Tropical Pork Tacos

Tropical Pork Tacos!

To be more specific, Coconut-Lime Pork Tacos with Black Beans and Avocado.

Don’t let that coconut-lime part fool you. Even though these have some unconventional taco ingredients (hello, pineapple juice), they are far from froo-froo and absolutely, knock your socks off delicious.

My friend Emily and I often pin the same recipes on Pinterest. She pinned this one and thinking it looked interesting,  I repinned it. Minutes later I had a message from her saying, “So. Good.” Well, that’s all I needed to hear and off the store I went to grab the ingredients.

Here’s what you need:

Ground Pork, Onion, Garlic, Ground Cumin, Chili Powder, Oregano, Smoked Paprika, Cayenne Pepper, Coconut Milk, Pineapple Juice, Lime, Black Beans, Olive Oil, Flour or Corn Tortillas, Salt & Pepper. Additional toppings of Avocado, Cilantro, Cheese, and Sour Cream are highly recommended.

Click here for a Tropical Pork Tacos Shopping List

I know that is a lot of stuff, but this recipe is actually quite simple and comes together very quickly. Perfect for a weeknight dinner.

Finely chop 1 small onion and 1-2 cloves of garlic.

Heat 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until softened but not browned, about 5 minutes.

Scoot the onion off to one side of the pan and add 1½ teaspoons ground cumin, 1½ teaspoons chili powder, 1 teaspoon oregano (Mexican oregano if you have it), 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, and a dash of cayenne pepper.

Stir the spices around in the pan for a minute to toast them and bring out their flavors.

Don’t get too carried away or they will scorch. Also don’t get your nose too close or you will sneeze.

Quickly mix the spices in with the sautéed onions…

add the chopped garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add 1 pound of ground pork to the pan and cook over medium high heat, breaking it up into small chunks, until it is no-longer pink and it is cooked through.

I have just over 1 pound of meat. For some reason my grocery store never puts meat up in even measurements. I don’t know why.

When the pork has browned, add 2/3 cup of coconut milk.

The recipe recommends the full fat coconut milk rather than the lite and I have to agree. I only had lite in the pantry and it looks and tastes a bit watery…sort of like skim milk. To solve this, I added about 1 Tablespoon of heavy cream. This is a good trick to know if you’re making sauces or recipes and don’t have exactly the right ingredient. Sometimes you can add fat back in via heavy cream or even just a pat of butter.

Simmer the coconut milk in the pork for about 5 minutes until it thickens then add 3 Tablespoons of pineapple juice,

the juice of 1 lime,

and 1 (15 oz.) can of black beans that have been drained and rinsed.

Season with salt & pepper (and possibly more lime juice) to taste. You can serve this immediately, or let it simmer a few minutes over low heat to let the flavors combine.

While your pork is simmering, make a taco building station by grating some cheese, dicing an avocado, and chopping some cilantro. You could also add tomatoes, salsa, sour cream, and hot sauce.

Warm up some tortillas…flour for Jim and corn (gluten free) for me. If you’re using corn tortillas, double them up so they don’t fall apart.

Pile on your tropical pork taco and black beans and add the toppings of your choice.

Of course, I pretty much use all tacos as a host for avocados so load those babies up.

I added a dash of the Chipotle Tabasco sauce for a little extra kick.

Emily was right. SO. GOOD!

Here’s the recipe – adapted from Food52.com

Tropical Pork Tacos