Cochinita Pibil
Make this delicious, juicy & healthy Cochinita Pibil! A traditional Mexican pulled pork dish from the state of Yucatan and a favorite of many Mexican food lovers.
The traditional way of making Cochinita Pibil is by cooking in the ground a marinated pig wrapped in banana leaves. It cooks for hours until it’s well done. The end result is pork that just melts in your mouth.
But Who has time for that?!! Plus finding banana leaves is impossible for most people.
The solution my friends is using the slow cooker method! The end result is still the same: shredded pork that is delicious and melts in your mouth. Yum!
Ingredients for Cochinita Pibil
The main flavor for this dish is Achiote (Annato in English) and can be found in latin grocery stores or if you don’t have one near by you can buy it on amazon.
Achiote looks spicy due to the red color but its looks are deceiving! It’s not spicy at all, just flavorful!
Next ingredient is pork hence the name “Cochinita” which means little pig in English. However, if you don’t like to eat pork, you can make it with lean chicken as well.
Other ingredients are a coke and a beer (you’ll be amazed how great these two go together!), a little vinegar & beef bullion. That’s it! Nothing complicated as you can see.
Using a coke & a beer is part of our traditional family recipe. My sister Brenda makes THE BEST cochinita pibil and used to always asked her the ratio of each ingredient to make it perfectly juicy. I finally mastered it!
How to cook Cochinita Pibil in crockpot
Don’t we all love slow cookers since we can set dinner and forget about it? The preparation for this recipe is super easy:
In a small bowl, dissolve the achiote in vinegar. I use a fork to break it down. Then add the beef bullion to the achiote/vinegar mix to dissolve that as well.
Place the pork, achiote mix, beer and soda in the crockpot. Mix and incorporate all ingredients well.
Cook for 4 hours on high and 8 hours on low.
The pork is ready when it shreds easily. Remove a few pieces of pork at a time and shred with two forks in a bowl.
You can do this step in the crockpot as well but I prefer to do it in a bowl so you don’t risk scratching the crockpot.
Return shredded pork to the crockpot and cook for 30 more minutes. This will ensure all of the meet is infused with the achiote perfectly.
That’s it my friends! Easy peasy right? Now you’re ready to make some amazing tacos, tostadas or tortas!
Essential pairings
There are a few must have items when eating Cochinita Pibil. They add the perfect layers of flavor and will elevate your taste buds to the max
- Mexican Pickled Onions add a perfect crush and citrus flavor to your tacos.
- A good red salsa like this Chile de arbol salsa.
- And fresh lime juice…I can’t forget to list the lime juice!
- Horchata is also a good pairing since it balances well with the spices
If you like this recipe, you’ll also enjoy these Mexican dishes!
did you make this Cochinita Pibil?!? i’d love to know how it turned out! leave a comment and a rating below? thank you!
Cochinita Pibil
Equipment
- Slow cooker
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz achiote bar annato condiment found in the hispanic section of grocery stores
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1 cube of beef bouillon
- 2 lbs of boneless lean pork loin roast. Cubed into beef stew size and fat trimmed off
- 12 oz can of coke
- 1 12 oz lite beer bottle (any brand will do) See the notes if you don't want to use beer.
- salt & pepper to taste if needed
Instructions
- In a small bowl, dissolve the achiote & beef bullion in the vinegar. Use a fork to break it down.
- Place the pork, achiote mix, beer and soda in the crockpot. Mix and incorporate all ingredients well.
- Cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
- The pork is ready when it shreds easily. Remove a few pieces of pork at a time and shred with two forks in a bowl. You can do this step in the crockpot as well but I prefer to do it in a bowl so you don’t risk scratching the crockpot.
- Return shredded pork to the crockpot and cook for 30 more minutes. This will ensure all of the meet is infused with the achiote perfectly.
- Serve on tacos or tortas
*Ana’s Notes:
- Mexican Pickled Onions add a perfect crush and citrus flavor to your tacos
- A good red salsa like this Chile de arbol salsa.
ADD YOUR OWN PRIVATE NOTES
Whenever you come back to this recipe, you’ll be able to see your notes.
NUTRITION
The nutritional information and US conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this is important to you, please verify with your favourite nutrition calculator and/or unit conversion tool.
This recipe was originally published in August 2010 and it has been updated to include new photos and more instructions. Buen Provecho!
Delicioso ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Is it 4 hours on High OR 8 hours on Low – not 4 hours on High AND 8 hours on low???
Thanks.
Hi Kathy, correct Cook for 4 hours on high OR 8 hours on low. I updated the recipe…thanks for the feedback!
Hello
I would like to make this but is there something else I could use that is not beer? I know the alcohol cooks out but wondered if it is extremely important in this recipe?
Thank you
Hi Laura! I’m glad you’re going to give this a try! You can substitute the beer with another coke (a lot of my family just uses coke) or you can do 1 cup of orange juice. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Enjoy!
Wowie zowie! Another winner, Ana!
Banana leaves are abundant here in Thailand! Would love to try this!
Amazing!
That would be amazing! I hope you can find achiote there since everything else it’s easy to find. Enjoy Thailand!
This cochinita recipe it’s so good!!!
Thank you Malena! I’m so glad you liked it!
This took some getting used to on my palate but once I put it all together with all the pairings noted in the recipe that did it! Nice change of pace from traditional chicken and beef tacos.
Thank you Pablo! I’m so glad you ended up liking it! It is truly delicious!
That looks mouthwatering. My friend love Mexican foods and I am sure he will love this. Definitely going to recommend him this dish.
Thanks so much Saif! I’m sure he will love this Cochinita Pibil! Enjoy!
OOOHH this looks absolutely delicious!! Can’t wait to try it soon!
Enjoy this recipe for pibil Vicky!
This recipe looks amazing, the pickles sound delicious and I love a recipe with coke in it!! Can’t wait to give this a go, thanks!
The pickled onions and cochinita pibil are a must! Enjoy Adrianne!
This pulled pork taco recipe looks absolutely amazing! I love how easy this is to make and it’s perfect for weeknights!
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this Mexican recipe!
Me salio deliciosa esta Cochinita Pibil!!!! La voy seguir haciendo. Gracias por la receta!
Que bueno que te gusto Malena! Gracias por darme las estrellitas 🙂
Simply amazing.
Thank you!
Made it yesterday! I cant believe how easy it was to make. I actually bought the achiote on Amazon since we dont have a Latin store close by. I’m making it again for Cinco De Mayo!
Yay this makes me so happy to hear you made it! It is delicious! Thanks for stopping by!
Have you ever made this in a slow cooker? I’m thinking of doing so, but liquid amounts would need to be adjusted.
If I’m doing pulled pork, I just run the meat with salt and pepper and put it into the crock, with a little liquid smoke, that’s all. Then let it slowly cook.
Hi Drew! Yes I’ve made it in the slow cooker and I use the same amount of liquid. It comes out perfect! Enjoy!