Instant Pot Carnitas

Instant Pot Carnitas is the ultimate dinner recipe. Crispy carnitas that is made into tacos for a tasty weeknight dinner the whole family will enjoy. A quick and easy way to make your favorite carnitas at home.

Course Dinner

Cuisine Mexican

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 1 15

Additional Time 8

Total Time 1 38

Servings tacos

Calories 540kcal

Author Kelsey

Ingredients

7-8 pound Pork Shoulder or Pork Butt Roast cut into cubes
salt and pepper to season diced pork
2 12 ounce Lager Beers ( I used Samual Adams)
1 1/2 cups orange juice
3/4 cup lime juce freshly squeezed
3 tablespoons canola oil or vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Lime Wedges 1-2 limes

Optional Items

Flour or Corn Tortillas Chopped Onions, Chopped Tomatoes, Salsa, Guacamole, Queso Fresco, etc.

Instructions

First you want to start by cutting up your pork roast into cubes. Then season it generously with salt and pepper.
Using the saute feature on your Instant Pot heat 1 1/2 tablepoons of oil up, and then batch cook your pork pieces. You might need to add extra oil as you cook, so if needed pour more canola oil in as you cook the pork.
You want to brown up the outside of the pork on all sides. When you are done browning sliced pork then turn the saute feature off.
Now you will want to pour in your orange juice, 1 beer, fresh lime juice, and use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pot. Make sure to remove any stuck on food to prevent getting the burn notice when you go to cook.
Now you will add in the seasonings - cumin, chili powder, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt and 2 teaspoons pepper, and stir. If your meat isn’t covered fully in liquid, pour in some or all of the 2nd beer. You want your meat covered.
Pour in your seared pork and put the lid on your pressure cooker. Make sure the valve is in the sealed position. Cook on High for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Allow to naturally release for 15 minutes, and then quick release any leftover pressure.
Remove your pork pieces and place on a baking sheet. Use meat claws and shred your pork.
Take your liquid in the Instant Pot and spoon around 1 cup of liquid over the shredded pork. This will help to keep it moist.
Turn the oven to broil and place your baking sheet with pork into the oven. This will give you a crispy carnita, this step is optional. This takes around 4-5 minutes max.
Once your pork is crispy, remove from the oven and serve how you would like.

Video

Notes

With this crispy carnitas recipe we made it into tacos, but feel free to use meat for quesadillas, burritos, tamales or any other type of dish you want to serve this pork carnitas with.

Ninja Foodi Carnitas - This can be made in the Ninja Foodi the same, and you can use the crisping lid to crisp the meat at the end of cooking if you don't want to broil.

Slow Cooker Carnitas - Simply sear the meat, and place it in the crockpot once done. Then add in the ingredients as you would to pressure cook. Cook on low 8-10 hours, then remove meat, shred and broil in oven to finish it off. Then serve in warm tortillas.

Searing Pork - Dicing and searing the pork on the saute mode adds a lot of flavor and texture to the meat. I recommend not skipping this step.

Nutrition