Plant‑Based Carnitas Magic Made Doable (and Delicious): Ooey Gooey Sticky Yummy Pulled Pork-ish – or Vegan Carnitas

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Mix. Braise. Roast. Stir. Serve. Five simple steps to a skillet full of ooey‑gooey, sticky‑yummy pulled pork‑ish or vegan carnitas that tastes like you fussed for hours… even though you absolutely didn’t. This plant-based carnitas riff leans into apricot, jalapeño, orange, and umami boosters to cover every craveable base — sweet, hot, salty, savory, sticky, and deeply satisfying. It’s the kind of recipe that proves (yet again) that delicious is doable, always!

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

1 tbsp liquid chilies from soaking and pureeing dried chilies *

2 tbsp avocado or canola oil

2 tsp cumin powder

1 package of Daring, Beyond Chicken Bites or your favorite chicken, beef or pork substitute product. I have also used Beyond Meat Beef steak tips

 For the sauce:

1/4 cup apricot jam

1 jalapeno, sliced

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1/8 cup brown sugar

juice of 1/2 orange

1 tsp Kitchen Bouquet

1/2 cup porcini or vegan chicken broth *

1/2 tsp Marmite

1/2 onion, sliced thin

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Mix the first three marinade ingredients in a bowl. Toss and coat well.
3. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat until the jam and brown sugar dissolve.
4. Pour 2/3 of the sauce ingredients into the marinade bowl and toss to coat. Be sure to include all of the onions in the bowl.
5. Pour the meatless mixture into a large cast-iron skillet and cover tightly with a lid or foil. Alternatively, make a large foil pouch from a large piece of aluminum foil, pour the ingredients into the foil “dish,” and fold and crimp the edges. Put the foil pouch on a baking sheet.
6. Place the skillet or baking sheet with the pouch in the oven. Bake for two hours. Check occasionally, and add a bit of broth if necessary. You want the pork-ish to be sticky.
7. Place the remaining 1/3 sauce ingredients in the saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce sauce to a thickened stage. Near the end of baking, pour the remaining sauce over the “pork-ish”.
8. Bake for 20 minutes uncovered until desired color and consistency.
9. Serve the “pork-ish” or vegan carnitas in tacos or burritos, or even a bun!

Above are some images from the MANY times I have tested this recipe with different products, including jackfruit.

Options: For a deeper coloration during baking, sprinkle a few drops of Kitchen Bouquet into the marinade. Kitchen Bouquet is my magic trick when I need a dish to take on a deeper brown tone without burning or over-roasting the ingredients.

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO WORKBOOKS and COOKBOOKS