Authentic Costa Rican Pork – Taste the Pura Vida!
This post may contain affiliate links.
Costa Rican pork is an important Costa Rican side dish as you can use it in all kinds of recipes. Traditional Costa Rican food doesn’t generally use as much pork as it does fish, beef, or chicken, but especially at Christmas, pork is a food we eat a lot.
This shredded pork recipe is the main filling for Christmas tamales, but you can also use it for taco night, or even as a side dish as the protein in a Costa Rican casado.
This simple Costa Rican pork recipe won’t disappoint.
RELATED POST: 30+ Foods To Try In Costa Rica
Costa Rican Pork Recipe
Ingredients
(printable recipe below)
pork meat cut into large chunks
Salsa Lizano
white or yellow onion, roughly chopped
cilantro, roughly chopped (leaves and stems)
red bell pepper, roughly chopped
garlic cloves, peeled
salt
carrot roughly chopped
celery, roughly chopped
water
achiote (see product recommendation below)
Instructions
Cut pork into large chunks for shredding later.
Roughly chop the vegetables.
Brown the meat in the pot, and then add the rest of the ingredients. Cover the pot.
If cooking on the stovetop, simmer on low for 2-3 hours until everything is super tender. Gently shred meat.
If slow cooker, cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. Shred.
If using a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, cook, sealed on high pressure for 30 minutes. You can then release the pressure or leave on warm.
Stir in achiote until pork is the desired color and there are no chunks of achiote in the meat. Shred and use the pork liberally in your Costa Rican tamales – or any other favorite Costa Rican recipe.
Serving Suggestions
The main serving suggestion I have is to make this for the Costa Rican tamales– it’s the main filling along with arroz a la jardinera.
You could serve this with some Costa Rican black beans and Costa Rican white rice and make your own casado- complete with a picadillo de chayote! Just don’t forget the Salsa Lizano!
RELATED POST: Salsa Lizano – Everything You Need To Know
Variations
In general, apart from the Christmas tamales I mentioned before, most pork eaten in Costa Rica is a pork belly made into chicharrones. This is part of a very popular dish called the Costa Rican chifrijo.
It’s essentially Costa Rican rice, red kidney beans, chicharrones, pico de gallo and tortilla chips in the same bowl. It’s delicious. You could easily substitute this shredded pork recipe for the fried pork chicharrones in the traditional chifrijo recipe.
ALSO TRY: 100% Authentic Arroz con Pollo Recipe
Join me over at my favorite place- Instagram.
Costa Rican Pork FAQ
What type of pork should I buy?
I would use a pork shoulder or pork ribs but into large chunks and then shredded.
Where can I buy Salsa Lizano?
I buy Salsa Lizano on Amazon or at a local Hispanic grocery store.
Like Pura Vida Moms on Facebook and never miss a post!
Printable Recipe – Costa Rican Pork
Costa Rican Pork Recipe- For Tamales
This Costa Rican pork is the main filling for a Costa Rican tamale, and is also used as a side dish for a Costa Rican casado.
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs pork meat cut into large chunks (see notes)
- 3 TBSP Salsa Lizano
- 1/2 white or yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup of cilantro, roughly chopped (leaves and stems)
- 1/2 red pepper, roughly chopped
- 2-3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 TB salt
- 1 carrot roughly chopped
- 1 stalk celery, roughly chopped
- 6-8 cups of water
- 2-3 TBSP achiote (see product recommendation below)
Instructions
- Put everything into a pot and cover. If cooking on the stovetop, boil for 2-3 hours until everything is super tender. Gently shred meat.
- If slow cooker, cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 4-6 hours. Shred.
- If using a pressure cooker or Instant Pot, cook, sealed on high pressure for 20 minutes. You can then release the pressure or leave on warm.
- Stir in achiote until pork is desired color and there are no chunks of achiote in the meat.
- Shred and use the pork liberally in your tamales!
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Christa Jimenez
Welcome! I’m Christa, a Spanish teacher married to a handsome Costa Rican and mother of two bilingual daughters. We’ve spent over 25 years living in and traveling to Costa Rica with our daughters, and this website is my love letter to all things Costa Rica- and to bilingual parenting too. You can read my full story here. Thanks for stopping by!
Do you remove the fat from the pork? Great recipe by the way, this matches closely what I remember my abuela doing when I was a child and I used it to recreate her tamales.
Hi Adriana! I don’t remove the fat until I shred the pork. Then I remove all the bits and pieces I can. Thank you for the compliment on the recipe- I hope the tamales turn out perfectly! Pura vida! ~Christa