I’m honestly not sure what to say about tacos, except that they’re just delicious. They’re fun to make, and even more fun to assemble. The ingredients are all nutritious. They never get old, because the possibilities of what to put inside are endless! These are probably my favourite out of all my many possibilities I’ve tried out, and really the only ones I’ll make over and over again.
I don’t know why people think tacos are easy. Just being honest. Even if I buy the store mix, by the time I chop and fry onions and peppers, cook and season the meat, put out all the fixings like salsa, sour cream and grate cheese (because pre-grated cheese is just so flavourless, what’s even the point), it always seems like a process. Then if you want extra fixings, like rice, avocado, or chopped lettuce, it’s even more steps! Don’t get me wrong, I do love a classic box mix taco now and again, but if I’m going to the trouble I just have so much fun making homemade renditions! I would not recommend this as a weeknight recipe, though. It would be a fun one to make with friends and divide and conquer the different parts of the recipe. When I make it, I’ll make the pulled pork the day before, and then just reheat it the day of while I make the remainder of the toppings.
I like to buy soft shell tortillas, fill them, then fry them in a pan before serving. It makes them crunchy on the outside and the cheese gets all melty. Sometimes if I’m making a lot of them for a crowd, I’ll assemble them on a sheet pan and stick the whole thing in the oven until they crisp up, which is just a faster way of doing a large batch. The fried shell is an extra step, but I just love the crunchiness of the taco shell and the melted cheese so much, it’s worth it to me! Of course, if you don’t want to take that step, you can just eat them in soft shell tortillas and they’re still delicious, or just buy hard shell tacos.
Bbq Pulled Pork Tacos w Avocado Grilled Corn Crema
Servings: 4
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Assembly time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1.5 hours
GENERAL INGREDIENTS
12 Soft shell tortillas
1 cup grated old cheddar cheese, like Baldersons
Optional other toppings: Chopped cilantro, sour cream, hot sauce
BBQ PULLED PORK
1.5lb pork tenderloin
1tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp chipotle powder
1.5 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp dried thyme
½ cup ketchup
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp Dijon
1 can lager style beer or non-alcoholic beer
Salt, to taste
Put it all in the instant pot and give it a stir! Put the lid on, set steam to “sealed”, and select the pressure cook method. Make sure the pressure cooker is on high, and set the time for 45 minutes.
If you don’t have an instant pot, add all the ingredients to an oven safe pot with a lid. Set the oven temperature to 265°F, and put the sealed pot in the oven to slow cook for 4 hours.
Once the pulled pork is cooked through, remove it from the oven. Use two forks to pull the tender meat apart. Set this aside until it’s time to assemble the tacos.
SALSA
1 large tomato, seeds and juicy insides removed (so they don’t cause your salsa to get all watery after an hour!)
2 tsp maple syrup
Zest from ½ lime
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 jalapeno
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped (optional, if you hate it)
1/4 small red onion, diced super fine
1/4 yellow pepper, diced super fine
1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tsp Cajun spice (optional)
Cut your tomato in quarters and remove the seeds from inside. This will keep your salsa from becoming watery an hour from now! Then chop the tomato in to 1cm pieces, and put them in a large bowl. Zest and juice your lime in to the bowl, and add the maple syrup. Finely chop your jalapeno, red onion, and yellow pepper. Roughly chop your cilantro. Add all of this in to the bowl, along with the cayenne pepper, and mix it all thoroughly together. Set this aside until it’s time to assemble the tacos!
GRILLED CORN AVOCADO CREMA
2 cups frozen corn kernels, or 2 cobs of corn
1 large avocado
Zest from ½ lime
Juice from 1 lime
1 tbsp water, to thin
3 tbsp cream cheese or sour cream (optional)
1 tsp maple syrup
1/3 cup fresh cilantro (again, optional!)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
Throw your corn on a dry fry pan, on high heat. Leave it for a few minutes, until you can see it getting some nice colour! Alternatively, if you have cobs of corn, throw them on the bbq until they’re nicely grilled.
In a blender or food processor, combine your avocados, lime juice and zest, water to thin it, cream cheese or sour cream, maple syrup, optional cilantro and hot sauce, and Cajun spice. Blend it until it’s super smooth and creamy!
In a large bowl or the cooled fry pan, combine your corn with your avocado crema, and stir it together until it’s fully combined and irresistible looking.
ASSEMBLY
Prepare any other ingredients you want on or in your tacos, like grated cheddar, chopped cilantro or sour cream.
Assemble your tortillas! I lay down as many tortillas as I'm serving. On one side of the tortilla, I load them with the bbq pulled pork. Then, layer some grated old cheddar on top of the pork, and spoonfuls of the grilled corn avocado crema. Fold the other half of the tortilla over the loaded half.
Put a little oil or butter in a fry pan on medium heat. Once it's hot, lay your loaded tortillas down. Just like making a grilled cheese, once they're crispy and browned on one side, carefully flip them and grill the other side. The outsides will become crispy and the cheese melty... yum! Alternatively, you can assemble them on a sheet pan and bake them in the oven at 425°F until the cheese is melted and they're crispy.
Serve them up! I spoon the salsa on top, sprinkle over chopped cilantro, and serve them with a big dollop of sour cream.
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