Name: Instant Pot Carnitas
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 40 min
Total time: 2 h 25 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 8 lbs bone-in pork butt or approx. 6 lbs boneless; 8 oz can tomato sauce or 3/4 cup tomato juice; Juice of 2 limes; 3/4 cup orange juice; 6 oz beer (1/2 of a 12 oz bottle); 1/4 cup salsa (any red salsa that you enjoy will work); 2 tablespoons kosher salt; 1 tablespoon cumin; 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper; 1 tablespoon dried oregano; 1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste; 8 whole cloves garlic smashed; 4 chipotle peppers canned or dried, roughly chopped

Instant Pot Carnitas – create the taco bar of your dreams or feed your family pulled pork for days. So quick and easy in the pressure cooker but if you don’t have one, try my slow cooker version.

Instant Pot pork carnitas

I first fell in love with making my own carnitas in 2011. Prompted by watching my neighbor prepare them traditionally in a copper pot with lard, I found a more realistic way to cook them myself using the slow cooker.

What are traditional carnitas?

Carnitas are a pulled pork taco filling, originating from the Michoacán region of Mexico. Traditionally, they are slow cooked in lard in a copper pot. Once tender, the pork is shredded and served with various taco fillings such as cilantro, onions, fresh tortillas, and refried beans.

whole pork butt on cutting board with knife

The right cut of pork to make these will either be called pork butt or pork shoulder at your meat counter. This cut of pork may be boneless or bone-in. Either will work but I prefer the boneless if I can find it. When I make this dish, I usually prepare a lot so it feeds us for several meals.

Why use the pressure cooker?

Since I originally made these in the slow cooker, it seemed like a natural leap to prepare them in the instant pot. So far, all the dishes I used to make in a slow cooker work out really well cooked with pressure. These were no exception.

When I first made these, I popped 6-8 pounds of pork butt in the slow cooker in the morning and let it cook all day. But what if you decide to make them at 3 or 4 pm? Then what? Pull out your pressure cooker!

For a smaller cut of meat – two to four pounds, they will cook in even less time.

Substitutions and shortcuts

Well, first of all, several of my friends have made this with chicken and been really happy with the results. So if you have light or dark meat chicken, you can use that. The cooking time will be less – check the amount of chicken you have and look up cooking times for that weight (bone-in or boneless) and adjust. I recently made about 2.5 pounds of boneless chicken breast and it took about 15 minutes of high pressure to be shreddable.

As for the liquid and spice ingredients – you can take some liberties here. No orange juice? Use extra lime or meyer lemon? Think the cinnamon sounds weird? It actually works out nicely but you can skip it. Don’t like spicy? Cut back on the chipotles. No chipotle? Try smoked paprika? No tomato sauce? Just use canned diced tomatoes.

How to make Instant Pot carnitas

First, gather your liquid and spice ingredients for the sauce – put it all in one bowl and whisk it together.

mixed carnitas liquid ready to pour on meat

Second, prepare your meat – you’ll want to cut it into large, manageable size chunks to make it fit better in the inner pot. Also makes the shredding a bit easier later.

chunks of pork roast on white cutting board with knife

Third, place the meat pieces in the instant pot and pour the liquid over.

pork butt in instant pot with sauced poured over it

Fourth, close the pot, turn the knob on the instant pot to sealing and set it for 75 minutes of pressure cooking. If you have closer to 4 – 6 pounds of meat, try 60 minutes or even 45. You can always cook it more.

Fifth, once it is done with pressure cooking, I let the pressure naturally release for about 20 – 25 minutes. Let any further pressure out carefully then you can open the pot, let it cool down for a few minutes and very carefully remove a chunk at a time to shred.

broiled carnitas meat on tray with extra sauce and limes

And finally, if you like the crispy edges of traditional carnitas, place some of the meat on a parchment or tin foil-lined sheet pan. Sprinkle some juice on it and place it under the broiler for 3 – 5 minutes to get the crispy edges.

Pro-tip

If you want to remove the fat in the sauce, store the meat in one container and the juice in another. The next day pull the sauce container out of the fridge and you can just scrape off the congealed fat with a spoon and discard it (or save it for another use – that’s up to you!).

How to serve this shredded pork

The first thing that comes to mind with carnitas is probably tacos. And most definitely that is a perfect way to use this meat. And especially if you need to feed a crowd or have picky eaters, a taco bar really works.

2 tacos on wooden cutting board with limes

But don’t stop there, this pulled pork can be used for so many other dishes. Think salads, chilaquilies, soups, barbecue sandwiches and so much more. For lots of ideas, be sure to check out Family Spice’s post on what to make with pulled pork.

What to serve with Instant Pot carnitas

close up of carnitas tacos on white background with limes

If serving as tacos, use your favorite toppings. Here are some of my favorites:

Pickled red onions (so easy to make – soak in red or white vinegar for a few hours or longer)
Sliced cabbage
Shredded lettuce
Cherry tomatoes
Cilantro
Sour cream
Cotija cheese (or cheese of choice)
Salsa
Black beans
Guacamole

Some fun side dishes would be:

Corn salad
Chopped Salad
Rice – (make whatever rice you like but you can follow the directions for this basmati rice minus the saffron and barberries and it would pair nicely)
This kale and quinoa salad with grapefruit would be a very refreshing option!

To be honest, if I serve these as tacos, sometimes we load up on the toppings and don’t even serve another salad or side dish with them. But definitely for a crowd, side dishes are a great addition.

Supplies for making pressure cooker carnitas

Obviously an instant pot is crucial – we have the Instant Pot Duo 6 quart. I rarely use any preset buttons – mostly I sauté and pressure cook so I personally see no reason to buy more functionality and spend more money. If you have a large family or cook for crowds, you might want to consider the 8 quart. If you are cooking for one or two and rarely more, consider the 3 Quart. Sheet pans, as I always say, are invaluable. And if you really want to get into the spirit, make your own tortillas – use this tortilla press and pan cook them in a cast iron pan!

Yield: 12 servings