These “pork loin tacos” were incredibly juicy, delicious … and nutritious! Best of all, they are diabetic friendly!!
This is not a complicated dish, it’s really very simple. The main purpose of this post, like many of my food posts, is to encourage you to explore and experiment with different food preparation… or as I like to say, “learn to play with your food”! :)
Reading the title you might think this post is about tacos with pork loin as the meat ‘filling’.
Nope.
Juicy, tender, thinly sliced pork loin is the taco shell. If you follow the instructions in this post, I am confident you will enjoy these as well. The most important part to this dish is in cooking the pork loin. Relax, I’ll tell you how and provide additional food posts on the topic.
We devoured these as tacos but we could have cut them into bite sized pieces and served as appetizers, finger foods, … or even a snack. :)
Ingredients
The main ingredients are simple but as always, I suggest you experiment with mixing and matching the toppings based on what you enjoy.
Pork Loin: I love this cut of meat because it is generally lower in fat, less expensive. If cooked properly, tender, juicy, and delicious! (Relax, I’ll tell you how to prepare it.) :)
Garlic Aioli: If you have never made aioli … you are REALLY missing out on a healthy and delicious condiment. It’s quick (under 5 mins) and easy to make, here’s a recent post, “How To: Keto Paleo Aioli“.
Beef Fat Cracklins: In my opinion, beef fat cracklins rival bacon bits in flavor… they are THAT good! Making these requires a little effort, but they are simple to make… here’s a post, “Crispy Beef Cracklins“. Of course, you can always make your own bacon bits, but I would avoid buying store-bought varieties.
Cheese: We play around with different cheeses but I love extra sharp cheddar and/or mozzarella, especially for these type of dishes.
Cherry Tomatoes: these are home-grown, garden fresh.
Optional Ingredients: any and all of your favorite toppings are fair game for these tacos including chopped raw onions, sour cream, olives, etc.
Important Tool
A tool that I resisted for years is a digital food or meat thermometer. I stubbornly held out until I started cooking with Kelly’s thermometer and … it’s just dumb for me not to use one.
Using a meat thermometer takes the guesswork out of cooking meats. The digital thermometers are inexpensive, a quick check on Amazon found devices with high ratings from $10 to $40.
The one we’ve been using is a cheap, no-name unit that’s worked fine for several years… and we use it multiple times a day, every damn day.
Pork Loin Tacos Are Born
The idea for pork loin tacos began the previous night while charcoal grilling a pork loin on fire night … and the meat turned out perfectly, as did the onions cooked on the grill with butter in tinfoil.
The evening was not just about cooking meat, it was our once-a-week fire night. A time where we grill meat, but we also play music and often sing and dance too. On this night, as on most fire nights we planned on eating around the fire pit.
The easiest way to enjoy both pork and the onions … without plates and silverware, was to curl up the meat like a taco… and add the grilled onions.
We had not planned to eat the meat and onions this way … but it was so AMAZINGLY GOOD and convenient, we decided to eat them all like tacos. The idea for this post was born.
Here’s a picture of the dinner around the firepit.
How to Make Pork Loin Tacos
Most Important: Cooking the Pork Loin
There are several ways we successfully cook pork loin. My absolute favorite way is to, “truly slow roast” it. Here’s a post, “Best Pork Loin Ever“!
Other ways to cook pork loin include roasting in the oven, grilling with gas, charcoal grill, and of course wood-fires. Typically the meat is ready to eat in about 40 minutes.
The MAIN thing to remember when cooking pork loin? Do NOT over cook the meat. This rule goes for ALL MEAT but especially for the leanER cuts, like pork loin
This may ruffle a few feathers, but I typically try to cook the meat to an internal temp of 125-135F, with 145F being a hard upper limit. No… I’ve never gotten sick cooking meat this way, and it’s always juicy, tender and delicious.
If I ever grill leanER meats over 145F … it’s a mistake. Mistakes do happen, I am human, but I never grill meat intentionally this high… unless someone requests their meat cooked medium or well done of course. :)
I do occasionally cook meat to higher temps, but these are usually tougher cuts of meat that I’m trying to tenderize. These are cuts like beef briskets and round roasts, etc.
Slicing the Meat
The texture of pork loin is perfect for this type of recipe. If you have cooked the meat properly, you will have plenty of moisture in the meat, simply slice the roast thin, an 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
When I made the tacos for this post, I used a leftover pork loin we grilled the night before. I cut the pork loin cold, into the thin slices and gently warmed in the skillet after adding the cheese. Once the cheese was melted, we added the aioli, beef cracklins and cherry tomatoes… they were all cheesy, gooey, and awesomeness!
Note: You could warm the slices in an oven, toaster oven, microwave or even on a grill.
Following the instructions in this post will provide you with plenty of pliable, juicy and tender ‘tacos’ and you load them with your favorite sauces and toppings!! … just like we did in the picture below!
That’s it! Just add your favorite toppings!
Meat As A Vehicle
Using meat as a ‘vehicle’ for toppings certainly isn’t new… one of my first food posts 12 years ago was, “Meatza”. You simply press out hamburger in a skillet (or pan) and then cover with your favorite pizza toppings… simple, easy peazy!
While this is not ‘meat’, this was one of my all-time favorite posts (and meals) … “Chicken Skin Tacos“!
In this post, I show you how to make purrrrrrrrfect omelettes, another versatile very low carb food. :)
The most important single factor in my ability to maintain truly normal blood sugars and normal weight has been the following of a truly low-carb diet. A major reason for my rock-solid adherence to a low carb diet, especially initially, was my eagerness to experiment and play with different ways to prepare and consume low carb foods.
We will definitely be enjoying these again soon… hope you will too!
Play with your food people!! … I do. <3
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