Instant Pot Carnitas
Instant Pot Carnitas will feed a crowd or your family for days. So quick and easy in the pressure cooker but if you don’t have one, try my slow cooker version.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr 40 min
- Yield
- 12 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 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)
Instructions
- 1
Trim any excess fat on the exterior of the pork butt, cut it into smaller pieces and then place it in the Instant Pot.
- 2
In a medium size bowl or 4-cup measuring cup, mix the next 13 ingredients together and then pour over the pork butt in the Instant Pot.
- 3
Set it for 75 minutes high pressure, making sure the vent is in sealing position.
- 4
Let it natural pressure release for about 20 minutes, then release any more pressure and carefully open the lid. The pork is ready when you can put a fork in it and it feels like it will fall apart.
- 5
Remove the pork from the pressure cooker and place it on a large cutting board to cool. When cool enough to handle, shred it with two forks, removing any large chunks of fat you find along the way.
- 6
On a foil-lined sheet pan, place a single layer of the shredded pork and drizzle the pork with a bit of the cooking juice.
- 7
Turn on the broiler and place the pork under the broiler (about 6 inches away) and let it crisp up for about 5 minutes (time will vary depending on how far away from the broiler you place the pan and how hot your broiler is. Mine was set for convect broil at 450 degrees about 6 inches from the element.)
- 8
The pork will now have some of the crispness you traditionally find in fried carnitas.
- 9
Serve with corn or flour tortillas and a variety of taco garnishings such as salsa, sour cream, avocado, fresh tomatoes, crisp lettuce, a blend of Mexican cheeses, cilantro or as a platter with refried beans, rice, and salad.