Instant Pot Pork Carnitas

No ground beef sprinkled with taco seasoning here! With these deliciously tender and flavorful Instant Pot Pork Carnitas, we are about to take your taco game up a notch!!!

Pork Carnitas are so easy and super delicious. We had these on a recent trip to Mexico and have been addicted to them ever since.

Traditionally, these are slow cooked all day until they’re super tender. But, we made them quicker by using an Instant Pot and they still turned out super tender. However, if you don’t have an Instant Pot, a slow cooker is still great! Just go 4-6 hours on low or 6 to 8 hours on high if you are using a slow cooker. Or, you can get an Instant Pot here!

Oh, and don’t skip the last step of frying the shredded pork until you get those crispy edges. It adds such a great texture to your finished tacos!!

The Ingredients:

4-5 pound pork butt*

3 tbsp Mexican oregano (if you don’t have Mexican oregano, regular oregano works fine too!)

2 tsp cumin

2 garlic cloves, minced (we love using this garlic press)

1 tbsp salt

2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1-2 tbsp olive oil

2 orange, halved

1 can green chiles

1 cup Squirt or other citrus soda**

The Directions:

Make a rub with the oregano, cumin, garlic, and salt and pepper. Add enough olive oil to make a paste. Rub all over the pork butt and place in Instant Pot.

Add remaining ingredients to Instant Pot and pressure cook on high for 1 and ½ to 2 hours (depending on how big your butt is). Allow pressure to release naturally before opening. Remove pork from pot and shred with a fork.

Then, add several spoonfuls of the fat from the instant pot into a large skillet. Fry the shredded pork in batches until it’s slightly browned and crispy.

Serve on toasted flour or corn tortillas with your favorite toppings. We love fresh cotija cheese, salsa verde, onions, cilantro and avocados on our carnitas! Enjoy!!

*Can use pork loin, but it is better with pork butt since it has more fat and is more flavorful.

fat = flavor!!! If there is too much fat, feel free to trim some off. Just don’t take it all off

**You can substitute the Squirt for any citrus soda or juice. And if you have extra Squirt, fill a glass about half full, add the juice from half of a lemon, a shot or two of tequila and some kosher salt to get a super easy and surprisingly delicious margarita to go with your carnitas.

Enjoy!! If you make these, show us by tagging us on Instagram at @GreatToGather 🙂 We’ll repost it on our story!!

Thanks for reading!