This delicious pernil-style roast pork shoulder is moist and juicy with crispy, crunchy skin. It’s marinated in garlic and seasonings and roasted in the oven until it falls off the bone! It’s the perfect dish for Sunday dinners and holiday entertaining.
My absolute favorite way to rock this dish is by serving it with Russian-style potato salad (ensalada rusa) and rice with pigeon peas (arroz con gandules). In fact, one could argue it’s the only way!
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❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe
- This recipe is full of flavor! It’s prepared most like the Puerto Rican style of pernil. It’s marinated for a full 24 hours with lots of garlic and sofrito.
- It’s roasted for a full 7 hours on the bone, which locks in moisture and makes the meat so tender, juicy that it practically falls off the bone!
- It has delicious crispy skin (some cultures call this chicharron, Americans call it crackling). For me, it’s arguably the best part of the dish!
📋 Ingredient notes
- Pernil is made using a picnic roast, which is an inexpensive cut of meat from the lower part of a pig’s shoulder. It’s always sold with the bone-in and the skin on. Refer to ‘recipe substitutions‘ below if you can’t find a picnic roast.
- To clean and tenderize the pork, we’ll be using a simple solution of water, fresh lime juice and white vinegar.
- This recipe uses sofrito as a marinade, which is a purée of garlic, cilantro, onions, lime juice, olive oil, and seasonings.
Recipe Substitutions
- If you can’t locate a picnic roast, you can also use Boston butt to make pernil. Like the picnic roast, the butt actually comes from the shoulder of the pig. It’s just a little further up on the pig and the meat isn’t as dark. Boston butt is sold on the bone with the skin on, and should be prepared as if you were using picnic roast.
- Adobo and sazon are spice blends commonly used in Latin American cooking. Feel free to add them if you’d like! For this recipe, I use a lot of the herbs that are already present in sazon and adobo.
- Some cultures like to season their pork with orange juice rather than lime juice. Feel free to experiment!
🔪 Step-by-step instructions
Make the sofrito
Step 1: In a food processor, make the sofrito by puréeing the the cilantro, chopped onion, 10 garlic cloves, dry seasonings (minus the salt), olive oil, and juice from one lime. Pulse on high speed for 1 minute and set aside.
Clean and tenderize the meat
Step 2: Remove the pork shoulder from the package and place it on a cutting board. Semi-detach the fat cap from the meat by using a sharp knife and cutting along the line where the skin meets the flesh.
Step 3: Place the pork shoulder in a large bowl with the skin-side facing up. Tenderize the meat by pouring some of the white vinegar and juice from 1 lime into the opening that you created between the flesh and skin.
Step 4: Return the skin to its original position and pour the remaining vinegar over it. Fill the bowl with water and let soak for 10-15 minutes. Drain and rinse the meat under cold water. Pat dry with paper towels, making sure to dry under the skin.
Step 5: Place the roast on a cutting surface with the skin facing down. Use a sharp knife to poke 10-15 holes on the bottom sides of the roast. Cut the remaining garlic cloves into quarters and press 1 piece of garlic into each hole. Place the meat in a clean bowl.
Let marinate
Step 6: Spread a generous amount of sofrito over the backside of the pork shoulder. Season with half the salt. Use your fingers to push the salt and sofrito into the holes that you created, and under the hind layer of skin.
Step 7: Flip the pork shoulder over and peel back the fat cap once more. Use a sharp knife to poke holes into the flesh of the roast. Repeat the process of pressing in the garlic cloves into the holes and rubbing the roast with sofrito and remaining salt.
Note: Don’t feel that you need to use all of the sofrito. Store whatever’s left in the refrigerator or freeze for future use.
Step 8: Wrap the marinated meat tightly in plastic wrap and place it on a baking sheet. Let it marinate in the refrigerator for 1-3 days.
Roast the pork
Step 9: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Place the unwrapped pork shoulder a roasting pan with skin facing up. Add broth to the bottom of pan and roast for 6.5 hours. For the final stage of roasting, raise the oven temperature to 400°F and roast for 30-45 minutes more, until the skin is hard and crispy.
Tip: Test the crispiness of the skin by tapping it with a knife. A knocking sound signals that the skin is perfectly crisp!
Step 10: Let the roasted pernil rest for 15-20 minutes then transfer to a cutting board. Remove and cut the skin into pieces. Carve the meat using a knife or shred it using 2 forks. Serve with fresh lime juice and pan drippings.
💭 Tips and Tricks
- Flip the wrapped pork shoulder over every 4-5 hours so it marinates evenly while it’s in the refrigerator.
- Allow 40 minutes of roasting-time per pound. Some recipes call for less time, but I get better results when I allow my roast to cook for longer.
- Watch the level of liquid in the roasting pan closely to make sure the drippings don’t burn in the pan. Baste every 30 minutes or so, adding more water or broth as needed.
- For an even roast, rotate the pork shoulder every few hours while it’s in the oven.
🍽 Serving suggestions
Some ideas for serving this roasted pernil recipe:
- Spoon juices from the pan over the meat and drizzle with fresh lime juice.
- Don’t forget to eat the crispy skin, it’s the best part!
- Your choice of fried green plantains or fried sweet plantains.
- Ensalada rusa (or salada russa in Portuguese) is a take on the Olivier (potato) salad and is popular during the holidays in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking cultures.
- With white rice or arroz con gandules and a cold glass of coquito!
❓Recipe FAQ’s
Bone-in pork shoulder (pernil) needs 35-40 minutes of roasting time per pound. For fall-off-the-bone meat, lean toward the 40-minute mark.
Pernil should be left uncovered so that the skin doesn’t stick to the foil. Don’t worry about the meat drying out, the bone and skin will lock in moisture.
Some people don’t add water or broth but I do to keep the drippings from sticking to the pan. I reserve and spoon the drippings over the meat before serving it.
Traditional pernil is made with the bone-in and the skin on. With that said, you can get away with using a boneless roast for this recipe but I wouldn’t call it ‘pernil’ without the crispy skin!
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Roast Pork Shoulder – Pernil Recipe
Ingredients
Marinade (sofrito)
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 2 heads garlic or 16 cloves
- 1 teaspoon oregano fresh or dried
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 lime
Pernil (pork shoulder)
- 10 pound pork shoulder (labeled picnic roast) bone-in, skin on
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- 1 lime plus more for serving
- 1 tablespoon salt divided
- 1 cup water or chicken broth plus more for basting
Instructions
- In a food processor, make the sofrito by puréeing the the cilantro, chopped onion, 10 garlic cloves, dry seasonings (minus the salt), olive oil, and juice from one lime. Pulse on high speed for 1 minute and set aside.
- Remove the pork shoulder from the package and place it on a cutting board. Semi-detach the fat cap from the meat by using a sharp knife and cutting along the line where the skin meets the flesh.
- Place the pork shoulder in a large bowl with the skin-side facing up. Tenderize the meat by pouring some of the white vinegar and juice from 1 lime into the opening that you created between the flesh and skin.
- Return the skin to its original position and pour remaining vinegar over the pork shoulder. Fill the bowl with water and let it soak for 10-15 minutes. Drain the water and rinse the pork off under cold water. Pat dry with paper towels, make sure to also pat under the skin.
- Place the pork shoulder on a cutting surface with the skin facing down. Use a sharp knife to poke 10-15 holes all over the bottom and sides. Cut the remaining garlic cloves into quarters, press 1 sliced clove into each hole and place the pork shoulder in a clean bowl.
- Spread a generous amount of sofrito over the backside of the pork shoulder. Season with half the salt. Use your fingers to push the salt and sofrito into the holes that you created, and under the hind layer of skin.
- Flip the pork shoulder over and peel back the fat cap once more. Use a sharp knife to poke holes into the flesh. Repeat the process of pressing in the garlic cloves into the holes and rubbing the the meat with sofrito and remaining salt. Freeze or refrigerate any sofrito that you don't use.
- Wrap the marinated pork shoulder tightly in plastic and place it on a baking sheet. Let it marinate in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or at least 24 hours. Flip every 3-5 hours so it marinates evenly.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Unwrap the pork shoulder and place it in a roasting pan with the skin facing up. Add broth to the bottom of pan and roast for 6.5 hours. For the final stage of roasting, raise the oven temperature to 400°F and roast for 30-45 minutes more, until the skin is hard and crispy.
- Let the roasted pernil rest for 15-20 minutes then transfer to a cutting board. Remove and cut the skin into pieces. Carve the meat using a knife or shred it using 2 forks. Serve with fresh lime juice and pan drippings.
Notes
- Flip the wrapped pork shoulder over every 4-5 hours so that it marinates evenly while it’s in the refrigerator.
- Allow 40 minutes of roasting-time per pound. Some recipes call for less time, but I get better results when I allow my roast to cook for more time.
- Watch the level of liquid in the roasting pan closely to make sure the juices don’t burn at the bottom. Baste every 30 minutes or so, adding more broth as needed.
- For an even roast, rotate the pork shoulder every few hours while it’s in the oven.
Marisol Popper says
A beautiful recipe