This Café Rio copycat is sweet and tender pork is a family favorite. It goes great with burritos, tacos, enchiladas, and salads. Pair it with some tangy cilantro lime rice to make it more complete. This juicy pork creates many options for your next Taco Tuesday dinner rotation.
Jump to RecipeMise en Place Ingredients
Start with preparing your mise en place ingredient station. Set aside other ingredients in bowls, containers, or plates until ready to start cooking.
Making the Sweet Pork
To make the sweet pork, lightly coat your slow cooker with a nonstick spray. Add the pork to slow cooker. Pour half of the Coca-Cola. Sprinkle garlic salt, kosher salt and ground pepper evenly over pork. Liquid does not need to completely cover meat.
Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours (or 6 hours on high). After it’s done, remove pork from slow cooker. Transfer to a cutting board or plate. Shred pork with two forks against the grain. Remove any excess fat this is leftover.
In a blender (or food processor), add remaining Coca-Cola, diced green chiles, red enchilada sauce and brown sugar. Blend until smooth and creates a sauce.
Transfer pork back to slow cooker. Pour sauce over meat. Cover with lid once more and cook on low for 1 hour.
After that, simply serve in burritos, tacos or salads. It’s your choice what you would like to do.
For the Rice
For the rice, refer to my delicious and easy Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice recipe to serve with this sweet pork.
To Assemble Tacos:
Layer four or corn tortillas in the following order of ingredients.
- Black beans
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- Sweet pork
- Lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Pico de gallo
Recipe Tips:
- Prepare all ingredients beforehand (aka mise en place). This method helps make all recipes go faster.
- When preparing the pork, liquid does not have to completely cover it. It still comes out tender, juicy
and flavorful. - You can use either a blender or food processor to make the sauce.
- When shredding pork, if you use two forks and shred against the grain it shreds easier.
- Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Do not freeze.
Other Recipes
If you’re a fan of burritos, tacos, or enchiladas? Try out some of these recipes.
Questions? Leave me a comment below. If you make this recipe, tag me @the.design.foodie on Instagram or @thedesignfoodieashlee on Facebook! Happy cooking!
Copycat Café Rio Slow Cooker Sweet Pork
Ingredients
- 2.5 lb porkloin roast
- 20 oz bottle Coca-Cola, divided
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1/8 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
- 1 (4 oz) can mild diced green chiles
- 1 (10 oz) can red enchilada sauce
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- flour or corn tortillas
Toppings:
- black beans, warmed
- lettuce, washed and chopped
- tomatoes, diced
- pico de gallo
Instructions
- Start with coating a slow cooker/crockpot with nonstick spray. Place pork inside. Pour 10 ounces of Coca-Cola and water around pork. Liquid doesn't need to cover the entire pork roast.
- Add garlic salt, kosher salt and ground pepper over pork roast. Cover with lid and cook on low for 8 hours (or on high for 6 hours).
- After finished, transfer pork to a cutting board or plate. Shred pork with two forks and cut off any excess fat. Discard liquid from slow cooker.
- In a blender, add remaining 10 ounces of Coca-Cola, diced green chiles, red enchilada sauce and brown sugar. Blend until smooth.
- Place shredded pork back into slow cooker. Pour sauce mixture over pork. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook for another 1 hour on low.
- Serve pork with burritos, tacos or in a salad.
To Assemble Tacos:
- Layer flour tortillas with black beans, cilantro lime rice (see notes)*, sweet pork, lettuce, tomatoes, and pico de gallo.
Notes
- Burrito (as a filling)
- Tacos (as a filling)
- Salad
Easy Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice
