This Café Rio sweet pork copycat recipe is made without cola and without refined sugar. It’s melt-in-your mouth tender without needing to marinate. This healthy slow cooker sweet pork recipe is easy to make and is so versatile.
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Healthy Sweet Pork
There has been a long time debate around here about whether Café Rio or Costa Vida is better. These two local restaurants are both best known for their sweet pork.
A few years ago, my husband and I decided to settle the debate, so we ordered a sweet pork burrito from each place and we did a blind taste test.
The conclusion was that they both make amazing sweet pork, but Costa Vida won our taste test. Don’t hate. 🙂
I’ve been experimenting with a sweet pork copycat recipe for several years, but I wanted to make a healthier version that tastes just as great and is easy to make.
This recipe tastes just like the original, but does not require any marinating in soda and doesn’t use refined sugars.
Can you make sweet pork without marinating it in soda?
Is soda the right word? Or do you call it pop? My grandma calls it sody-water.
Traditionally, sweet pork is marinated in Coca-Cola or Dr. Pepper before cooking. This helps break down the protein in the meat, leaving it tender and juicy.
The cola also adds a sweet and caramelly note to the meat that is perfect for sweet pork.
Dry pork is just not good.
But cooking with soda adds a lot of unnecessary processed sugar and chemicals into your food.
If you go to the effort to cook from scratch, it’s worth it to make real food with ingredients you can pronounce.
Fortunately, you can make delicious sweet pork at home without needing to marinate it in pop.
The key to making juicy, tender pulled pork without marinating is cooking it low and slow in the crockpot.
Pork goes through a phase about four hours into cooking where it looks rubbery and tough. Don’t stop there. Just allow the slow cooker do its job and let it keep cooking for a couple more hours.
It will reach a point of juicy, tender perfection if you let it cook long enough.
What goes in healthy sweet pork?
Pork – The most common cut of pork used for pulled pork is the shoulder or the Boston butt, but a leaner cut will work. I prefer to work with the loin since it is often less expensive. I find that it can be just as tender when it is cooked slowly.
Apple Cider Vinegar – A little bit of ACV is added at the beginning of the cooking process to help tenderize the pork.
Chicken Broth – I always like to cook with low sodium chicken broth and then add salt at the end as needed. I have also heard of people using apple juice, but I have not tried that yet.
Enchilada Sauce – It is common for enchilada sauce to have added sugars. I have loved using Las Palmas Enchilada sauce that only has a few ingredients and has no added sugar.
Diced Green Chilis – These add an additional layer of flavor to the pork.
Coconut Sugar and Pure Maple Syrup – I chose these natural sweeteners, because they add that caramelly flavor that normally comes from marinating the pork in cola. If you don’t want your pork to be very sweet you can add less coconut sugar.
Garlic – You can use garlic powder in a pinch, but I recommend cooking with fresh garlic cloves when you can. Not only does it add a great flavor, but it is also really good for you. Garlic has antibiotic properties and supports the immune system.
How to make healthy sweet pork
The best part about this recipe is that it is so easy.
- Cut pork loin into three to four large chunks and add to crockpot. Add apple cider vinegar and chicken broth. Cook on low for at least 6-7 hours.
- Pork should be very tender. Remove the chunks and shred pork.
- Meanwhile add minced garlic, green chilis, enchilada sauce, maple syrup, and coconut sugar to the crockpot.
- Add shredded pork back to crockpot and cook on low for 1 hour. Add salt to taste.
Notes
- This sweet pork is awesome served in burritos, tacos, salads, quesadillas or over rice. Try it with my cilantro lime brown rice recipe.
- The pork freezes really well so its great to make ahead of time. It’s a fantastic freezer meal to prepare for postpartum.
- It will stay good in the fridge for several days.
Have you made this recipe? Let me know in the comments!
Healthy Sweet Pork | No Cola
Ingredients
- 3 lbs pork loin
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1 can diced green chilis
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 10 oz can las palmas enchilada sauce
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Cut pork loin into three to four large chunks and add to crockpot. Add apple cider vinegar and chicken broth. Cook on low for at least 6-7 hours.
- Pork should be very tender. Remove the chunks and shred pork.
- Meanwhile add minced garlic, green chilis, enchilada sauce, maple syrup, and coconut sugar to the crockpot.
- Add shredded pork back to crockpot and cook on low for 1 hour. Add salt to taste.
Notes
- This sweet pork is awesome served in burritos, tacos, salads, or over rice.
- I chose las palmas enchilada sauce, because it does not contain any added sugar.
I used this recipe but followed an instant pot instructions for cooking in IP. Came out delish! Only thing I left out was green chilies—only because they don’t like me, but they would definitely amp up the flavor.
To use IP, cooked (partially frozen, 3 large chunks) pork for 45 min, 15 min release; added the rest of mixture and did another 5 minutes. Either way, this recipe has a very nice flavor and I will use again.