Pork Tacos with Avocado Corn Salsa

These tasty pork tacos start with an Apricot Glazed Grilled Pork tenderloin that gets thinly sliced then gets topped with grilled corn salsa and cilantro lime sauce for a unique twist on your regular taco night! 

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This recipe for pork tacos is one of my very early blog posts.  The recipe itself is great, however, the actual post and the photo – not so much!  I’d share the old photo just for fun, but wow, it’s really terrible and embarrassing!!  So it was time for an update to the post!

This recipe was originally inspired by a recipe in the September 2004 issue of  Cooking Light Magazine.  I’ve always been a little bit obsessed with Cooking Light!!  I have LOTS of old dog-eared issues piled up around my condo, along with a lot of torn out pages with recipes that sound tasty and I want to make one day.    They have some great lighter recipes, many of which I still make and they also serve as great inspiration for creating new recipes.

I’m also a little bit obsessed with tacos right now.  Not that I haven’t always loved them but it’s just so easy to throw some meat on the grill, add veggies and a few other toppings and in no time at all you have the perfect weeknight meal.  A lot of the ingredients can be pre-prepped too, making it really easy to get dinner on the table in a snap.

For these tacos I used leftover apricot glazed pork from another one of my recipes to give them a unique flavor and also make them part of an easy “cook once, eat twice” strategy.  I’m a big fan of recipes where you can cook once and eat two or even three times.  Tacos are generally a great way to do that!   The other taco ingredients in this recipe are also great with chicken and steak, so if you want an easy way to change up your regular Taco Tuesday make up some of the corn salsa and cilantro lime sauce and toss it on your favorite taco meat!!

How to make pork tacos

One of the best things about this recipe is once you have the pork tenderloin and corn cooked, this is an extremely easy recipe to pull together as you basically just make the corn salsa and the sauce then assemble the tacos.  If you are trying to simplify your weeknight dinner routine,  implementing Taco Tuesday as part of your regular menu is a great way to do it!

Grill the corn: You want to start by grilling the corn so you give it time to cool down. You want to get a nice sear on the corn so be sure to leave it on the grill for at least 20 minutes total.

Make the salsa: Once the corn is cool enough to handle you need to remove it from the cobs. I use a corn removal tool like the one listed below but a sharp knife also does the trick. Then you just mix the remaining ingredients in, though if you are not serving right away I’d recommend leaving the avocado out until just before you are ready to eat.

Assemble the taco: I like to warm my tortillas up a bit. You can wrap them in foil and put them on the grill if it’s still warm. You can also wrap them in a paper towel and warm them in the microwave for about 20 seconds. If you like a bit of char on your tortillas and you have a gas stove, you can turn a burner on low and heat them right on the burner. Be sure to keep a VERY close eye on them so they don’t catch fire.

Additional notes from the kitchen

• If you don’t make the pork tenderloin ahead of time, you’ll need to add about 15 minutes to the total time needed to make this recipe.  As long as your grill is large enough, you can grill the tenderloin and the corn at the same time.
• If you want to pre-prep this recipe on Sunday make the pork tenderloin, which is perfect for Sunday dinner, and then save the rest for these tacos.  You can also make the corn salsa at the beginning of the week.  It’s good with tortilla chips as an afternoon snack if you want to make a little extra.  The cilantro lime sauce can also be part of your pre-prep routine as it will keep for the entire week.
• I personally like to use white corn tortillas for tacos, however, regular corn tortillas work too.  Flour tortillas are also an option if you prefer them to corn but they won’t hold up quite as well to the heavy ingredients.

What goes with pork tacos?

One of the best things about tacos as they can really be a meal all on their own. If you want to add a salad to get some extra veggies in your diet I’d recommend:

• Chopped Kale Salad
• Watermelon, Feta & Mint Salad

If you are looking for some other great taco recipes check out these Grilled Fish Tacos or these Elote Chicken Tacos.

things you may want for this recipe

Corn Removal Tool   – If you are a fan of corn salsas and salads it’s worth investing $10 in this corn peeler, which makes quick and easy work of removing corn kernels from the cob.

Pork Tacos with Avocado Corn Salsa

Author: Kathryn | Urban Foodie Kitchen

These tasty pork tacos use Apricot Glazed Grilled Pork from one of my other recipes and are topped with grilled corn salsa for a unique twist on taco night!

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 4 -6 tacos

Ingredients

  

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For the corn salsa: 

• 4 ears of corn, husks removed
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
• 2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• juice and zest from one lime
• ¼ cup cilantro leaves, chopped
• ½ teaspoon hot sauce, optional
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 1 avocado, diced
• salt and pepper to taste

For the cilantro lime sauce: 

• ⅓ cup plain greek yogurt
• pinch of sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon lime zest
• 1 tablespoon minced green onion
• ¼ cup cilantro leaves, chopped
• ¼ teaspoon finely minced jalapeño

For the tacos: 

• 4-6 corn white or yellow corn tortillas
• 4-6 oz Apricot Glazed Pork Tenderloin, sliced into thin strips
• ½ cup crumbled queso fresco

Instructions

 

• Grill the corn. Preheat a grill, or grill pan, to medium-high heat.  Brush the corn with grapeseed oil (you can substitute olive oil if you like).  Place corn on the grill and cook for about 20 minutes, turning after 5 minutes or so on each side.  You want the corn to be slightly charred.  Remove from the grill and cool slightly.
• Make the salsa. Using a sharp knife or corn removal tool,  remove corn from the cobs and place in a medium mixing bowl.  Add the oil, lime juice, zest, cilantro, hot sauce, sugar and avocado.  Mix well.
• Assemble the tacos. To assemble the tacos warm the tortillas either on the grill or in a skillet.  Add the sliced pork and top with salsa, cilantro lime sauce and queso fresco.  Garnish with extra cilantro if desired and serve immediately.

Keywords : taco night

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This post was originally published in December 2015. It was updated in July 2018 and again in August 2020 with some new information and a slight modification to the original recipe.