These crispy delicious pork carnitas are made in the Ninja Foodi in less than 1 hour. Pressure cook them to tender and crisp them up all in one device.
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The full recipe with ingredients/instructions is available on the recipe card at the bottom of the post. Important tips/tricks are also included in the blog post.
I recently became the owner of a Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker with Air Crisper. What’s that you ask? It’s a magical device that Ninja has bestowed upon us. It’s a pressure cooker. It’s an air fryer. It’s a pressure cooker and an air fryer all combined in one device.
I’ll be doing a full and thorough review on the Ninja Foodie soon. Until then, I’ve been testing it out on different recipes to see if it really works as expected.
- Chicken Wings from frozen
- Chicken pot pie
- A whole roasted chicken (twice)
- And this pork carnita recipe
All of these have turned out wonderful. I wanted to go ahead and post this pork carnita recipe as it was one of my main determining factors of making the purchase.
I was in the market for a second pressure cooker and this one caught my eye. I love cooking meats in my pressure cooker but sometimes I want that extra crisp. I could always use my pressure cooker and then place my meat in the air fryer or oven...but if I can get it all done in one place, then why not.
Will the Ninja Foodi replace my Instant Pot and Air Fryer?
For me personally, it won't...but it's staying for sure. I'm not in love with the Air Fryer basket on the Ninja Foodi as there is no long handle.
I wanted two pressure cookers anyway and my Instant Pot does a mighty good job on pressure cooking, so I'll keep it too.
Ninja Foodi Pork Carnita Recipe
Of all the recipes I’ve made thus far, this is already one of my favorites. I love making shredded pork for multiple uses...tacos, burritos, rice bowl, sandwiches, etc.
I usually make it in a slow cooker or my pressure cooker but I always have to transfer the pork to the oven to really get it crisp. That’s an entire day of cooking...which I don’t have much time for.
This Ninja Foodi method allowed me to get it all done in less than an hour.
Here’s the video of me making this recipe in full. I’ll be making some more Ninja Foodi recipes to share as well. As always, Enjoy 🙂
Looking for more Ninja Foodi Recipes? Try these out:
Looking for more Air Fryer Pork Recipes? Try these out:
Air Fryer Mustard Glazed Pork Tenderloin
Air Fried Japanese Tonkatsu (Air Fried Boneless Pork Chops)
These Carnitas are great with this Homemade Salsa Recipe.
Pin Ninja Foodi Recipe: Pork Carnitas for Later
Ninja Foodi Recipe: Crispy Pork Carnitas
Ingredients
- 2 lbs pork butt chopped into 2 inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 orange cut in half
- 1 yellow onion peeled and cut in half
- 6 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
- ½ cup chicken broth
Instructions
- Place pork, salt, oregano, and cumin in Ninja Foodi pressure cook insert. Combine making sure the seasonings are covering the pork.
- Take the orange and squeeze the juices over the pork. Put the squeezed orange in the insert, along with the onion, garlic cloves, and ½ cup chicken broth.
- Cover the Ninja Foodi with the pressure cooker cover, ensuring the valve is set to seal. Set the Ninja Foodi to High Pressure and cook for 20 minutes.
- Once the 20 minute timer is complete, do a quick release by switching the valve to vent. Once all the pressure is released, open the lid and remove the orange, onion, and garlic cloves.
- Set the Ninja Foodi to satué and select md:hi. The liquid will begin to simmer. Allow the liquid to cook until it reduces, about 10-15 minutes.
- Once the majority of the liquid has reduced, press stop on the Ninja Foodi and then close the Ninja Foodi Air Crisp lid.
- Select Broil and adjust the time to 8 minutes.
- Once complete, use the crispy delicious meat in tacos, bowls, sandwiches, wraps, etc. Top with cilantro or any of your favorite toppings.
Brenda Carey says
After pressure cooking it was obvious that there was not enough flavory. I added cayenne powder chili powder and more cumin and lime juice from a whole lime. NO Taco Bell hot sauce. I live in the Southwest not the carnitas I know. but this is a good adjustment.
susie says
My husband and I loved this recipe !!! First time using the ninja foodi so a little stressful but fantastic flavors. I did tweak this just a touch, I added a dash of cinnamon and cooked it for 18 minutes on pressure cook instead of 20. I did remove most of onion and all orange when prompted. I pan seared some onion, red and green pepper cooked 3/4 way done. When on broil cycle with air crisp lid, I added those with meat 8 minutes, I did go an extra 3 minutes just with meat prior to adding peppers and onions. so 11 minutes on broil total. Can you say omg so good..... What I love is that I don't much care for tortilla's so I ate pork, onions and peppers. Taco bell mild sauce in the jar, we both added a little to the pork when serving. I also steamed some asparagus spears on the side, what a fabulous lower carb meal that we both enjoyed. As a first time ninja foodi girl, your recipe has me excited to try more things. Thank you so much !!!
Tanya says
Thank you for the feedback Susie 🙂
Teresa says
I have made this quite a few times now and love it. I take the peaces of meat out of the juice an shred them. I then remove the orange and take a stick blender to the rest. From there I follow the recipe. I hare wasting food and I think that this adds extra flavor to dish.
Tanya says
Thanks so much Teresa! I love that idea of blending in the veggies to the meat.
Ani says
Hi, I don’t have chicken broth. What are your thought on using beef broth?
Tanya says
Hi Ani, beef broth should work just fine.
Derek says
@Tanya, Mexican beer also works really well.
Cookie says
2nd time making this is less than a week! I minced the garlic & onion, so I left them in. Once again, I tripled the recipe but THIS time, I only used the amount of chix broth stated; however, there was A LOT of liquid once finished cooking, so I removed some for faster cooking. Also, since there was SO MUCH meat, I did 4 rounds of air crisp @ 4 minutes each.
Cookie says
I TRIPLED this recipe. Author is correct- do NOT change the liquid.
Because I had so meat, I broiled FOUR sets @ 4 minutes each because we like the crispy bits.
Tanya says
Thank you Cookie! So glad you liked the recipe.
Deb says
Quick question as I've looked through all the other comments and don't see it asked/addressed.
How do you remove "peeled and crushed" garlic cloves? (step 4)
Tanya says
I just use tongs to take the garlic cloves out of the pressure cooker once it's done cooking.
Debbie Kreischer says
My first attempt at carnitas - just heavenly!
Stacey B Jorgensen says
I have had a butt in the freezer waiting for a good recipe- it's not quite thawed- can I increase the time or should I wait til it is completely thawed. Thanks.
Tanya says
Hi Stacey, I've never cooked it from frozen so I'm not sure if it would make much a difference. To be safe and for the best results, I'd wait until it's thawed.
Toni Corson says
WOW!!!! Made this last night and it was amazing. I made 3.5lbs of pork butt so almost doubled the recipe and it was on point. Letting the juices sauté at the end then crisping was the finishing touch that made this my new favorite pulled pork. Thank you for the super easy no fuss delicious recipe!
Tanya says
Awesome Toni! So glad you liked them 🙂
Laurie Reimer says
really good. really easy. therefore it is a perfect recipe! Thanks
Tanya says
Thank you Laurie 🙂
Richo says
THE BEST!! I've made this 5-6 times and always turns out perfect. Tamales,tacos,burritos and enchiladas. GREAT STUFF wouldn't change a thing. I gotta check out more of your foodi recipes. Ques... Do you think I could freeze this? Richo
Tanya says
Hi Richo, thank you! Yes, they can be frozen. I just make sure to defrost them in the fridge before reheating them.
Samantha says
I have an almost 5 lb pork butt from Aldi. I’m a Foodi novice (quarantine gift to myself). I assume I would double the ingredients, but do you have any advice as to increasing cook time in the Foodi?
Tanya says
Hi Samantha, the cook time would remain the same if you double the recipe.
Pat says
This is the best Foodi recipe I've tried yet! I found it helps to get pork that doesn't have too much fat or cartilage in it. Otherwise you can end up with tough, chewy bits instead of crispy good stuff. Most foodi recipes need some work but this one was spot on - thanks!
Tanya says
Hi Pat, thanks so much for the feedback. So glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Bev says
This is a great recipe. The meat was so tender and flavorful. My Picky husband gave it five stars!
Tanya says
Awesome! So glad you both liked it 🙂 Thank you for the feedback.