Instant Pot Carnitas
Instant Pot Carnitas is amazingly juicy braised pork that has been shredded with delicious spices. Serve as filing for tacos, burritos, or as a taco salad!
These Instant Pot Carnitas are easy to make when you use your Instant Pot Pressure Cooker! Juicy pork with crispy edges stuffed in a low carb tortilla…does life get any better? I don’t think so.
Instant Pot Carnitas
Prep Time
25 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
Total Time
1 hr
Instant Pot Carnitas is amazingly juicy braised pork that has been shredded with delicious spices. Serve as filing for tacos, burritos, or as a taco salad!
Course: dinner, Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican
Servings: 6
Calories: 250 kcal
Ingredients
1 4-5 lb pork shoulder , cut into large chunks
1 grapefruit , zested and juiced
1/2 an onion , sliced
4 garlic cloves , minced
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 bay leaf
3 tsp kosher salt
lime juice and chopped cilantro for serving
Instructions
Pour grapefruit juice into the liner of the Instant Pot
In a separate bowl, add chunks of pork, grapefruit zest, garlic, oregano, cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, and salt. mix to combine
Add pork, onion, and bay leaf to the Instant Pot
Replace the lid, make sure it is set to sealing, and press the manual button. Change the time to 35 minutes.
After the timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally. This could take 20-30 minutes.
After the pressure releases, remove the lid and use a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the liquid and onto a baking sheet.
Pre-heat your broiler.
Using 2 forks, shred the meat and remove any large chunks of fat. Place the meat under the broiler and let the meat get brown and crispy.
Serve with lime juice and chopped cilantro
Recipe Notes
My kids love these carnitas just the way they are or I put them in a low carb tortilla or some crispy corn tortilla boats. They love those! My son loves his with sour cream and olives.
Sometimes I'll make them a little plain white rice and put the carnitas on top when they are not feeling like tacos.