In the summer, when it’s too hot to turn on the oven, one of our go-to meals to have is always some sort of tacos. I love a good carne asada. Chicken tacos are also a favorite, but I always know if I make carnitas, it will be a hit. We have used this recipe for our family at home and scaled it way up to serve tons of people at church meals. It’s so full of flavor, and honestly, one of the easiest meals we have!

A Quick Glimpse Of The Recipe

A boneless pork roast
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
The juice of one lime

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that other than the fresh lime, I keep everything for it in my house at all times. It’s meat I can easily freeze and a lot of spices I keep in bulk, so I know I can make this easily at any time, and it’s usually what I reach for if I realize I need a meal I didn’t fully plan for.

The Meat

I have used a few different options for the meat here, but the one I love the absolute most is the whole boneless pork loin from either Sam’s Club or Costco. I usually will split them into three roasts, vacuum seal them, and can get 3 full meals out of less than $20 in meat. It’s a great place to use a cheaper cut of meat because it will be cooked for a long time.

How I Make It

I really like to start with a fully thawed roast for this one, so the night before I’m making this recipe, I’ll pull out my pork roast and thaw it overnight in the refrigerator. In a pinch, I’ve cooked it from frozen, but it usually will be a bit tougher.

My method of choice for cooking is the Instant Pot. It’s self contained, and it’s set it and forget it. The crock pot also works nicely, but cooking a tougher cut of meat under pressure ensures you’re going to end up with something tender and delicious without it being dry.

The first thing I do is measure out all my spices into a separate bowl. I like to pre mix them to avoid having any spots of the meat taste predominately like one flavor.

I start with a cup of water in the bottom of my Instant Pot and add in my pork loin roast, fat side up. You really do want that fat to render out and drip down into the meat as it cooks for maximum flavor. On top, I’ll sprinkle in my spice mixture and squeeze in my fresh lime juice.

A note about the lime juice- if you want this to be a true pantry/freezer meal, feel free to use lime juice from a jar here. I certainly have, and since it’s being cooked for such an extended period of time, you really don’t notice a difference at all. When serving these tacos, I love to have a squirt of fresh lime juice on top, and that absolutely should never be substituted with jarred.

Pop the top onto the Instant Pot and set it to 3 and a half hours on high pressure if your meat is fully thawed and 4 hours at high pressure if you’re starting from frozen.

After it finishes cooking, I do a natural release.

The fat is usually only in one section on this particular cut, so it’s easily removed and set aside. Shred up the meat and spoon in copious amount of the spice filled cooking liquid and serve warm. This meat is great in tacos, burritos, or even as a nacho topping!

Freezer Meal Options

This recipe works really great as a freezer meal, too! I often will mix up a big batch of the spice mixture, and when I bring the meat home and split it up, I’ll add the seasonings and lime juice to a vacuum seal bag with the meat. When it’s time to cook it, I can just dump the entire contents of the bag into the instant pot and not worry about any other steps.

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Carnita Meat

A boneless pork roast 2 tsp sea salt 2 tsp cumin 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp oregano 1 tsp onion powder 1/2 tsp black pepper The juice of one lime 1. Combine all spices together into a bowl. 2. Add pork roast and 1 cup of water to the bowl of an Instant Pot, fat side up. 3. Sprinkle spice mixture over pork roast. 4. Add in lime juice. 5. Cook on high pressure for 4 hours with a natural release at the end of the cook time. 6. Remove fat, shred, and add back some cooking liquid. 7. Serve warm with tortillas.