Welcome to the Carnita Party

I first discovered this dream of a recipe in 2011 when I happened upon a retail website selling pressure cookers… huh? A pressure what? Sounds dangerous. Or awesome. Thankfully, there was a video! As I watched, THE Bobby Flay whipped up a batch of carnitas using this mysterious piece of equipment in a fraction of time. Sign me up! Side note: I also observed Bobby season that pork like it won the lottery… this is important and will change your life. Well, your carnitas. I’ll circle back to seasoning once we get cookin’.

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Anyway… that demo ushered pressure cooking into my life AND a love of Carnitas.

Hello there Instant pot, fresh from 2019, where every other home cook everywhere is waving the insta flag. Which is, ready for this? THE SAME THING as a pressure cooker (wiiiiith additional abilities and some safety features…because no one likes exploding pots). I must admit, INSTA Pot does sound less aggressive and scary than PRESSURE cooker. Kind of more like that best friend who just shows up out of the blue, at the exact right time, with your favorite treat VERSUS the obnoxious solicitor ringing your doorbell at dinner time, trying to sell you something else you don’t need.

Ok. Ok. Carnitas… for the love.

Traditionally, carnitas are a Mexican dish of seasoned pork, fried in lard and then slow cooked for hours. Ok, before we all freak out and turn into lardaphobics, let me tell you that it’s making a come back. Like eveeerrry thaaang from the 80’s! For you millennial darlings, who may not have had the opportunity to wake up summer mornings, walk into your grandma’s southern kitchen, and fill up on fried eggs, biscuits and gravy… all featuring lard, click here for a handy little explanation. Listen, I am not saying we need to go all in with lard and start spreading it on our toast, but let’s not cast her out just yet. Moderation sisters. Check out this little gem for some great ideas on how to use it and how to harvest your own lard… breathe… if you cook bacon, you make lard. There, you’re welcome.

Though I am apparently on a lard bandwagon, we are going to swap deep frying in it for our handy broiler in this recipe. We will achieve the most glorious crisp to our pork without sacrificing our arterial souls! Bonus: That Insta Pot will save our sanity by cutting our cooking time by a million. (All the praise hands)!

Since the above appearance in 37 cooks, I have added an essential step to my carnitas process. One that my mom discovered and makes a serious flavor contribution. She’s the mom and has been cooking longer than all of us so we must trust her. Take your pork shoulder or pork butt, that you kindly asked your butcher to debone (because ain’t no one got time for that) and cut into fist sized pieces. Though you may be tempted to cut off that pork fat, resist. Leave the fat on for now so that our precious pork has a little flavor party in the insta pot later while it cooks in that rendered fat. Don’t panic. We will eventually trim it AFTER it’s cooked. Now, here is the step you must not skip: Put those pork pieces into a large sealable container and dump an entire 2 liter bottle of root beer over that pork. Leave it overnight in your fridge to soak up all that old fashioned root beer essence. Thanks mom!

Now, do your chopping. Without getting fussy about size, chop that onion and garlic and toss into your pot. Then you want to cover your counter top in foil, a sheet pan, or my personal favorite, butcher paper. This allows you to season like there’s no tomorrow and still clean up like you are the queen of everything.

Gather those root beer marinated pork pieces and spread them onto your covered counter top. Muster up your best Bobby Flay and season that pork like it’s their last dying wish. Salt, pepper, mixed chili powders, flip, repeat. (See note below for a mixed chili powder hack)

Grab some tongs and place those well seasoned suckers in your pot. Add about 5 san Marzano tomatoes straight from the can (leave the juice behind). Squeeze in juice from your lime then pour in chicken stock to about 2/3 the way up your pork. Next, you are going to add the secret ingredient. Are you ready? It’s awesome. And will make you the slow cooking pork carnitas boss!

Maple syrup!

Yes sirreee. But please use the real deal. Trust me! I added a real quantity in the recipe below but I’ve never measured this step. Seriously, I just take my syrup bottle and pour in three rotations around the pot.

Then I take my shaker of mixed chili powders and add a few more love shakes to the top of everything hanging out in the pot all ready to be instantly transformed by science.

Put the lid on your pot. Seal and set. You may have to read directions for your own personal make and model of insta pot/pressure cooker/magic steaming apparatus. Sorry. Life is not perfect.

After your insta pot/pressure cooker/magic steaming apparatus, has done its job… which is all about 40 minutes, just let it sit there and release pressure on its own. No need to mess with the valve or try and open the pot. Just prep your toppings. Or heat your tortillas. Or mix up some salsa found here. But, definitely line a sheet pan with foil and have those tongs handy for the next step.

Once the pressure has subsided, and not before, remove the lid of your insta pot/pressure cooker/magic steaming apparatus. Using tongs, grasp the now falling apart juicy flavorful chunks of pork sumptuousness. Place them on the foil lined sheet pan for their best future ever.

Take two of your beloved forks and shred that sheet pan of amazingness. Now, here is where I come across that fat that we did not trim in the beginning. It has done its job and played an important role in our Carnitas. Its time has come to an end so just use those forks to pull it off and send it into the trash. Or pet bowl or whatever you deem necessary.

Put that pan under the broiler for a hot minute to crisp up then serve with tortillas and toppings.

Below I have listed some topping options, that are near and dear to my taco heart. Knock yo self out!

XOXO,