Last Updated on May 31, 2024 by Carne Diem
Protein: Pork
Origin: Mexican, North American
Method: Grill or Smoker, Dutch Oven
Jump to RecipeOur Dutch oven Cochinita Pibil is the perfect recipe to make on your grill or smoker but turns out great on a stovetop as well. The achiote marinated pork is wrapped in banana leaves and slow cooked until fall apart tender. Use the flavorful Yucatan pork to make Cochinita Pibil tacos, quesadillas, or tortas.
Table of contents
What is Cochinita Pibil?
Cochitita pibil is simply one of the best Mexican dishes that many people have never heard of. The roots of this dish date back to Mayan times, and the dish remains one of the Yucatan peninsula's most iconic dishes. the traditional way of preparing cochinita pibil is by cooking the pork in an underground oven or pit called a pib or piib, not too different than the method frequently used to make traditional barbacoa.
Literally translated cochinita pibil translates into "baby pig" and "earth oven" because the pork recipe was traditionally made with suckling pig and these piglets were often cooked in these ancient underground ovens. For the Mayans the pib was used to cook other game meats like deer or game birds like wild turkey, but when the Spainards arrived in the region with pigs, cochinita pibil was born.
What meat is used in cochinita pibil?
Traditionally cochinita pibil is made with pork. Historically, suckling pigs were used but in modern times other individual cuts of the hog were used. Most commonly the cochinita pibil is made with pork shoulder cuts like the Boston butt, picnic shoulder, or even the whole shoulder. While cuts like pork loin are sometimes used, we feel that the dish is really best suited for fattier cuts of pork where the fat renders down during the slow cooking process, adding greater flavor to the finished dish.
Looking for more great recipes using pork butt? Be sure to check out these BBQ pork butt recipes:
- Smoked Pernil- Puerto Rican Roast Pork Shoulder
- Kalua Pork: Hawaiian Pulled Pork
- Eastern North Carolina Pulled Pork
How to Make Cochinita Pibil on Your Grill or Smoker
To cook the Cochinita Pibil you will need a Dutch oven and a grill or smoker capable of cooking over indirect heat. In addition to the pork and some common ingredients you will also need banana leaves, sour orange juice, and achiote paste. Banana leaves can be found most commonly in the freezer section of most Asian and some Latin markets. You can also purchase them online, though they will be quite a bit more expensive.
What is Achiote paste?
Achiote paste is a reddish paste made from annatto seeds. It is a key ingredient in Mexican dished like cochinita pibil and al pastor and gives those dishes their characteristic color and flavor. Achiote imparts a subtle earthy and slightly bitter flavor to foods. Achiote paste can be found in most Latin markets or can be purchased on Amazon for a reasonable price.
What is sour orange juice?
Sour oranges are a stable of many Mexican dishes and can often be found in many Hispanic or Latin markets. If you can't find it locally, it is also pretty inexpensive on Amazon. In a pinch, you can substitute 2 parts regular orange juice and 1 part lime juice for the sour orange juice in recipes.
Trimming and prepping the pork
Trim the excess fat from the outside of the pork butt. If using a whole shoulder remove the skin and exterior fat. Pork shoulder cuts have plenty of intramuscular fat so there is no need for the extra outer fat.
Score the top of the meat in a checkerboard pattern, on all sides, about 1 inch deep. This will give you more surface area for the achiote marinade to work its magic and give you more flavor.
Preparing the cochinita pibil marinade
To make the cochinita pibil marinade you will need a few spices, garlic, ½ a white onion, plus the achiote paste, white vinegar, and sour orange juice. If available, we highly recommend using Mexican oregano. Char the 4 whole garlic cloves and ½ white onion in a hot skillet over high heat or over an open flame, until the skins are dark and blistered. This will help to add a subtly smokiness to the marinade and remove some of raw onion flavors.
After charring the garlic and onion, allow to cool slightly. Next, remove the skins and add them to a food processor or blender.
Soak the achiote paste with the sour orange and mix to dissolve as much of the annato paste as possible. Add to the food processor along with the oregano, Kosher salt, cumin, 1 habanero, and white vinegar. Blend until well combined with a smooth consistency.
Add the pork to a bowl with a lid or a large plastic bag and add the marinade. (Note: achiote may stain some plastics so glass bowls work better). Cover and allow to marinate overnight.
How to make sour orange pickled red onions
Thinly slice a large red onion and place in a heat resistant bowl. Dice the habanero pepper add to the bowl.
Bring a pot or kettle of water to a boil then pour over the sliced onions. Stir, then let sit for 15 minutes. Drain then add the drained onions to a bowl with the allspice, bay leaf, and black peppercorns.
Add ½ cup of the sour orange juice to the mixture. Mix to combine, then cover and reserve until needed. For best results allow at least 4 hours for the sour orange juice to work its magic, but overnight is even better. Refrigerate the pickled onions until needed.
Prepare the spice mix
Melt the lard or butter in a small skillet over medium heat and add the cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, allspice, bay leaves and black peppercorns. Cook until fragrant. Optionally you can place the lard and spices in a small cast iron pan on the grill or smoker during the first phase of cooking the pork. This is known as blooming the spices and it helps bring out their flavors. The fat that it is cooked in also picks up a lot of the flavors of the spices.
Cooking the Cochinita Pibil on Your Grill or Smoker
Preheat your grill or smoker to 250 degrees and set up for indirect heat. We made this cochinita pibil on our Big Green Egg, however, you can use any grill or smoker that is big enough to fit the Dutch oven. We have turned out some fantastic Yucatan style pork on our pellet smoker and even our Weber kettle as well.
To prepare the banana leaves give them a quick rinse and then soak the banana leave in hot water for about 15 minutes until pliable. You can also heat the banana leaf over a flame of a gas burner to make it more pliable.
Remove the pork from the marinade but reserve the marinade. Wrap the pork butt in banana leaves and tie with cooking twine. (You will still need a few pieces of banana leaves for later).
Place the wrapped pork butt on the smoker and cook over indirect heat for 1.5-2 hours. You can attempt to get a smokier flavor by smoking longer but the banana leaves will tend to dry out and become brittle after about 2 hours.
Carefully remove the wrapped pork butt from the smoker and place in a cast iron Dutch oven. Unwrap the top of the pork and add in the remaining sliced red onion, reserved marinade, and the bloomed spices with the melted lard.
Wrap the pork back up and top with additional banana leaves. Place the top on the Dutch oven and place on the smoker. Increase the heat to 300 degrees and cook to an internal temperature of 205 degrees (typically about another 2-3 hours but may vary). The Dutch oven cochinita pibil can also be finished in the oven or on a stovetop at this point.
Remove the pork from the smoker and carefully shred. Get ready for some of the most tender and juicy pork you have ever had!
What to serve with Cochinita Pibil
Now that you have completed your cochinita pibil on your grill or smoker it is time to serve it up. We love to serve the Yucatan smoked pork as tacos. Serve on corn tortillas with salsa, cilantro, and the pickled red onions. Traditionally the meat is served with a spicy habanero salsa but feel free to use your favorite. Black beans, especially refried black beans, are also common. As always, we love our tacos with a side of our Charro Beans With Hickory Smoked Bacon and homemade guacamole. The pork also goes great as a torta or on sopes.
We know you love tacos as much as we do. If you want to know how to make your favorite taqueria style tacos and taco inspired recipes at home, then be sure to try some of our favorite taco recipes and Mexican dishes:
- Carne Asada Street Tacos
- Brisket Quesabirria Tacos
- Venezuelan Shredded Beef Arepas: Carne Mechada
- Cast Iron Chicken Fajitas
- Navajo Frybread Tacos with Seasoned Bison
- Smoked Taco Dip
Frequently Asked Questions
By far the best way to reheat any meat is with a sous vide. A sous vide enables you to reheat the pork to a prefect temperature without the risk of drying it out. If you are looking into buying a sous vide the Anova Nano is a great option for starting out (sponsored link). The second best option for reheating is to tightly wrap the leftover pork in foil and reheat in your oven. Using the microwave is always a bad idea.
Typically the best way to store leftovers, especially pork, is in vacuum sealed bags. The pork will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days but after that should be consumed or frozen.
Cochinita Pibil is not a spicy dish but is earthy and flavorful, with a slight bitterness from the achiote.
While both are Mexican pork dishes and popular fillings for tacos, Cochinita Pibil is pork marinated in achiote, sour orange and spices and then slow cooked until fall apart tender. Carnitas are typically braised or cooked with lard.
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📖 Recipe
Dutch Oven Cochinita Pibil
Equipment
- Dutch Oven
- Cooking Twine
- Small Skillet
Ingredients
- 4 pound Pork Butt or Pork Picnic Shoulder
- 6 Banana Leaves
- ½ Red Onion
- Corn Tortillas For serving
- Cilantro For serving
- Salsa For Serving
Marinade
- 1.5 Cups Sour Orange Juice See note
- 2 tablespoons White Vinegar
- 3.5 ounces Achiote Paste
- 1 Habanero Pepper
- 1 tablespoon Mexican Oregano Substitute regular oregano
- 2 tablespoons Salt
- ¾ teaspoon Cumin
- ½ White Onion unpeeled
- 4 Garlic Cloves unpeeled
Spice Mix
- ½ teaspoon All Spice
- ½ teaspoon Whole Cloves
- ½ teaspoon Black Peppercorns
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 2 tablespoons Lard substitute butter or Ghee
Sour Orange Pickled Red Onions
- ½ Cup Sour Orange Juice
- ½ Red Onion cut into thin slices
- 1 Habanero Pepper finely diced
- 10 Black Peppercorns
- 6 Whole Allspice
- 1 Bay Leaf
Instructions
Sour Orange Pickled Onions
- Thinly slice the red onion and place in a heat resistant bowl. Dice the habanero pepper and reserve.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil then pour over the sliced onions. Stir, then let sit for 15 minutes. Drain then add to a bowl with the habaneros, allspice, and black peppercorns.
- Add ½ cup of the sour orange juice to the mixture. Mix to combine, then cover and reserve until needed.
Marinade
- Char the 4 whole garlic cloves and ½ white onion in a hot skillet of over an open flame, until the skins are dark and blistered.
- Remove the skins and add to a food processor or blender.
- Soak the achiote paste with the sour orange, and mix to disolve as much of the achiote paste as possible. Add to the food processor along with the oregano, salt, cumin, 1 habanero, and white vinegar.
- Blend until well combined with a smooth consistancy.
Pork
- Trim the excess fat from the outside of the pork butt. If using a whole shoulder remove the skin and exerior fat.
- Score the surface of the pork butt in a checkerboard pattern, on all sides, about 1 inch deep.
- Add the pork to a bowl with a lid and add the marinade. (Note: achiote may stain some plastics so glass bowls work better). Cover and allow to marinate overnight
Cooking the Cochinita Pibil
- Preheat your grill or smoker to 250 degrees and set up for indirect heat.
- Soak the banana leave in hot water for about 15 minutes until pliable.
- Remove the pork from the marinade but reserve the marinade. Wrap the pork butt in banana leavesand tie with cooking twine. (You will still need a few pieces of banana leaves for later).
- Melt the lard or butter in a small skillet over medium heat and add the cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice, bay leaves and black peppercorns. Cook until fragrant. Optionally you can place the lard and spices in a small cast iron pan on the grill or smoker during the first phase of cooking the pork.
- Place the wrapped pork butt on the smoker and cook over indirect heat for 1.5-2 hours. You can attempt to get a smokier flavor by smoking longer but the banana leaves will tend to dry out and become brittle after about 2 hours.
- Carfully remove the wrapped pork butt from the smoker and place in a cast iron Dutch oven. Unwrap the top of the posrk and add in the remaining sliced red onion, reserved marinade, and the bloomed spices with the melted lard.
- Wrap the pork back up and top with additonal banana leaves. Place the top on the Dutch oven and place on the smoker. Increase the heat to 300 degrees and cook to an internal temperature of 205 degrees (typically about another 2-3 hours, but may vary).
- Remove the pork from the smoker and carefully shread. Serve on corn tortillas with salsa, cilantro, and the pickled red onions.
Susan
Tried this yesterday. Really happy with the way it turned out. It looked and tasted great. Reminded me of the cochinita we get at our favorite restaurant in Cancun.