- When I need a main dish that will feed a crowd,
be affordable and receive rave reviews
from all of my guests,
the answer is instant pot pulled pork.
Hey, everyone.
This is Erin from wellplated.com.
And I believe in recipes that are easy, budget friendly,
and that your family will love.
If you love to host like I do,
then you know that it can be impossible
to come up with a main dish that everyone will enjoy,
that won't break the bank,
and that is basically foolproof
so that all of your friends can think
that you are a fantastic cook.
That is why I make instant pot pulled pork.
The instant pot keeps the pork incredibly moist.
So my friends think I'm a total BBQ pit master
even though it's really easy,
and it also is friendly on my wallet too.
Best of all, the guests can help themselves
right out of the instant pot so I can enjoy my own party.
Let's make it.
Great pulled pork flavor
starts with the perfect seasoning rub.
This is my go-to.
It seems like a lot of ingredients
but you have all of them in your spice cabinet.
Things like garlic powder, onion powder,
black pepper, of course, and then smoked paprika.
This is my secret weapon
whenever I am making any barbecue type of recipe.
Adding two teaspoons of kosher salt.
I know that seems like a lot
but we're making a lot of pork.
Whisk it together.
Hello, you are a barbecue master already.
Now, for the start of the show, our cut of pork.
This recipe works with four to five pounds
and you can do it with pork shoulder or a pork loin.
I'm using a pork loin because it is a little bit leaner
but the instant pot locks in the moisture
so it still will come out nice and tender.
I'm cutting the pork into three pieces
that are roughly the same size,
so that they can fit in my instant pot.
Now take your rub
and get it all over the outsides of the pork.
There is no tidy way to do this,
just have fun with it and get in there.
This spice rub is going to make a nice crust on our pork.
As you can see, I have trimmed away most of the excess fat
but you wanna leave a little bit
because that is going to give us flavor.
Set your instant pot to saute.
Whenever I am entertaining or let's be real all the time,
I hate washing dishes.
And that is why I love the instant pot.
It is a true one and done wonder.
(upbeat music)
Now this extra step,
oof, this is a big piece of pork
is to sear the outsides of the pork.
(pork sizzling)
Just listen to that beautiful sound.
It does take a few extra minutes
but they are totally worth it.
Browning the pork builds flavor.
You'll need about three minutes per piece.
Just enjoy yourself in the kitchen, boogie with it.
Think about how delicious this meal is going to be.
So I always start with the biggest one,
and then you can generally squeeze the last two
in there together.
Again, this is really only taking
about three minutes per piece and it is so, so worth it.
(pork sizzling)
Boogie down, get ready for some barbecue.
Set your pork assigned to a plate.
We will come back to that momentarily.
And now we are going to do a critical step
that is not just necessary for instant pot cooking
but all cooking of meat in general.
It is called deglaze the pan.
This is a really fancy way of saying,
you just splash some liquid in
and then you scrape up all of those brown bits.
Those bits equal flavor.
Plus if you don't get them all off
the instant pot will register that dreaded burn warning
and we all hate that.
I'm adding some onion and then a little bit more beef broth,
chicken broth works too.
And then in goes our pork.
The amount of time you need to cook this
will depend on the cut.
For a pork shoulder or butt, you'll need an hour.
For a pork loin, like this one, 40 minutes is perfect.
Make sure it is nice and sealed,
and then turn your instant pot on.
Once the cooking time elapses
be sure to let it release naturally for 15 minutes.
This is so important when you're cooking meat.
If you vent it immediately,
you'll actually make the meat seize up
and then it will be tough and dry
and that is not what we are going for
in our pulled pork here friends.
I'm using a slotted spoon
to scoop out most of the onions.
Don't stress it there, a few are still in there.
And then I'm going to set some of the cooking liquid aside
and leave about oh, a cup or so
in the bottom of the instant pot.
This is going to become our barbecue sauce.
I am throwing in some of my favorite spices,
garlic powder, more smoked paprika.
This is such a better alternative to using bottled sauce,
which is primarily high-fructose corn syrup.
We can control the ingredients
and make sure that the sauce has fabulous flavor.
Tomato paste is one of the most important additions
that is going to make our sauce thick and rich.
I use paste as a fast way to build a long cooking flavor,
and then just regular tomato sauce
to make sure that we have enough for the pork.
Bit of apple cider vinegar
to give it some tang and then maple syrup.
This is a better alternative to using brown sugar,
and the maple flavor is fabulous with pork.
I grew up on Kansas City barbecue,
and thus the next ingredient is absolutely mandatory
in barbecue sauce, that is molasses.
It's thick and sassy and makes our sauce sweet and sticky.
Now for the Worcestershire.
This is my little secret ingredient,
it makes the sauce tastes extra savory and add some umami.
Your friends are all going to be asking you for this recipe
once they take a bite.
Whisk it all together and then let the sauce simmer.
That's that saute function again until it is thickened.
Definitely partially cover the instant pot
because this sauce loves to splatter
and we want to eat our sauce, not wear it.
In the meantime, shred the pork with two forks
or my favorite, your fingers.
That gives you prime opportunity for
a little quality test.
I love using this pork, not only for sandwiches,
which is our go-to,
but you can turn it into hash, burritos.
The possibilities are endless.
Everybody goes into the pot,
and then we are going to give it a bath
in that yummy homemade barbecue sauce.
If at any point gets a little too thick
just splash in some of that good old cooking liquid
we kept on hand.
The smoky sweet since coming out of this instant pot
are just up, too much to stand.
Gotta try it.
(upbeat music)
Oh, perfection.
I'm in a barbecue joint?
Or is this my kitchen?
This pork smells legit.
At this point, when I'm having a party
I just switched the instant pot to keep warm.
That way my guests can wander in
and serve themselves whenever they feel so-called.
If you have friends that aren't into carbs,
of course they don't have to have the buns.
I am into carbs,
so I am pretty excited about this sandwich.
You can see we got our homemade barbecue sauce
all up in there too.
Now in my house,
you can't have pulled pork without a little creamy coleslaw.
So I will put that on top.
If your guests ask what they can bring
you can either ask them,
hey, just bring yourself, just bring a bottle of wine.
Or a coleslaw is a great easy thing
to give one of your guests as well.
I like to serve it up with a few little pickles.
I just can't even believe how much pork this made.
I could have a real party with this,
and this entire cut of meat costs me less than 20 bucks.
All right, just look at that beauty.
If you are looking for easy ways to serve a crowd
be sure to check out my stuffed pork tenderloin.
It is a little more elevated, but also inexpensive.
And then as far as using the instant pot,
you can check out my instant pot mashed potatoes.
That's another one where guests can just walk on up
and scoop themselves
whenever they are feeling hungry,
which is me right about now.
(upbeat music)
Fantastic.
Everyone will love this.