Made with only a handful of ingredients, this recipe for Instant Pot Carnitas results in tender, fall-apart pork that is bursting with flavor!
Replicate the authentic flavor of Mexican Carnitas without all the work and added lard. These Instant Pot Carnitas may not be authentic, but they are just as delicious and incredibly easy to make.
Carnitas the Easy Way
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 Mexican Pork still tastes a LOT like traditional carnitas--tender, juicy, and full of flavor. Just minus the lard and the HOURS of work!
So while this recipe may not be traditional, it is easy and delicious--and everyone loves these Instant Pot Carnitas!
Key Ingredients
- Pork: This recipe for Instant Pot Carnitas can be made with either pork shoulder, pork butt, or pork loin. For the best flavor and results, I recommend using a Pork butt also known as a Boston Butt, as it is a tender roast that shreds easily. Pork Loin is a great substitute if you need the recipe to be lower in fat.
- Orange Juice: Use pulp-free 100% orange juice. The orange juice adds incredible flavor to the pork, don't omit it!
- Beer: Select a light and pale lager like Corona or Coors Light. Or omit the beer and use chicken stock instead.
Step By Step Instructions
- Hit the saute function on the instant pot and add in 1 tablespoon oil of oil into the inner pot of your Instant Pot.
- Allow the pressure cooker to heat for 2-3 minutes, or until your Instant Pot reads Hot.
- While the instant pot is heating, cut the pork roast into 2-3 inch chunks.
- Once the pressure cook is heated, add the meat to the inner pot along with the salt, cumin, garlic powder, and oregano. Sear the pork for 2-3 minutes per side until browned.
- Turn the Instant Pot off.
- 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.
How to Crisp up the Pork
To add a more authentic texture to the Instant Pot Carnitas, take a few minutes to crisp up the meat once it has been shredded.
- Turn your broiler on your oven to high.
- Spread the shredded pork loin on a large rimmed baking sheet, along with ½ 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 ½ cup cooking liquid, and repeat the process on the remaining side, or you can serve as is.
Ways to Serve Carnita Meat
Instant Pot Carnita Meat can be served in endless ways.
- Serve the shredded pork on homemade tortillas topped with avocado, and cabbage for simple pork tacos.
- Serve the carnitas meat over Instant Pot Baked Potatoes or Instant Pot Baked Sweet Potatoes and then top with cheese for a Mexican-style stuffed potato.
- Use the pork in a Burrito Bowl, on served on top of Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice.
- Replace the chicken with the Instant Pot Carnitas in Mexican Cobb Salad, or in the filling of Chicken Enchiladas.
- Instead of taco meat, top a Mexican Pizza with the shredded Mexican pork and bake as directed.
- I love making a simple slaw by mixing together ¼ cup of sour cream and Greek yogurt together with the juice of 1 lime, a handful of chopped cilantro, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Stir 3 cups of cabbage into the mixture. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving with the shredded pork.
Storage and Freezing Instructions
Store leftover carnitas in an airtight container for 4 days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze the leftover meat in 1-2 cup portions for up to 3 months in an airtight freezer-safe container. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight before reheating and serving as desired.
More Instant Pot Pork Recipes
- Instant Pot Pork Chops
- Instant Pot Pulled Pork
- Instant Pot Pork Tenderloin
- Instant Pot Pork and Sauerkraut
If you tried this recipe for Instant Pot Carnitas, I would love for you to leave a comment and rating below.
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 and allow to heat for 2-3 minutes.
- Once the inner pot is heated, add the pork chunks to the instant pot along with the spices. Turn to sear each side of the pork and toast the seasonings, about 2-3 minutes per side. 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 ½ 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.
Joan Perrucci
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.
Kristen Chidsey
Oh that is fabulous Joan! You let him believe it is all you 😉
Monika
I made these a few nights ago and they were a HIT! So tasty! Only thing I changed is that I used pineapple/orange juice because that's what I had, and I also added a little cornstarch to thicken the sauce at the end juuuust a tad (about a 1.5 tsp dissolved into a little cold water). We will absolutely be making these again. I am fairly new to using my (offbrand) instant pot, but I am loving it so far! Looking forward to trying more recipes like this!
Kristen Chidsey
I am so glad you enjoyed Monika! Thank you for sharing your modifications too!
Shiho
Another great instant pot recipe! Thank you I was looking for a pork recipe using my instant pot! It was easy and delicious 😀
Kristen Chidsey
I am so glad you enjoyed!
Beth
Great tip with the shredding! Way to make a quick, tasty and easy recipe even quicker!!
Kristen Chidsey
The shredding meat with the mixer is one of my favorite tips!
Jane D.
Worked late, whole pork loin - what to do? Cubed it up, tossed it in the Mega Cocina (Miami's answer to the Instant Pot) followed this recipe (I quartered an onion and chopped the top off of a small head of garlic and put it directly in the pot - no peeling!) and cooked it 25 minutes. Removed the meat from the pot into a mixing bowl to shred - Love love love the hand mixer for pulling the meat! Strained the remaining juice from the pressure cooker onto the meat and served it up with some tortillas and pico de gallo. If I would have had more time, I might have crisped the meat up after shredding it on a flat top/skillet but it was delicious as was. Thanks!
Kristen Chidsey
I am so glad you were able to enjoy this meal after a long day at work! I hope you enjoy many more times 🙂
Gina Matsoukas
Love how flavorful this meal is! Delicious!
Kristen Chidsey
I am so glad you enjoyed!
April
This was so delicious! I love using my IP to cook meals like this one.
Kristen Chidsey
The Instant Pot makes this SO easy!
Erika F
I made these tonight for the first time (which is sad since I'm half Costa Rican and my dad used to make carnitas all the time!) and they turned out quite good. I didn't measure the seasonings so they needed to be bumped up after the fact, but that was all on me. I didn't have oj and the only really acidic liquid in the fridge was some whey leftover from making yogurt. I dumped some in and am happy to report it worked out great! I had it in a bowl and my nephew had a burrito. Thanks for such well written and tested recipes!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Erika! I am so glad you enjoyed these! And great idea to use the whey! I love adding that to smoothies, but never thought to add to carnitas.
Jessica
So, I made this tonight and it came out really dry and wouldn’t shred. What did I do wrong?
I did 4 lbs of meat cut into 2 lb pieces. I set the timer for 40 minutes.
This was my first time making pork, so I am not sure if I messed it up in what I did. I appreciate your thoughts.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Jessica! I am sorry you are having issues shredding your pork. Can I ask what cut of meat you used? Also, you want to be sure you let pressure release naturally.
Kristina P.
If your chunks were 2 lbs each, 40 minutes probably wasn't long enough. If that happens, just put it back in for another 10-20 minutes. Try for 1 lb chunks, and the meat will fall apart.
Matt
I’m using a 4lb frozen pork butt. So is the math 18mins (pork butt) + 10mins (frozen) = 28mins. Then x 4lbs? So 1hr 52mins?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Matt! That is correct! I hope you enjoy!
Amy Stilling
If you are using 2 pounds of meat, do you use less liquid?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Amy, you can cut the liquid back to 1-1 1/12 cups total--just use equal parts beer and orange juice.
Alisha
Hi! This may be confusion on my part, but I noticed that you listed 2 different cooking times for the same cut of meat - the pork "butt" is the shoulder. Which cooking time should I use? The pork loin tips are amazingly helpful. Thanks for the post!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Alisha! So sorry for any confusion. Pork Butt and Pork Shoulder are often said to be the same thing, however I was referring to a picnic shoulder. Which is a different part of the pig. I will clarify that now.
Tammy Gaston
I haven't tried the recipe yet but I will tonight and I expect it will be delicious. I wanted to thank you for the tip on cooking the meat in the pot. I have just started using the instant pot and hadn't really considered cooking time being based on the size of the meat vs. the weight of the meat. That is probably the best tip I have ever gotten on cooking in the instant pot. It may be common sense to some but for me....well, like I said....I'm new at this. That tip alone is worth a 5 star rating to me. Thanks a Lot!!!
Kristen Chidsey
I am so glad that tip helped Tammy! It is NOT common sense for most, so you are not alone in that at all. Enjoy!
Rebecca
Great site! I would appreciate making sure everything is listed that is shown in the picture. I saw there was a different kind of cheese, so I needed to look up pork carnitas to figure out what kind of cheese. And we need some kind of tortilla - do you have recommendations? Is there a reason why you leave that off? I noticed the same thing with the pulled pork - there is no “bun” listed even though it’s in the picture. This seems really nit picky, but I’m afraid if I just scan down the recipe to make a quick shoppping list, I’ll forget really important things! Thank you =)
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Rebecca! I am sorry for any confusion. I do list how to serve the carnitas in the post, but it would certainly be helpful to have optional ideas in the post. I will be sure to update these posts for others as well, and will keep this in mind for future posts. Thanks!
As for tortillas--I love Tortilla Land. They are fresh tortillas made with just wheat, water and oil. They are in refrigerated section and need to be cooked before using. They can be hard to find, but I have seen them at Walmart and Costco. For cheese, I use feta, shredded cheddar, or queso fresco.
Mike
I'm confused about the cooking times for a pork loin. I have a giant 8 lb pork loin. What's the best way and time to cook that at?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Mike! To cook 8 lbs in your instant pot, you need to cut it into pieces that will fit into your IP. I would suggest cutting in half and if that works, you would cook BOTH pieces together but base the time on cooking 4 pounds of meat (you always base timing based on largest piece of meat, not total meat) So that would be 80 minutes on high pressure. If you cut into 3 pieces I would cook for 60 minutes on high pressure. Hope that helps! Enjoy
Debra C.
I love the tip to shred the meat - easy and smart!!
Kristen Chidsey
Thanks Debra! That tip is one of my favorites. Not that shredding meat with forks is hard, but this method is QUICK!
Amy Stilling
Did you shred it with hand mixer? What's the difference?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Amy, I actually shredded this with a hand mixer because I didn't want to dirty up my stand mixer-but both work about the same.