Salsa Verde Pulled Pork Tacos

4.60 from 5 votes

Salsa Verde Pulled Pork Tacos

The tenderness and smokiness of the pulled pork mixed in with the charred and spicy homemade salsa verde and pickled onion make for an amazingly refreshing meal.

Prep Time15

Cook Time6

Course: Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine: American, Mexican

Keyword: dinner recipe, grilling recipes, grillin with dad recipes, grilling with dad recipes., salsa verde pulled pork tacos, taco recipes, pulled pork recipes, how to make pulled pork, salsa verde recipe, pork recipes, grilling recipes, grillin with dad recipes, food recipes

Servings: People

Author: Maciek Zurawski

Ingredients

Pulled Pork Ingredients

6 lbs Bone in pork shoulder
2 tbsp Hot sauce
4 tbsp BBQ rub
1/2 cup Cotija cheese

Salsa Verde Ingredients

6 tomatillos
2 Jalapenos
2 Serrano peppers
1 Roma tomato
4 Garlic cloves
2 Limes
1 Batch of cilantro
1 Batch of green onion
1/2 White onion
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp Chicken bullion
1 cup Water

Pickled Red Onion Ingredients

1 Red onion
1 cup White vinegar
1 cup Water
1 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Crushed red peppers

Instructions

Coat the entire pork shoulder with hot sauce and season with your choice of BBQ rub.
Set up the grill for indirect heat at 250 degrees.
Place the seasoned pulled pork on the grill and let it smoke for about 4 hrs or until it reaches 170 degrees internal temp.
For the salsa verde, start off by charing the jalapeños, tomatillos, serrano peppers, roma tomato and white onion. Also on a foil sheet, place 4 cloves of garlic, drizzle some olive oil and salt, close shut and place it directly on the coals for roasting.
In a food processor, throw in the veggies along with a cup of water, chicken bullion, salt, freshly squeezed lime juice, green onion and a batch of cilantro. Blend it all together leaving a slightly chunky consistency for texture
For the pickled onion, start off my slicing an entire red onion. Place the sliced pieces in a mason jar.
In a sauce pan, bring to a boil, water, white vinegar, sugar, salt, peppercorns and crushed red pepper. Pour the mixture into the mason jar and seal shut.
Back to the pork. Once the grilled pork shoulder reaches 170 degrees, place it in an aluminum pan and pour half of the homemade salsa verde over the meat. Seal it off with a sheet of foil and let it continue cooking for another 2-3 hours until the internal temp of the pork is 204 degrees.
Remove the bone and shred the meat, mixing it in with all the rendered juices.
Assemble the taco per your liking with the pulled pork, salsa verde, pickled red onion and cotija cheese.

Notes

Try to purchase a bone-in pork shoulder. Helps cook more evenly.
If you are not a fan of mustard in general, use hot sauce or Worcestershire sauce as the binding agent.
For the first 4 hours, leave the pork should on the grill. Do NOT peek inside. Let the grill do its magic. After that, you should start to check the bark and see it is not drying out.
At this stage of the cook, no more smoke will penetrate the meat. It’s OK to finish the cook in the oven.
Tenderness is key. This will help make the pork shreddable. The final temperature on a classic pulled pork can range anywhere from 200 to 205 degrees, so be patient. If the probe is not going into the meat smoothly, it’s not done. Keep cooking. This is where a lot of the mistakes are made. Pork is removed too soon and the meat ends up dry and tough.

Nutrition