Cafe Rio Pork Salad

Pork Salad from Cafe Rio or Costa Vida is my all-time favorite meal. But since we live so far away from both of those great restaurants, every once in a while I buy a pork roast and make my own salad or tacos. I've tried a few recipes for the pork, but I think I've figured out how I like to make it. My secret ingredient in the sauce is adding a little BBQ sauce.

Here's a picture of my salad using some leftover pork that I had for lunch today. It didn't have any cilantro-rice on it, but it was still yummy.

Cafe Rio-Style Pork
recipe by Jenny

2 -4 lb. pork roast
1 1/2 c. coca-cola
salt and pepper
garlic salt/powder

Season pork with salt and pepper and garlic salt or powder. Place in crock-pot and pour coke over the meat. Cook for 6 -8 hours on low, or 3 -4 hours on high.

Remove pork from crockpot and shred. Discard juices from crockpot.

In a saucepan simmer for 10 minutes or so:
1 c. ketchup
1/2 c. red enchilada sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
4 oz. diced green chilies
1 c. coca-cola
1/4 c. BBQ sauce (from a bottle or make your own)

Add to crockpot the shredded pork and sauce. Cook on low until ready to serve.

This makes a lot of pork. I usually put some in the fridge for two days of leftovers and then freeze three bags or tupperware full of pork to have tacos later.

Here's what I like to put on my salad:
Flour tortilla on bottom (these homemade wheat tortillas are yummy)
Cheddar Cheese
Cafe Rio-style Pork
Cilantro-lime Rice
Black Beans
Tomatoes
Lettuce or Spinach
Guacamole
Salsa
Cilantro Ranch Dressing

Click here to find the recipes that I like for cilantro-lime rice, black beans, and tomatillo dressing. Also, Picky Palate has a good simpler version of the pork salad too.

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