Tacos al pastor is fabulous. The perfect amount of heat from guajillo and chilies de árbol, a deep warmth from a wonderful combination of spices and subtle sweetness from fresh pineapple all come together in a delicious little taco that will rock your world.
Translating to “like the shepherd”, al pastor was brought to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants in the early 20th century who introduced Middle Eastern flavors into Mexican cuisine and who wouldn’t love that partnership?
Let’s get this started…
The marinade is the most important element of making a fabulous al pastor. This marinade will give your pork that incredible flavor that al pastor is known for, so using quality ingredients is crucial. Some recipes use all powdered spices, but I find that using whole chilies and fresh pineapple makes all the difference and is well worth the extra work.
The first step 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 stem from the rehydrated chilies and chop them into a few 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. This pork can marinate longer, if you need to make it in advance, but with the acid in the pineapple, I wouldn’t leave it for much longer than 8 hours.
Once the pork has sufficiently marinated, we are ready to get cooking.
You can cook the meat on a grill, but I prefer oven roasting this pork on a vertical spit and this method is way easiest than you may think…
Place the other half of your pineapple into a square baking dish. Stick a long skewer into the center of the pineapple and begin layering the pieces of pork over top. Try to center the pork over the skewer and alternate the direction you set it at. For example, if you place the first piece of pork longwise north to south, then place the next piece longwise east to west. This will help keep the stack even and stable.
Bake this beautiful stack of marinated pork on a lower rack of a 350 degree oven for 90 minutes. Once the meat is crispy and cooked through, carefully remove it from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes while you gather the other ingredients.
Finely dice a small red onion and about 1/2 cup of pineapple. Slide the pork off of the skewer, cut it into bite size pieces and assemble as many of your dream tacos as you want… plus a few more… trust me…
These tacos al pastor are just exploding with flavor. Just the right amount of heat from the chilies, warmth from the spices and sweetness from the pineapple make these tacos one of my absolute all time favorites.
I like to serve a few lime wedges and some garlic lime crema with these tacos. The lime juice works really great with all of the other flavors.
I hope you make these tacos soon, because every day that you wait, you are missing out on something really delicious. Seriously.
Tacos al Pastor
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 one half rough chopped)
- 1 small yellow onion, rough chopped
Taco Ingredients
- 2-2 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, sliced and pounded
- flour or corn tortillas
- 1 small red onion, diced
- 1/2 cup pineapple, diced
- garlic lime crema or sour cream
- fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- lime wedges
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 tacos with pork, red onions, pineapple and garlic lime crema or sour cream (optional)
- Garnish with finely chopped cilantro and lime wedges
