Tacos al Pastor

It all started when I was watching Wes Avila on The Chef Show, making tacos al pastor. If you haven’t heard of my fascination with this show, I highly recommend it. I’ve mentioned in it my spicy pork post – a Roy Choi recipe. He and Jon Favreau host The Chef Show, and in each episode they visit with a chef or someone who loves food and cooking. There’s really no rhyme or reason to the show, which is maybe why I like it. You’re basically a fly on the wall!

Wes Avila, author of Guerilla Tacos, from which I made Chile Colorado, discusses in his episode when the hosts visit him at his restaurant of the same name, how tacos al pastor developed from the influx of Lebanese into Mexico. If you’ve ever had donor kebab, you’ll know that the process of stacking the meat on vertical spits, grilling, and then slicing it off and laying in flatbread or tortillas is the same. The name of the conical shape of the meat is called a trompo.

Below left is a trompo that rotates and cooks vertically in a commercial grill. Notice the pineapple on top! Sometimes the meat is only seasoned with paprika; I’ve figured out that trompo refers to the cone shape rather than a specific recipe. Below right is a vertical skewer I found on Amazon, also known as a Brazilian Gojo barbecue skewer.

When commercially grilled, donor kabob meat is thinly sliced in a vertical direction, but the spit continues to rotate so the meat continues to crisp up on the outside. This is an important aspect to tacos al pastor as well.

Since I’m making the meat in our outdoor charcoal grill, I’m not able to do this as with a commercial rotating grill. However, the meat can be sliced off, and then crisped up later in a little lard on a griddle or plancha before serving. We also made sure to rotate the vertical grill. The following photo is from the Serious Eats recipe page.

Oddly enough, even though Chef Avila makes tacos al pastor in the show, and his cookbook is all taco recipes, there is no recipe for tacos al pastor in his book, so I found one online at Serious Eats by J. Kenji López-Alt. There seem to be many options possible, but I stuck to this recipe because it seemed to contain the most common ingredients.

Tacos al pastor are really a process. Ideally you need 2-3 days to make them. First there is a marination step, then the cooking, then an important chilling step. In his recipe which follows, J. Kenji López-Alt uses a loaf pan to create the compressed and cohesive pork mixture, instead of a vertical grill. This is certainly a reasonable back-up plan, but I just had to try out my spit!

In my photos, you can see the slices of layered pork, solidified together, yet still tender. It’s critical that the pork doesn’t become pulled pork; that’s a very different texture. I could have pulled apart the pork layers, but as an ex-geologist, I like seeing layers!!!

Tacos  Al  Pastor
by J. Kenji López-Alt, updated Jul. 11, 2021
for Serious Eats

For the Pork:
2 whole ancho chiles, seeds and stems removed
2 whole pasilla or guajillo chiles, seeds and stems removed
1/2 cup homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon dried ground cumin seed
1 tablespoon achiote powder or paste
1 chipotle chile packed in adobo sauce, plus 2 teaspoons sauce
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar (I used rice vinegar)
3 whole cloves garlic
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 pounds boneless blade-end loin or sirloin pork roast (I used 3 pounds pork shoulder, thinly sliced)
8 ounces (1/2 pound) sliced bacon (I used 1 1/2 pounds pork belly, sliced)

To Finish and Serve:
1 small pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into quarters lengthwise
32 to 48 corn tortillas, heated and kept warm
1 medium white onion, finely diced (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup finely minced fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
1 cup basic salsa verde or your favorite salsa (I served a tomato salsa)
3 to 4 limes, cut into 8 wedges each for serving

Place chiles in a large saucepan over medium high heat and cook, turning chiles occasionally, until puffed, pliable, lightly browned in spots, and very aromatic, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock (it should boil immediately), then pour contents of pan into a small bowl. Cover loosely and set aside.

Wipe out saucepan, add oil, and return to medium-high heat until oil is shimmering. Add cumin, oregano, and achiote and cook, stirring frequently, until aromatic but not browned, about 30 seconds. Add chipotle chiles and sauce and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds longer. Add vinegar, salt, and sugar and remove from heat.

Scrape contents of saucepan into a blender along with garlic and chiles with their soaking liquid. Blend on high speed until completely smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sides as necessary. Set sauce aside to cool slightly.

Add marinade to bowl of pork and pork belly slices, and toss with hands until every piece of meat is evenly coated in marinade.

If you’re making the loaf: Line the bottom of a disposable aluminum loaf pan with bacon. Add a layer of thin-sliced marinated meat. Continue layering in bacon and meat until all the meat is used up. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 36.

I used the vertical Gojo, so I began laying slices of pork on the base and working upwards. Top with a pineapple chunk or slice.

To cook outdoors: Light half a chimney of charcoal and allow to preheat until coals are mostly covered in gray ash. Spread out under one half of coal grate, and place cooking grate on top. Alternatively, set one set of burners on a gas grill to low and leave the remaining burners off. Unwrap aluminum loaf pan and place directly over cooler side of grill, placing a drip pan underneath if desired. Cover grill and cook until loaf registers 180 to 190°F in the center, about 4 hours, adding more coals to grill or adjusting burners as necessary to maintain an air temperature of around 275°F for the duration of cooking. Remove from grill, allow to cool slightly, cover with aluminum foil, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

What I have learned from this recipe, is that the marinated pork slices cook low and slow for the perfect texture, with an ending temperature of 180 – 190 degrees. That is why a digital meat thermometer is necessary for this type of cooking.

For tacos al pastor, the meat has to cook beyond an internal temperature of 170 degrees, because that is when the connective tissue of the pork breaks down and the meat coagulates, basically forming a cone-shaped loaf. Also important is that the ambient temperature in the grill doesn’t go over 300 degrees, and in fact, when cooked in an oven, the oven setting is 275 degrees.

For the 4 1/2 pounds of meat, it took exactly 5 hours of cooking, using a whole 25-pound bag of charcoal briquettes. My pork browned a lot on the outside, even though we followed the cooking directions, but it was still tasty, tender, and not burnt.

I roasted chunks of fresh pineapple tossed in a little olive oil with cumin and salt until there was some caramelization.

For my crema, I blended 16 ounces sour cream with one ripe avocado, 2 tablespoons pineapple juice, 1 tablespoon of lime juice, a little oregano and a little salt.

I also toasted the tortillas directly on my stove for more flavor and color.

These taco and all of the accompanying goodies are perfect for company!

My only regret is that I didn’t make more marinade, which is dumb because I used 2 more pounds of meat than directed in this recipe.

There is so much to making tacos al pastor, I’ve discovered, that I encourage you to check out the Serious Eats recipe by J. Kenji López-Alt. There are so many important details regarding slicing the pork, cooking it, and more, that I couldn’t add to this post.

By Published On: July 29th, 202132 Comments on Tacos al Pastor

About the Author: Chef Mimi

As a self-taught home cook, with many years in the culinary profession, I am passionate about all things food-related. Especially eating!

32 Comments

  1. chef mimi July 29, 2021 at 6:41 AM - Reply

    Thanks, Bernadette. I really want to try it again. I love the vertical spit!

  2. chef mimi July 29, 2021 at 6:57 AM - Reply

    Thanks, Angie. It was really fun to make, and definitely wonderful to eat!

  3. chef mimi July 29, 2021 at 7:15 AM - Reply

    I know! The origin is really fascinating! Quelle fusion!

  4. Tabula Rasa July 29, 2021 at 9:23 AM - Reply

    I did something a little like this with lamb on a rotisserie on the bbq….probably more akin to its Lebanese original. It was great

    • chef mimi July 29, 2021 at 9:35 AM - Reply

      Oh I bet that was wonderful. I would have used lamb if my husband liked it. Donor kebab is so good, but so is this!

  5. Ronit Penso Tasty Eats July 29, 2021 at 10:47 AM - Reply

    Amazing looking feast! :)

    • chef mimi July 30, 2021 at 6:54 PM - Reply

      It was fun, and we did have company for this feast, which made it all the more fun!

  6. Gerlinde July 29, 2021 at 6:07 PM - Reply

    I would love to taste your tacos , they look and sound fantastic. I admire you for taking on this project.

    • chef mimi July 30, 2021 at 6:53 PM - Reply

      Thanks, Gerlinde. The hardest part was slicing the pork, but there are ways to do it in Kenji’s article. It was really good, and fun to eat.

  7. Tandy | Lavender and Lime July 29, 2021 at 10:54 PM - Reply

    Have fun with your vertical spit! And that’s fascinating you were once a geologist.

    • chef mimi July 30, 2021 at 6:52 PM - Reply

      Oh! Yes, until I had my second child. An incredible science.

  8. neil@neilshealthymeals.com July 30, 2021 at 12:54 AM - Reply

    Wow! As a fan of donner kebabs I am salivating at this recipe Mimi. Looks like a lot of work went into it. You’re like a food artist. I love it!

    • chef mimi July 30, 2021 at 6:52 PM - Reply

      Thanks, Neil. There was some work, but it was so worth it. It’s a tall blob of meat – nothing really artistic to it!!!

  9. Sherry M July 30, 2021 at 2:12 AM - Reply

    oh yum love roasted pineapple. such an amazing technique isn’t it? cooking meat vertically – so odd but effective :)

    • chef mimi July 30, 2021 at 6:51 PM - Reply

      It is a bit odd, but the science about the meat coagulating is pretty amazing!

  10. Our Growing Paynes July 30, 2021 at 9:38 AM - Reply

    Well now, this looks really cool and amazing. Makes me want to get a deeper grill.

    • chef mimi July 30, 2021 at 6:51 PM - Reply

      This one had only one inch of leeway, but it worked!!!

  11. Healthy World Cuisine July 30, 2021 at 1:38 PM - Reply

    OMG! This recipe is over the top. It is difficult on normal days to look at your delicious recipes without getting hungry but today we are now ravenous! Well done! Great post.

    • chef mimi July 30, 2021 at 6:50 PM - Reply

      Aw thanks! This was a fun one to try, and I can’t wait to do it again!

  12. cookingwithauntjuju.com July 31, 2021 at 5:42 AM - Reply

    Good choice to use J. Kenji Lopez-Alt recipe – I knew it would be thorough. I have his “Food Lab” text and it’s unbelievable. Thumbs up to you for making this recipe – I’m not sure I would have the energy (nor the equipment). Looks delicious!

    • chef mimi July 31, 2021 at 5:46 AM - Reply

      Yeah, he’s pretty amazing. So much information in his recipe for this taco meat. Not really too much effort, but so worth it all!

  13. Linda Duffin August 1, 2021 at 10:04 AM - Reply

    My gosh, that really was a labour of love! I’ll bet it tasted amazing. Will you make it again? (Got to get the use out of that vertical skewer!)

    • chef mimi August 1, 2021 at 12:12 PM - Reply

      Oh yes, I definitely will! But I will smother it with extra marinade and at one point wrap the meat with foil. We followed the directions for cooking in a grill exactly, but I think the results could be improved.

  14. carrietalkingmeals August 1, 2021 at 3:25 PM - Reply

    Mimi, This is is one of my favorite dishes to get at my local taquerias and taco trucks! You definitely did it justice and I’m so impressed with your giant cone of pork! Definitely need to make this one at home sometime.

    • chef mimi August 1, 2021 at 5:52 PM - Reply

      It was really fun to make the cone! I’ll make some cooking changes next time, but the pork tasted so good.

  15. Jack & Barbra Donachy August 1, 2021 at 5:45 PM - Reply

    Oh my gosh! That all looks sooo good!

    • chef mimi August 1, 2021 at 5:51 PM - Reply

      Thanks, it really was!!!

  16. chef mimi August 2, 2021 at 10:49 AM - Reply

    Oh, you are so lucky!!!

  17. For the Love of Cooking August 2, 2021 at 10:57 AM - Reply

    Nice! I’ve never thought to try making tacos al pastor at home. What a terrific idea–they look so tasty.

    • chef mimi August 2, 2021 at 3:38 PM - Reply

      It was really fun, and well worth any effort. Can’t wait to make them again!

  18. chef mimi August 5, 2021 at 3:01 PM - Reply

    I will do a couple of things different next time, but the flavors are great!

  19. David Scott Allen August 15, 2021 at 1:18 PM - Reply

    I have always wanted to try this but the garlic has held me back. Maybe I can pull of Kenji’s recipe without. I will keep you posted.

Leave a Reply. I love 'em!