Pulled Pork Taquitos with Chipotle-Ranch Dipping Sauce are a delicious and fun crock pot recipe. Perfect for game day, or dinner tonight!
It’s finally fall and with the changing leaves and cozy clothes comes televised football games every day that ends in an -ay.
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em — that is to say, watching football is much more tolerable when I get to simultaneously scarf Pulled Pork Taquitos with Chipotle-Ranch Dipping Sauce!
Corn tortillas are rolled around crock pot pulled pork and shredded cheese, baked until crisp, then dunked into smoky Chipotle-Ranch Dipping Sauce before devouring.
They are perfect game-day food. Toss a batch of taquitos onto a platter then let the gang dive in!
Even better? This recipe is not only gluten-free but freezer friendly too, so you can prepare a batch ahead of time then pop them into the oven right before kick off. That’s right — these taquitos are baked, not fried.
Serve a sizzling stack with smokey, Chipotle-Ranch dipping sauce and cold guacamole. Heaven!
Start the taquitos by slow cooking the pulled pork. Pick up a 3-3.5lb boneless pork butt roast then trim off as much fat as you can. Don’t make yourself crazy over it, but if there’s a big thick layer anywhere on the roast – get rid of it!
Cut the roast into 8 big hunks then toss them into the bottom of a 6 quart crock pot.
Next add seasonings and spices including 1 chopped onion, 6 peeled garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons each cumin and chili powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 can chicken broth.
Pop a lid on the crock pot then cook on high for 5-6 hours, or low for 8-10 hours, until the roast shreds easily with two forks.
Place the shredded pork into a bowl then combine with 1/2 cup cooking liquid and discard the rest.
Meanwhile, shred 8oz queso fresco cheese, which I find by the refrigerated tortillas in the grocery store. Queso fresco is light and mild-tasting, kind of like a harder mozzarella, and pairs fantastically with the garlicky pulled pork.
If for some reason you can’t find queso fresco, use shredded monterey jack cheese, or a Mexican blend cheese.
Next, warm 18 corn tortillas. Corn tortillas are notorious for cracking when rolled or bent unless they’re super fresh, which most grocery store tortillas aren’t. An easy way to get them pliable is to wrap 6 at a time in a damp paper towel then microwave for 30 seconds.
To the center of a warm corn tortilla, place 3 Tablespoons pulled pork (eyeball it) then top with 1 Tablespoon shredded queso fresco. Roll then place seam side down on a foil-lined, nonstick-sprayed baking sheet.
Spray the tops with nonstick spray then bake for 13-15 minutes at 425 degrees, or until golden brown and crispy.
Alternatively, freeze the taquitos un-baked then transfer to a freezer bag. Bake straight from the freezer at the same time and temp!
While the taquitos are baking make the dipping sauce by combining 1/2 cup Ranch Dressing with 2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, plus 2 teaspoons of the sauce in a food processor then processing until smooth.
Alternatively you could finely chop the peppers then stir into the dressing.
Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapenos and they add a fantastic, smokey flavor to the dipping sauce. So good, and pairs perfectly with the theme of the meal.
Crunchy, cheesy, and mouthwatering, you and your friends and family will devour these taquitos. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 3 - 3.5 lb boneless pork butt, also called pork shoulder
- 14 oz can chicken broth
- 1 onion, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 oz shredded queso fresco, or Monterey Jack or a shredded Mexican cheese blend
- 18 gluten free corn tortillas, Mission Super Soft recommended
- For serving: guacamole, salsa
For the Chipotle-Ranch Dipping Sauce:
- 1/2 cup prepared ranch dressing
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce + 2 teaspoons sauce
Directions
- Trim fat from pork then cut into 8 pieces and place into the bottom of a 6 quart crock pot. Add chicken broth, onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and salt then stir to combine. Cook on high for 5-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours, or until the pork shreds easily with two forks. Shred the pork then place it into a large bowl with 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and stir to combine. Discard remaining cooking liquid.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees then line a half sheet pan with foil and spray well with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Wrap 6 tortillas at a time in a damp paper towel then microwave for 30 seconds. Place 3 Tablespoons shredded pork into the center of each warm tortilla (just eyeball it) then top with 1 Tablespoon shredded cheese. Roll then place seam side down on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining ingredients then spray tops of the tortillas with nonstick spray and bake for 13-15 minutes or until tops are golden brown and crunchy.
For the Chipotle-Ranch Dipping Sauce:
- Combine ranch dressing, chipotle peppers, and sauce in a food processor then process until smooth. Alternatively, finely chop peppers then stir ingredients together to combine.
To freeze:
- Freeze taquitos on a baking sheet then transfer to a freezer bag. Bake the same way frozen as fresh (ie do not thaw.)
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
Kristin, thank you so much for this fantastic recipe. My hubby loves carnitas, but I had no idea how to make them fast and easy. My hubby loved this and my picky kiddos loved it, too!! I had to share it on my Etsy fanpage. I invite you to stop by sometime and say hi:) http://www.facebook/eljahb/ or www. eljahb.etsy.com
It’s bloggers like you that help me be a better cook! THANK YOU:)
Although I love so many of your delicious recipes, this is truly my favorite. It’s so easy and so dang yummy! I’ve probably made it at least 15 times.
I’m so glad to hear it, Kimberly! I need to make another batch to have taquitos around for the Super Bowl!
This was SO delicious! I’m so happy I found your website. I’ve made several of your dishes and my husband couldn’t be happier. He really looks forward to any recipe of yours that I make for him. Yay!!!
This recipe was delicious – fresh. It made more than I could fit in a 9×13, so I baked a few and froze the pan. I had to get creative with the sauce. (I used dried chipotle pepper shaken on ranch.) Brown, crispy and yummy. (Burned my mouth because I couldn’t wait!) Out of the freezer they didn’t come out the same. Could you revise the post with directions for out of the freezer? I pulled them out for dinner thinking they’d only take 15 minutes, but they went in for another 10 and they still weren’t quite done. I was hungry, so I ate them like that. I’ll try the leftovers in the toaster oven and see if they’re like I remembered them. Thanks for the recipe!
Hey Sarah! I baked my taquitos the same fresh as frozen and got the same result. Oven temperatures may vary so you might try lowering the temperature on your oven and baking them a little longer so they have a chance to heat on the inside without burning on the outside.
This sounds great. I can only find bone in pork. Maybe I can try cutting it in chunks around the bone ? Cooking it whole may not be as good.
These are so amazingly tasty! I did tweak the dipping sauce just a bit and used equal parts of sour cream with ranch and then added Chipotle chili powder to taste. Thank you for another yummy dinner option!!
I’ve made these with both pork and chicken and love them! Do you think beef would work? I have stew beef in the fridge but don’t want to make stew…
Sure, I don’t see why not!
They were just as tasty with beef!
Otherwise, this soup recipe using stew beef is one of my favorites! >> https://iowagirleats.com/2012/10/14/weekend-beef-barley-stew/
HOLY CANNOLI! Thanks for posting this recipe. I made it for my daughter’s first birthday party among other IGE recipes/posts such as Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites and Friday Favorite link, Pizza Monkey Bread. THEY WERE AWESOME. I actually had a 6.5 lb Pork Butt bone in. I make homemade Sicilian Sausage and work with pork butt often so I wasn’t scared of the bone. I just cut the meat away from the bone and weighed the meat I had which was around 5.5 pounds. So I 1.5 times the recipe you had posted. They were a huge hit and unbelievable easy. The only bummer was that I froze them since I made them the night before and they took much longer to bake than you suggested. I live in Colorado at 6,200 ft., so I’m not sure if it was an altitude thing, but they really didn’t brown. It didn’t matter though, everyone loved them. They were a huge it and will now be a staple.
I might just start a food blog to link to your food blog.
I made these and my husband – who rarely raves about anything but will ate almost anything – couldn’t stop talking about them. After the first bite, he proclaimed there was a flavor party going on in his mouth! LOL. We had plenty to freeze for simple meals later. Thanks for this one, two thumbs up from my house!
I made these last night and they were deeeelicious! I think the roast I used was a little small, but they came out great! I did have any onion, but the meat was great and very flavorful. Thanks for the super recipe!
This is my first recipe I’ve made so far from Iowa Girl Treats. They turned out soooo good!!! It was hard to believe how yummy there were because they were just so simple.
Made these last night – with chicken – and they were a hit. I used a dutch oven and four breasts were done in about an hour. Which was great, our mouths were watering from the smell of the seasoning. Great recipe, thank you!
I made these last night and they were awesome! I made a bigger roast and got 30 total taquitos out of it — half for dinner and half went in the freezer for another meal. That.Is.Awesome! I also made the Lazy Girl Guac (the new revised one with just pepper and garlic salt) and my husband raved about it. I do not like avocadoes (I know–I’m weird) but my husband loves them. Apparently it was the BEST guac that I had ever made! Thank you for the new recipe that I am sure will get made again and again in our house :)