I absolutely love tacos… who doesn’t, amirite? Have you ever had a Gordita crunch from Taco Bell? Soft chewy outside with lots of gooey cheese? Something about that sounded soooo good when I got my latest taco crazy. But, I didn’t want to go on the hunt for a Gordita wrap. Where do you buy shells like that??? Anyone? Someone?
Anywho, what I haven’t done before, surprisingly, is make double shell tacos loaded with cheese! And that’s what I decided to do to get that soft and gooey cheesy goodness. I normally use corn tortillas for tacos, but I opted for flour this time because they’re a little softer and easier to manipulate and fold. Then, I just loaded one up with cheese, placed another on top and fried it up like a grilled cheese! Easy peasy!
For the filling, I slow roasted a pork tenderloin in a citrus chipotle sauce, which I chopped up and returned to the sauce before serving. The flavoring is the perfect blend of oranges, limes, and heat from the chipotles.
I often make different salsa toppings for my tacos. I love mango salsa for my tuna tacos! For this recipe, something about pineapple salsa with pork sounded perfect, so that’s what I went with. I added purple cabbage, scallions, and jalapeños with freshly cut pineapple for a fresh and vibrant addition!
I also made some homemade pickled red onions (the recipe is linked below!). Homemade pickled red onions are super easy and super quick to make! Seriously! I don’t think they take longer than 5 minutes to throw together. Just slice up the onion and place the slices in a mason jar (you can certainly store it in just about anything with a sealable lid!).
Then, on the stove top, heat water and vinegar just hot enough to dissolve the salt and sugar… usually it takes barely a simmer for the water to be hot enough to dissolve the salt and sugar. After that, just pour the liquid over the onions and place the jar in the refrigerator to cool. By the time it cools, the onions are pickled! Best part, they last quite a few months in the fridge, so they’re easy to throw on salads or any future tacos!
This time, I didn’t make homemade guacamole; I just used store-bought. Honestly, I frequently just used store-bought guacamole to save on time. Unless I’m making an avocado crema or creating something like my Asian fusion guacamole, why go through all the fuss? In my area, avocados are actually really expensive, so just buying store-bought guacamole makes sense!
This dish is actually really easy for a weeknight meal because you can let the pork tenderloin slow cook all day. And the salsa can be made ahead of time, if you want to get a jump start on meal prep over the weekend. Easy, delicious, and oh so cheesy 😋
Enjoy!
Cheesy Double Shell Chipotle Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Mexican, Latin American, Tacos
- Cuisine: Dinners
Ingredients
Pork
1½ lb pork tenderloin
1 lime, zested & juiced
2 oranges, zested & juiced
6 garlic cloves, minced
½ white onion, chopped
2 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
3 TBs brown sugar
½ cup chicken broth
1 cinnamon stick
2 tsps ground cumin
2 tsps dried oregano
1 tsp paprika
2 TBs apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground pepper
Cheesy Double Shells
16 – 8” flour tortillas
8 oz shredded cheddar, or more to taste
nonstick spray
Pineapple Salsa
1 pineapple, diced
1 jalapeño, minced ~ deseeded if desired
1 cup purple cabbage, roughly chopped
handful cilantro, roughly chopped
3 scallions, chopped
To Serve
cotija
guacamole
cilantro
Instructions
In your slow cooker, mix together the lime zest and juice, orange zest and juice, garlic, onion, chipotle in adobo, brown sugar, chicken broth, cinnamon stick, cumin, oregano, paprika, apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add the pork tenderloin and flip to coat. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 to 8 hours, flipping halfway through if desired.
Remove the pork and roughly chop it into about ¾” to 1” chunks of meat. Return it to the slow cooker until ready to serve.
Meanwhile, prepare the pineapple slaw. In a medium bowl, toss together the pineapple, jalapeño, cabbage, cilantro, and scallions. Let sit until ready to serve.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and spray with nonstick spray. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of cheddar cheese on top of eight tortillas then top with another tortilla. Working in batches of one to two, fry the tortillas until the cheese melts, flipping and browning both sides ~ about 1 to 2 minutes per side.
Fill the tacos with pork, top with pineapple slaw, cotija, guacamole, pickled red onions, and additional cilantro. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Keywords: tacos, pork tacos, carnitas tacos, carnitas de puerco, pineapple slaw, chipotle tacos, double shell tacos, gorditas, slow cooker tacos
