Park Street Deli Pork Carnitas

When you need dinner in a hurry, Aldi has several options in its refrigerated aisle. There are the take and bake pizzas, which are excellent. My family also likes the Mediterranean herb salmon. There’s also a whole line of seasoned meats with sauces under the Park Street Deli brand.

Park Street Deli is not a company. Instead, it’s the private label Aldi uses for many of its refrigerated or deli-style foods, including dips such as guacamole, street corn dip, or layered dip, as well as various snack trays, soft pretzels with dip, and even a ready-to-heat mac and cheese.

Among the Park Street Deli line is an array of fast-heating entrees such as burnt ends, chicken fajitas, beef brisket, pulled pork, artichoke stuffed chicken, Thai coconut chicken, Korean BBQ chicken, and more. These cook in the microwave in a matter of minutes, making them good options when you need to get food on the table quickly and without a lot of fuss.

My family has our favorites (including the burnt ends and the Thai coconut chicken) along with lesser-liked options (the artichoke stuffed chicken). We’ve enjoyed working our way through the selection and trying everything, though.

The latest option we tried was the pork carnitas. Pork carnitas is a seasoned pulled pork dish that’s popular in Mexico, and the name means “little meats.” Pork carnitas is often served as tacos in soft flour tortillas, as the photo on the Aldi pork carnitas package shows.

Park Street Deli Pork Carnitas cost $6.49 for a 16-ounce package at the time of publication. The package describes this as “seasoned & seared pork slow cooked with citrus; ready to shred.”

These are a Regular Buy, so you should be able to find them at Aldi any time of year.

Ingredients include pork, water, and less than 2% of sea salt, evaporated cane syrup, soybean oil, dextrose, natural flavor, orange juice powder, lime juice powder, and sodium carbonate.

One package contains about three 5-ounce servings. One serving has 220 calories, 10 grams of total fat (15% DV), 3 grams of saturated fat (16% DV), 560 mg of sodium (23% DV), 5 grams of total carbohydrates (2% DV), and 3 grams of sugars.

Nutrition information, ingredients, and heating instructions. (Click to enlarge.)

The package has directions for heating this in the microwave (recommended) or on the stovetop.

To microwave, remove the outer sleeve from the tray. Leave the inner pouch in the tray but puncture the pouch. Place it in the microwave and heat on high for 3 minutes or until hot. Open the pouch and empty the pork carnitas into a serving dish.

To heat on a stovetop, heat water to a soft boil and place the bag of pork carnitas in the water for 15 minutes. Using tongs, remove the package from the pot. Let the product rest for 2 minutes before open the bag and pouring into a serving dish.

This can be frozen if you don’t intend to eat it right away. To defrost, place in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours. Then follow the heating instructions above. Use the product within three days of defrosting.

Ready to serve.

This was plenty hot after three minutes in the microwave. It made some popping noises as it cooked, but since it cooks inside a plastic bag, it doesn’t splatter in the microwave. I let it sit for a minute or two to make sure it wouldn’t pop or explode when I cut the package open.

These are somewhat large pieces of pork, and after photographing them (above), I used a fork and knife to shred the meat more. The meat is very tender and moist, so it’s not hard to cut. I cut a good-sized chunk of fat off one piece of meat, but otherwise this wasn’t fatty. There’s a small amount of liquid in the bottom of the tray after you pour the meat out of the bag, so you might want to be careful how you spoon out your meat so you don’t have tacos that are too drippy.

This has a nice flavor with hints of citrus, and it was a big hit in my house. We ate it with flour tortillas and I set out toppings that included diced avocado, diced tomato, sautéed peppers and onions, salsa, sour cream, and shredded cheese. I thought these were great with more simple toppings such as avocado, tomato, and peppers and onions because it allowed the flavor of the carnitas to really come through. When you pile all kinds of veggies on top, it makes it feel like a pretty healthy meal, too, even if the meat has its share of sodium.

We got four tacos out of this, using medium-sized tortillas. I’ve bought enough of these meal packages at Aldi to know that they don’t feed a crowd, but for just a couple of people, this is a fantastic meal. My husband pointed out that we could make pork carnitas at home using the right seasonings and our slow cooker. Still, this might be our new top favorite of all the Park Street Deli ready-to-microwave meals, and it’s definitely one that I won’t hesitate to buy again when we want pork carnitas in a hurry.

The Verdict:

Park Street Deli Pork Carnitas are one of the best-tasting options in the Park Street Deli line of refrigerated, quick-heating meals at Aldi. The meat is tender and flavorful, and it is fantastic served in flour tortillas with some simple toppings such as avocado, tomatoes, and/or sautéed peppers and onions. If you’ve been looking at these refrigerated dinners and weren’t sure which one to try first, go with this one.