Cuban Pork (Lechon Asado) Recipe

This tender Cuban pork is filled with taste from the within out due to its mojo sauce made with every kind of citrus fruits. Baked to juicy perfection, the trick to this lechon asado recipe is to let it marinate lengthy sufficient.

Flavorful Cuban Roast Mojo Pork

With an irresistible caramelized layer on prime, this Cuban pork packs your favourite citrus fruits into one sauce. Baked till it’s fall-apart tender, each slice is an explosion of mojo sauce flavors. 

Marinated for a minimum of 4 hours, this lechon will transport you on to Havana with out having to go away your kitchen. It’s made with all of its conventional substances, besides the recipe is simplified so that you don’t should dig a gap within the floor to be able to get pleasure from it. 

Oven-roasted for excessive comfort, it doesn’t get a lot simpler than this juicy Cuban pork. When all you need to do is course of the garlic, make the mojo, marinate, and bake the pork, is there something to complain about? 

It you like Cuban dishes, ensure that to check out my favourite Vaca Frita and Sluggish Cooker Ropa Vieja!

What Is Lechon Asado?

Lechon asado, a.okay.a Cuban or Mojo pork , is a typical slow-roasted pork served on particular events. It’s marinated in mojo sauce for notes of citrus and fantastically tender meat that melts in your mouth. It’s most frequently served shredded, however will also be sliced and served.

Lechon asado is historically ready by burying a complete pig within the floor and cooking it there. It’s typically wrapped in banana leaves too. Nonetheless, the cooking technique has been simplified to suit trendy kitchens, which is strictly what this recipe is for.

Recipe Elements

It’s time to load up on citrus fruits for this Cuban pork! Verify the recipe card on the backside of the submit for full ingredient quantities.

• Pork Shoulder Roast: Make certain it’s bone-in.
• Garlic: Contemporary garlic is essential to get probably the most taste. Jarred garlic won’t provide the correct quantity of garlicky punch!
• Onion: White or yellow is ok.
• Olive Oil: Be happy to make use of vegetable, corn, or canola oil.
• Oregano
• Salt and Pepper
• Orange Juice: Use freshly squeezed juice for finest outcomes. If you could find bitter oranges, they provides you with the perfect genuine taste, nevertheless they are often tough to seek out recent yr spherical. You can too use jarred Naranja Agria.
• Limes: You may substitute these for lemons.
• Lemon: Don’t substitute these for all limes as a result of then the pork can end up bitter.

Easy methods to Make Lechon Asado

Making a fast marinade, marinating the pork, and popping it within the oven isn’t so onerous, is it?

For the Mojo

• Course of the garlic. Place garlic (reserving 10 garlic cloves for later) and onion within the meals processor. Pulse till you make a paste, just like the feel of rice.
• Put together the marinade. Warmth the olive oil in a medium-sized pan over medium-high warmth. Add the onion and garlic combination. Stir effectively and let it prepare dinner for two minutes.

• Add the orange juice. Add within the oregano, salt, and pepper. Stir to mix and take away from the warmth. Fastidiously stir within the orange juice and freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice. Stir to mix. 
• Put together the pork. Place the roast in a big baking dish with the fats layer going through up. Use a pointy knife to fastidiously detach the fats from the meat, ensuring to maintain the final 1⁄3 hooked up. (This can assist get a crispy layer on prime.) Use the knife to poke about 10 deep holes into the meat. Stuff a garlic clove in every gap. 

• Add the marinade. Reserve 1 cup of the mojo marinade. Pour the remaining excessive of the roast, ensuring to push a few of the marinade into the garlic holes.
• Marinate it. Cowl the roasting pan with foil. Refrigerate it for a minimum of 4 hours, or in a single day for probably the most taste.

To Bake It

• Roast it. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Roast uncovered for 20 minutes. Then decrease the warmth to 225°F and prepare dinner for an extra 25 minutes per pound, or till you attain an inner temperature of 145°F. About 2 hours into the roasting time, loosely cowl the pork with foil. 

• Let it relaxation. Take the pork out of the oven however don’t uncover it. Permit the meat to relaxation for 20 minutes earlier than slicing or shredding.
• Serve. Serve the pork with the cooking juices and/or the reserved mojo sauce on the facet. 

Do I Have To Let The Pork Marinate In a single day?

No, you don’t should. Nonetheless, it is going to let the flavors develop quite a bit higher, making a way more flavorful Cuban pork so I extremely advocate it.

Suggestions for the Finest Cuban Roast Pork

Comply with the following pointers for the juiciest, most genuine Cuban pork doable:

• Use bitter oranges. In the event you can come up with them, use them to substitute the limes and orange juice within the recipe.
• Select a fatty reduce. Make certain to get a pork shoulder with plenty of fats on prime. This can make your lechon asado additional juicy and tender because the fats cooks and melts into the meat.
• Don’t elevate the warmth. Let it prepare dinner low and gradual. Elevating the oven’s temperature will end in powerful pork.
• Meat Thermometer: I extremely advocate utilizing a meat thermometer which you can insert and go away within the pork whereas it cooks. This can be sure you don’t over prepare dinner the pork.
• Cowl it. Don’t neglect so as to add aluminum foil to cowl the pork in line with the recipe directions to maintain your pork from drying out.

What to Serve with Mojo Pork

Serve this Cuban pork with all of your favourite Latin dishes! Since we dwell in a combined family, we don’t at all times observe the foundations and can combine completely different Latin cuisines collectively, so don’t really feel you need to stick to simply conventional Cuban sides! Listed below are just a few of my favourite facet dishes to go along with this mojo pork:

• Rice and Beans: After all, rice and beans is the proper facet dish to go alongside facet nearly each Latin meal. Arroz Blanco (white rice), Mexican Rice, and even Arroz con Gandules would all be scrumptious. As for beans, black beans are most conventional, however serve no matter form of beans you want finest…perhaps even some Charro Beans?
• Plantains: Tostones (crispy fried plantains) or Maduros (candy pan fried plantains) would each be scrumptious!
• Yuca: Boiled or fried, yuca is at all times welcome on our plates!

Easy methods to Retailer & Reheat Leftovers

As soon as totally cooled, refrigerate this Cuban pork in an hermetic container for as much as 4 days. To reheat it, sprinkle the pork with 1/2-1 teaspoon of water and microwave it in 30-second intervals till heat. You can too warmth it in a pan over medium-low warmth for 3-4 minutes on both sides.

Extra Pork Recipes

Yield: 10

Lechon Asado

Baked to juicy perfection, this Cuban pork is filled with garlic, onion, and citrus flavors from the within out. 

Prep Time
quarter-hour

Prepare dinner Time
3 hours

Extra Time
4 hours

Whole Time
7 hours quarter-hour

Elements

• 6-8 lb pork bone-in shoulder roast
• 2 heads of garlic, peeled and divided
• 1 giant onion, peeled and sliced

• 1 1⁄2 cups olive oil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (bitter/bitter oranges are finest!)
• 2 small limes, juiced
• 1 medium lemon, juiced

Directions

1. Place garlic (reserving 10 garlic cloves for later) and onion in a meals processor and pulse till you make a paste.
2. To organize the Mojo marinade, warmth the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium excessive warmth. Make certain to not boil the oil. When the oil is heated, add the onion and garlic combination and prepare dinner within the oil for two minutes, stirring typically.
3. Add within the oregano, sea salt and pepper. Stir to mix and take away from the warmth supply. Fastidiously stir within the orange juice and freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice. Stir to mix. 
4. Place the roast in a big baking dish with the fats layer going through up. With a pointy knife fastidiously detach the fats layer from the meat, ensuring to maintain the final 1⁄3 hooked up. (This can assist get a crispy layer on prime.) With the sharp knife, poke roughly 10 holes deep into the meat. Stuff a garlic clove in every gap. 
5. Pour all however 1 cup of the mojo marinade evenly excessive of the roast, ensuring to push a few of the marinade down into the holes and below the pores and skin. 
6. Cowl the roasting pan with foil and place it within the fridge to marinade a minimal of 4 hours, or in a single day for probably the most taste.
7. When able to roast, preheat the oven to 450°F. Roast uncovered for 20 minutes. Then decrease the warmth to 225°F and prepare dinner for an extra 25 minutes per pound, or till you attain an inner temperature of 145°F on a meat thermometer. About 2 hours into the roasting time, loosely tent the pork with foil.
8. Take the pork out of the oven and hold the foil on prime. Permit the meat to relaxation for 20 minutes earlier than slicing or shredding.
9. Serve pork with the cooked juices and/or additional reserved mojo sauce on the facet. 

Notes

Storage: As soon as totally cooled, refrigerate this Cuban pork in an hermetic container for as much as 4 days. To reheat it, sprinkle the pork with 1/2-1 teaspoon of water and microwave it in 30-second intervals till heat. You can too warmth it in a pan over medium-low warmth for 3-4 minutes on both sides.

Bitter Oranges: If you cannot discover bitter oranges, you need to use common oranges. Or, you should purchase jarred bitter orange juice – Naranja Agria.

Vitamin Info:

Yield:

10

Serving Dimension:

1

Quantity Per Serving:
Energy: 5500Whole Fats: 335gSaturated Fats: 111gTrans Fats: 2gUnsaturated Fats: 190gLdl cholesterol: 1916mgSodium: 1667mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 575g

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