This is slightly adapted from Chipotle Pork Tacos by Our Best Bites. It’s a great dish to prep earlier in the day — or the night before — then throw together just before dinner. Even the prep is pretty easy, but once everything’s ready to go in the skillet, it cooks in minutes.
The original recipe calls for lime zest, lime juice and brown sugar. But to eliminate the sugar and still keep things tangy and sweet, I substituted orange for the lime. I think it tastes great, and it even got an enthusiastic thumbs up from the hubs, who usually isn’t too fond of citrus in meat dishes.
Recipe: Quick Chipotle Pork Tacos
Serves 4.
3 boneless pork loin chops, about 3/4 to 1″ thick (about 1 lb.)
1 ½ tsp grated orange zest
1 T. fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1 – 2 tsp chopped chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ tsp kosher salt
—
2 T. olive oil, divided
1 c. thinly sliced onions
4 large whole wheat tortillas (or alternate of your choice)
sour cream for topping (optional)
chopped red or green onion and chopped cilantro for garnish, optional
Zest the orange with a fine grater, so that you get just the orange zest, not the white pith.
Combine orange zest and juice, oregano, chipotles, garlic, and salt. Set aside.
Trim the excess fat from the pork chops, then slice into strips about 1/2″ wide. Cut the longer strips in half.
Toss the pork strips with the orange juice mixture. At this point you can cover the pork and the onions with plastic wrap, and stick them in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 T olive oil. Add onions and sauté for four minutes or until tender. Remove from pan and set aside. Add 1 T of olive oil to pan and add pork strips. Saute for 3-4 minutes or until no longer pink. I like to just leave them on one side until you see white creeping around the edges…
…and the first side is nicely browned, them flip them over. Be careful, though; you really don’t want to cook them a total of more than about four minutes, or they get too tough and chewy. It might help to take the pan off the heat while you turn them over, then return to heat for a minute or two to finish the second side.
Add pork to onions if you’ll serve from the table. At our house, everything goes back into the skillet, and we serve ourselves from there.
Warm tortillas up with the method of your choice, and fill with pork mixture. Top with sour cream and the garnish of your choice. A great side dish or topper: slightly spicy slaw.
