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 is amazingly juicy braised pork that has been shredded with delicious spices. Serve as filing for tacos, burritos, or as a taco salad!
My Instant pot is being put to a lot of use lately making these carnitas and Instant Pot Chicken Drumsticks!
HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POT CARNITAS
I went on a whim the other day and made these instant pot carnitas. We love juicy pork any day of the week, especially with lots of lime juice squeezed on top. I’m not sure how carnitas are supposed to be made traditionally, but this is what I use to make them. Pork shoulder (obviously), a grapefruit, garlic, onion, bay leaf, spices, and salt.
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I love the instant pot because we just throw all of the ingredients into the pot, set the lid to sealing, set the cook time and we are good to go!
The Instant pot carnitas come out super juicy!
We then put them onto a sheet pan and break them up with some tongs. They should just fall apart because they are so tender.
Now we just broil them until there are brown and crispy on top.
When these are pulled out of the instant pot they are so juicy, but to make them amazing, you have to crisp them up under the broiler for a few minutes. Its a small step that cannot be skipped. Then you must squeeze fresh lime juice all over them.
So have I mentioned that I love my Instant Pot? It is currently my most used kitchen appliance, behind my microwave. If you don’t own an Instant Pot yet, you can still make pork carnitas! You can use a slow cooker to make them, or you can use a dutch oven to make them. They will just take a bit longer.
USES FOR PRESSURE COOKER CARNITAS
My dilemma is always what to do with all of this leftover juicy pork. You can only make tacos on Tuesday, right?! Well, I have come up with some low carb ideas over the years that don’t include lettuce cups. Go ahead and thank me now.
- Instant Pot carnitas on top of cilantro lime cauliflower rice
- You can get a little more fancy and have instant pot carnitas mixed with cheese and stuffed into zucchini boats
- Carnitas, avocado, a runny egg, YUM!
- Cloud bread, mashed avocado, carnitas, cotija cheese, cilantro and lime juice
- Pork nachos with carnitas!
- Just carnitas…boom. These are so good, they need no accompaniments.
WATCH ME MAKE PRESSURE COOKER CARNITAS
⭐ Did you make this Instant Pot Carnitas Recipe? Tag me on Instagram so I can see! @lowcarbwithjennifer
Instant Pot Carnitas
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
- Add all of the ingredients, except lime juice and cilantro, to the liner of the instant pot. Mix well.
- Place the lid, make sure it is set to sealing. Cook high pressure for 35 minutes.
- After the timer goes off, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. Do a quick release to let out the rest of the pressure.
- 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 or tongs, shred the meat and remove any large chunks of fat. Place the meat under the broiler and let the meat get brown and crispy 5-8 minutes. Watch closely so they do not burn.
- Serve with lime juice and chopped cilantro
Steph says
Made this tonight. I had country style ribs in the fridge but didn’t want to make to usual pulled pork.
Walmart didn’t have grapefruit so I substituted orange and lime. I didn’t think it had much flavor but my mom loved them!
I think putting the meat on the broiler before eating was a good idea!
I’ll attempt it again with a grapefruit. Then I’ll know if the recipe is a keeper
Charlene Graham says
These look Amazing…..I dont eat Pork or Beef…can i use chicken or turkey
jenniferbanz says
I think chicken would work!
Theresa says
This has become my go-to carnitas recipe! I don’t always have grapefruit but its tasty with a fresh squeezed orange or even 2 cutie mandarins squeezed in there.It makes delicious leftovers and is great in quesadillas, over rice, etc. And my husband will be eternally grateful to this blog for suggesting serving this with avocado and a runny egg. That has become one of his favorite meals of all time!! Keto heaven! Thanks for posting!!!
lori says
so excited to try this! curious about the net carbs and sugar count (grapefruit)?? under Nutrition i see it’s listed as 250kcal but i do not see any other nutritional facts…any thoughts??
Lani says
I made this exactly as posted. It was easy and delicious. I’d never had carnitas before. My Mexican homestay student said it’s just like she has at home! Thank you for such a yummy dish!
Tracy says
Absolutely delicious! My new carnitas recipe!
jenniferbanz says
Yay! So Happy you love the recipe!
Jennifer Cryer says
Made this in the crock pot and everyone loved it! Crisping it up and lime juice were the ticket for me! Thanks!
Sarah says
I never leave comments. But Oh My Goodness. This was 1. Super Easy. 2. Super Yummy. Followed the recipe exactly. And I cant stop eating it.
Kelly Boyd says
What changes would I make for a bone-in pork shoulder?? Would I increase the time at all??
jenniferbanz says
yes, you would need to increase the time unless you cut the bone out. The time for this recipe is for cut up pork shoulder so if you do not cut the pork, I would double the time and check to see if it is tender.
Katrina says
Love this recipe! Can you double this recipe and cook the same time in the instant pot? Or how long in crockpot? Wanting to make for large group of people
jenniferbanz says
It would be 8 hours on low in the crock pot. To double in the Instant pot, it would be the same amount of time as long as you cut the pieces of meat into 3 inch chunks.
Shadi Hasanzadenemati says
I made your recipe for a gathering the other day and everyone kept asking for the recipe. It was totally a hit!
wilhelmina says
This is just absolute perfection! Finishing the off on the sheet pan adds just the right crispy touch! SO GOOD!
CHERYL says
By far my one and only favorite for pork carnitas! I use an orange instead of grapefruit, but planning to try that next. Thanks so much for this delicious recipe!
jenniferbanz says
That makes me so happy! Thank you so much for the review!
Jonnie says
Sliced Onions listed in the recipe but didn’t see in the video.
jenniferbanz says
I guess we forgot to add them in the video.
Jonnie says
Do you add them to the Instapot or on top of the taco as a garnish? BTW, made these (added onion to pot) and they were FANTASTIC!! So I guess I’ll just keep on keepin’ on 🙂
Sami says
Wouldn’t cooking this in the Instant Pot require adding like a cup of water or other liquid to pressurize? I’m very new to cooking in a pressure cooker.
Also, do you know the carb count? I don’t remember seeing it posted.
jenniferbanz says
The grapefruit juice is a thin enough liquid to bring the pot to pressure
Ashley says
Great recipe! I’ve never thought to cut the pork before cooking to reduce cooking time, brilliant move! I also subbed orange juice for the grapefruit and it was perfect filling for arepas with guacamole.
Debbie says
I just made these and the flavor is perfect! The instant pot makes it so tender and I love the cinnamon and cumin mix. Thanks for this recipe and easy instructions. My meat was frozen, so I cooked it for 48 minutes and natural release and it was perfect.
jenniferbanz says
I am so glad you liked it, Debbie!
Kristina says
Do u place the pork on the trust in the pot? I was told meat should not sit on the bottom of the pot
jenniferbanz says
You can use the trivet
MJ says
This recipe is awesome. I’ve made it approximately 6 times thus far and even my friends that love traditional Mexican food say it is superb. One thing I did however was take the leftover juice and hit the sauté setting and allowed it to reduce. In addition to that I added some seasoning, lime juice and to thicken it up included some green bean starch (all I had on hand haha). After I broiled the carnitas I added this juice on top to give it a little more life and the rest is history.
Carmen says
How long should we broil?
jenniferbanz says
About 5 minutes but you really have to keep an eye on it so they don’t burn
Erin says
I made this today for nachos during football. It was also the first time I ever used my new Instantpot. This was a total crowd pleaser! The flavor was incredible.
Erin says
could you substitute orange juice for the grapefruit juice?
jenniferbanz says
yep!
Courtney says
This was the first recipe I made with my instant pot and I was a little nervous but it was super easy to follow and so different and tasty! Thanks for the great recipe Jennifer, my husband loved and toddler loved it!
Karla says
What is the net carbs on this?
JenPoMas says
Made this tonight and I was a bit skeptical of the grapefruit addition. Did it anyway and it was amazing. I will be bookmarking this page and making this again. I’m so surprised how good this was. Thanks for sharing this.
One thing, cutting up the roast was a major PITA. Do you think it’d be possible to quarter the roast and cook it a little longer? This is only my 3rd InstantPot meal so I’m still trying to learn.
jenniferbanz says
I’m so glad you liked it!
You can definitely leave it whole but it will need to cook longer.
DD says
A partially frozen, almost thawed, piece of meat cuts up much easier than a chilled piece of meat.
Crystal says
We love this recipe thank you so much for sharing. I cut up a pork loin and have it frozen in chunks. How long would I cook it for when frozen?
jenniferbanz says
I would add 5 minutes to the cook time
Kristen says
Is manual set to high or low pressure?
jenniferbanz says
High pressure
Ann says
Hi Jennifer. To make this in a slow cooker, how long should I cook it for? Would I need to change anything else in the recipe to do this? Thanks.
jenniferbanz says
Hi Ann! I would do 8 hours on low. Everything else will be the same.