Tacos Chilorio

• servings: 6
• total time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

1 ½ cups water

1 ½ ounces dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, and torn into 1-inch pieces

1 ounce dried guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded, and torn into 1-inch pieces

1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

½ teaspoon cumin seeds or ground cumin

½ teaspoon black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

1 whole clove

1 white onion (½ onion chopped coarse, ½ onion chopped fine)

1/3 cup cider vinegar

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 ½ teaspoons table salt

1 (3-pound) boneless pork butt roast, trimmed and cut into 1½-inch pieces

18 (6-inch) flour tortillas, warmed

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Combine water, anchos, guajillos, oregano, cumin, peppercorns, bay leaves, and clove in small saucepan and bring to boil over high heat. Cover and remove from heat. Let sit until chiles are softened, about 30 minutes. While chiles are softening, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.

Transfer chile mixture (including bay leaves) to blender. Add coarsely chopped onion, vinegar, garlic, and salt. Process until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down sides of blender jar halfway through blending.

Combine pork and chile sauce in Dutch oven, stirring to make sure pork is evenly coated. Bring to boil over high heat. Cover pot; transfer to oven; and cook until fork inserted into pork meets little to no resistance, 2 to 2½ hours.

Using potato masher, mash pork until finely shredded. Bring to simmer over medium- high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook until most of liquid has evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve on warm tortillas, passing finely chopped onion and cilantro separately. (Chilorio can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.)

Notes

Pork butt roast is often labeled Boston butt. If you can find only one of the varieties of dried chiles, use 2½ ounces of that variety. If you can't find Mexican oregano, use Mediterrancan oregano. Refried beans, sliced avocado, and rice are traditional accompaniments.

Source: Cook's Illustrated, September/October 2026