Slow Cooker Mojo Pork
Slow cooker mojo pork has a bright flavor, thanks to plenty of fresh citrus, that makes it the perfect dinner over some yellow rice and black beans.

I’ve said before that trying to figure out measurements while Joey cooks is pretty much a herculean feat.

He’s a man who always measures with his heart. And, boy, does his heart love our spice cabinet.

That’s perfectly fine with me, though, because he is great at combining flavors, and he’s also the person you want in the kitchen when you know the dish you made still needs “something,” but you can’t quite figure out what that is.

That’s enough compliments for him, though, because as I mentioned last week, he and I decided to have a face-off on who could prepare the best pork butt, and the recipe I’m sharing this week is the one he decided to try.

The good news is I was hovering behind him, writing down measurements as he cooked so that you can re-create it, too.

This was a combination of a recipe from the website “AllRecipes.com,” which you can find at https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/281144/slow-cooker-mojo-pork/ and from an Instagram creator, Nicole Nelson McLaughlin, who posts under @nicolemcmom. Plus, Joey had some adjustments of his own, of course.

Slow Cooker Mojo Pork
Print Recipe

Slow Cooker Mojo Pork

Slow cooker mojo pork has a bright flavor, thanks to plenty of fresh citrus, that makes it the perfect dinner over some yellow rice and black beans.
Course: Main Course
Keyword: bay leaves, cilantro, cumin, fresh cilantro, fresh garlic, fresh lime, fresh oranges, garlic powder, lime juice, lime zest, minced garlic, orange juice, orange zest, oregano, pork butt, pork shoulder, yellow onion, yellow rice

Ingredients

  • 4- pound pork butt roast
  • 1 large yellow onion thinly sliced
  • zest from two large oranges
  • zest from two large limes
  • 3/4 cup orange juice freshly squeezed
  • 1/2 cup lime juice freshly squeezed
  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped, plus more for serving
  • 8 to 10 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 4 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • prepared yellow rice for serving
  • 15- ounce can black beans rinsed, for serving

Instructions

  • If there’s quite a bit of fat on your pork butt, you may want to trim and discard some of it (leave a little—fat is flavor).
  • Add the pork butt to a crockpot, and then sprinkle the rest of the ingredients around it. (You can stir a bit to combine things, if you want, but it’ll combine as it cooks, too.)
  • Cook, covered, in your crockpot for seven to eight hours on high or four to six on low until the pork is cooked through and easy to shred.
  • Discard the bay leaves.
  • Shred the pork in the crockpot, and serve the shredded pork and onions on top of the yellow rice and black beans. Top with some of the juice from the crockpot, as well as some fresh cilantro.

The delicious smell of this recipe just completely took over our kitchen. The citrus came through in a really pleasant way to highlight the pork and give it some brightness.

We just ate this in bowls over the rice and beans, but you could put this into tortillas, too, if you wanted to or scoop it up with tortillas chips.

So, I do think our pork butt competition fully ended in a tie. But the good news is that we ended up with two very different kinds of leftovers over the next week or so.

And I definitely had to refill several of my spice containers afterwards, but that’s the price of a great meal.

This piece first appeared in print April 30, 2026.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.