Instant Pot Pork Carnitas
Instant Pot Pork Carnitas is a flavourful way of making juicy pulled pork with those signature crispy ends topped with quick pickled onions! This recipe makes having your favourite Mexican street food at home so quick and easy, perfect for tacos, burritos and salads!
Servings: 14 tacos
Calories: 164kcal
Ingredients
Instant Pot Pork Carnitas
- 3-4 lbs pork shoulder or butt roast
- 1 large orange juice of or 1/2 cup orange juice
- 2 limes juice of or 1/4 cup lime juice
- 4 garlic cloves grated
- 1 medium onion quartered
- 1 can of any beer
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp oregano dried
- 1 tsp cumin ground
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 14 corn tortillas
Quick Pickled Onions
- 1/2 cup red onion thinly sliced
- 1 small bunch cilantro chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup white white/red wine or apple cider vinegar
- Pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
- In Instant Pot, place trivet or steamer basket inside. Add pork roast and pour beer, orange and lime juice all over the meat.
- In a small bowl, add chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt and pepper; stir to combine. Rub pork roast with garlic and then sprinkle with a mixture of spices all around. Top with onions and citrus skins.
- Place the lid on top, venting valve to Sealing and cook for 1 hour on High pressure.
- While roast is cooking, make quick pickled onions by combining red onion, cilantro, water, vinegar, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir and refrigerate.
- After 1 hour, do Quick Release or Natural Release - doesn't matter.
- Transfer pork roast onto a baking sheet and shred with 2 forks.
- Pour 1 cup of meat juice on top and broil on High at 550 degrees F for 5-10 minutes or until crispy. I would also reserve more juices to rehydrate meat later.
- To make tacos, place some shredded pork on a corn tortilla and top with quick pickled onions. ALso can serve with guacamole or pico de gallo. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate shredded carnitas for up to 5 days. To reheat, pan fry with a bit of oil, juices, water, or stock until warmed through.
- Freeze: Up to 3 months in an airtight container.
- What cut of pork meat? In the video I used tenderloin roast because health crisis 2020. It is much harder to shred than butt or shoulder roast but possible. :)
- Substitute beer with any stock.
- Fresh lime juice tastes better than from a bottle. Lemon juice would work as well.
- You can save the juice and use it as a soup or stew base. Just discard the onion.
- Also reserve extra juices to rehydrate meat later.
Nutrition
Calories: 164kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 394mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 2g