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Thursday, September 29, 2016

Copycat Cafe Rio Pork Barbacoa

Living in Utah we have a restaurant called Cafe Rio, and if you have never eaten there, you are missing out.  They are a fresh mexican restaurant that serves heavenly food.  This is the sweet pork recipe that I have found that is the closest to the real thing.  This recipe is heaven!! The meat freezes well, and thaws out tasting exactly the same, so don't be worried if you want to cook up a huge pork roast, but don't have an army to feed it to.  It easily can make more of less.  Try it... you won't be sorry you did.

Ingredients:
2 -3 pound pork roast
3 cans Dr. Pepper (NOT diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 can diced green chilies
3/4 (10oz) can red enchilada sauce (add spicy is you want a little kick to it)
1 c. brown sugar


  • Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about 1 1/2 cans of Dr. Pepper and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.
  • Drain marinade. Place pork, 1/2 can of Dr. Pepper, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours, or on low for 8 hours, or until the pork falls apart and shred easily. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any remaining liquid left in the crockpot. Shred the pork.
  • In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Dr. Peppe, green chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Dr. pepper till it reaches the consistency of a runny enchilada sauce.  It will thin out a little when it cooks. 
  • Place the shredded pork and the sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. 
  • Serve either with a salad, or wrapped in a tortilla with our copy cat Cafe Rio black bean and cilantro lime rice, or make it into a quesadilla.  Yummy!!

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