If the paste is too thick, add a bit of the hot water that you used to soak the chiles and blend it in until combined. Blend everything together until it forms a smooth paste. Make the marinade. To a blender add the dried chiles, orange juice, lime juice, onion, cinnamon, pepper, Mexican oregano, cumin and salt.Transfer the chiles to a cutting board and carefully remove the seeds and stems. Cover with lid and let them soak for about 5 minutes until they begin to soften. Prep the peppers. Add the guajillo chiles to a pot with boiling water.Prepare the pork. Using a sharp knife, cut the pork into thin ¼ inch slices.Tortillas – You can use either flour tortillas or corn tortillas.Limes – Very important to squeeze some fresh lime juice on your tacos.

Cilantro – Or parsley if you don’t like cilantro.

Pineapple – You’ll want to grill some pineapple slices for an authentic tacos al pastor experience.

The achiote paste is what gives the pork this bright and vivid red color! Achiote or annatto powder, has an earthy, peppery flavor with a hint of bitterness.

Achiote – You can use either achiote paste or powder, whatever you have.

Regular oregano is slightly sweet with bitter and peppery notes. Mexican oregano has lemon and citrus flavors with some tones of licorice. I recommend using Mexican dried oregano in this recipe for a more authentic taste.

Spices And Herbs – You’ll need some ground cinnamon, cumin, salt, lots of black pepper and oregano.

You can also add a couple garlic cloves if you like.

Onion – You’ll need one onion for some great flavor in your marinade.

A great substitute for the lime juice would be apple cider vinegar. The juice is important for that citrus flavor, plus it also is a great meat tenderizer.

Juice – I used orange juice and lime juice in this marinade but you can also use pineapple juice.

This is where a lot of that depth of flavor comes from. I find them on amazon, but sometimes you can even find them at your local grocery stores.

Chiles – You’ll need dried Guajillo chiles.If you’re using pork shoulder, you can trim out some of the fat using a sharp knife. You can also use pork loin for a leaner meat. Pork – I used a 4 pound pork shoulder which I thinly cut into slices.They are then carved directly from the spit and served in a tortilla. As the pork cooks, the edges of the meat get charred. Now, it’s a very popular dish consisting of marinated thin pork slices, piling them on top of each other and cooking them on a vertical spit, called a trompo. Local Mexicans then adapted this using their spices and herbs. It was actually brought over by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico who would cook shawarma style meat by grilling it on a spit. It’s also great because you don’t have to use this only on pork, it will work on chicken or beef! So, as you can see I’m really excited to share this recipe with you because it has quickly become one of my favorites! What Is Al PastorĪl Pastor, literally means “shepherd style” in Spanish. The marinade is out of this world made with guajillo chiles, Mexican spices, achiote paste, which we’ll talk about later, and lots of citrus. I have to be honest and say that Tacos Al Pastor have just recently become a thing in my life and I just have to wonder, where have they been all my life? The flavors are incredible, and let’s face it, we all love tacos and these tacos deliver! They are juicy, smoky, tangy, sweet and a bit spicy.

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