This sweet shredded pork tastes even BETTER than Cafe Rio, I promise! Use this pork to make giant burritos smothered with Cilantro-Tomatillo Dressing, or an amazing pork salad. Or throw it in some enchiladas. You can’t go wrong! It’s so easy to make in the slow cooker or Instant Pot.
How was the weekend? Are you sick of turkey leftovers yet? I made this Turkey Barley Soup yesterday and plan to eat it for every meal until it’s gone. It’s so good.
We spent the whole weekend decorating the house for Christmas! It was so fun. We made Gingersnaps and turned on Christmas music. I decorated the tree while Eric untangled lights, Truman only broke 3 ornaments, and Valentine only ate one Christmas ornament hook. (Just kidding, I got it out of her mouth in time. She is a sneaky one. A few weeks ago she got into the craft bin and ate a bunch of googly eyes without me knowing. I found out the next day when I changed her diaper and it was STARING BACK AT ME. I’m pretty sure this is TMI especially for a food blog, but I was so shocked for a minute and then dying laughing. Everyone that I’ve told this story to has asked me if I took a picture. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? NO GROSS!!)
Anyway. Sorry about that. Back to the food.
So do you guys have an Instant Pot yet?? I have an electric pressure cooker from another brand that works basically the same, but I’m thinking of getting an Instant Pot because of all the other features it has (yogurt maker, rice cooker, etc.)
Basically with an electric pressure cooker you can get slow cooked foods in a fraction of the time. For example, this Cafe Rio pork recipe takes 3-5 hours on high in a slow cooker, and 8-10 hours on low. In a pressure cooker it’s done in about an hour.
One time at Christmas I was making this Barbacoa Beef for my whole extended family (25+ people) and I set up 2 crock pots with the beef inside. We went out shopping all day, and then came home to one crock pot full of delicious beef, and one with raw meat because I had turned it on but forgotten to plug it in. So my mom busted out her pressure cooker (not an electric one, we did it on the stove) and the beef was done in under an hour. Pressure cookers are really nice to have on hand for last minute things, and electric ones are SO easy to use.
I’ve had my pressure cooker for a while now but I am just starting to get into using it. My sister Laura has been talking about her Instant Pot for YEARS. She uses it all the time and loves it. It’s all the rage right now and there are tons of new recipes and cookbooks coming out that teach you how to use it. TODAY is actually a good time to buy one, there is a crazy awesome Cyber Monday deal on Amazon. Here’s an affiliate link to buy one. (Affiliate means that you don’t pay more, but I get a commission.) It would also make a great mom gift for Christmas. (Mom? Do you want one??)
I’m definitely going to be posting more Instant Pot recipes on The Food Charlatan! Don’t worry, I’ll probably always include the slow cooker instructions too.
So if you don’t live in Utah you may have never heard of Cafe Rio. It’s a Mexican restaurant that is kind of like Costa Vida or Chipotle, except they are famous for their INCREDIBLE sweet pork. You can put it on anything: a salad, in a burrito, enchiladas, whatever. (That’s the beauty of Mexican food.)
The pork has chili flavor but also a lot of sugar. It is made with Coke of all things. It has a very unique flavor, it’s definitely not your typical pulled pork recipe. The other unexpected ingredient is Adobo Sauce. Have you heard of it? It’s used to make some types of Mexican mole sauce. It has a very deep, almost bitter flavor that is balanced out perfectly by the sugar in this recipe. Unfortunately you can’t find it everywhere, but it is available on Amazon here. We live in California so it is easy to find at the grocery store on the Hispanic foods aisle. If you have a Latin market near you, they will definitely have it.
It is very concentrated. More of a paste than a sauce. The packaging says you are supposed to mix it with chicken broth to make a sauce from it, which makes sense. But for this recipe we are just dumping the whole thing in the pot and mixing it up with some Coke. So weird. So, so good.
The other special part about today’s recipe is the Cilantro-Tomatillo Ranch. It is NOT optional. If you make this recipe without the ranch, you are not experiencing Cafe Rio pork. It’s a mixture or buttermilk ranch, tomatillos, and cilantro and it is SOOO amazing. I eat the stuff with a spoon. Even if you are making burritos or something that’s not a salad, top the pork with the ranch. It’s an AMAZING combo.
This recipe is so nice to have on hand for busy December days. There’s always so much going on during Christmas that sometimes I just forget to make dinner. You can make this last minute (in the Instant Pot) or plan ahead with the slow cooker, and come home to hot food ready to go. It’s also good for dinner parties or large events, like a family reunion. Everyone loves a good burrito bar (there are so many possible toppings!) I hope you get to try this one out! Don’t forget to plug it in!
**UPDATE** I’ve gotten several comments from people saying that this recipe didn’t work in the Instant Pot; it never came to pressure and they got a burn message. I’m so sorry! It worked for me when I tried it. After several comments, I decided to see what was going on. I bought an Instant Pot (I had been using a different brand pressure cooker) and tested this several times. You guys were right! The sauce was too thick for the pot to come to pressure. I’m so sorry to any of you who tried this and had problems. I don’t know why it worked for me when I tested this the first time. But I have a solution and I have updated the recipe! Instead of mixing the Adobo sauce in with the Coke, you’re going to layer it on top of the meat. Then just stir it in after the pork is cooked. All the details are below in the recipe. Please reach out if you have any problems with the recipe!
More delicious Mexican recipes to love!
- Traditional Carne Guisada (Stewed Beef for Tacos) << everyone loves this, and no hard-to-find-ingredients.
- Barbacoa Beef << this is one of my all time fav’s! Don’t let the bad photo fool you!
- Traditional Tejano Pinto Beans (Slow Cooker) << this would be so good to make alongside the Cafe Rio Pork!
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Cafe Rio Sweet Shredded Pork for Burritos
Ingredients
For the pork
- 3-4 pound pork butt
- salt and pepper
- 1 (8.25-oz) jar Adobo Sauce
- 1 (12-oz) can Coke, (1 and 1/2 cups) (NOT diet! No coke zero!)
- 1 cup sugar*
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
For the Cilantro-Tomatillo Ranch
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 (.4-oz) package buttermilk ranch dressing, (put it in dry)
- 1 serrano pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
- 3 small tomatillos, chopped
- juice from 1 lime
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
Serve with
- shredded lettuce
- hot rice
- black beans, warmed
- sour cream
- avocados or guacamole
- Cotija cheese
Instructions
Slow Cooker instructions:
- Place the pork roast in the slow cooker and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
- In a medium bowl, combine Adobo sauce, the can of coke, sugar, garlic, cumin, mustard powder, and chili powder. Use a whisk or a wooden spoon to try to break up the Adobo sauce. It’s stubborn but you don’t need to stress about it. Some lumps are okay.
- Pour the sauce over the top of the pork.
- Cover with the lid and cook on high for 3-5 hours. OR cook on low for 8-10 hours.
- Remove to a platter and shred the pork.
Instant Pot instructions:
- In the Instant Pot, whisk together the can of coke, sugar, garlic, cumin, mustard powder, and chili powder. Whisk until the sugar is mostly dissolved.
- Use a sharp serrated knife to cut your pork roast into 4 large chunks. Season each one with salt and pepper.
- Place the pork roast chunks in the Instant Pot. Turn them over to coat both sides in the sauce.
- Scrape the entire jar of Adobo sauce on top of the pork. Do NOT add it to the liquid at the bottom of the pot. The Adobo sauce needs to sit on top of the pork, otherwise the mixture will be too thick, and your instant pot won’t come to pressure.
- Seal the lid on top.
- Pressure cook on manual setting for 1 hour.**
- At this point you can either release the lid naturally or follow manual instructions to do a quick release. Be careful! You don’t want to get a steam burn.
- Scrape the cooked Adobo sauce into the liquid. Remove meat to a platter and shred the pork. Whisk the adobo sauce into the liquid until smooth. If it seems oily or thin, turn the Instant pot onto the sauté setting and sauté on low for 5 minutes so that it comes together. You can add the meat back in while it is sautéing. (Or just add the meat back in if it doesn’t need the sauté.)
For the ranch:
- Add all the ingredients to a blender and process until smooth. If it is too runny, add a couple extra tablespoons of mayo and blend again.
- Serve the pork with shredded lettuce, hot rice, black beans***, sour cream, avocados or guacamole, and cotija cheese or queso fresco. If you can’t find that kind of cheese, shredded cheddar or jack cheese will taste good too!
- Serve with tortillas to make burritos, or serve with lots of lettuce to make salads.
Notes
Source: my brother Eric. Thanks Eric!!
We made these tonight – amazing! Made the pork in the instant pot. Couldn’t find the adobo, and so we used the Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I took out the peppers after it cooked, and there is a slight whisper of heat, but I don’t think the kids will pick up on it. I tried another Cafe Rio version, and yours is by far the best!!!
Okay that’s such a good idea Tamryn! I’m glad it worked out! Thanks so much for sharing this tip, I’m sure there are lots of people who won’t be able to find the jar of adobo. Thank you!
Love your blog! I’ve used so many of your recipes in the last six months and they are all fabulous. Our favorite is the basil curry chicken…yummmm! Quick question for this recipe—is the pork interchangeable with a beef roast? Why is the sauce for this recipe different from your beef barbacoa recipe? Thanks!
I’m so happy to hear that Kelly! I haven’t tried this recipe with a beef roast. Let me know if you try it out!
Is this the barbacoa recipe you’re talking about? They’re two completely different recipes. https://thefoodcharlatan.com/barbacoa-beef/
Hey Karen, Happy New Year. Regarding the sauce for the Cafe Rio Pork, would flat leaf parsley work instead of cilantro? I hate cilantro, it tastes like soap. All my brothers say the same, I think we have the cilantro hating gene!
Happy New Year to you Pamala! I haven’t tried the sauce with anything but cilantro. There is a TON called for, so whatever herb you choose, make sure you like it a lot! You might want to try doing half and half. Like half parsley and half basil, or something like that. half parsley and half dill maybe. All parsley might be delicious, I just haven’t tried it. I do LOVE this chimichurri sauce though, and that uses tons of parsley. So I think any way you try it, it’s going to be great! Hope you enjoy it, let me know what you try!
Pamala, it”s apparently a genetic thing with the Cilantro. People either hate it or love it. And the soap taste thing is almost universal with the people who don’t. Try using flat leaf parsley or even sweet basil, or just leave it out. For those that love it, stick with the Cilantro
Love Love Love this recipe!! I made it twice in the instant pot and just put it in again…..I buy the 7oz chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and mix that in the coke and sugar mixture and have had no problem with it at all! ❤️Best recipe ever! I also use the meat for taco salads and tacos!
Hey Lisa! That is awesome! I’m so glad you commented. I’ve never tried it with a can of chipotle, I thought it would make it way too spicy?? So do you mix in the whole can, including the peppers? Or do you fish out the peppers and just add the sauce? I’m so glad it works for you!
What kind of pork do you use?
Hey Whitney, I use a pork butt or shoulder usually! Let me know how it turns out for you!
I have made this in my slow cooker successfully, but it was a total Instant pot fail. The sauce is too thick and keeps burning on the bottom of the pot causing a “burn” error. I added another 2 cups of water to the sauce, but still get the “burn” error.
I am so sorry Margo. That is so frustrating. I have had a few other people mention this problem. It worked for me, but I’m going to test it again and will report back when I figure it out. Thanks for letting me know.
Hey Margo! I’m so sorry this recipe didn’t work for you in the Instant Pot. There was a problem with the recipe. I don’t know why it worked for me the first time I tested it. I’ve retested it multiple times now and finally have a solution to make this work. Read over the updated recipe and let me know if you have any questions. Thanks so much for your feedback and for being understanding!
I tried this recipe in my Instant Pot and it failed! The sauce burned on the bottom of the pot and it never came to pressure! Don’t know how I would fix the issue to try again!
Try using a pip method you have the have enough liquid (water) to come to pressure. I haven’t made this yet but I am assuming that the sauce was a little thick and that’s why it didn’t come to pressure.
Nancy, I’m so sorry this recipe didn’t work out for you! The problem was with the recipe and totally not your fault. For some reason it worked for me when I tested it the first time, but after seeing yours and other’s comments, I tested this several more times and have found a solution for the Instant Pot. Check out the updated recipe and let me know if you try this again. Thanks so much for your understanding, and again, I’m so sorry it didn’t work out!
Hello Karen,This recipe looks and soundscape amazing! Quick question, do you cook the tomitillos or use them raw when making the sauce?
Hey Tealya! Just chop them up and throw them in raw! Hope you enjoy!
Thank you so much for the quick reply! I actually made burritos tonight and I must say it’s very tasty! I didn’t use a full cup of sugar being that the recipe called for soda as well and it’s 👌. Thank you once again, glad I stumbled across it and your blog, you have a new fan! Merry Christmas to you and your family! 🌲🎁😀
And I had cut the cup of sugar down from my brother’s recipe, which said 1 and 1/2 cups! Suuuper sweet. I’m with you, less is more, even for sweet pork :) Nice to know the sugar level can be adjusted to taste. Thanks for trying out the recipe Tealya! Merry Christmas to you too!
I just wanted to make sure. It is granulated white sugar that we are talking about right? Not brown sugar. I have seen other café rio pork recipes and it calls for brown sugar.
white sugar is what I use in this recipe Candice! Great question!
Made this and I tell ya what…. this is better than any restaurant! My kids asked if I would make this for Christmas LOL! There you have it… it is worthy! thank you for sharing the recipe, we love it.
Wow, Christmas dinner status already! That is awesome! Thanks for the review Jillian, I’m so glad you guys liked it!
Omg my daughter ate googlie eyes too when she was little! And I found it in her poop. It’s like the real life poop emoji. Haha.
Can’t wait to make this dish. Sounds so yummy.
Haha!! YES! Thank you for providing the visual that I could not actually write in the blog, because people are trying to think about sweet pork and not real live poop emojis. but that’s exactly what it was. LOL!!!!!
Hey, just a question. . . . I made the dressing tonight, (couldn’t wait until Friday, when I cook the pork!) and it seems thinner and less flavorful than I expected. The only Hidden Valley Ranch packets I could find were 1 oz, so I put in half. Do you think I should have used the full ounce? Any other ideas on what I might have done wrong? I tried to follow it exactly. I AM good at juicing those limes, maybe I tried to hard & thinned it down?
Oh saaaad! The packets I use were .4 ounces so it should have been enough. :( I’m so sorry you didn’t love the ranch! Maybe your tomatillos were out of season and bad flavor?? did you use full-fat mayo? did you use nonfat milk? Those choices would have made it less rich. Hmmmm I’m trying to think what else. Too much lime juice could be an issue, but I’m pretty thorough when it comes to juicing limes too so I doubt it. I’m sorry it didn’t work out!!
Hey Dana! I’ve been thinking about the dressing issue. I went back and looked at my dressing from when I shot this (still in the fridge! It makes a lot!) And decided that you’re right, it is a little thin. I changed the recipe to 3/4 cup milk. I think that will help thicken it AND make the flavors more potent. Thanks so much for your feedback!!
OMG——-there are SO MANY reasons I love you! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve turned the Crockpot on, left the house for awhile, and then returned home to a bland smelling house and an unplugged Crockpot, You’d think I would know by now to ALWAYS check, but no, I prefer to live dangerously. I just tried Cafe Rio in SLC today for the first time and had to have the sweet pork. It was delicious, I can’t wait to make this recipe. I’m hoping I can find the Adobe sauce, but if I can’t, I will get it from Amazon, I have really liked all the food I’ve gotten from ElMexicano, so I want that brand. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! P.S. Valentine’s diaper having squiggly eyes is priceless,
Nooooo the unplugged crock pot!!! It’s the worst! Happens to the best of us, right? I hope you can get your hands on some Adobo sauce soon! Everyone I’ve fed this to since posting has insisted that it’s better than Cafe Rio. Woohoo! I hope you had a great thanksgiving too Collette, and Merry Christmas!!
SO EXCITED to try this!!! We’re having TONS of company this month, and I’m just going to share this over & over!!! I LOVE Care Rio, but they roll all tortillas out in wheat flour, so I haven’t been there in 3 years. Eating this will be SO FUN!!! Sadly, I AM a little bit tired of turkey already – that thing was HUGE, and now some of the fun people have left and 4 of us are valiantly struggling to finish it. Thank Heaven for that empty shelf in the freezer, which is now full of bags of turkey! Ha ha. My husband even sorted it by light & dark, because he only likes dark. He looks a little like Fred Flintstone, with that GIANT drumstick, but he’s such a cutie I don’t really mind. It also gets rid of the dark meat without me having to eat it, so it’s all good!
Hey Dana! This is such a great recipe for when you are having company over! You mentioned though that Cafe Rio rolls out their tortillas in wheat flour, are you intolerant? Because the adobo sauce actually has wheat in it. :( I’m so sorry if that foils all your plans. I tried so hard to come up with a substitute ingredient before posting (mostly because I’m worried people won’t be able to find adobo at the store) but there really is nothing that compares that I know of. Adobo is kind of like really concentrated enchilada sauce. (The first ingredient is sesame seed though, which is not in enchilada sauce). If you can’t make this recipe, check out the links at the very bottom of the post. There are lots of versions of Cafe Rio pork, and I know at least a couple of them are gluten free. Let me know what you try out!
I got an instant pot last year for Christmas. I have used it 3 or 4 times. I am starting to feel more comfortable with it. Everything I have made in it so far has been amazing. So I am anxious to try this one!
Thanks!
That’s kind of where I’m at Chris! I’ve had mine at least 3-4 years and have only used it maybe 10-15 times. I’m getting the hang of it and plan to use it much more in the future! Thanks for the comment, I hope you like the sweet pork. :)
Love me some Cafe Rio! I’ve done that before, broke my heart when we came home and the house didn’t smell amazing.
It’s totally the worst! Instant Pot to the rescue! Do you have one?