Pork Carnitas Recipe (Dutch Oven and Instant Pot)

Pork carnitas in the oven / Dutch oven

1. Preheat the oven to 275°F.
2. Cut the pork butt roughly into 3 inch pieces.
3. Sprinkle the oregano, cumin, coriander, pepper, sugar, lime zest and salt over the meat, and mix them in well until all of the pork is coated well with the spices.
4. Place the cut up pork in a dutch oven or oven-safe casserole dish. I use a 5.3 L dutch oven for this recipe.
5. Add all the liquid into the dutch oven and mix the meat with the liquid.
6. Tuck the onion, garlic cloves. bay leaves, and jalapeno inside the pork pieces.
7. Cover the dutch oven with the lid, or the oven-safe dish tightly with foil, and slow roast in the oven for about 3.5 hours. Remove from the oven and lift the edge of the foil or lid and check if the meat is fork tender (use a fork and pull apart a piece of meat). If not, cover and return to the oven for another 30 minutes (the exact time depends on the oven and the dish you use - my oven usually takes 3.5 hours, but I have left it in there for up to 4 hours occasionally).
8. When the pork is tender, remove the pot from the oven. Let it rest for about 20 - 30 minutes.
9. Remove the pieces of pork from the dish, and place them on a plate. Also remove the onions, garlic, and jalapeno, and place them with the meat. Discard the bay leaves.
10. Return the dutch oven to the stove. If you used an oven-safe dish, then transfer the braising liquid into a pot, and place the pot on the stove. It's absolutely OK if there is a little meat / onion pieces left in the braising liquid.
11. Bring the liquid to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the liquid until you have about 1.5 cups of liquid. This can take about 30 - 40 minutes on the stove.
12. Once the liquid is reduced, skim off the fat on top. OPTIONAL STEP - you can add some of that fat back into the pork for very juicy carnitas, if you like.

Pork carnitas in Instant Pot

1. Cut the pork into 3 inch pieces. Add the oregano, cumin, coriander, pepper, sugar, lime zest and salt over the meat, and mix them in well until all of the pork is coated well with the spices.
2. Place the pork in the pot of your instant pot (I use a 6 qt IP).
3. Add all the liquid into the pot and mix the meat with the liquid.
4. Tuck the onion, garlic, jalapeno and bay leaves into the meat.
5. Place the pot in the instant pot, and cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. Make sure the valve is in the closed position. Follow with a natural release of 15 minutes (or let it release naturally).
6. Once cooked, remove the pieces of pork from the pot, and place them on a plate. Also remove the onions, garlic and jalapeno, and place them with the meat. Discard the bay leaves.
7. Return the pot with the liquid to the instant pot, and on the saute setting, let the liquid reduce. Set the saute setting for about 30 minutes. Once the liquid is reduced, skim off the fat on top. OPTIONAL STEP - you can add some of that fat back into the pork for very juicy carnitas, if you like. You should end up with about 1.5 cups of liquid or less.

Making crispy pork carnitas in the oven

1. Shred the pork using two forks, but don't shred the meat too much.
2. Prepare an oven tray / sheet pan for broiling by covering it with some foil.
3. Place the pork on the sheet pan and spread it out evenly. Pour about ¼ cup of the braising liquid over the meat and mix.
4. Turn on the broil setting in your oven and set it to 450°F. Place the sheet pan about 8 - 10 inches below the oven element (in the upper third of the oven).
5. Keep the oven door open while you're broiling the meat. Let the pork caramelize and become crisp. Keep an eye on the meat since you could easily burn the carnitas at this point. Mine takes about 10 - 15 minutes, so keep an eye on it!.
6. Remove the tray from the oven, and add another ¼ cup of liquid and mix the carnitas carefully. You can break up the larger pieces of meat as well. Broil it again one more time (to get more browned and crispy bits).
7. OPTIONAL - Twice is enough, but you can do this step once or twice more IF you want0 even more caramelized bits of meat.
8. After removing the carnitas from the oven, add another ¼ cup of liquid and mix it with the meat. Taste and add more salt and lime juice to taste.
9. These slow roasted pork carnitas can be served as is, with some rice and beans. Or in tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, burritos, etc.