Have you ever had a Sweet Pork Burrito from Cafe Rio?  Cafe Rio is  a restaurant in the Western US that has forever changed the way I look at pork! I had always thought pork needed to be savory to be delicious, but this burrito has changed my mind.  In fact, I think I prefer my pork sweet and spicy now!  So of course I had to figure out how to make my own version at home. 

This juicy, tender Sweet Pork comes together quick in a crock pot, and after it’s shredded, can be layerd with Cilantro Lime Rice and Seasoned Black Beans…or in nachos, quesadillas, or as a topping for salad.  You can’t go wrong.  Give it a try today, I think you’ll fall in love too! 

The Cilantro Lime rice, Black Beans, and Creamy Cilantro Lime sauce make this burrito special but can also be a lot of work.  So, I’ve created a few short-cut options to keep us all sane in the kitchen.  Sometimes I feel like doing it all from scratch, usually I don’t!

Sweet Pork Sauce

Start by putting some tomato sauce, hot sauce, sugar, and spices into the bowl of a blender.

Next grab a 7 ounce can of chipotle peppers. 

We’re going to do something a little strange with the chipotle peppers, but you’ve got to trust me!  We aren’t going to use the chipotles in our sauce, just the adobo sauce they are packed in.  To get every last drop of adobo sauce, we’re going to pour 2 cans Dr. Pepper soda over the peppers and then discard them.  If you can handle a lot of heat, you can put a few peppers in your sauce, but I cannot handle heat well at all so I leave them out.  They are VERY spicy!

Set the strainer over the bowl of your blender so the adobo sauce and Dr. Pepper become part of the sauce your pork cooks in.

Discard the peppers.  Unless you possess superhuman powers when it comes to spice tolerance…

Blend the mixture (tomato sauce, spices, sugar, adobo sauce, Dr. Pepper, garlic) in the blender until smooth.  Pour over the pork in your slow cooker.

As you can tell, it’s a really high ratio of meat to sauce, but this results in the juiciest, most tender pork you could imagine!

As I mentioned earlier, you can do so much with this Sweet Pork…nachos, quesidillas, burritos, salads.  I like to put mine with Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans and turn it into a burrito, but I’ve seen my kids do lots of other creative combinations.  Some of our family just like meat and cheese on their burritos and that’s a-okay!

Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing

Below I’ve listed all of my recipes, but here is the shortcut recipe to the Creamy Cilantro Lime dressing that I love to drizzle on top.  I buy this bottle at Costco!

I told you it was easy – ha!  It really is so good, I can’t recommend it enough. I like it as well as the homemade sauce but if you don’t live near a Costco, I have included a recipe below so you can make your own!

Seasoned Black Beans

Sometimes I make Black Beans using all of the steps in the recipe below and sometimes I just throw the canned black beans in a pot and add a favorite Tex-Mex seasoning like this one from Penzey’s.  If you’re not addicted to Penszey’s yet, I hope you will be soon!

Cilantro Lime Rice

I don’t have a shortcut for the Cilantro Lime Rice, but it’s pretty straight forward.  The recipe is listed below.

Does this taste just like Cafe Rio?

I’m not claiming that any of these are exact Cafe Rio copy cat recipes, but I do claim that they’re really delicious!  Cafe Rio has an almost cult following in some parts of the US and people have strong opinions on Sweet Pork recipes, and this is my favorite.  I hope you’re able to give it a try soon!

Sweet Pork Burritos

Sweet Pork:

5 pounds boneless pork butt or shoulder, cut into large chunks (4-5”)
2 (12 ounce) cans of Dr. Pepper (not diet)
1 c brown sugar
1 c white sugar
1 (7) ounce can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (use only sauce, discard the chiles)
4 ounces tomato sauce
3 tablespoons Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon cumin (scant)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Black Beans:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1⅓ cup tomato juice (like V8 or Campbell’s)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

Shortcut Black Beans:

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, undrained
1 teaspoon Penzey’s Salsa Seasoning (or other all purpose Tex-Mex seasoning)

Cilantro Lime Rice:

1 cup uncooked white rice
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons minced cilantro
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons sugar
Zest of half a lime

Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing:

1 (1 oz) package ranch dressing mix
1 cup light mayo
1 cup sour cream
1 jalapeno pepper, cut and seeded
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Juice of one lime

Shortcut Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing:

Pick up a bottle from Costco!

Garnishes:

Salsa Verde
Mexican Blend Cheese
Shredded Romaine Lettuce
Flour Tortillas
Salsa
Guacamole

Directions

Sweet Pork:

Place pork pieces in a large crockpot. Combine all of the other ingredients in a blender and mix (Drain the chiles by pouring the dr. pepper over the can of chiles, set on a strainer. Discard chiles. See picture above). Pour the blended sauce over the pork and cook on low heat for 8 hours or on high heat for 5 hours. Shred meat and return to sauce in the slow cooker and let heat through.

Black Beans:

In a small saucepan, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, cilantro, and salt. Simmer over very low heat until heated through.

Cilantro Lime Rice:

Bring rice, water, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Lower temperature to a simmer and cover, cooking until rice is fluffy and water is evaporated. Immediately add melted butter, lime juice, lime zest, sugar, and cilantro.

Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing:

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Taste, adding extra salt as needed.