Carnitas (Crispy Mexican Pulled Pork)

• servings: 4 - 6
• active time: 10 mins
• total time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Ingredients

3 ¼ pounds (~1475g) pork shoulder meat (pork butt meat) , cut into 2 – 2 ¼ inches cubes

200 ml (~⅘ cup) unsalted chicken stock

**Marinade**

4 (13g) garlic cloves , crushed

1 (200g) medium onion , roughly chopped

1 teaspoon (2g) cumin seed , ground

1 teaspoon (2g) cinnamon powder or 1 cinnamon stick

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon (15ml) regular soy sauce

55 ml juice from 1 fresh orange

Kosher salt

Ground black pepper

Optional:

8 - 12 corn tortillas

Salsa (pico de gallo)

1 lime

Directions

Prepare Pork Shoulder Meat: Remove rind and bone from the pork shoulder meat. Cut pork shoulder meat into cubes (~2 inches). Keep the excess fat.

Marinate Pork Shoulder Cubes:

Place pork shoulder cubes & fat into the Instant Pot’s inner pot. Season very generously with kosher salt and ground black pepper. Add 4 crushed garlic cloves, chopped onion, 1 tsp (2g) ground cumin, 1 tsp (2g) cinnamon powder, 2 bay leaves, 1 tbsp (15ml) regular soy sauce, and juice (55ml) from 1 orange to the inner pot. Mix well and let the meat marinate for 20 minutes.

Pressure Cook Pork Shoulder Cubes: Pour ~⅘ cup (200ml) unsalted chicken stock in the inner pot. Close lid and Pressure Cook at High Pressure for 30 minutes + 15 minutes Natural Release. Release the remaining pressure after 15 minutes and open the lid carefully.

Crisp Pork Shoulder Cubes: Transfer the pork shoulder cubes onto a baking tray. Now is a good time to take a bite and see if the pork cubes are salty enough. If the pork cubes are not salty enough, add more kosher salt into the cooking liquid. Taste & adjust accordingly.

Drizzle some of the cooking liquid on to each piece (The cooking liquid should be mostly fat. If not, mix ¼ cup (63ml) cooking liquid with 2 tbsp (30ml) of vegetable oil and drizzle over each piece of pork). The fat & oil will protect the meat from drying out and the surface will crisp faster.

Place pork shoulder cubes under a broiler or the top rack of a preheated 450°F toaster oven until the surface is crisped. Roughly 8 – 10 minutes. Flip the pork shoulder cubes, drizzle each piece with more cooking liquid and place in the oven again until the surface is crisped.

(Optional) Heat Corn Tortillas: If you are serving the Carnitas with corned tortillas, you can heat up the corn tortillas when the pork is browning in the oven.

Serve & Enjoy: Place piping hot Carnitas on top of the warmed corn tortillas with a spoonful of salsa (Pico De Gallo). Serve immediately!