In English, carnitas translates to “little pieces of meat.” When made the right way, that’s exactly how carnitas should come out. It should be shredded into small pieces and, ideally, crispy and moist (btw, I hate that word) at the same time.
Traditional carnitas are cooked low, slow, and with lard. But come on y’all. Let’s get real. Ain’t nobody got time for that….or room on their thighs for lard.
I jumped on the Instant Pot bandwagon about a year and a half ago and there’s been no turning back. One of the many reasons I use my Instant Pot about once a week is to turn recipes that would typically take hours on end into recipes that shrink that time considerably. I don’t usually start thinking about cooking dinner until around 5pm and by that time, my hopes of a slow cooker meal or one that takes hours to simmer on the stove are long gone. Now enter carnitas, a meal I’ve previously made in a slow cooker, and that’s never really come out like it should. Carnitas, meet Instant Pot. Instant Pot, meet Carnitas. Now you two shall hence forward live happily ever after.
There are so very many things you can do with carnitas. They can be made into tacos, they can sit atop a salad, they can be turned into burritos, or even just eaten solo as an entree. Personally, I love making ours into carnitas bowls which I highly recommend.
For the carnitas, you’ll need to trim and brown your meat. After that, it’s a matter of throwing your ingredients into the Instant Pot, setting your pressure to high and timer to 30 minutes, and walking away until it’s depressurized. The secret comes after your Instant Pot has naturally released. You’ll spoon all of your meat on to a foil lined baking sheet, shred it with two forks (it will shred so incredibly easy!), and then broiling it for three to four minutes in the oven until the meat gets nice and crispy on the top bits. Y’all. It’s killer! 
Delicious Instant Pot Pork Carnitas
This recipe will leave your meat crispy, moist, and tasting incredible.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs pork shoulder (also known as pork butt) fat trimmed and cut into cubes
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp dry adobo
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 3 adobo peppers in chipotle sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- juice of three limes, divided
- 1 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
Instructions
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Salt and pepper the meat generously.
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Set Instant Pot to Sauté mode and add olive oil. Allow to heat for about two minutes.
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Add meat and brown all pieces on each side, about 10 minutes, turning regularly.
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Once browned, turn Sauté function off. Sprinkle cumin, oregano, dry adobo, and garlic powder on the meat and mix around with tongs.
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Add garlic and onions on top of the meat and mix well with tongs.
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Add lime juice from two of the three limes, orange juice, broth, bay leaves, and adobo peppers to the pork in the Instant Pot and mix.
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Place the top on the Instant Pot and lock the lid. Be sure the knob is set to Seal. Set Instant Pot on High Pressure for 30 minutes.
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Once the timer goes off, allow the value to naturally release, about 20-25 minutes.
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Spoon the meat and onions from the Instant Pot on to a baking sheet lined in foil. Be sure to remove bay leaves and adobo peppers. Shred the meat with a fork by mashing and turning it. Squeeze the remaining lime juice on the meat.
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Set the oven to broil on high. Place the baking sheet near the top for 3-4 minutes, watching to ensure meat gets brown and crispy but doesn't burn.
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Remove from the oven and enjoy as taco meat, burrito meat, on a salad, or in a bowl.
