Mojo Cuban Pork (Shredded Pork)

Mojo Cuban style pork is an explosion of bright citrus flavors and a little heat.

This lighter recipe is based off methods for cooking pork shoulder for cubano sandwiches. Instead of the fattier pork shoulder, I used pork loin chops which are leaner and a lot of the cutting and trimming is already done for me. The citrus and herbs bring a brightness and tang to the meat. Simply delicious!

To make it easier to follow our low salt, portion controlled diet choices, I started batch cooking (or meal prepping) a few of my recipes to provide us with lunches. This recipe is one of my large batch recipes that we cook, shred, portion out, and freeze for quick, easy lunches. Cooking this way has allowed us to have convenient food options and control portion size, salt, and sugar intake.

I generally make this a few times a year and it provides us with enough lunches for a couple of months. That and the mouthwatering goodness of the citrus, spices, and pork make this time consuming recipe worth the effort. I love this dish! I often just warm a bag and eat it for lunch (80% good) and other times I warm it and sprinkle it on low sodium tortilla chips to make nachos (20% indulgence).

Mojo Cuban Pork

Shredded pork

Prep Time: 20 min

Marinate Time: 1 hr min (I usually let it marinate overnight)

Cook Time: 5 hours

Ingredients

• 7-8 Lbs pork loin chops (no bones)

• 4 oranges

• 3 lemons

• 3 limes

• 1 large shallot

• 1 jalapeno (optional)

• 1 bunch fresh mint (tops only)

• 1 bunch fresh cilantro (tops only)

• 1 tbsp mexican oregano

• 2 tsp ground black pepper

• 1/4 c olive oil

Directions

1. Zest 1 orange, 1 lemon, and 2 limes.

2. Juice all fruit.

3. Cut shallot and jalapeno in half.

4. Cut tops off of the bunches of cilantro and mint.

5. Add juice, zest, shallot, jalapeno, cilantro, mint and spice to blender.

6. Blend on medium for 20-25 seconds.

7. Cut pork into 1" cubes and put in large roasting pan.

8. Pour all but 1 cup of the sauce over the pork.

9. Cover with plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

10. Marinate the meat for a minimum of 1 hour. I usually marinate over night and begin cooking first thing the next morning.

11. Heat oven to 325°F.

12. Remove foil and plastic wrap. Discard plastic wrap and replace the foil on the pan.

13. Cook covered for 2 hours.

14. Remove foil and cook for another hour.

15. Shred pork in the juices with a fork.

16. Pour the reserved 1 cup of the marinade over the meat and mix.

17. Let cool to room temperature, portion into freezer bags and freeze.

We portion out the shredded into individual sandwich size baggies; my portions are 2.5 ounces and my husbands are 3.5 ounces. Each bag is marked with what is in the bag and the number of ounces so that we can quickly grab a bag in the morning to put in our lunches. I usually warm the meat, at lunch, for 30 seconds to a minute in a microwave and eat with a vegetable or put it in corn tortilla, or on a salad. It also tastes great topped with tomatilla salsa.

This batch made 34 lunches (mix of 3.5 and 2.5 oz servings).