Pressure Cooker Low-FODMAP Citrus Carnitas

This Pressure Cooker Low-FODMAP Citrus Carnitas is a delicious, flavor-filled dinner option for busy weeknights!

Finding a carnitas recipe sans onions or garlic is difficult. The high-in-fructans vegetable and spice cause digestive troubles for those who need to avoid foods high in FODMAPs due to various gastrointestinal problems.

A Brief Background on FODMAPs

FODMAP is an acronym that stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols, short-chained carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed by our bodies. These types of carbohydrates can cause all sorts of digestive problems for those with sensitive GI systems. When consuming foods high in a specific FODMAP, the food passes through our stomach and small intestine and is either fermented by colonic bacteria releasing gas or expelled together with fluid. Not great for those with IBS, SIBO, and a myriad of other stomach problems.

After I personally eliminated FODMAPs from my diet, many of my symptoms decreased or altogether disappeared. Since that time, I’ve been able to slowly reintroduce many moderate- and high-FODMAP foods back into my diet, garlic and onions being the exception. Gotta heal that dang gut of mine. In the meantime, I just continue to cook without these two ingredients and do my best to avoid them when we go out to eat.

Do you follow a low-FODMAP diet? If so, check out some of my other low-FODMAP recipes here.

Pressure Cooker/Instant Pot

How on earth did I ever live without my Instant Pot? I use this thing so often that I feel like I wash it twice a day. It cuts cook time by like 7459347935633% AND it doesn’t heat the house up, which is especially awesome when warm weather hits. Plus, unlike a slow cooker, you don’t have to leave your Instant Pot on all day since pressure cookers can cook everything in basically less than an hour instead of 4, 8, 16, or even 24 hours for some slow cooker recipes.

If you don’t have some sort of pressure cooker, such as the Instant Pot, I can’t recommend one enough. Already have one? Buy one for someone else. Spread the convenience of these little pieces of appliance glory.

Citrus Carnitas

For several months, I’ve been playing around with a recipe for low-FODMAP carnitas in my Instant Pot. I knew I wanted the meat to be tender, yet crispy, and that another depth of flavor needed to be composed since garlic and onions were not optional ingredients. After some time, I finally cracked the code!

Pineapple, orange zest, and orange juice. Oh YES.

This recipe is… good. REALLY GOOD. As in, I may or may not have eaten three helpings in one sitting…

Serve this up in a big ol’ bowl! Garnish with lime wedges and fresh cilantro, and dig in!

Diets This Pressure Cooker Low-FODMAP Citrus Carnitas Recipe Is Compliant With

This recipe is low-FODMAP, Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free.