Asian Pork Tacos start with warm, soft flour tortillas that get loaded up with a sweet-and-spicy pork/veggie blend. Drizzle on the best spicy-mayo sauce for the perfect finishing touch!
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Keyword Asian Pork Tacos
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Total Time 45 minutesminutes
Servings 6servings (quantity of tacos dependent on how full you fill them!)
SAUCE: If making the creamy sauce, start so it has a chance to get more flavorful. Combine 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 teaspoon lime zest, 3 tablespoons lime juice, and 2 teaspoons (up to 3 teaspoons) chili-garlic sauce. Season with a tiny pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth; cover and chill in the fridge until ready to use. (The sauce may make more than what you use, but better more than less! Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to a week.)
VEGGIEPREP: Wash, dry, and dice mushrooms into small pieces. Thinly slice green onions and separate into 2 parts -- the white parts and the greens. Mince ginger and garlic.
PORK: Heat sesame oil in a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add in the mushrooms and the white parts of the green onions. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms soften, 3-4 minutes. Press to the edges of the pan and add pork to the center of the pan. Brown the pork, breaking up as you cook until it's mostly cooked through, 3-5 minutes. At this point, add in the ginger and garlic and continue to cook and break up the pork until it's no longer pink-- about 2-3 minutes.
SAUCE: While the pork is cooking, whisk together cornstarch and soy sauce in a medium-sized bowl until completely smooth. Once smooth, add in chicken broth, hoisin sauce, and 2 tablespoons chili-garlic sauce. Whisk until smooth and set aside.
FINISHMEAT: Back to the pork: add in the cabbage and matchstick carrots. Stir for 1 minute and then add in the sauce. Cook and stir until the sauce is thickened and glossy and veggies are tender, about 2-3 more minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the green onion tops.
TACOASSEMBLY: Cook tortilla shells or warm through (Note 7). Load up tortillas with 1/4 cup (38g) meat filling and then drizzle on sauce. If desired, top with fresh cilantro and serve with lime wedges to drizzle on top. Enjoy promptly! If you fill each taco with 1/4 cup meat you should get about 28 tacos!
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Notes
Note 1: Mushrooms: Pretty much any mushrooms will work fine, and we typically use Baby Bella or Crimini. Two cups is about 5-6 ounces of mushrooms.Note 2: Cabbage: Instead of shredding a full cabbage, pick up a bag of already shredded cabbage -- so easy and it cooks down so quickly! (The only ingredient on the package should be green cabbage -- avoid the veggie blends.)Note 3: Tortillas: Flour tortillas are best for these tacos -- these TortillaLand tortillas are our favorite -- they're easy, so fresh tasting, and completely perfect right off the heat (not sponsored).Note 4: Hoisin sauce: We recommend Lee Kum Kee's sauce for this recipe. Hoisin sauce can vary a lot from brand to brand, so if there is a brand you know you love, feel free to use that; otherwise, use Lee Kum Kee's for best results.Note 5: Chili-garlic sauce: This is spicy and adds heat to these tacos! Without this ingredient, the flavor will be lacking, but if you're overly sensitive to spice, you can slightly reduce it. We also tested this recipe with sriracha sauce and while not the same, it worked. (We liked 1 tablespoon of Sriracha best in the pork mixture--2 was too hot!--and 1 tablespoon in the sauce).Note 6: Mayo: Use a good (not sweet) mayo like Hellman's/Best Foods. If you don't want to add the spicy mayo sauce, drizzle lots of fresh lime instead on top of the pork mixture. The lime will add much-needed acidity and freshness! If you'd like a spicier sauce, add more chili-garlic sauce.Note 7: Warming tortillas: If not using the fresh tortillas that need to be cooked, we recommend warming tortillas first using one of the below methods:
Quick char the tortillas: Spray both sides of the tortillas with olive oil cooking spray and char the tortillas directly over the gas flames for a few seconds. Use tongs to flip until tortillas are lightly charred and soft. Immediately fold the tortilla in half (so it will fold into a taco nicely later) and set aside under a tea towel to keep them warm and pliable.
Warm the tortillas in a nonstick skillet. Spray both sides of the tortillas with olive oil cooking spray; cook for about 10-15 seconds, flip and cook for another 10-15 seconds. Immediately fold the tortilla in half (so it will fold into a taco nicely later) and set aside under a tea towel to keep them warm and pliable.
Warm tortillas in the microwave. Wrap a few tortillas in paper towels and microwave until warm and pliable, about 20 seconds.
Nutrition information is for one serving, which is about 4 or 5 tacos (street taco size).