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    You are here: Home » Instant Pot Recipes » Instant Pot Carnitas {Juicy Tender Mexican Pulled Pork}

    Instant Pot Carnitas {Juicy Tender Mexican Pulled Pork}

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    Last Modified: September 22, 2021

    Recipe for Instant Pot Carnitas, a Mexican pulled pork dish

    Use your Instant Pot to make the most amazing carnitas (Mexican pulled pork), in about an hour and a half. Pork shoulder cooked to absolute, fall-apart perfection with a vibrant mojo sauce, this recipe is sure to please a big crowd. It’s really easy to make too!

    Recipe for Instant Pot carnitas
    Jump to:
    • What are Carnitas?
    • Ingredients
    • What kind of pork for carnitas?
    • Mojo Sauce
    • Preparation
    • Pressure Cook for 30 Minutes
    • Shred the Meat
    • Crisp The Meat In Broiler
    • Ready to Serve!
    • Other fun add-in’s and add-on’s
    • Carnitas Buddies
    • Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    What are Carnitas?

    Carnitas simply means “little meats” and is a traditional Mexican dish. It is commonly made by braising the meat in lard or oil for several hours. But don’t worry! We have a fantastic alternative to the lard and the long cooking time – your Instant Pot pressure cooker. We don’t use any lard at all, but rather a mix of spices and juices to create a vibrant flavor that will infuse our tender and juicy pressure cooked meat.

    Back in the day, (Yes, we still employ that phrase!) carnitas used to take anywhere from 4 ½ to 12 hours (for diehard barbecue aficionados) to bake to get that fall-apart luscious meat. But, now that so many of us have an Instant Pot sitting on our counters looking like a cheerful robot from the future, we feel like we’ve been transported to a brave new world where carnitas only takes 90 minutes to make.

    “Whoa. Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.” ~ Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure in Instant Pot Cooking

    Ingredients

    The ingredients for our Instant Pot Carnitas are listed in two sections: the herbs and spices for the shredded pork and the ingredients for the mojo sauce. These are the two main components for carnitas. We’ve kept the ingredient list as simple as possible with ingredients you either already have on hand or that are readily available at most supermarkets.

    What kind of pork for carnitas?

    We start with a 3-4 lb. boneless pork shoulder/butt. This is the most common pork used for both pulled pork recipes and for carnitas. You can certainly use a bone-in pork shoulder/butt, but you’ll need to cut around the bone, which isn’t really that big of a deal. It’s just one more step. The meat gets cut into cubes of about 1 ½ – 2″ in size. No need to be perfect here. You can also trim away the fat and discard as desired.

    Mojo Sauce

    How do we make simple pulled pork into tasty carnitas? Simple, we add a mojo sauce that gives the pork the most amazing, tangy, vibrant flavor. We do this with a mixture of chicken broth, orange juice, lime juice and grapefruit juice. You can use juice from bottles or squeeze the juice right from the fruit. All are important in the flavor profile, but if you’re missing the grapefruit juice, just increase the orange juice and lime juice. The mojo sauce also includes onion and garlic. Optional ingredients are smoked hot paprika and a cayenne pepper.

    All the ingredients for the Mojo Sauce for Instant Pot Carnitas

    Preparation

    Use a large bowl or zip-top bag and mix the chili powder, cumin, oregano salt and pepper with the pork. Get all the pieces of pork good and coated.

    Next start add the olive oil to the Instant Pot and use the sauté setting on high. Once the temperature is reached, the pot will beep and now it’s time to add the meat.  Since we’re using 3-4lbs of meat, it’s recommended to do this step in two batches.

    As we sear the meat we’re also “blooming” the spices, bring out even more flavor. After we’ve sautéed all the meat, there will be a lot of “fond” on the bottom of the pot. Fond, in cooking terms, is simply all the little bit stuck to the bottom of a pan or pot. And guess what? These little bits are loaded with flavor. Pour in ¼ cup of the mojo sauce and use a wooden spoon to “deglaze” the bottom of the pot. We want all those tasty little bits, we just don’t want them stuck to the bottom. This step is important! Failing to do so can result in a “burn” notice during cooking.

    Seasoning meat for Instant Pot carnitas recipe

    Pressure Cook for 30 Minutes

    Now we add the remaining mojo sauce to the Instant Pot, add the seared meat, and pressure cook on high for 30 minutes. Then we let the pressure naturally release for 15 minutes. Quick release any remaining pressure after the 15 minutes are up.

    Adding mojo sauce to pork to be cooked in an instant Pot for carnitas recipe.

    Shred the Meat

    ♪ SHRED, SHRED, SHRED! ♪SHRED, SHRED, SHRED! ♪SHREAD THAT MEAT, YA! ♪

    Give the meat a couple of minutes to cool down before you start shredding it. Also, if you have a kitchen buddy you can call on to help you shred the meat, you might want to do that. You’ve made enough meat to feed a very happy group of people, so an extra set of hands will only make the process go a little more quickly.

    Or, if you have a potato masher, let’s multitask that little tool, shall we? Because the meat is so supple, if you just mash and twist, that will make quick work out of shredding the carnitas.

    Faster shredding = Faster getting the platter of meat to the dinner or picnic table.

    Crisp The Meat In Broiler

    Some may call the step optional, some may call it necessary. Here’s the thing, right now you’re ready to shred the meat and serve. And it will be awesome! But, if you want that classic carnita crisp, spread the meat on a sheet pan and coat it with about a cup of the juices. Then place it under the broiler for 5-10 minutes.

    You want the crispy meat.

    You need the crispy meat.

    Don’t get us wrong, the meat that hasn’t been crisped is still delicious and wildly full of flavor. But, once you get the crunchy textural contrast on those beautiful pieces of pork – well – you’ll truly understand the magic of the carnitas.

    Mexican pulled pork crisped under the broiler
    Browning the shredded carnitas meat under the broiler truly makes them carnitas!

    Ready to Serve!

    Serve your carnitas on a flour tortilla with a little red onion and fresh cilantro and some additional juice poured over the meat. This a classic way to serve carnitas. Of course, there’s other toppings that go perfectly with carnitas. Pico de gallo and fresh pineapple are excellent toppings. Have you ever heard of watermelon radishes? Pickled watermelon radish sliced thin is an amazing topping for carnitas. And of course, you can always just add your favorite salsa and sour cream.

    Recipe for Instant Pot Carnitas Mexican Pulled Pork

    Other fun add-in’s and add-on’s

    I mean, the list of fun stuff to add in or on is endless. Here’s just a few things to consider…

    • Guacamole
    • Thinly sliced scallions
    • Tomatillo salsa
    • Black or purple radishes (or the watermelon radishes we mentiond!)
    • Cotija or Oaxaco cheese
    • or our very own Sweet and Chunky Mango Salsa

    Carnitas Buddies

    Sure, we’ve piled our carnitas sky high with add-on’s, but that doesn’t mean we’re done with our plate. Oh, no!

    Let’s partner up our instant pot carnitas with some amazing side dishes. How about our Best Damn Instant Pot Spanish Rice? Or, our Best Damn Instant Pot Refried Beans? You know the carnitas will love that! Why not round out our meat heavy side dish with our Best Damn Instant Pot Vegetarian Chili?

    Booyah! Mmmm!!!

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    Recipe

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    Recipe for Instant Pot Carnitas

    Instant Pot Carnitas {Tender Juicy Mexican Pulled Pork}


    ★★★★★

    5 from 2 reviews

    • Author: RecipeTeacher
    • Total Time: 1hr 15 min
    • Yield: 8 servings
    Print Recipe
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    Description

    Tender, juicy carnitas (Mexican pulled pork), with a tangy and vibrant mojo sauce, cooked to perfection in your Instant Pot. Ready to serve in a fraction of the time of slow cooking.


    Ingredients

    Mojo Sauce Ingredients

    • 1 cup chicken broth (not low-sodium)
    • ½ cup orange juice
    • ¼ cup lime juice
    • ¼ cup grapefruit juice
    • 2 tablespoons diced red onion
    • 1 clove garlic, diced
    • ½ teaspoon hot smoked paprika (optional)
    • 1 cayenne pepper, seeded and chopped (optional)

    Pork Ingredients:

    • 1 (3-4lb) pork shoulder butt, cut into 1 ½-inch pieces
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 1 teaspoon chili powder
    • 1.5 teaspoons dried oregano
    • 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
    • ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil

    Instructions

    1. Mix all mojo sauce ingredients together in a medium bowl and set aside.
    2. In a large bowl or zip-top bag, add the chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper with the pork pieces and olive oil. Mix everything together to get the pork well coated.
    3. Set Instant Pot to sauté mode on high. When hot, add half the pork and brown on all sides, about 2-3 minutes. Remove pork to a bowl and repeat with remaining pork.
    4. Remove the pork and press cancel. Now pour in ¼ cup of the mojo sauce use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the stuck on bits on the bottom of the pot. This step to “deglaze” is very important. We want those tasty bits but not stuck to the bottom of the pot.
    5. Add all the pork back in along with the remaining mojo sauce. Secure lid with vent set to seal, and pressure cook (manual) on high pressure for 30 minutes. Then let pressure naturally release for 15 minutes. Release any remaining steam and remove cover.

    Option 1: Shred pork and serve on warm tortillas with toppings of choice.

    Option 2: Remove pork to a sheet pan, partially shred and drizzle over with about 1 cup of liquid from the pot. Place under broiler for 5-10 minutes. Serve with additional liquid and toppings of choice.

    • Prep Time: 20 min
    • Cook Time: 30 min (+preheat time and +15min release)
    • Category: Dinner
    • Method: Instant Pot
    • Cuisine: Mexican

    Keywords: instant pot, mexican, pulled pork, carnitas

    Did you make this recipe?

    Be sure to leave a comment and rating below. I appreciate your feedback!

    Also, tag @recipe_teacher on Instagram and hashtag it #recipeteacher

    Recipe for Instant Pot Carnitas, a Mexican pulled pork dish
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      Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

    1. Jeanette G

      July 31, 2022 at 3:06 pm

      I make your pulled pork recipe all the time and love it. Made the carnitas today and oh man this is superb and I haven’t browned the little meats yet!

      ★★★★★

      Reply
    2. Doug

      January 28, 2021 at 4:57 am

      Shouldn’t this read 1/4 cup fresh LIME juice?

      ¼ cup fresh orange juice

      Reply
      • RecipeTeacher

        January 28, 2021 at 8:39 pm

        Thanks for pointing that out, Doug!! Correction has been made.

        Reply
    3. David

      October 29, 2020 at 8:29 pm

      Well…I just cooked up a batch of Instant Pot Pork Carnitas for my family of 5, and WOW…it scored BIGTIME!! My family absolutely tore it up and asked for repeated servings! 😀All plates were returned to me empty…not one little shred left! This is a must try!!

      THANK YOU JASON…
      David

      ★★★★★

      Reply
      • RecipeTeacher

        October 29, 2020 at 10:14 pm

        Thank YOU so much, David and family!

        Reply

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    Hi, I’m Jason and i’m here to help you make easy, delicious homemade recipes. My approach is to provide the easy-to-understand instructions, use simple ingredients, and have you make the best meals possible.

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