Air Fryer Carnitas

Traditional Carnitas are a poem on their own right. Slow fried in a large copper pot to achieve tenderness and juiciness inside and crispiness outside. These Air Fryer Carnitas will, hopefully, scratch the itch and satisfy the cravings of many a gourmand!

It is not for nothing that Carnitas have taken the world by storm. And while recipes abound, without a large copper vat and seasoned (reused, thus acquiring all the delicious flavors) pork lard, it is hard to replicate the wonderful results of the original recipes.

Although Carnitas originated in the Mexican state of Michoacan, you can find them anywhere in the country. Spanish Conquistadores introduced pigs to Latin America. I find it fascinating how Mexicans mastered the art of cooking pork, when they hadn’t even seen one before the Conquista.

Taste Atlas rated highly several Mexican recipes in their Best Rated Pork Dishes in the world dishes. We have some of them here in the blog: Pastor Tacos and Cochinita Pibil. Carnitas is number two on the Taste Atlas list! That tells you everything you need to know about how yummy they are.

The trick with Carnitas is juicy and crispy pork. Thankfully, pork is not a tough meat. If your pork is chewy by the end of a recipe, you either didn’t fully cook it or you are a really clumsy cook.

Hopefully, with this recipe we will manage to avert both catastrophes. At the same time, when we use the air fryer/pressure cooker combo appliance, we will also slash the calories.

For this recipe we need an electric pressure cooker/air fryer combo appliance. Most of the air fryers I have seen have multiple settings that perform several different tasks. If your air fryer does not also pressure cook or, conversely, if your electric pressure cooker does not air fry, read the notes on the recipe. It is not a big deal.

So go ahead. You can have your Air Fryer Carnitas and eat them too!

Air Fryer Carnitas

Yazzy

Print Recipe

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 6 servings

Equipment

• Air Fryer/Pressure Cooker combo appliance

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup white onion cut in wedges
• 3 units garlic coarsely chopped
• 2 units dry bay leaf
• 5 units all spice berries
• 1 – 2 unites chicken bouillon cubes
• 2 lbs pork shoulder or pork butt (with fat) cut into 2 inch cubes
• For garnish:
• warm soft corn tortillas
• your favorite salsa and/or
• pickled onions
• 2 quartered Mexican limes

Instructions

 

• Set your Air Fryer/Pressure Cooker to Pressure Cooking. Place the orange juice, white onion, garlic, bay leaf, all spice berries, chicken bouillon cubes, with the cubed pork on top, inside your appliance cooking basket. Seal and set to High and cook for 25 – 30 minutes. Use your pressure cooker following all the manufacturer's indications. Depressurize the appliance completely once the cooking time has completed, open the basket and dispose of the cooking liquids. Remove meat, wash the basket.
• Place the meat back into the basket and set your appliance to Air Crisp, at 345 F for 3 – 5 minutes.
• Shred the meat, serve hot and assemble your tacos with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!

Notes

If your Air Fryer doesn’t have a Pressure Cooker setting, cook the Pork in a cast iron skillet, a Dutch oven or a large pot with the orange juice, onion, garlic, all spice berries, bay leaf and chicken bouillon and an additional 2 cups of water, or enough to cover the meat. Bring to a simmer on the stove top and keep cooking on Low for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, until pork is tender.  

Fish out the pork and crisp in the Air Fryer following the instructions of the above recipe.

If you have a Pressure Cooker but not an air Fryer, pressure cook the Pork following the instructions of the above recipe, remove pork and the other ingredients from your pressure cooker. Place them in a large skillet and heat to medium-high on your stove top burner. Keep simmering stirring frequently, until all the liquid has evaporated and the pork has browned and is slightly frying; scrape the bottom of the pot frequently to release the fried bits, about 30 minutes. You just want a slight crisp, not to dry or burn the pork.

Then shred the pork and assemble your tacos.