Instant Pot Pulled Pork

Pulled pork is just one of those meals that comfort you on any day - a summer day, a cold winter day, a long work day, or a relaxing vacation day. And serving is so versatile - day 1 is pulled pork over riced cauliflower with a side of slaw, day 2 breakfast is a little pile of pulled pork in the fry pan with an egg nestled in the middle to lightly steam, day 3 is pork tacos - and the list could go on depending on how many in your household you are serving. The meal that keeps on giving . . .

Over the years there has been a number of traditional ways to cook this favorite meal, and then along came the instant pot. Now you can get a late start on dinner and still make pulled pork that tastes like it has been roasting in the oven all day long. Amazing.

The first trick is getting a good quality pork butt or shoulder roast. This used to be an easy task for me, off to the store I would go. But as the information has sunk in about the treatment of pork raised in industrial farming, and the chemicals and hormones found in their feed and their bodies, I have opted out of that tradition. Yes it is hard, there is that moment when you start comparing prices and you have second thoughts. Thus, the first statement of this paragraph, the trick is getting good quality pork! Watch for those sales, check your local resources for pasture raised pork, and you may find that buying local and in bulk can sometimes be the best price and quality out there.

So, now that you have done your pork shopping, the next trick is the rub for the pork pieces. If you are adventurous, put together your own dry rub using the recipe below. If that doesn’t appeal to you, there are really good dry rub mixes out there to be purchased. Just watch the ingredient list, some of these contain a lot of sugar, and a good dry rub is perfectly good without that addition.

INGREDIENTS -

2 1/2 lb shoulder or butt pork roast, organic is best

Seasoning mix -

1/2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 Tbsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 Tbsp garlic granules or powder
1/2 Tbsp cumin

Cut the pork into chunks, 3-5 inches for a rough example. Coat each piece with the dry rub. The next step is to sear the meat. One of the advantages of the instant pot is only having one pot to clean at the end of the night. You can use the saute mode to sear the pork, then continue with the pressure cooking. Searing the pork this way will take 2-3 batches because the size of the instant pot is most likely smaller than your amount of pork. Personally, I find it easier to use a large fry pan, there is more room, it is more accessible to reach for turning, and easier to see how it is browning up. Oh well, one more pan to wash 😀.

After the meat is seared, place the pork chunks in the instant pot and cook for 50 minutes on manual high. Between the pot coming up to temperature and then allowing it to vent off naturally you are looking at about an hour and fifteen minutes for this process.

After the steam has vented off remove the pork from the instant pot and place in a large baking dish (yep, one more to wash!). Allow the pork to cool until you can handle it and then shred with your hands.

And dinner is served . . . and breakfast . . . and lunch again. Enjoy!