Make healthy Chicken Carnitas (Carnitas de Pollo), but keep the traditional stovetop method using chunks of tender chicken with citrus and other spices for that deep flavor.
🐓Ingredients
Chicken—skinless boneless chicken breasts or thighs
Seasonings—paprika, cumin
Aromatics—garlic and onion
Citrus—fresh orange and lime. But lime juice and orange juice can be used.
Chicken broth
Vegetables—red and green pepper
Pantry ingredients—vegetable oil, salt, black pepper
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Using the traditional stovetop method of making carnitas at home, you can make these delicious, citrus-infused, fall-apart tender chicken carnitas with 10 minutes of prep and about 20 minutes reducing to crispy goodness.
Then, make the optional vegetables that will pick up all the remaining flavor in the pan, making them a co-star of this recipe. And you will have a complete dinner on the table in an hour, complete with tender and flavorful vegetables.
This quick and easy recipe is perfect for healthy diets like low-caloric, low-fat diets, or even low-carb or keto diets.
Based on my own Healthier Pork Tenderloin Carnitas. Check out my other carnitas, Oven Baked Carnitas and Crock Pot Carnitas from Pork Butt.
👨🍳How to Make Healthy Chicken Carnitas
- Trim and cube skinless boneless chicken breast or thighs into 1 to 1 ½ inch cubes and coat with spices.
- Brown the chicken in hot oil, adding minced jalapeño and garlic near the end of cooking.
- Add chicken broth and the juice of an orange, and a lime.
- Bring to a firm boil. Do not cover and do not stir. Just let it reduce to almost nothing—about 20 minutes.
- When the pan is almost dry, move the chicken to a plate and tent with foil.
- Add sliced onion and pepper to the pan and cook until tender.
- Serve hot with tortillas and toppings or in many other ways.
This is a summary of the steps and ingredients. See the recipe card or the step-by-step photo instructions below for complete instructions.
🍴How to serve chicken carnitas?
Shred the crispy chicken carnitas with a fork. Serve with flour or corn tortillas, a fresh salad, burritos, quesadillas, or carnitas bowls.
Top with traditional taco toppings: cheddar or Mexican cheeses, diced tomatoes, slices of jalapeno or green onions, cilantro, sour cream, and many more.
Serve with corn chips with Pineapple Salsa, refried beans, Easy Guacamole, or Mexican Rice.
Storage of leftovers
Store leftovers sealed airtight and refrigerated for 4 days or frozen for 4 months.
Reheat, after thawing overnight in the refrigerator if frozen, on the stovetop, in the oven, or in the microwave.
❓FAQs
Yes, but only if it is enamel-coated. Raw cast iron should not be used to cook acidy products like citrus in this recipe. Some of the metal will go into the dish.
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
Have you tried this recipe, or have a question? Join the community discussion in the comments.
Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. A heavy pan, like an enamel-coated Dutch oven, is recommended.
Trim and cut about 2 pounds of skinless boneless chicken breast (or thighs) into 1 to `1 ½ inch cubes.
Mix the chicken with kosher salt, paprika, cumin, and pepper—stir well to coat.
Add the chicken to the hot oil and occasionally stir until browning well — about 7 minutes. You do not need to cook completely; just brown.
While the chicken is cooking, mince 1 jalapeno and 2 cloves of garlic.
After the chicken is browned well (about 7 minutes), add the jalapeno and garlic and cook for two more minutes.
Add one 14 oz can of chicken broth and the juice of 1 orange and 1 lime.
Adjust the temperature to get a firm boil. Do not cover and do not stir. Just let it reduce to almost nothing — about 20 minutes. Your house will smell wonderful.
While the chicken is reducing, clean and slice one red pepper, one green pepper, and a large onion. When the pan is almost dry and the chicken is getting crispy edges, move it to a plate and tent it with foil.
Add the veggies to the pan over medium-high heat and cook until tender—about 7-8 minutes. Stir frequently and scrape some of the fond off the bottom of the pan.
If needed, add a couple of tablespoons of chicken broth for moisture—lots of great flavors here.
Serve hot on tortillas with toppings or use in many other ways.
📖 Recipe
Healthy Chicken Carnitas
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Ingredients
- 2 pounds skinless boneless chicken breasts - or thighs
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 jalapeno
- 2 cloves garlic
- 14 oz chicken broth
- 1 orange - juice only
- 1 lime - juice only
- 1 green pepper
- 1 red pepper
- 1 onion - large
- tortillas and toppings
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. A heavy pan, like an enamel-coated Dutch oven, is recommended.
- Trim and cut about 2 pounds of skinless boneless chicken breast (or thighs) into 1 to `1 ½ inch cubes.
- Mix the chicken with kosher salt, paprika, cumin, and pepper—stir well to coat.
- Add the chicken to the hot oil and occasionally stir until browning well — about 7 minutes. You do not need to cook completely; just brown.
- While the chicken is cooking, mince 1 jalapeno and 2 cloves of garlic.
- After the chicken is browned well (about 7 minutes), add the jalapeno and garlic and cook for two more minutes.
- Add one 14 oz can of chicken broth and the juice of 1 orange and 1 lime.
- Adjust the temperature to get a firm boil. Do not cover and do not stir. Just let it reduce to almost nothing — about 20 minutes. Your house will smell wonderful.
- While the chicken is reducing, clean and slice one red pepper, one green pepper, and a large onion. When the pan is almost dry and the chicken is getting crispy edges, move it to a plate and tent it with foil.
- Add the veggies to the pan over medium-high heat and cook until tender—about 7-8 minutes. Stir frequently and scrape some of the fond off the bottom of the pan.
- If needed, add a couple of tablespoons of chicken broth for moisture—lots of great flavors here.
- Serve hot on tortillas with toppings or use in many other ways.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Use skinless chicken breasts or thighs if you wish.
- Please do not skip the orange and lime.
- When cooking the peppers and onion, be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan frequently.
- Cut the jalapeno if you want, but it is not a very hot dish, and it adds some nice taste.
- Nutrition is for everything listed in the ingredients but not for tortillas or toppings.
- Store leftovers airtight in the refrigerator for 3 days.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally Published October 19, 2013. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Gloria says
I read your comment about cutting out the jalapeno. Can I replace it with something else?
We don't care for "too" spicy in our house, but I would like to try this recipe. I love your dog
pictures and enjoy your recipes!
Thank you
Gloria
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Gloria,
Welcome to the blog.
If you want just a little, you can cut it out and use a pinch (1/8 tsp or less) of cayenne pepper. Or just use half the jalapeno.
Molly and Lilly say thanks.
Dan
John Miller says
Not quite like carnitas but very good. Definitely a keeper recipe
Karina says
I just found your blog through ZipList. I love your recipes! I have made two of them (Chicken Carnitas and the Southwest Pork Tenderloin Chili) and both have turned out delicious. One thing that I found while making the Chicken Carnitas is that it took forever for the sauce to be reduced to almost nothing. I doubled the recipe and I let it boil for about 1 hour! Nevertheless, the dish turned out amazing. Next time i will add less broth. This recipe is a keeper. Keep up the good job.
DrDan says
For doubling, I would only do one can of broth but double everything else next time.
Thanks for the note.
DrDan
Chris says
Never thought of trying it with chicken before, nice idea.