Cafe Rio Sweet Pork is the best! If you know, you know!  It can be used in so many ways.  You can use it to make a Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad or wrap it up in homemade tortillas to make delicious burritos or you can stuff some corn tortillas with it and have some amazing tacos!

This Cafe Rio Sweet Pork recipe is different from many you might have seen in the past. This does not use soda to get its great flavor. This comes from regular ingredients that cook over a long period of time and create the most tender, delicious meat.

The thing I love about Cafe Rio Sweet Pork is how easy it is to make.  This is a pork butt roast or a pork shoulder roast that is covered in several layers of flavors and then cooked for 7-8 hours.  Once it is done cooking, you drain off the liquid and then mix in the enchilada sauce and dark brown sugar.  I love to triple this recipe and then package it in plastic bags. Then freeze them to use later when I do not have 7-8 hours to cook a roast!

How to Make Cafe Rio Sweet Pork (Copycat Recipe)

1.  Buy a pork butt or pork shoulder roast.  When I make this recipe, I usually triple it.  Most pork roasts I find come in a 9 or 10 pound size.  Finding a 3 pound roast is difficult for me. The nice thing is this meat freezes so well.  The meat that I do not use when serving dinner goes in a plastic freezer bag(s). Place in the freezer and store for another quick dinner.   

2.  Put the roast in a large roasting pan with a lid, or you can use your crockpot.  There is a lot of liquid in this recipe.  The  Worcestershire sauce and the roast itself will create liquid.  The lid is absolutely necessary to keep the heat inside the pan so the pork can get tender.  It takes 7-8 hours for the collagen to break down and create that signature taste.

Cooking pork low and slow is essential.

3.  Pour the sugar on the roast, pile on all the spices and dried onions. You do not want to leave any of the spices out.  The spice mixture makes the taste that is irresistible in this Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Copycat Recipe.

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4.  Pour on the Worcestershire sauce.  Place the lid on and put it in a 275° oven.  If you are doubling or tripling this recipe, like I do, buying Worcestershire sauce in the grocery store can be expensive.  You can purchase larger bottles at Costco or you can get it online.  It is important that this cooks at a low temperature for a long time.  You can put it in the oven in the morning and cook all day, or you can put it in the oven the night before you need it and cook it all night.  

5.  Let the roast bake for 7-8 hours.  If you are cooking this in a crockpot, you need to cook this on high.  The high temperature on a crock pot is around 300°.  After the roast has been cooking for about 6 hours, you can lower the temperature to low, or leave it at high, either one will work.
Drain the liquid from the roast before adding the sugar and enchilada sauce.

Throw Away the Liquid After the Roast Cooks

6.  After the roast has cooked, it needs to be drained.  All those spices and liquid have done their job.  Hold the lid on the pan and drain the liquid into the sink.  If you do not drain the meat, there will be way too much liquid after you add the sugar and enchilada sauce.

7.  Use two large forks to shred the meat into smaller pieces.   Pour the sugar and enchilada sauce on the roast and then mix well.  There is a bone in a pork shoulder roast, so be aware you might hit it when shredding the meat.  It needs to be taken out.

8.  Ready to serve!  I like to serve this with homemade tortillas.  Well, they aren’t really homemade they are Tortillaland tortillas that need to be cooked at home.  They are softer and thinner than regular flour tortillas.  To serve Cafe Rio Sweet Pork,  I like to make Cilantro Lime Rice and Creamy Tomatilla Salad Dressing which both can be found on my blog.  You can use pinto or black beans out of a can and before you know it, you have an amazing salad, a delicious burrito or a stunning taco.

Here are a few products I like to use when making Cafe Rio Pork.

When you purchase items from the Amazon links below, I receive a small commission.

Let me know on Instagram or Facebook if you make this.  Post a picture and tag me @dinasdiner.

Please rate this recipe if you make it. Let me know how many stars you think it should receive.