How long it takes: 1 hour, 35 minutes (mostly hands-off time) Equipment you’ll need: Instant Pot pressure cooker, sheet pan Servings: 8
Easy Instant Pot Carnitas
Pressure cooking greatly reduces cooking time. Maybe you aren’t convinced of the usefulness of your Instant Pot yet. Try these Instant Pot carnitas and you’ll never look back! Instead of braising pork for half a day, these carnitas are well-done and so unbelievably tender in an hour! Yes, that’s right, an hour (disclaimer: that doesn’t include marinating time). Healthier than traditional methods. While braising the pork in lard undoubtedly makes delicious carnitas, it adds a lot of fat to an already fatty meat. When you use an Instant Pot, the pressurized heat tenderizes the meat without sacrificing flavor. A flavorful marinade. I love that the meat is marinated right in the Instant Pot, and then cooked in the marinade so you end up with such flavorful pork. The marinade is made with orange and lime juice, lots of garlic, along with herbs and seasonings. Can be made ahead. Make the pork ahead and reheat it under the broiler when you’re ready to serve it with your favorite taco toppings. Serve Instant Pot carnitas at your next get-together.
How To Make Instant Pot carnitas
How much time you’ll need: The total cooking time, including prep time, marinating, time to pressurize, cooking, natural release, and broiling is approximately 1 hour and 35 minutes. Most of the time is hands-off which allows you time to prep the toppings and side dishes you’ll need. Mix up a simple marinade of orange juice, lime juice, fresh garlic, dried bay leaves, and seasoning. The seasoning is a mixture of salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, oregano, and coriander, all simple pantry items. If you intend to make carnitas on a regular basis, you could mix up a big batch of the seasoning and keep a jar of it on hand. I like to do that with taco seasoning and salmon seasoning. So convenient! Marinate the pork. Cut the meat into two inch chunks, more or less. Trim off excess fat and put the pork right into your Instant Pot. Pour the marinade over the pork, stir it up, and let it marinate for 30 minutes. You don’t need to refrigerate it while it’s marinating. It’s actually better to let the meat warm up a little so it cooks more evenly. However, if you want to marinate it longer than 30 minutes, definitely refrigerate it. Pressure cook. Cover the Instant Pot, and set it to Pressure Cook for 15 minutes. (Some models will be Manual, High Pressure). It takes about twenty additional minutes to come to pressure. Allow the pressure to natural release for fifteen minutes, then release any remaining pressure. Broil the cooked pork. You may be wondering about the “crispy bits.” Aren’t they what make carnitas so good? That’s why we add one final step! When the pork is cool enough to handle, remove it from the Instant Pot and spread it out on a sheet pan. Shred the pork chunks with a couple of forks, sprinkle on some of the cooking liquid, and broil the carnitas for five to ten minutes until the pork browns just a bit. You decide how brown and crispy you want it. Stovetop method: If you don’t want to turn your oven on, you can brown carnitas in a large skillet over high heat. Heat for about five minutes without stirring so the shredded pork browns on the bottom, stir well, and continue until it’s browned and lightly crisped. Serve. Serve carnitas with lightly charred corn tortillas, homemade pico de gallo, lime wedges, chopped fresh cilantro, shredded cabbage or lettuce, guacamole, pickled onions, and sour cream or crema. Mexican corn dip, refried beans, and cilantro lime rice are great side dishes to serve with your carnitas. Don’t forget tortilla chips with salsa and a frosty Dos Equis beer.
More Serving Suggestions
You’ll find that there are many ways to serve carnitas!
Traditional: Serve carnitas with warm corn tortillas, homemade pico de gallo, lime wedges, chopped fresh cilantro, shredded cabbage, guacamole, pickled onions, and sour cream or crema. Burritos. Serve carnitas wrapped in flour tortillas with toppings to make burritos. Meal bowls. Serve carnitas with rice or another grain in a bowl, with desired toppings. Nachos. Like loaded chips and cheese? Carnitas are perfect to make nachos. Add carnitas to these cauliflower nachos, replacing the chicken with pork.
Make Ahead Tips
Make carnitas a day or two ahead, but skip the crisping step (broiler or frying pan). Gently reheat the meat in a slow cooker or Dutch oven and then crisp it up under the broiler before serving. Looking for a crockpot shredded pork recipe? Try slow cooker pork tacos. Somewhat similar to carnitas, this recipe makes pulled pork that cooks all day in your crockpot in a flavorful tomatillo sauce. It’s incredibly tender and so easy to make.
Storage Tips
Pork carnitas are great leftover. In fact, they taste a little better the next day. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for three to four days, or up to three months in the freezer. Interested in a weekly meal plan that includes this recipe? Take a look at Meal Plan #79. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. We add a new meal plan weekly. in your Instant Pot!
