrup and stir occasionally to break up the jackfruit. It will be ready when the liquid is dissolved and the jackfruit darkens and starts to look like shredded meat.

Crispy Jackfruit Carnitas a Mexican-inspired vegan recipe that can be used as a meat substitute in tacos, enchiladas, burritos or burrito bowls. Perfect for Sunday meal prep- this lasts 4 days in the fridge.

Crispy Jackfruit Carnitas 

can of Jackfruit, (packed in WATER not syrup), drained.

shallot

garlic cloves, rough chopped

salt

soy sauce

—–

chili powder

cumin

dry Mexican Oregano

paprika,

sugar

Drain the jackfruit and cut into very thin slices, slicing through the core, see photo.

Place it in the middle of a kitchen towel, roll it up and wring it out very very firmly. Squeeze out as much water as you can. You should see quite a bit of liquid release.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil (save the other tablespoon for later) and saute the onion, garlic and jalapeno over medium heat until deeply golden and fragrant, about 5-6 minutes stirring often. Be patient here, this is where  the flavor is. 🙂

Add the jackfruit, and soy sauce and stir well and lower heat. This is where you&#8217;ll let the moisture cook-off even more- you want to get this fairly dry but without burning. So low heat, stirring occasionally, uncovered, 3-5 minutes.

When it seems good and dry, add the salt, sugar and spices- chili powder, cumin, oregano smoked paprika, and add 1 tablespoon olive oil &#8211; stir-frying the spices and jackfruit a bit until jackfruit begins to caramelize crisp and deepen in color. It should smell amazing!

Taste, and adjust salt and spice level ( feel free to add cayenne, ground chipotle or more smoked paprkita). For more tang, squeeze with lime, keeping in mind jackfruit has a natural tanginess, so taste it first.

Use Jackfruit Carnitas in tacos, enchiladas, burrito or burrito bowls, breakfast bowls.

Definitely lacked the "authenticity" I was hoping for. It was certainly edible and I appreciate the step-by-step photos, but it didn't do it for me. Going to try a vegetarian recipe (with whole milk... ew, right!?) but I'll see if it delivers in terms of flavor.

Amazing! Most underrated recipe I have come across! This should be known to the world! However, I would recommend rinsing the jack fruit A LOT to get rid of the fruity flavor.

This crispy plant based version of carnitas is incredible! The texture &amp; flavor were both perfect- such a great recipe!!

AMAZING! Best jackfruit recipe that I have tried so far. Made soft tacos

Made this tonight - it was all eaten before I could take a picture.  Mine didn’t really caramelize into crispy, maybe not high enough heat.  Was still amazing in taste and will definitely make again.

Very tasty! Added extra oil after the spices to help crisp up but very yum

This.  Is.  Amazing!  Adding it to our favorite recipes list.

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/niv9vTZP.mp4

These Crispy Jackfruit Carnitas are full of flavor and made with strictly plants and spices! A healthy, delicious vegan filling for tacos, enchiladas, burritos and quesadillas and Burrito bowls! Perfect for Sunday meal prep! Video

Jackfruit Carnitas Video

Create mind-blowing jackfruit carnitas with this easy-to-follow, Mexican-inspired recipe. Learn how to prepare and cook fresh jackfruit to change the way you view vegan meat replacements!

Crispy Jackfruit Carnitas (With Fresh Jackfruit)

fresh, young jackfruit

olive oil, divided

½ medium white onion, diced

garlic,

Mexican oregano

thyme

black pepper

½ fresh navel oranges, juiced

tamari

water

Mexican bay leaves

Corn tortillas

Guacamole

jalapeños

Lime wedges

cilantro

Salsa of choice

To prepare the jackfruit, rub some oil on your knife and cut the fruit in half then quarters. Cut each quarter into thick slices like you would a watermelon. Then, remove the core from each slice using your knife (it&#039;s also helpful to have gloves on for this part).

Once you have discarded the core, begin to pull the fruit pods away from the rind and remove the seeds from inside the pods. Separate the seeds into one bowl and the fruit pods into another.

Once you have removed the fruit pods, cut away the white pulp from the rind and add it to the same bowl as the pods. Discard what is left of the rinds and set your bowl of fruit pods and pulp aside.

Jackfruit

Combine the oregano, thyme, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, orange juice, lime juice, tamari, and water in a mixing bowl.

Then, preheat 2 tbsp of oil in a large pot over medium. Add in the diced onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until translucent. Add in the minced garlic, and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Next, add the jackfruit, marinade, and bay leaves into the pot of onions and garlic. Give it a good stir, then reduce the heat to low-medium. Cover the pot and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking to the bottom.

With about 10-15 minutes left of simmering, preheat your oven to 375&deg;F.

Once the jackfruit is tender enough to pull apart, begin shredding it with 2 forks or a potato masher (it should come apart quite easily).

Transfer the jackfruit to a baking sheet in a single layer (this is important to get a nice crisp and char). Bake for 20-25 minutes, mixing halfway. Check to see if they are crispy starting at the 20-minute mark and keep a close eye until done.

Serve your jackfruit carnitas on their own or in homemade corn tortillas with guacamole, diced onions, sliced jalape&ntilde;os, hot sauce, lime wedges, cilantro, etc. Happy eating!

Cooking

Mindblowing indeed! I&rsquo;ve tried making jackfruit before but after this recipe, I understand that a long simmering time is critical. Loved loved how this turned out. Thank you for sharing your talent.

Such a new recipe that I need to try at home. 
It looks delicious and easy to make!

You won&#x27;t believe how tender, yet crispy, and flavorful this vegan jackfruit carnitas is! It makes the best tacos with guacamole, diced red onion and fresh jalapeno slices.

onion, diced

green jackfruit

tomato paste

brown sugar

smoked paprika

orange juice

liquid smoke

For serving: tortillas, guacamole, diced red onion, lime wedges, cilantro and sliced jalapenos

Drain and rinse the jackfruit from the can. Rinse very well if your jackfruit was packed in brine. Chop off the hard center core portions, if desired. I like the texture better with the tougher parts removed.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Now add the jackfruit and 1/2 cup of water, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes to soften the jackfruit.

While the jackfruit simmers, make the wet spice mix by stirring all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F at this time and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

After 10 minutes, remove the lid and mash the jackfruit with a potato masher or two forks, to create a shredded texture. Add the wet spice mix and stir into mashed jackfruit, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Now add in the orange juice, lime juice and liquid smoke and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Spread the jackfruit onto the prepared pan, evenly, and bake for 15-25 minutes, until it&#x27;s golden, crispy and even a bit blackened in some spots.

Remove from the oven and serve warm in tortillas, burritos, bowls or wherever you desire with guacamole, diced red onion, sliced jalapenos and cilantro.

Hello from Victoria 🇨🇦,
I did your recipe with fresh jackfruit.  It is delicious, easy and quick to make. I am not sure about canned jackfruit, the fresh one lost a lot of its volume once cooked in the oven.  
As usual, you recipes are really enjoyable and delicious!
Thanks! 
Christine J.

Hi Nora!
I made these jackfruit carnitas for dinner last night and they were fantastic!  I used 3 14.5 oz. cans of jackfruit and doubled all the wet spice ingredients except for the oil.  I will be making them again!  So good!  Thank you!

Have to come back and report, you once again have a winner!! Nora, this recipe I think is gonna be THE ONE, for me. I doubled the jackfruit part and tripled the marinade. Cooked and added two cans of pinto beans for added protein but followed the rest. (Chickpeas would be good too!! ) Served in soft corn tortillas warmed and topped with my jalapeno ranch slaw and homemade guacamole and cilantro. MMMMmmm. Fab mix!! Well worth a try, friends!! Thanks Nora :)

This recipe is amazing! I made the jackfruit exactly as written and I wouldn't change a single thing. The combination of flavors and the smokiness from the liquid smoke make the jackfruit taste incredible and the texture is really good from baking it, those little caramelized bits are the best! My whole family loved this when I served it in tacos and then I used the leftovers to make quesadillas. Both served with pickled jalapenos and radishes. Yum. A keeper for sure!

This was great! I really liked the wet spice mix! 

When i still ate pork, i made carnitas at home but left it cubed up, only shredding it as I assembled a taco. So for fun i tried to make the jackfruit the same way. Basically i cooked the onions, then added the drained jackfruit and went right to adding the wet spice mix…. So i didnt cook the jackfruit much. Everything crisped up nicely in the oven! I think next time i will try it exactly as written, since I love all your recipes Nora! But thought i would share the cubed up style worked great too!! 

Nora you get all of the stars!!! This is the best carnitas I’ve ever had ever! No meat necessary or missed! The flavors are incredibly delicious! Last week we had the jackfruit pulled pork. Both amazing! You just keep hitting it out of the park! Thank you for creating and sharing these delicious recipes! 

Wow, these are delicious! My husband and I recently decided to transition to a vegan diet due to some health issues. We’ve tried some recipes that were total flops, but these were amazing! I served them with spicy black beans and rice. Definitely adding to our regular rotation. Thank you!!

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Top 5 jackfruit carnitas recipes from across the web

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