Pernil Puerto Rican Roast Pork – Herb and spice marinated pork shoulder slowly roasted in the oven until tender and fall of the bone delicious with an amazing crisp and crackling skin.
What can I say? I couldn’t pass up on a good pork sale; in my neck of the woods they are going for 79 cents a pound. So I got a 10 pound pork and split it in half and cooked it up Puerto Rican Style. Above is one half – with super crispy skin, roasted on top of a rack, and below is the other half cooked in a cast iron 12 inch pan.
And it’s all about the super pork skin for me – they are crispy, crackling and sensational.
Pernil is a really tasty and super easy way of cooking up pork shoulder or butt with tons of flavor.
The spice blend does all the heavy lifting work for you. Once you rub the spices onto the pork, you don’t even need to sear it.
You are still going to be rewarded with a nice crispy skin and juicy tender meat.
Traditionally, Pernil is made with sour orange, however, it’s hard to find sour orange outside of the Islands, especially here, in the U.S. So most people sub lime juice and orange to equate the sour orange taste. Or most modern recipes just use lime or vinegar.
I purposely leave out the sour taste. It goes way beyond that garlic, cumin and salt alone is good enough to get this going. To please everyone, I do serve lime on the side as an option.
Don’t forget to crank up the heat towards the end of roasting to achieve ultra crispness.
Since this is a festive dish, plan on adding it to the menu this easter season. Do serve it with this arroz con gandules here
And wash it down with this coquito here.
You will be glad you did.
Enjoy!
Watch How to Make It
Pernil Puerto Rican Roast Pork- Herb and spice marinated pork shoulder slowly roasted in the oven until tender and fall of the bone delicious with an amazing crisp and crackling skin.
- 5-6 pounds pork shoulder bone-in
- 2 teaspoons salt or more
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 5-7 medium garlic cloves ,whole
- 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves or 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon cumin spice
- ½ teaspoon chili pepper or more adjust to taste
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 packet Sazon Goya ,optional
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 1 medium orange ,optional
- lime for serving
- Olive oil as needed.
- Pulse, 1/4 cup onion, garlic, oregano and parsley together in a food processor, adding oil in a drizzle and scraping down sides as necessary, until mixture is pasty or use a mortar /pilon and pestle grind the spices.
- Mix in cumin, chili, sazon and paprika Set aside.
- Remove pork from packaging and gently rinse pork under cold water.
- Dry with a paper napkin or towel. Salt and Pepper according to preference – about ½- 3/4 teaspoon per pound.
- Then do your best to rub oregano and garlic mixture into the scorings.
Refrigerate the pork shoulder, for about 4 hours or up to 3 days before roasting.
- When ready to roast, remove pork from the fridge and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
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Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Cover a roasting pan with foil, then layer sliced onions , and sliced orange at the bottom on the pan with about ½ cup orange juice and about 1/2 cup stock or water.
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Add any remaining marinade. You might have to add some more as it cooks if you want some reserve to serve with the marinade.
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Place pork skin side up in the pan. remove any seasoning on top of pork skin.
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Roast the pork for about 3 hours or more, uncovered.
Remove from the oven and let oven preheat to 500 degrees.
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Place back in the oven; let it roast for up to 15- 20 minutes until skin is crisp and puffy, rotating pan every 5 minutes, for even crispness.
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Let meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting it up; meat should be tender. Serve with lime and sauce from marinate
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If you want super crispy skin Just like you see in picture one. Do the following ;place pork on top of roast pan or place on a rack in a pan, instead before roasting
How to Make Pernil
Saw your recipe and tried it. Today I will be putting my pork in the oven to cook. Will get back with feedback. It does look delicious in the picture. Hope to get similar results. Thanks to all the other little tips!! Happy new year to all…
Can’t wait for the feedback. Happy New Year to you too!
Thank you for this awesome recipe! I didn’t get it exactly right…but it was still delicious! I’ll be making more attempts soon.
I have a request though…when I was in Africa, while in the military, I had an amazing lentil soup. Do you have any recipes for an authentic African lentil soup?
Thanks again!
Thank you for trying it out. As for the lentil dish, perhaps you could be referring to this Ethiopian Lentil Stew here >> https://www.africanbites.com/ethiopian-lentil-stew/ which uses a local spice mix berbere spice. You can check my homemade version for that spice here >> http://africanbites.com/berbere-spice/ Please do let me know how it works for you.
I am doing this with a Fresh Ham. Should I do anything different? It is also 12 lbs.
Nothing different . Just follow the recipe and salt appropriately.
Thanks for your recipe, I’ve made it before , but directly. I like to cut up potatoes, but when is a good time to put them in
Hi Michelle,
I usually put it together with the pork. Check for tenderness, If they are cooking too fast remove half way through. Happy Holidays!!!
Please ignore some of the comments because like persons with non Puerto Rican roots in Puerto Rico or the mainland there are plenty of over opinionated people that are very very ignorant.
OMG made this Pernil yesterday delicious. Thank you for recipe
You are welcome Iris. Glad you enjoyed it!
Um. I’m not sure you know what pernil is. Firstly, there isn’t a traditional way to season a pernil. The most common phrase in Puerto Rico is “everyone makes it different”. Hence comments like, “I only eat my mother’s…”
Don’t get me wrong, this recipe sounds very yummy. I’m actually making a pernil tonight and I’m going to use oranges. Haven’t don’t that before. Mmmmmm
I think she DOES know what peril IS …..maybe you just know it YOUR way and she hers -no need to get snippy when someone is kind enough to take the time out for others to do something nice like put her recipe on and share!
I’ve been looking for a decent recipe for pernil for over 10 years and I have yet to find one that comes anywhere near as good as my mother’s. This one looks promising and I can’t wait to dig in. I’m curious though, would the pork benefit from brining before marinating?
Hi Victor,
It sure does, if you have the time to do it.
Instead of slicing into the skin or disturbing it by detaching from the meat below, I use a marinade injector – like an industrial hypodermic needle – get get my mojo marinade under the skin and into the meat. I inject it through the skin and fat into the meat below and then from all sides. The balance of the mojo goes into the bowl or bag that I’m using to marinate and coats the outside of the roast until it’s time to cook. I use about 2 cups of mojo for a 10 lb roast.
The reason I detach the skin is so that in can get crisper. I love the syringe for marinating as well.
My first wife’s abulita would make this alot Pork used to be cheap and we were not rich. (Rich in family and traditions). She would cut the skin back and generously rub the marinade directly onto the meat. Then return the skin over, make cuts and season salt, pepper, minced garlic paste all over. We used the back of a butter knife to crack the chicharon. Thanks for your post!Brings back memories. Buying pork shoulder today!
Awesome! Thanks for taking time out to share this with us. And so happy to hear it’s going on the menu.
I cannot tell you what you have done to the people. with your recipes from Africa to the Caribbean and the South. in fact all over We LOVE IT”
THANK YOU!
Thank you, too, Lorraine! =)
I have a question how many days you available to marine the pernil
I have let it marinate for up to 2 days.
So I watched the video. I see what I’m doing now.
Awesome! Glad to hear the video helps.
Hey I’m confused. With the orange juice and slices . What reserve am I serving with the marinade?
I’m in the process of making this now for my family. Thank u so much,can’t wait to eat.
Hope it turned out great for you, Danielle. Thanks for stopping by.
I’m definitely making this what else goes with ie side dishes. I’m thinking the red beans with some rice? Salad?
Rice, salad, beans and fried plantains would make it a complete meal.
I have a 9lb, how long in the oven at 275? I want it juicy but cooked on time too lol
It should take about 7 -8 hours .
This is just the recipe I’ve been looking for. I’m from New York living in the south. There isn’t a Puerto Rican restaurant here. Now I can have roast pork that’s not barbecued. Thank you
Awesome! Glad I could have been of help . Happy Cooking!!!
Sorry, i think you meant there isnt a Puertorican restaurant near you. I have to agree, that for many years, there was almost not immigration from PR and mostly Dominican. So the face of the restaurants changed. BUT, there are very well knkw eateries like Don coquis and even better, Sofritos (specially the one in White Plains).
Today, you will see a return of the premier flavors of the Caribbean. It really was the simple choices of Puertorican dishes. None more flavorful and with all due respect, not over powered with cumin or hype.
This pernil recipe is as good as most I’ved tried. Great job! The recipe will also work at 275 for 7 or 8 hours as well. And, no need to raised the temperature since the skin will crisp anyway after so many hours. TBH, unless you have an accurate electric oven, you may still need to raise the temperature tk get that crackling skin towards the end.
I think Nobi said they were from NY living down south. So there are rarely any Puertorican restaurants down south
Are we supposed to eat the skin?
Yes you are !
Love pernil but after many years as a New Yorker and numerous friends/relatives of Latino decent, all types .. always have I heard low temp for 8-10 hours after marinated for a day or two. Last 15 minutes ..cold water splashed on the fat and back in hot oven to get the chicharrones.
Thanks for the tip Laura!
I’m sorry, but I am very confused. The pictures look to show two different dishes, one where the roast is scored, one where it is not. Is this two different dishes or two different methods of preparing the same dish? Your instructions describe two different methods, but that also is very confusing. Method 1 seems to end after putting the roast in the pan. Are the different methods just a choice between putting the pork on top of onions and onions or of putting it in a roasting rack? In that case, Method 1 could be numbered step 10a and Method 2 could be numbered step 10b. Then step 2 and after under Method 2 would actually apply to both methods and could be better numbered steps 11-14.
Also, you never actually say when to score the meat. Is it just for one method? If so, which method?
As I re-read this again, it seems to me that the second part of step 8 (after preheating) and maybe all of step 9 are actually a part of Method 1 only. Is that right?
Finally, step 9 is confusing. Are you saying to mix the marinade with the orange juice and stock before cooking, then add more stock as it cooks if we want to be able to serve this as a pan sauce?
Sorry to seem so critical but your dish looks delicious and if I’m going to try it, which I would like to do, I want to be sure to do it right.
Hi Mitch! Not critical all . I have gone back and rewritten the recipe to make it clearer. Do let me know how it works out for you. thanks!
Want to cook the pork shoulder Puerto Rican style but my my pork shoulder is 10 lb
Double the ingredients or split in half .
I have it in the oven now…smells mouthwatering!!!
It’s going to taste even better! Bonne Appetite!!!
I’m going to make this beautiful pork dish for our Sunday lunch. Can’t wait. Looking to use whole peppercorns, plantains, and cilantro cream too – let you know how it turns out.
Now this is how to cook pork.
Mm, tasty!
I’ll be the first to admit I know nothing about Puerto Rican food but there is nothing on that ingredients list that doesn’t get my juices flowing. Might try this out on the in-laws next time they are round for a roast
Oh my god that looks incredible!! The crispy, crackly skin looks amazing and super juicy all at the same time. Also can I just say, gorgeous photos!
Thanks Laura.
I need this in my life….yesterday! Wow! The flavors on the pork are super intense and I can imagine how amazing they are when the pork gets crispy!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂 Pinning for later!
Thanks for Pinning Nicole
That looks like one delicious pot roast! You have my mouth watering!
It sure is Jillian.
This looks so good! I love slow roasted pork and that crackling skin is the best part.
You and me both. Crackling skin in the best part.
Would you please be my next door neighbor? That looks so good!
Anytime Lisa!!