You are sure to fall in love with this recipe for Instant Pot Carnitas! Made with a few simple ingredients, this shredded pork roast is fall-apart tender and bursting with flavor!
While this recipe for carnitas may not be authentic, the flavors hit a home run and this recipe could not be any easier to make. Use this shredded Mexican pork to serve as the base for pork tacos, or top a burrito bowl or baked sweet potato with the meat for a delicious, hearty meal. This pork is also delicious served on a Mexican Cobb Salad or Mexican Pizza.
According to Wikipedia, Carnitas are made by braising or simmering pork in oil or preferably lard until tender.
You guys, I have been doing this carnitas thing all wrong! I do NOT simmer my pork roast in lard or oil!
But guess what? My recipe for Instant Pot Shredded Mexican Pork still tastes a LOT like traditional carnitas–tender, juicy, and full of flavor. Just minus the lard and the HOURS of work!
Best Pork For Carnitas
This recipe for Instant Pot Carnitas can be made with either pork shoulder, pork butt, or pork loin.
- Pork Butt (or Boston Butt)–A pork butt is marbled evenly throughout the roast and usually uniform in size. A very tender roast that shreds easily and stands up to bold flavor.
- Pork Shoulder (or Picnic Roast)–Has less marbling than a pork butt and typically comes with skin on that needs trimmed.
- Pork Loin Roast–Pork Loin Roasts are quite a bit leaner, which is ideal if you are watching fat or calories. However, the meat is known to dry out. I have not found it to be an issue in this recipe, as the instant pot seals in all the moisture and flavor.
How To Make Pressure Cooker Carnitas
- Turn your pressure cooker to Saute and pour in 1 tablespoon oil.
- Wait until your pressure cooker reads Hot, and then sear your meat 2-3 minutes per side until browned.
- Add in the beer and orange juice and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the inner pot.
- Set cook time for 30 minutes on high pressure for pork loin and for 40 minutes for pork butt or pork shoulder.
- After the cooking time has elapsed on the instant pot, let the pressure release naturally. This is an extremely important step if you want to achieve tender pressure cooker meat.
- Once pressure has released, open Instant Pot.
- To shred the pork, remove the pork chunks to a large mixing bowl, and shred with 2 forks, or a hand-held kitchen mixer. You can also shred in the instant pot, just be mindful of the hot liquid.
Crispy Instant Pot Carnitas
If you desire those crispy edges on your pork roast for contrast in texture, take a few minutes to crisp up your Pulled Mexican Pork.
- Turn your broiler on your oven to high.
- Spread your shredded pork loin on a large rimmed baking sheet, along with 1/2 cup of the cooking juices.
- Place the baking sheet under the broiler for 3-5 minutes or until the juice has begun to evaporate and the meat begins to brown.
- At this point, you can flip the meat, add an additional 1/2 cup cooking liquid, and repeat the process on the remaining side, or you can serve as is.
More Instant Pot Pork Recipes
- Instant Pot Pork Chops
- Instant Pot Pulled Pork
- Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
- Instant Pot Pork and Sauerkraut
Instant Pot Carnitas
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 3-4 pound pork roast, cut into 3-4 inch chunks shoulder or butt is preferred
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1 cup beer or chicken stock
To Serve
- tortillas, shredded cheese (cheddar or queso fresco), shredded cabbage
Instructions
- Turn your instant pot to saute and add in oil. Once heated, add the pork loin to the instant pot along with the spices. Turn to sear each side of the pork cuts. Turn the instant pot off once the meat is seared.
- Add in the orange juice and beer and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the inner pot.
- Seal the pressure cooker and be sure vent is pointing to "sealed." Set pressure to high and cook for 40 minutes for a shoulder or butt roast. Cook for 30 minutes if using a pork loin roast.
- Once cook time has elapsed, let pressure release naturally, or FOR AT LEAST 15 minutes.
- Remove the pork from the inner pot and place into a large bowl. Shred the pork with 2 forks or kitchen mixer (stand or hand-held mixer both work.)
- If you want to crisp the edges of the shredded pork, place meat on rimmed sheet pan with 1/2 cup cooking liquid and broil under high heat for 3-5 minutes per side.
- Serve Mexican pork with tortillas and shredded cheese, over rice, or over baked potatoes.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- For the beer, select a light and pale lager like Corona or Coors Light.
- In place of the beer, feel free to use chicken stock.
- Pork Shoulder or Pork Butt Roast is preferred for the marbling, but a pork loin can be used as well. For a pork loin roast, cut the cook time from 40 minutes to 30 minutes on high pressure.
My husband LOVES carnitas, but I’m a busy teacher who doesn’t have a lot of time to slow cook it all day. I’ve made this recipe three times now, and my Mexican husband says this is “melt-in-your-mouth madness.” I realized I had two versions of this recipe from Kristen and so the second time I made it, I didn’t cook it long enough because I left the roast whole, and so I had to let it go another 20 minutes. Make sure you cut it into chunks, but the seasoning is perfect. Last time I had no orange juice and so I used pink grapefruit juice and chicken stock. Still amazing. This just falls apart and is so moist. My husband gave up on the condiments and just started wrapping lots of pork in tortillas. Period. Score one for the wife! Thanks, Kristen. 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your husband’s praise Kristina! I love hearing that he found this recipe enjoyable, especially given his roots! I hope you all enjoy it many more times!
Can this recipe be adjusted for frozen pork?
Hi Chad! If you are using a roast that is frozen as a full roast, cook for 30 minutes PER POUND on high pressure. Once cook time has elapsed, let pressure released naturally, remove pork and cut into chunks. If the meat is not very tender, put back in cooking liquid and cook for 10 minutes on high pressure. If tender, shred away and enjoy!
We’ve made these several times for Taco Tuesday and each time we are blown away by how easy they are and also how tasty. I like mine with avocado and fresh salsa.
I am so glad you found so flavorful and easy to make. And you can never go wrong with avocado 😉
My favorite thing to make in my instant pot! Lovely recipe, thank you!
I am so glad you enjoyed this so much Noelle! Thank you for sharing.
Delicious! I used a 5lb pork loin. It didn’t brown too well due to volume in the pot. But was so flavorful, despite that. It fed a crowd of college kids!
Hi,
I was wondering if the cooking time the same if it is a bone in pork butt?
Hi Tamena! I would still cook for 20 minutes per pound.
I was wondering how would someone make this without an instant pot?
I got this in my email for the weekly meal plan, thank you
Hi Tony! Here is my Slow Cooker Carnitas recipe 🙂
I made this recipe last night and followed the directions as printed. I used pork tenderloin and there was a lot of liquid left over so I was concerned. I was wrong to be worried though. It was delicious! We had tacos for dinner and reused leftovers with some eggs in the morning for breakfast tacos! Will definatly make again 😉
I am so glad you enjoyed Chandra! Love the idea of using leftovers as breakfast tacos–so yum!
The orange juice in this recipe is the best advice ever! I cut a 3 pound shoulder (or butt, can’t remember) in half, sauteed until browned, and set for 50 minutes with the addition of green pepper, poblano pepper, onion, lime juice and some other spices, and it came out much better than my previous attempt without OJ. I’m a little bummed we don’t have more leftovers as we ate almost all of it. Thank you!
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Gale–I love the orange juice as well. Sorry you didn’t have leftovers though!
Super delicious and super easy.
My husband and I came back from a festival today and I wanted to make a quick, easy dinner but needed to use some pork we had from Costo. It was one of their tenderloins so I cut it into cubes just as the directions said. Used the juice from a bunch of cuties that I couldn’t finish and all the rest, including broiling the meat (a little added juice and a spray of canola oil) and wabam! Deliciousness! Love this recipe and will use it again.
I am so glad you enjoyed Kristin–and that you used with what you had on hand! Hope you enjoy many more times!
Thank you for this recipe. I didn’t have any OJ so I used apple juice. I followed your instructions for cooking a pork loin roast (mine was 1.5 lbs) with the same amount of liquid. I also scraped the brown bits from the bottom so I wouldn’t get a burn message. After it was finished cooking, the roast shred easily with electric beaters. I added about 2/3 cup of the liquid back to the shredded pork when it was all done. It was so so good!
Hi Melissa! I am so glad you enjoyed the Pork Loin! I love to use apple juice to cook pork in as well, especially for Instant Pot Pulled Pork. Have a great day!
Tremendous recipe. I followed the recipe at written and was left with exactly zero leftovers. The troops devoured the entire 4.25 lbs of pork shoulder. Served the pork with soft tortillas, sour cream and avocado.
YAY!! I am so glad you and your crew enjoyed Michael! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review.
Super easy to make and my husband says that *I* out did myself on it. Which is a huge compliment to you and this recipe. He is a Sally when it comes to food: he would totally claim that he isn’t picky about his food, but he definitely is (like Sally from When Harry Met Sally). Anyways, we are definitely going to be using this again.
Oh that is fabulous Joan! You let him believe it is all you 😉