Healthy Recipe for Roasted Pork Tostadas – Baked Tortilla Shells

This healthy recipe for Roasted Pork Tostadas with Baked Tortilla Shells is based on my hub recently on how to make Pork Tenderloin Nachos.

On making the recipe for Pork Tenderloin Nachos and wanting to only make half of the recipe, I was left with half of the roasted pork tenderloin and half of the bean mixture.  I decided to try and figure out a way to use these ingredients to make something other than the nachos and here is what I came up with – Roasted Pork Tostadas with Baked Tortilla Shells!

Photo Credit:  Flickr Quinn.anya

Recipe for Roasted Pork Tostadas

INGREDIENTS:

Roasted pork tenderloin (see below)
12 thin corn tortilla shells or 12 flour tortillas
Beans (see below)
Topping (see below)
Cooking Spray
Shredded Cheddar, Colby or Monterey Jack reduced fat cheese – or combination of any
Shredded lettuce
Fresh Cilantro
Jalapenos (fresh sliced or canned) if desired
Green onions
Salsa
Sour Cream

PORK:

1 1-pound pork tenderloin (trim off white membrane and excess fat)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt
Pepper if desired
Cumin if desired
Cooking Spray
1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon minced or crushed garlic

BEANS:

1 mini-cube of Knorr chipotle chile crumbled (or 2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce – canned with 1 teaspoon sauce )
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
Chili powder to taste
Salt if desired
Cumin if desired
2 15-ounce cans pinto or black beans, rinsed and drained (or
equivalent fresh cooked)
4 slices of bacon, cooked and
crumbled if desired

TOPPING/SALSA:

1-1/2 cups fresh diced plum tomatoes
1 cup diced avocado
1/2 cup finely chopped jicama (optional) If not used, use more onion
1/3 cup chopped onion (or green onions)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt if desired

METHOD:

Pork: Spray cooking sheet with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 500
degrees. Rub pork with olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin if used. Roast
in the oven at 500 degrees for between 20 and 25 minutes
(thermometer should be about 160 degrees). Set pork aside to cool for
10 minutes or so and then shred or cut into small strips.
Beans: Place chipotle cube crushed (or chiles in adobo sauce
as above, water, lime juice, chili powder and cumin if using,
salt and beans in food processor. Add beans. Process until
smooth. Stir in the bacon if you are using.
Salsa
Topping: Combine all listed ingredients to taste and toss lightly. (May
just substitute chopped Roma tomatoes for the topping with some green
onions chopped if plainer topping is desired)
Tortilla Shells:
Reduce oven heat to 400 degrees. Spray
large cooking sheet or jelly roll pan with cooking spray. Arrange tortilla shells in a single layer on
several cooking sheets and brush with olive oil, peanut oil, or even lightly
spray with cooking spray.
Bake for 5 minutes at 400 degrees, turn tortillas over and
bake on other side for 3-6 minutes longer.
You want the shells to be crisp and golden brown but not burned.
Assembly: Top crisped
tortilla shells with beans and cheese if desired and reheat for several minutes
in oven – or in the microwave. Or simply
heat beans and pork and assemble.
On top of tortilla, put beans, then pork, then topping
ingredients and any of the extra ingredients.
Top with some shredded cheese and sour cream.

POINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

This too is a great recipe for cutting the fat and the
calories – you are not frying the tortillas and you are using beans that do not
have lard and many other ingredients added. 
You have also MARKEDLY decreased the sodium by adding your own amount of
salt and also rinsing the beans if using canned beans. 

There are many substitutions that you can make for this recipe including

Use chicken instead of roasted pork
Use whole beans to put atop the mashed beans for a vegetarian tostada
Add tofu instead of meat atop the beans
Use shredded beef instead of roasted pork
Microwave the tortilla shells until crisp rather than baking – still no calories from oil
If you do not have canned beans on hand, substitute 2 cans of fat-free or low-fat refried beans for the beans and omit the prep step for the beans.
Substitute browned and drained ground meat for the roast pork
Use a rotisserie chicken to save time on the meat topping
Buy prepared tostada shells or baked scalloped shells

Summing Up Roast Pork Tostadas with Baked Tortilla Shells

I originally came up with this recipe because I did not want to make a full version of Roasted Pork Tenderloin Nachos, however, now I have a great dinner idea. 

For those of you who are wondering about pork and how it stacks up against other meats, here are some great facts:

Pork is naturally lower in salt and is a good quality source of protein
Pork is also good for vitamins and minerals such as some of the B vitamins, phosphorus, iron, zinc, and selenium to name a few
Pork that is lean is a great source of protein and about 100 g of pork can provide you with half of your daily protein intake (portion size is roughly the size of a deck of cards)
Leanest pork cuts are about 6% fat
Trimmed pork has more unsaturated than saturated fat
For folks who can’t eat fish, there are heart healthy oils and fatty acids in pork
Always trim off fat on meat in general – true as well with pork – trim the fatty membrane and any visible fat
To avoid toughness in pork, grill at low heat or roast.  Pork does not do well with high temperature cooking or will become tough easily

In short, this is a great way to use pork tenderloin to make a delicious dinner although sometimes tostadas are eaten as snacks rather than as a meal!

Be creative and add toppings according to your own personal preferences as far as Hispanic food goes.  As well, if this recipe is too big and you want to cut it in half, do so and then use the other half of the pork tenderloin, the beans, and the topping mixture to make Pork Tenderloin Nachos.

No matter how you prepare it, enjoy!

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