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These are hands-down the BEST carnitas I’ve ever had. They’re impossibly tender and moist, and they’re crazy easy and quick to make in the Instant Pot. Perfect for entertaining, picnics, and meal prep, these Instant Pot carnitas are kind of life changing!
These pressure cooker carnitas are the perfect dinner in the summer. They require so little effort and are made easy in the Instant Pot. Translation: no heating up the house and more time spent outside. Carnitas are versatile and keep well, perfect with salsas over lettuce, over cauliflower rice, in tacos, or on nachos. Even better, these carnitas are keto, paleo, Whole30-compliant, and low carb.
These carnitas are tender, juicy, and full of flavor; they’re made with economical pork tenderloin and produce a bunch. The recipe is ridiculously easy, too. The cinnamon and orange juice is heady and just right. I rubbed the whole tenderloin with a rich, smoky spice mix, covered it with aromatics and fresh citrus juices. 15 minutes later? Carnitas perfection.
What Makes This Recipe So Good
Pork tenderloin – A lean cut of meat that is tender, juicy, and affordable.
Onion – Aromatic and lightly sweet when cooked, onions pair perfectly with the saltiness of the pork.
Garlic cloves – One of my favorite seasonings that helps give the carnitas the perfect flavor.
Cinnamon stick – The strong, sweet, and warm flavor with a bit woodiness helps give the juices the pork is cooked in a little kick.
Orange and lime juice – Fresh citrus juice as the base of the cooking juices makes the pork tenderloin extra zesty.
How To Make Instant Pot Carnitas
Mix all the rub ingredients together except the pork.
Rub onto the pork tenderloin.
Turn your Instant Pot on Sauté mode and add a drizzle of olive oil or avocado oil to coat the bottom of the pot.
Add rubbed pork tenderloin and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides.
Add all the carnitas cooking juice ingredients to the Instant Pot over the browned pork.
Secure lid and cook on Manual at high pressure for 15 minutes. Quick release, remove the pork and shred with a fork, potato masher, or a hand-held mixer on low..
Preheat your broiler.
Place the carnitas you plan on serving on a parchment-lined baking sheet and ladle a bit of the cooking juice over them.
Broil for 5 minutes. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t burn, and stir if needed. Serve and enjoy!
Top Tips For Making
- After rubbing the rub onto the pork tenderloin, if you have time, let it sit and dry marinade for up to two hours. I highly recommend it to let the seasonings soak in.
- Don’t ladle too much sauce in the broiling pan or the carnitas won’t crisp up! The secret to crispy carnitas is making sure to broil them long enough.
- If you aren’t cooking all of the carnitas at once, keep the pork with the juices in an airtight container in the fridge one week. Before serving each time, follow the broiling instructions.
- Don’t have an Instant Pot or pressure cooker? This is one I have, and I highly recommend it!
More Delicious Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Potato Salad
- Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice
- Dreamy Instant Pot Chicken & Rice
- Instant Pot Frozen Chicken Thighs
- Instant Pot Dal
Instant Pot Carnitas
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless pork tenderloin , excess fat trimmed, cubed
Rub
- 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil or avocado oil plus more for browning
- 1 ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Cooking Juice
- 1 onion , peeled, quartered
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 cup fresh orange juice
- ⅓ cup fresh lime juice
Instructions
- Mix all rub ingredients together, minus pork tenderloin, and rub onto pork tenderloin. You can let this sit and dry marinade for up to two hours; if you have the time, I highly recommend it. Otherwise, continue on with the directions.
- Turn your Instant Pot on Sauté mode and add a drizzle of olive oil or avocado oil to coat the bottom of the pot. Add rubbed pork tenderloin and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides.
- Add all cooking juice ingredients to the Instant Pot over the browned pork. Secure lid and cook on Manual at high pressure for 15 minutes. Quick release, remove the pork and shred (or use a potato masher to shred).
- Preheat your broiler. Place amount of carnitas to be served on a parchment-lined baking sheet and ladle with a bit of cooking juice. Broil 5 minutes, watching so as not to burn. Serve.
- Dry marinade: After rubbing the rub onto the pork tenderloin, if you have time, let it sit and dry marinade for up to two hours. I highly recommend it to let the seasonings soak in.
- Broiling tips: Don’t ladle too much sauce in the broiling pan or the carnitas won’t crisp up! The secret to crispy carnitas is making sure to broil them long enough.
- Leftover carnitas: If you aren’t cooking all of the carnitas at once, keep the pork with the juices in an airtight container in the fridge one week. Before serving each time, follow the broiling instructions.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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These are awesome! Just made them and served on a cassava flour tortilla with radish, cilantro, lime, avocado and a drizzle of the Sir Kensington chili lime cream- OMG! Heaven! Thank you so much!
So glad you loved these Donna!
What kind of tortilla’s did you use – are they corn?
I used corn, but you could definitely use flour or whatever else you wanted to!
When do you add the onion, cinnamon sticks and the garlic??
We add them in step three on top of the pork!
Can I make this with chicken? Cooking time with chicken?
We would cook the chicken at high pressure for about 10 minutes!
Here’s proof I’m a teacher…I didn’t see the “cubed” part! Lol I made it with whole pork loin but because I doubled the meat I added time, thankfully. It turned out so delicious that another batch is in the pot right now for camping this week! Thanks for all the great recipes!
Haha! Glad it worked out!
What would the IP time be if I were to use chicken breasts (2lb)??
We’d cook the chicken breasts at manual pressure for 25 minutes, then quick release. Hope this helps!
Does browning the meat require cooking the cubes all the way through? Or just to brown the edges and let the meat reach temp during the pressure cook?
If I only use 1 pound, still cut into cubes, do I need to adjust the cooking time at all? Thanks!
I would only cut down on the cooking time maybe a minute or two!
You mention to marinade for “up to two hours”. I was planning on marinating it overnight. Would you not advise this? Thank you!
Overnight would be totally fine! 🙂
I let the pork sit with the rub overnight, which worked out great. It had good, but not too much flavor. The end result was a little dry. It was fine in a taco with guacamole, but too dry to eat by itself. My tenderloin was 1.89 pounds, cut into 1-2” cubes, cooked on manual setting for 15 minutes. My boyfriend made a giant quesadilla and loved it. I’m still new to the Instapot so I don’t know if I need another minute or two or if I should switch to a pork roast with a little more fat.
Since this is meant to be put into dishes, the end result may be a bit dry on its own. A little guacamole on top would bring a lot of extra moisture back to the pork!