Instantpot Slow Cooker Carnitas

03 Aug 2022

There was a sale of pork butt at the grocery store so I purchased it not knowing what I would do with it. Coming home, I found a great recipe for carnitas that I'm glad we tried. The kids loved it! The original recipe is from Carole Jones (My Kitchen Escapades) and I’ve altered the recipe to use an instantpot on the slow cooker setting. I’m curious to try it on the pressure cooker setting next time.

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 lb boneless pork butt, cut into 2 inch cubes
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • ¾ tsp. pepper
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1 onion, peeled, halved
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 Medium Orange, juiced and keep split halves

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine all the ingredients in the instantpot. (I used an 8 qt. but my 6 qt. would have been perfectly fine for this too, even if you double the recipe). Press slow cooker setting, HIGH, and set for 6 hours.
  2. Once it’s done cooking, take all the meat out using a slotted spoon/spatula onto a dish (see Notes regarding Pyrex dish, onion and for kids). Press Saute and HIGH setting and boil it for 20 – 30 minutes until you only have 1 cup of liquid remaining. While you’re boiling the liquid off, shred the meat.
  3. Take the 1 cup of liquid and pour it over the shredded meat. Mix well.
  4. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Spread the meat and liquid mixture on the foil lined pan evenly. Place the oven rack to the low middle rack placement. Place pan in the oven and broil 5 – 8 minutes. Flip the meat and broil 5 – 8 minutes more.
  5. Serve with homemade tortillas. (You can find the quick tortilla recipe here or the longer version here).

NOTES

  • She recommends taking the fat off but if I did that, I would have been left with less than half of meat so I tried using it with. It’s fatty but yummy!

  • I didn’t have an onion but had a red onion so I used that. It was sweet and nice.

  • I didn’t have orange juice or an orange so I used 2 tbsp of maple syrup instead to add some sweetness.

  • Once all cooked, it says to remove all contents from the pot and discard but I put the onions in a bowl and hubs ate it on his tacos. He liked it.

  • I used a pyrex casserole dish for this step to make it easier for me to shred. I actually just used the spatula to take it apart. It’s so soft you just press into the meat and it falls apart. No need to add more dishes and get 2 forks to shred!

  • For the kids, it’s easier to eat if it’s not broiled and crispy so once the slow cooker was done, I shred it and set aside a portion for them cool while I broiled hubs and mine.


  • For leftovers, I made some hashbrowns and added the carnitas in it. (Wash, peel and dice 1.5 lbs of potatoes and cook in 5 tbsp. of butter mixing every 5 minutes or so for 20 minutes to get the color and crisp on each side of the pototo. Add some leftover carnitas in the last 5 minutes to mix and serve beside some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Make sure the potatoes aren’t wet or else they won’t crisp.).


Instantpot Slow Cooker Carnitas

03 Aug 2022

There was a sale of pork butt at the grocery store so I purchased it not knowing what I would do with it. Coming home, I found a great recipe for carnitas that I'm glad we tried. The kids loved it! The original recipe is from Carole Jones (My Kitchen Escapades) and I’ve altered the recipe to use an instantpot on the slow cooker setting. I’m curious to try it on the pressure cooker setting next time.

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 lb boneless pork butt, cut into 2 inch cubes
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • ¾ tsp. pepper
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1 onion, peeled, halved
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 Medium Orange, juiced and keep split halves

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine all the ingredients in the instantpot. (I used an 8 qt. but my 6 qt. would have been perfectly fine for this too, even if you double the recipe). Press slow cooker setting, HIGH, and set for 6 hours.
  2. Once it’s done cooking, take all the meat out using a slotted spoon/spatula onto a dish (see Notes regarding Pyrex dish, onion and for kids). Press Saute and HIGH setting and boil it for 20 – 30 minutes until you only have 1 cup of liquid remaining. While you’re boiling the liquid off, shred the meat.
  3. Take the 1 cup of liquid and pour it over the shredded meat. Mix well.
  4. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Spread the meat and liquid mixture on the foil lined pan evenly. Place the oven rack to the low middle rack placement. Place pan in the oven and broil 5 – 8 minutes. Flip the meat and broil 5 – 8 minutes more.
  5. Serve with homemade tortillas. (You can find the quick tortilla recipe here or the longer version here).

NOTES

  • She recommends taking the fat off but if I did that, I would have been left with less than half of meat so I tried using it with. It’s fatty but yummy!

  • I didn’t have an onion but had a red onion so I used that. It was sweet and nice.

  • I didn’t have orange juice or an orange so I used 2 tbsp of maple syrup instead to add some sweetness.

  • Once all cooked, it says to remove all contents from the pot and discard but I put the onions in a bowl and hubs ate it on his tacos. He liked it.

  • I used a pyrex casserole dish for this step to make it easier for me to shred. I actually just used the spatula to take it apart. It’s so soft you just press into the meat and it falls apart. No need to add more dishes and get 2 forks to shred!

  • For the kids, it’s easier to eat if it’s not broiled and crispy so once the slow cooker was done, I shred it and set aside a portion for them cool while I broiled hubs and mine.


  • For leftovers, I made some hashbrowns and added the carnitas in it. (Wash, peel and dice 1.5 lbs of potatoes and cook in 5 tbsp. of butter mixing every 5 minutes or so for 20 minutes to get the color and crisp on each side of the pototo. Add some leftover carnitas in the last 5 minutes to mix and serve beside some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Make sure the potatoes aren’t wet or else they won’t crisp.).