Yesterday, I made my very favorite tacos al pastor and it was fantastic (of course), but it makes too much of that warm, spicy, sweet pork for my husband and I to finish in one sitting… believe me, we tried, but we still had a good amount left, so today I am making an al pastor salad.
All of the beautiful al pastor flavors over a bed of crisp romaine with my creamy jalapeño ranch dressing will have you making this special dish often.
Let’s get it started!
If you would like really detailed step by step directions on making the al pastor marinade, follow this link to my tacos al pastor recipe. If you are familiar with making al pastor, but want a little refresher, this is how I make my marinade…
The first step in making this delicious marinade is to rehydrate 4 guajillo chilies and 2 chilies de árbol by soaking them hot water. Simply bring the 2 cups of water to a boil and then pour this water over the chilies in a wide glass bowl and let them sit for 30 minutes. This will rehydrate the chilies and prepare them for the marinade.
While the chilies are soaking, gather 6 garlic cloves, 1/3 cup sugar, 2/3 cup white vinegar, 3 tablespoons salt, 2 tablespoons achiote powder, 1 tablespoon onion powder, 1 tablespoon of cumin, 2 teaspoons of Mexican oregano, 2 cups of pineapple cut into 1 inch cubes and 1 small yellow onion cut into large chunks.
Place the pineapple, onions and garlic into a blender or food processor and pulse a few times until they are broken down a bit. Next, remove the stems from the rehydrated chilies and chop them into a few big pieces. This will help them to blend easier, but will also allow you to remove some or all of the seeds if you want the marinade to be a bit less spicy.
Add the remaining ingredients and blend everything until smooth. If your marinade is really thick, add a 1/4 cup of the chili rehydrating liquid and blend a bit more.
Now that your marinade is prepared, cut your pork tenderlion into 1/2 inch thick slices. I find it easiest to do this by cutting on a diagonal. Once the pork is sliced, pound each piece out to about 1/4 inch thickness using a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin. Now that the pork is ready to go, begin layering 2 or 3 pieces of pounded pork in a large glass bowl and smothering it with the marinade. Repeat this process until all of the pork is completely coated in the marinade. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 90 minutes.
Once the pork is marinated, you can either grill the meat until brown or roast it. I prefer roasting it by placing a long skewer into the remaining half of pineapple, layering the pork slices onto the skewer and baking it for about 90 minutes in a 350 degree oven. This crisps the outside surface of the pork and allows the inside to stay moist and juicy and full of flavor. Plus, it doesn’t need babysitting. Just place it in the oven and let it do its thing…
A few minutes before the pork is done roasting, prepare the salad ingredients by chopping a head of romaine lettuce, a small red onion, 1/2 cup of fresh pineapple and a few radishes. I love adding some finely chopped cilantro over this salad and few lime wedges too.
As soon as the meat is done roasting, carefully remove it from the skewer and cut it into bite size pieces.
We are now ready to assemble…
Once you have all of that romaine, red onion, pineapple, radishes and al pastor pork layered in your bowl all pretty and colorful, drizzle some creamy jalapeño ranch over the salad, add some finely chopped cilantro and a few lime wedges and you are ready to enjoy one of the most flavor packed salads you will ever have. Scouts honor.
Enjoy!
Al Pastor Salad
Ingredients
Al Pastor Marinade
- 4 dried guajillo chiles
- 2 dried chiles de árbol
- 2 cups water, boiling
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup white vinegar
- 3 tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons achiote powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
- 1 large pineapple (cut in half, leaving one half whole and roughly chopping the other half)
- 1 small yellow onion, chopped
- 2 pounds pork tenderloin, sliced and pounded
Salad Ingredients
- 1 head of romaine, chopped
- 1 cup pineapple, diced
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 6-8 radishes, chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- creamy jalapeño ranch
Instructions
- Place 4 dried guajillo chiles and 2 dried chiles de árbol into a wide glass bowl
- Pour 2 cups of boiling water over the dried chilies and let them sit for 30 minutes
- Combine all of the marinade ingredients (including the rehydrated chilies) into a large blender or food processor and pulse until smooth
- Slice a 2 pound pork tenderlion into 1/2 inch rounds
- Pound each slice of pork down to about 1/4 inch thickness using a meat tenderizer
- Layer the pork and marinade in a large glass bowl ensuring that all of the pork is coated in marinade
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 90 minutes
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Place the other half of the whole pineapple into the bottom of a square baking dish
- Press a long skewer into the center of the pineapple so that it stands upright vertically
- Layer the marinated pork over the skewer (see photos above)
- Bake at 350 degrees on a lower rack for 90 minutes
- Carefully remove the pork from the skewer and cut into bite size pieces
- Assemble remaining salad ingredients
- Serve with some creamy jalapeño ranch and lime wedges
