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Crispy Chicken carnitas are made in the instant pot or pressure cooker, so they’re quick and easy! We crisp them up in the broiler and serve them wrapped in tortillas, served as burritos, or in rice bowls. They are perfect to meal prep and enjoy for the week!
Let me introduce you to my new favorite way to eat chicken – crispy chicken carnitas from your pressure cooker.
It all starts with crispy shredded chicken that we’ve pressure cooked, then shredded and broiled for a hot second, so the chicken gets nice and crispy on the outside but stays tender and juicy on the inside. We then tuck it into warm, white corn tortillas and move on to the topping possibilities. Diced onions and chopped cilantro are really all this needs. And chipotle sauce. Because sauce makes the world a better place!
And while we’re on the topic of tacos, may I just add that friends don’t count chicken carnitas tacos. If you were to come over for dinner tonight, in no way would I judge the number of warm homemade flour tortillas you stuffed full of these chicken carnitas and consume in one sitting.
No ma’am. Friends don’t count tacos.
Friends make sure there are plenty of tortillas around for you to load up with chicken, sauce, toppings, and repeat. Heck, you can even turn them into carnitas nachos with a little guacamole action.
Having a big batch of these chicken carnitas in the fridge or freezer is perfect for quick meals throughout the week.
I made this divine recipe for my family tonight, and it is one of the most scrumptious and perfect meals I’ve ever made. It’s fresh, tasty, and tangy and you can eat it forever and never feel like you’re sinning. My kids and wife absolutely raved about it and rated it one of their favorite meals ever. This one is a keeper!
Crispy chicken carnitas (1 min):
Ingredients for chicken carnitas:
- Chicken: Use boneless skinless chicken thighs or boneless skinless chicken breasts. I use breasts because I prefer white meat, but dark meat lovers would undoubtedly enjoy this more with dark meat.
- Seasonings: You’ll need quite a few seasonings from your spice drawer! Grab some ground cumin, chili powder, dried oregano, kosher salt, and black pepper. These spices give the carnitas so much flavor. You’ll also need a sprinkle of garlic powder if you’re making the chipotle sauce.
- Citrus: You’ll need orange zest and orange juice as well as some lime juice for the chicken marinade. We’ll cook the chicken carnitas in a mixture of citrus and chicken broth to give it the most flavor.
- Chicken broth: You’ll need ¼ cup chicken broth to cook the chicken in the pressure cooker. The combination of orange, lime, and chicken stock gives the carnitas a delicious flavor.
- Onions: adding a quartered onion to the pot provides more flavor. The onions cook in the liquid and then break down in a soft texture as they pressure cook.
- Chipotle peppers: we’ll need a couple of chipotle peppers packed in adobo sauce. These add a smoky flavor to the chicken. You will also need a bit more if you’re going to make the spicy chipotle sauce for bowls or tacos.
- Bay leaf: Grab a dried bay leaf; then toss this in with the other ingredients for the chicken.
- Oil: We’ll sear the chicken in the oil before pressure cooking it. Use avocado oil or any other you usually use in your kitchen.
- Cilantro: Add a handful of cilantro as the chicken cooks. This just adds additional flavor to the dish. Then, finish the tacos by sprinkling with a little cilantro too!
- Mayonnaise: If you’re making the chipotle sauce for tacos, burritos, bowls, quesadillas or nachos!
Instant Pot Chicken Carnitas
- Make the seasoning mix. Start by combining the cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl. Sprinkle the seasoning all over the chicken breasts, taking care to season both sides.
- Sear the chicken. Heat a swish of oil in the instant pot. Then add the chicken breast and sear on both sides. This helps the spices bloom in the hot oil and allows the chicken to develop a light crust on the outside. Remove the chicken thighs or breasts to a plate.
- Sear the aromatics. Add the onions and garlic to the instant pot and give it a quick saute to help release the flavor of the onion and the garlic cloves.
- Pressure cook. Then add the chicken back into the pressure cooker along with chipotle peppers and some of that adobo sauce, a bay leaf, a handful of cilantro, orange juice, lime juice, chicken broth mixture. Place the lid and start the pressure cooker. Once done, turn the knob for a quick pressure release.
- Shred the chicken once it’s cool enough to handle. Do this in a kitchen aid mixer or you can use two forks and shred it. Save the liquid, we’ll use it before broiling the chicken.
- Broil. Spread the shredded chicken out onto a sheet pan and drizzle a little oil over the chicken so that the broiler makes the outside of the chicken carnitas extra crispy. It’ll go into the oven for a total of 10 minutes; make sure to stop halfway and give it a toss with tongs. Finally, sprinkle with a little cilantro when it’s hot out of the oven!
FAQs about this recipe
Typically carnitas are made with pork, aka pork carnitas. But considering not everyone eats pork, chicken is a decent substitute when you want to enjoy carnitas!
There are a number of ways to server chicken carnitas. You can make burrito bowls, serve them over tortilla chips for homemade carnitas nachos, in corn or flour tortillas, or if you’re looking for low carb high protein options, make sweet potato boats loaded with shredded chicken. Serve topped with salsas or anything else you like!
Though I haven’t tested this recipe in a slow cooker, I feel you could easily sear the chicken in a skillet, then transfer to a slow cooker and let it look low and slow for 3-4 hours or until the chicken is easily shreddable with two forks.
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Mexican Street Corn Chicken Tacos
- Blackened Shrimp Tacos with Smashed Avocados
- Gotta Have ‘Em Ancho Chicken Street Tacos
- Marinated Mojo Steak Tacos with Guacamole
- Big Batch Homemade Taco Seasoning
Crispy Chicken Carnitas (Pressure Cooker)
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder such as ancho or chipotle
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano preferably Mexican oregano
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup orange juice plus the zest of 1 orange
- ¼ cup lime juice
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- 5 cloves garlic pressed or chopped
- 1 yellow onion quartered
- 1-2 chipotle pepper 1-2 tablespoons adobo sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ bunch of cilantro stems included
- 2 tablespoons oil plus more
For the Chipotle Sauce:
- ½ cup mayo
- 1 tablespoon milk or nondairy milk
- 1-2 chipotle peppers + 1 tablespoons adobo sauce
- pinch kosher salt
- pinch garlic powder
Instructions
For the chicken:
- Combine the cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl. Sprinkle the seasons over the chicken breasts on both sides.
- Heat the instant pot on the sauté setting. Add a quick swish of oil and sear the chicken breasts on both sides for a minute on each side. Do this in batches so the chicken sears rather than steaming. Remove the chicken to a plate. Add the onions and pressed garlic, let cook 2 minutes flipping as needed to brown all sides evenly.
- Add the chicken back into the pressure cooker along with the orange zest, orange juice, lime juice, chicken broth, whole chipotle pepper(s), adobo sauce, bay leaf, and cilantro. Cover the instant pot and let pressure cook on the 'chicken' setting for 8-10 minutes depending on the size of the chicken breast. Prepare the chipotle sauce while you wait for the chicken to cook. Allow the pressure to release naturally or turn to the 'vent' setting. Allow it to vent completely before removing the lid.
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to the 'broiler' setting. Remove the chicken breast to a clean surface and shred the chicken using 2 forks. Place in a large bowl and drizzle ¼ cup of cooking liquid over the shredded chicken and toss to coat. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the oil over the surface of a baking sheet. Add the chicken and drizzle the second tablespoon of oil on top. Stir to coat evenly.
- Broil the chicken for 10-12 minutes stopping half way to toss the chicken and drizzle another 1-2 tablespoons of cooking liquid. Rotate the pan for even broiling.
For the Chipotle Sauce:
- While the chicken is pressure cooking, add the sauce ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
Notes
- Leftover chipotle peppers/adobo sauce can be kept in a zip-top bag in the freezer!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
I’ve been a huge fan of your carnitas recipes and got my instant pot for Christmas. My boyfriend and I agreed to make tacos one night, but he texted me in a panic that I didnt take the meat out of the freezer and get the crockpot going! I feel like the crockpot is super easy, but having dinner that was DELICIOUS and taken straight from the freezer to the IP was even easier. I sort of threw together a similar mojo style carnitas but thanks for all your great recipes!
This is now my go-to taco recipe! It’s perfect to make in the morning before work. When I’m in a rush, I throw some fajita seasoning (the kind in the packets) in instead of measuring out all of the spices and the end result is still fabulous! I serve the chicken in corn tortillas with shredded Mexican cheese, pickled red onions, avocado slices, and your corn salsa. This is one of our favorite dinners! Thank you!!
I’ve been thinking about getting a pressure cooker and looking at instapots. I love Mexican food and chicken carnitas look delicious (the pics made me hungry). I also enjoy meal prep where I can make something and use it later in the week (as the article suggests). Granted, I’m not going to use it more than twice in the same week, but it’s nice knowing you have a meat dish ready to go and you can do so much with it whether you do a burrito bowl as suggested, do wraps, or even salads.
Great flavour and easy to follow recipe. I would make it again for sure,
Could I make with is with frozen chicken breasts? How would I need to adjust the timing?
Yes, you probably could use frozen chicken for this recipe. If you do so you can skip the searing step. I’ve never tried it before but a quick google search shows people are saying 12 minutes for frozen chicken breasts. I’d test to see if it’s done at 12 and if it shreds easily, if not, just let it pressure cook for another 2-3 minutes.
I have made chicken breasts in my instapot numerous times. 10 minutes for 4 med or 6 large fresh or frozen. I always let the pressure come down naturally for at least 10 minutes otherwise the chicken tends to have the moisture sucked out of it.
do you have to strain the leftover liquid or is it good to keep as is for something later?
I’d strain it if you plan on using it for rice or something!
Is there a substitute for the orange zest? If you don’t have any, can you just use the orange juice without the zest?
Lemon or lime zest would also work, if you don’t have either, you can simply just omit it from the recipe.
can you use canned chipotle chili already in adobo sauce for this?
Yes, that’s exactly what you need! 🙂
The flavor was really delicious and oh so easy. Will definitely make again!
Just made this tonight as my first ever Instant Pot recipe and while itnwas a little more involved than some other recipes (as you noted and the timing estimate was pretty close), it was totally worth it. My husband and I kept serving ourselves “just one more” taco because they were so delicious. Thanks for making it so easy for me to break in my new gift with your clear step by step directions and video!
I made these vegan by using Butler Soy Curls instead of chicken and swapping the mayo for a vegan alternative. Instead of adding milk to the sauce I used the juice of half a lime. Thanks for the recipe. Absolutely delicious!!!
Marzia,
I made this two nights ago and served as tacos per your recommendation. My family raved about them. Thank you for a great pressure cooker recipe! I made a double batch and have plenty for additional meals. Tonight, I put the saved cooking broth in the Blendtec and puréed it. I then used it to replace the liquid in my favorite Mexican rice recipe. Was excellent!
Thank, again!
Just made this. Cannot say enough about how amazing it turned out! So flavorful! I may have taken a spoon and drank the leftover cooking liquid lol!
I may have done that too! Haha! Thanks for taking the time to comment Ashley! 🙂
I made this and the chicken dried out under the broiler. It was like jerky!! What did I do wrong?
Hi Heather! My best guess is that it just needed a little less time under the broiler. For next time, I suggest testing the chicken every 2-3 minutes during the broiling stage. Your broiler just seems to be more powerful and it probably crisps things up a little faster 🙂
I made this tonight, it was crazy good! This will definitely be one of my go to recipes! I severed it over cilantro lime rice in the tacos. I also used the cooking liquid to cook some pinto beans in the IP for a side.
How many servings are in this recipe. I love that you have the nutritional count, but need to know if what we had was about the same as one servings on the nutritional content.
The nutritional facts are for 1/8th of the recipe (written below the nutritional facts label). Unfortunately, it doesn’t allow me to add it to the label but this information can usually be found below the label itself or at the top of the recipe card 🙂
I had a lot of the liquid from pot left over. I feel bad throwing it away. What can I create out of it??
Hi Farah, you can strain the liquid and pop it in the fridge or freezer and use it as the ‘chicken broth’ for homemade enchilada sauce
This recipe is a a flavor bomb in your mouth! I’m already in love with my electric pressure cooker but this recipe… I can’t love enough! Hello leftovers!!! CAPITAL DELISH!!!
I have made this a few times and everyone loves it! Also once you remove the chicken do not toss out the remaining juice! We strained it and used it to make some very flavorful rice.
Wow. This looks like the perfect dish! Yum!