One of my favorite Mexican dishes is Cochinita Pibil from the state of Yúcatan. This dish originated from the Mayans who baked wild boar or venison in an underground oven. Hence the name Cochinita which means ‘little pig’ in Spanish and pibil which derives from the Mayan word pib, which means ‘to bury.’ As a heads up, we won’t be burying our pork underground for this recipe, but will be using more contemporary cooking methods!
Cochinita Pibil uses traditional Yucatecan ingredients such as habanero chile, sour orange juice, and red achiote paste which gives color and flavor to the dish. First, pork is marinated in a mixture of sour orange juice, achiote paste, onion, and garlic, then wrapped in banana leaves and slow-cooked for several hours until very soft. The pork is then shredded and traditionally served with a ‘pickled garnish’ of red onion and habanero chile. It’s best served in tacos but you could also serve it as a stand-alone dish.
The two main ingredients for this dish are achiote paste (or ground annatto seeds) and sour orange juice, or naranja agria. They can be found in specialty stores, but if you can’t find naranja agria, simply add some lime juice and vinegar to regular orange juice (which I’ve done for my recipe below).
There are several things to watch out for this recipe: if you find the sour orange juice too strong, cut down on the lime juice and vinegar. Also, if you find the habanero chiles too spicy for the pickled garnish, omit them or add a little sugar or diced mango to the garnish. If you can find the right balance of flavors for this dish, you can’t go wrong!
The Process
Place the pork strips in a baking pan- I used pork ribs and pork loin, but shoulder is also ideal for this recipe. Make the marinade and pour it over the pork; chill in the fridge for at least three hours or overnight if possible.
Place pork strips in pan 
Let marinate for at least 3 hours
Place the prepared banana leaves on the bottom of a pan with the leaves overhanging the edge. Add the pork and marinade juices to the pan. Cover the top with more banana leaves; bake for two hours at 350 F. or until the meat becomes very tender.
Cover bottom of pan with banana leaves; add pork and marinade juices 
Top with more banana leaves ; cook for 2 hours until tender
Shred the pork then add the meat and cooking juices to a fry pan; cook for ten minutes along with some oil or pork lard (manteca de cerdo). Serve with the ‘pickled garnish’ either on its own or with tacos.
Cut the pork into strips about 2-3 inches wide. Place into large baking pan, overlapping slightly the pieces of meat. Sprinkle with a little salt. Place the following ingredients into a blender: garlic cloves, oregano, all spice, chopped onion, orange juice, water, achiote paste, lime juice and vinegar. Blend for about one minute, then pour the marinade over the meat. Cover pan with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for three hours or preferably overnight. To prepare the banana leaves, rinse thoroughly and cut into manageable pieces about 8-12 inches wide. If using a gas stove, turn the stove onto a medium-low setting. Using tongs, briefly pass each side of the leaf over the fire until the leaf turns color. Avoid direct contact with the flame, being careful not to burn the leaves. If using an electric stove, repeat the process, placing the leaves directly into contact with the burner. The idea is to gently heat the leaves to release their oils and to soften the taste of the leaves. Remove the marinated meat from the fridge and transfer the ingredients to another receptacle. Line the pan (the same one used to marinate the meat) with the banana leaves, using a cross-hatch pattern, allowing the leaves to overhang the edges of the pan. Add the meat and marinade on top of the leaves. Cover the ingredients with several banana leaves, cover with foil and bake at 350 F. for two hours or until the meat becomes very soft. Shred the meat using either tongs or forks. Heat either some vegetable oil or pork lard (manteca de cerdo) in a fry pan, add the shredded pork and enough marinade to moisten the meat (at least one cup) and cook for ten minutes. To prepare the pickled garnish, cut the habanero chiles in half, remove the seeds and white pith, and slice into thin strips. Slice the red onion into thin strips; combine with the chile, add a pinch of oregano, lemon juice and salt to taste. Let chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes. Serve the meat in tacos and garnish with the pickled mixture. Alternatively, you could serve the meat and pickled garnish on its own.Cochinita Pibil
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11 Comments
Angie@Angie's Recipes
May 7, 2022 at 8:09 pmThis looks so inviting and delicious withe all the wonderful spices. Annatto seeds are new to me.
kitchenriffs
May 7, 2022 at 9:13 pmThis looks SO flavorful! The marinade is a little bit like the one I use when I make Cuban roast pork. This looks like ti has more flavor, though. Really neat recipe — thanks.
Fran Flint
May 7, 2022 at 10:04 pmActually, Cuban recipes often use that same sour orange juice called ‘naranja agria’!
David Scott Allen
May 8, 2022 at 6:08 pmIt’s very easy for us to get the sour oranges here, as many of the trees planted in the early part of last century were considered “decorative“ but really were Seville oranges. I’m definitely trying this. The last time I was at her Asian market, I saw banana leaves. I can see using this for a Cubano sandwich.
Greg Kass
May 15, 2022 at 10:02 pmThe original Yucatan version uses Seville oranges for the “sour oranges”
Fran Flint
May 9, 2022 at 7:58 pmDavid, thanks for your comment. I forgot to add that you could use Sevllle oranges for the sour orange component. Hope you enjoy the dish!
Greg Kass
May 15, 2022 at 10:20 pmI asked my Mexican co-worker what his favorite tacos were, and he said cochinita pibil, so that’s what I made. They are at least in my top three (al pastor is in competition), although the recipe I found never mentioned habaneros (it used black peppercorns for the pickled onions), but it did add a topping of fresh chopped cilantro for garnish. I made my own achiote paste for the marinade. The recipe I found called for annatto seed, coriander seed, oregano, cumin, black pepper, cloves, salt, garlic, and bitter orange juice. In fact, with the orange juice and garlic in both the paste and marinade, I just combined both sets of ingredients at once in the blender to save the step of separately preparing the two. I’ll need to try this one and compare.
Fran Flint
May 16, 2022 at 2:55 amGreg, thanks so much for your comment. I know there are several ways to make Cochinita Pibil, with the common thread being the sour orange juice and the achiote flavoring. The recipe I used came from the Culinary Art School in Tijuana, where they used ‘naranja agria’ which you can buy at Latin markets (or as an alternative, you can use regular orange juice with some lime juice and vinegar added to create the sourness). Your ‘version’ sounds a little like Diana Kennedy’s, where you make a paste that is applied directly to the pork. Anyway, it’s all very interesting and should lead to a similar outcome. Thanks again!
Karen (Back Road Journal)
June 7, 2022 at 1:18 pmThis sounds terrific and sour orange juice and the achiote flavoring are easily found at our market. Now the banana leaves might prove to be a problem as the only person I knew with banana trees just got rid of them.
Fran Flint
June 7, 2022 at 2:56 pmThank Karen. You could eliminate the banana leaves from the recipe and just cover the dish with foil as it bakes. I live in Southern California where there are banana plants (leaves) throughout the neighborhoods, but come to think of it, I haven’t seen very many banana plants in Adelaide, Australia where I also have a home. I bought my leavs at a Latin market in San Diego.
lisa lawless (@lisaiscooking)
June 10, 2022 at 10:44 amLove this marinade, and the banana leaves! I wish I could find achiote paste and sour orange more easily. The finished tacos are so pretty with the pickled onion.