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Tortillas filled with Instant Pot carnitas

Instant Pot Carnitas

These carnitas are tender and moist, and crazy easy and quick to make in the Instant Pot.
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 26 minutes
Total: 31 minutes
Yield:4 servings

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
  • 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.

Notes

  • 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.

Nutrition

Serving Size: 2g | Calories: 377kcal | Protein: 48g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 147mg | Sodium: 712mg | Potassium: 1127mg | Total Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Net Carbs: 12g | Vitamin A: 289IU | Vitamin C: 40mg | Calcium: 67mg | Iron: 3mg
Recipe By:Cheryl Malik