instant pot Archives - Page 2 of 2

These easy five-ingredient Instant Pot carnitas are tender and juicy, with a great citrusy flavor. They are wonderful over rice, in tacos, in lettuce wraps, with an egg on top, or just plain!

These slow-cooker carnitas lettuce wraps are one of my favorite dinners, and ever since getting an Instant Pot, I’ve been working on converting the carnitas recipe so it can be made more quickly. It’s not necessarily weeknight quick because it takes about an hour and a half to make, but that’s a lot less than the 8-10 hour slow-cooking time. This is perfect for whipping up on a weekend afternoon to have a stockpile of delicious meat for the days ahead.

To make this recipe extra easy, I’ve streamlined the ingredients list. You only need five things (not counting salt, pepper, and water). Also, this recipe is made start to finish in the Instant Pot, without any broiling at the end or any other dirty pans.

Carnitas are traditionally made on the stovetop like this, where they cook low and slow, often with spices and citrus juices. Eventually, all of the juices cook off, and the carnitas begin to caramelize and crisp up a little in the dry pan.

When I make carnitas in my crockpot, I have to discard most of the juices and broil the carnitas after slow cooking to crisp them up and get that characteristic carnitas texture. With the Instant Pot’s sauté feature, though, I can cook off all of the liquid pretty quickly without using more than one pot. That means Instant Pot carnitas are just as easy as the original stovetop version, but much quicker.

Instant Pot chicken stock is so much easier and faster than the stovetop version! The finished stock is wonderful on its own or in any number of paleo soups, sauces, and braises.

Looking for more Instant Pot recipes? Check out my easy mashed potatoes, ropa vieja, and five-ingredient carnitas (or see them all here).

I’ve been talking about my weekly routine of roasting a whole chicken ever since the first wisp of cool air blew into Chattanooga in the fall, and I’m still going strong. Since buying myself an Instant Pot on Black Friday, though, the process of making the chicken bones into stock has gotten so much faster and more flexible.

I used to have to set aside a whole morning or evening at home to make stock since it needs to simmer on the stove for such a long time, but I can make Instant Pot chicken stock, start to finish, in less than two hours. (In case you haven’t had the pleasure of using one yet, and Instant Pot is an electric pressure cooker that cooks food extremely fast, and can replace both your rice cooker and your slow cooker. It’s so much fun!)

Instant pot chicken stock is more delicious, too–pressure cooking condenses all the wonderful flavors and aromatics perfectly. (And by the way, this is bone broth! The only reason I didn’t name the recipe Instant Pot Bone Broth is that I don’t really like the way the phrase “bone broth” sounds. But bone broth is really just amped-up stock with a large ratio of bones to other ingredients, and this definitely fits the bill. It also gels up wonderfully in the fridge, so there’s plenty of collagen in it!)

Here’s the before and after of all the bones, aromatics, and seasonings in the Instant Pot. I used carrot, celery, shallot, leek, parsley, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. If you’re missing one or two of the vegetables, you can definitely still make a nice stock.

You can also use a small onion if you don’t have shallots and leeks, but I love the extra-savory richness that they give to chicken stock!

I’ve played around with also adding one or two smashed cloves of garlic, but have decided I prefer my stock without. This is in part because I like to have a steaming mug of it first thing in the morning when it’s chilly out, and I’m just not ready for garlic at breakfast time. Of course, if you want some in there, go ahead and add it! You can also play around with adding a little bit of rosemary and thyme along with or instead of the parsley.

Five-Ingredient Instant Pot Carnitas

Instant Pot Chicken Stock (Bone Broth)