Erin shared these recipes with me a long time ago…it reminds me of the salad you can get at Cafe Rio -everyone’s favorite! It is a little different but delicious. After trying out several of these knock-off recipes, this one is by far my favorite. In fact it is one of our favorite dinners! Just remember, if your roast is less than 3 pounds, cut down the ingredients accordingly or it will be too sweet. Hope you enjoy!
Toast a large tortilla sprinkled with cheese under the broiler until slightly crisp. Then layer chopped romaine, rice and beans, shredded pork, pico de gallo, guacamole, and crispy tortilla strips. Drizzle on dressing, sprinkle with cotija cheese and garnish with a lime wedge…and voila! Dinner is served! Yummy! (for instructions on how to make your own delicious and easy crisp tortilla strips, click here to refer to Mel’s recipe of tortilla soup)
PrintShredded Sweet Pork Salad
Ingredients
Sweet Pork
- 3 lb pork roast
- 1 c brown sugar
- 1 c Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp powdered ginger
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 Tb dried minced onions
Cook all ingredients in a crock pot on low all day (abt 8 hours). One hour before serving, remove roast and shred it. Dump out all cooking juices and place shredded pork back into crockpot and add…
- 1 c brown sugar
- 1 c red enchilada sauce
Cilantro Lime Rice
- 3 c water
- 3 c Minute rice
- 4 cubes chicken bouillon
- 4 tsp garlic, minced
- 1 Tb canola oil
- 2 Tb fresh lime juice
- 1/2 bunch of cilantro
- 1/2 onion
- 1 can green chiliesGarlic Black Beans
- 1 can black beans
- 1/3 c tomato juice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (1 tsp)
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 Tb canola oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 Tb chopped cilantro
- Heat oil then add cumin and garlic until garlic begins to pop. Add rest of ingredients and serve warm
- Creamy Tomatillo Dressing
- 3 tomatillos, peeled and quartered
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1/2 c buttermilk
- 1/2 c mayonnaise
- 1/2 c sour cream
- 1 pkg dry buttermilk ranch dressing
- 1 c fresh chopped cilantro
- 6 green onions with ends, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (1 tsp)
- 3 tsp sugar
- 1 jalapeno, sliced thin – add to taste
- Place all ingredients in food processor or blender and mix well. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.
Instructions
Cilantro Lime Rice:
- Blend cilantro, onion, and chilies in food processor. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients, simmer covered for 30 minutes or until rice is cooked. *I hate Minute Rice and never buy it – you can substitute regular rice, just adjust the water to rice ratio accordingly.
Garlic Black Beans
- Heat oil then add cumin and garlic until garlic begins to pop. Add rest of ingredients and serve warm
Creamy Tomatillo Dressing
- Place all ingredients in food processor or blender and mix well. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.
Does that really say 1 CUP of Worcestershire sauce? Thanks.
Your note under the Cilantro Lime Rice ingredients says you can substitute regular rice for the Minute rice. Do I still use three cups of dry rice? And then I would need more like 6 cups water, right?
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I was wondering if I could prepare this as a make ahead freezer meal to defrost night before putting in crock pot?
I have made this meal many times! I am a huge cafe rio fan…the only thing I did differently was add coke to the crockpot for the pork…the cilantro rice, dressing, garlic black beans…amazing!! We lived in Utah for 9 years and now live in Minnesota..my 14 year old misses cafe rio and this meal reminds her of it! Thank you so much for sharing and for your wonderful website. Everytime I am looking for something to cook…I go here!
I would say double the rice and triple (or even quadruple) the beans! Remember it's just one can of beans so it really only feeds about 3. When I make this for my family (just me, hubby and 3 yr old) we eat all the beans the recipe makes- but then we love beans! It's hard to say with the rice because to be honest I don't usually make it. If it's for something special I will for sure – it's delicious. But sometimes I'm too lazy when it's just my little family! So anyway, it's hard for me to estimate how much you should make… I think 3 cups of rice would feed 6 people though. Hope this helps!! 🙂
Brittany- thanks for getting back to me so promptly! Do you think I should just double the beans and rice too or do those need to be trippled? Thanks for everything!
Hey! I would say doubling it would be plenty… if you're using a 3 pound roast. 6 lbs of meat should be enough to feed 12 especially since it is in a salad so everyone will be filling up on lettuce, beans, rice, guacamole and all the other yummy additions to this salad! Great idea for a big crowd – I'm sure it will be a hit! Brittany
I am cooking for a party of 12 and was wondering if I should double or tripple this recipe. Thanks!
this is so yummy. I love cafe rio and this is always a hit in our house. I love seeing how our knock off recipes compare. thanks for sharing
nicole
http://theveryhungrycaterpillar.blogspot.com/
Hi Brittany! I just found your blog a couple of weeks ago and while i don't love cooking, i do LOVE this blog! your recipes are awesome, not insanely challenging and i can't wait to try out so many of your delicious creations.
I know that you posted this a long time ago but i was wondering if you could tell me about how many people this recipe serves. I am in charge of a big family dinner and need to know whether to double or triple it. Thanks brittany!
I have really enjoyed your blog! And this recipe as well as your quick and easy breadsticks are now favorites. I made the pork salad for some friends, and it was a hit.
I make the breadsticks at least twice a week. When I make the breadsticks, I use 2 cups white flour and 1 cup whole wheat. Then I cut them in half (when baked ) and set them in a dish that has olive oil, minced garlic and parm cheese (the shaker kind), so then you can dip the breadsticks in the oily goodness!
My kids love these, so thank you thank you thank you!
I have referenced your blog a couple times on mine. =)
This is a crowd pleaser let me tell ya! Doing all the recipes at once takes some time but it is well worth it. I've made this 3 times now and never had left-overs! YUM!
The cilantro rice and garlic black beans are FABULOUS!!! We use them a lot and when we take them to dinners, they are a big hit. I usually double the recipe, as this makes a small portion.
MMMMM!!! I made this dish for Quatro de Mayo (my husband has class on Tuesday nights, so I made it a day early 🙂 ), and I LOVED it. My husband isn’t a big fan of Mexican food, but he ate it and I can’t wait to share this recipe w/ my family and friends. Thanks so much for sharing!!
My supermarket was out of pork loin roasts, so I actually used a pork butt–I don’t usually care for that cut of meat, but it worked great! This was honestly one of the best dishes I’ve ever made–and I love to cook! Thanks so much for the awesome recipe. (for anyone else trying this–I’d at least double the black beans–I ran out of them way before everything else and had to make a couple more batches!)
Hi Kelli, I like to use pork loin or another roast like that….that doesn’t have the nasty skin! 🙂 Also, pork loin tends to be less fatty which makes it much better.
I just stumbled across your cooking blog, and I love it! This looks fabulous, but here’s a question–what kind of pork roast did you use? (i.e. shoulder, butt, pork loin, etc?)
Thanks
The pork was fantastic. I made it for a dinner party Saturday night – everyone brought one of the elements (rice/beans, lettuce, dressing, etc) which made our part easy. I made a little fresh guac and the whole thing was a hit. Thanks!
Yum, sis! Your husband is so lucky. You make the best food. 🙂
YUM! This looks and sounds so good!
Wow–that looks so good!! I am going to try this recipe soon!