Instant Pot Carnitas Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my pulled pork tough in the Instant Pot? ›

An immediate release can be why your Instant Pot pulled pork is tough. It will cause the meat to seize and toughen. Avoid Using Pork Tenderloin.

Slow cooking the meat means it never has the chance to toughen up and will be extra silky and tender. Pressure cooking is faster, though you may lose a little bit of the tenderness. If you're going for the pressure cook method, be sure to get a pork shoulder or pork butt, as opposed to a pork loin.

Video: Making Instant Pot Roast Pork

Note: In the recipe below I suggest searing the roast first, but now I usually skip that step. The reason is that the roast is a bit cumbersome, as you can see in the video. Instead of searing first, I recommend just broiling the roast at the end.

Step One: The trick to getting the most flavorful carnitas, is to sear the pork before allowing it to braise for hours. First, season the pork with a liberal sprinkle of salt and then sear the pork pieces on both sides until golden brown in avocado oil. Browning the meat helps to develop a rich deep flavor.

At around 2 hours, your pork chops will be cooked through (145°F) and have a texture similar to chicken breast — tender, but firm. Between 3 to 6 hours, the chops will have a texture closer to pulled pork; it will be easy to cut with a fork and will pull easily from the bone.

The low-and-slow method is the cornerstone of excellent pulled pork. This technique involves cooking the pork at a low temperature (typically between 225°F to 250°F) for several hours. This slow cooking process breaks down the tough muscle fibers and connective tissue, resulting in tender, fall-apart meat.

Transfer everything to a large slow cooker and add a splash of liquid — water is great, but so is broth, apple juice, or beer if you have them handy. Cover and cook on low until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily.

Slow cooked pork in the oven will make its own pan juices. So, there is no need to add liquid. In fact, you will need to drain off the liquid pan juices into a container to save for later so that they do not dilute any BBQ sauce. These pan juices can also be added back later to keep it moist.

By the way, just as it's possible to overcook beef in a beef stew, it's quite possible to overcook pulled pork. You want your pork to be pull-apart tender—an indication that the connective tissue has broken down—but not so cooked that the muscle fibers themselves start to lose structure and turn to mush.

Unfortunately, once you overcook a piece of meat in the pressure cooker, there's no going back. You'll be left with a pile of dry, crunchy, tasteless fibers and no amount of additional pressure cooking is going to put that moisture back into the meat.

Can I overcook meat in an Instant Pot? ›

Steam penetrates food easily under pressure. So connective tissues in cubes of beef for soups or stews soften in 15 minutes or less, and a pot roast will be medium-rare in 30 minutes. Be sure to follow instructions carefully; at this speed, it's easy to overcook things in mere minutes.

Season with salt and pepper: Just before cooking, sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper. Wait to do this until you're ready to actually put the meat in the pan, otherwise the salt draws moisture out of the meat and you'll need to pat it dry again.

In other regions of Mexico, people add their own special seasoning to this dish, such as condensed milk, garlic, chicken broth, co*ke, orange juice, and/or beer. Not only do these ingredients give the carnitas their distinctive golden-brownish color, but they also help tenderize the meat.

Pork shoulder: Traditionally, carnitas is made with pork shoulder (also known as pork butt) because of its higher fat content. The fat helps to keep the meat extremely juicy and tender while cooking.

Carnitas doneness temps

The connective tissue needs to be heated to at least 170°F (77°C) to start to dissolve properly. If pulled at 145°F (63°C), pork shoulder will be inedibly tough. Most smoked pork shoulders are pulled in the temperature range of 195-205°F (91-96°C), and the same temperature will apply here.

If you find that your instapot pulled pork is tough after cooking, it's likely because you did a quick pressure release instead of a natural pressure release. Make sure you do a natural pressure release for 2 minutes before opening the vent.

If it's still tough, you will need to cook it longer. The pressure cooking process breaks down tough meat, making it tender. Put the lid back on, seal the pressure cooker, and cook at high pressure for another 10 to 20 minutes.

Typically, when you make pulled pork, you'll cook it in barbeque sauce or another acidic ingredient like vinegar, citrus, or Worcestershire sauce, which work to tenderize the pork. Now think about soda like any other marinade, working to help break down the meat for pull-apart results.

When meat is cooked correctly, it should be tender, moist, and full of flavor, making it easy to pull apart with just a little pressure. However, if pulled pork is overcooked for too long, the opposite happens. The meat becomes dry, and tough, and loses its moisture, making it difficult to shred as it should.