Easy Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Pork

I can’t tell you how much I love this Instant Pot Easy BBQ Pulled Pork. This is a recipe I cooked regularly for months until I got it just right. It's so effortlessly easy and something I'd never really cook in the oven as it takes so long! In the Instant Pot it's done in about two hours total.

Below the recipe card I have answered a lot of your questions so make sure you take a look 😊

Maria ❤️

📖 Recipe

Easy Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Pork

Maria Bravo

This Instant Pot BBQ Pulled Pork is so easy you'll be surprised how hassle-free it is, so much so that you can cook it any day of the week

5 from 1 vote

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Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, British

Servings 12 people, depends how you serve it

Equipment

• 1 Pressure Cooker

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1.4 - 1.6 kg pork shoulder / pork shoulder steaks although you’re going to cut it in chunks so size does not matter as timings will stay in the same (pork shoulder steaks work too and are less work as you can leave them as they are)
• 1 jar Cirio Passata Rustica or 350 g of the passata you can get hold of
• 200 ml water cold tap
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika this can be increased, you could do 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 40 g liquid smoke (optional, please read below)
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• A few twists of the black pepper mill I don't always add it
• 100 g of tomato purée (approx half a tube)

Instructions

 

• Remove the rind from the pork shoulder, cut into big chunks, place in inner pot. If using pork shoulder steaks, just add them as they are.
  1.4 - 1.6 kg pork shoulder / pork shoulder steaks
  
• Add the passata then rinse the jar with 200 ml of water and add to the inner pot.
  1 jar Cirio Passata Rustica or 350 g of the passata you can get hold of, 200 ml water
  
• Add the 1 tablespoon paprika, 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 40 g of liquid smoke and 1 teaspoon of sea salt with a few twists of the black pepper mill.
  1 tablespoon paprika, 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 40 g liquid smoke (optional, please read below), 1 teaspoon of sea salt, A few twists of the black pepper mill
  
• Stir it all together to mix. Yes, stir (make sure your Instant Pot is in good shape and your sealing ring pressed down correctly to avoid problems, watch the videos on here). It will work well as long as you’ve done that properly. If in doubt, don’t stir.
• Make sure the sealing ring is pressed down correctly into its rack, press down as you follow the circumference several times. Close the lid. Steam release handle pointing to sealing (unless you have one of the super cool self-sealing lids, in which case you don’t need to do anything).
• Press Pressure Cook / Manual or equivalent and programme 75 minutes / 1 hour and 15 minutes, high pressure (in the Duo Evo Plus I use Pressure Cook then select Pork and programe 1:15, one hour and 15 minutes). Let it do NPR for at least 15 minutes at the end.
  
• Open the lid and remove some of the fatty liquid. Stir in half a tube of tomato purée, press Sauté, set to High and let it reduce with the lid off while you get the chunks of pork out and start shredding them with two forks then put the pulled pork back in the pot and give it a good stir to mix with the sauce.
  100 g of tomato purée
  
• My pork tends to be so tender that it just shreds beautifully but this will depend on the quality of the pork, if it’s not super tender do this final step if you have time: once all the pork is shredded / pulled and back in the inner pot with the sauce, pop the lid back on and press Pressure Cook / Manual and give it another 15 minutes, high pressure, NPR.
  

Tip for electric pressure cookers

• Got an electric pressure cooker? Let it go automatically to Warm at the end of pressure cooking, for a few hours. It allow the flavours to develop. You can also swap to Slow Cook instead of Warm if you're near the cooker

Video

Notes

*Terminology

Quick pressure release (QPR, also called quick release or QR) means venting the steam as soon as the pressure cooking process finishes, i.e. moving the steam release handle from Sealing to Venting.

Natural pressure release (NPR, also called natural release or NR) means letting the float valve pop back down of its own accord, so basically you don’t need to do anything at the end and can keep your feet up. If it takes over 15 minutes, you're ok to release the rest of the steam (by turning the steam release handle to Venting) that may be left in order to unlock and open the lid. 

Sometimes you'll see me talk of a combination of NPR followed by a QPR. For example a recipe may have a 4 minute NPR followed by a QPR. You wait for 4 minutes at the end of the pressure cooking time and then do a QPR by moving the steam release handle from Sealing to Venting. 

Keyword BBQ, Instant Pot, Pork Shoulder, Pressure cooker, Pulled Pork

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Can I freeze this Easy BBQ Pulled Pork?

Yes you can.

In fact, I portion it up for the freezer and the photos you see here are from cooking it because I was down to my last freezer bag and I love having some in the freezer for quick dinners.

Even better, you can then reheat it from frozen using this method. If making Mac and Cheese to go with it, you can defrost it at the same time in an enamel dish for example balanced on a trivet above the Mac and Cheese.

Why Cirio Pasata Rustica?

Because it’s so good!

I discovered it in Tesco last year with some offer and I’ve been in love ever since.

Can you be in love with passata?

I think you can!

It has a natural sweetness to it so you don’t have to add sugar to this recipe.

You may know by now that I try not to add any sugar to my savoury dishes.

I prefer to play with the ingredients to find ways around it.

So yes, this recipe also has no added sugar.

If you can’t find Cirio Passata Rustica, I’m told Mutti is really good and that Lidl often have Passata Rustica and run great deals on it.

Otherwise just use normal passata.

Do I have to use Liquid Smoke?

In short, no you don’t, it will be lovely without in fact but it does add a delicious depth of flavour.

I bought the liquid smoke from Amazon to try a few drops in recipes and it’s so good!

Buy the Liquid Smoke I buy from Amazon

Apparently it works great in homemade baked beans so I have that experiment coming up.

Are these ingredients I can easily find in the UK?

Yes they are indeed.

Do you love smoky pulled pork and recipes that are super easy?

Then look no further!

Here’s the recipe. I've added a few step-by-step photos that will hopefully help

Ways to serve your pulled pork

Pulled pork is great in:

• wraps with lettuce and tomato
• flat breads
• jacket potatoes
• plain rice or Mexican Rice
• pitta bread
• lettuce leaves for a low carb alternative to wraps
• Mac and Cheese

Below you have a few photos with serving suggestions, basically how we like to usually eat it when I cook it (which is very regularly!).

Oh and fantastic in brioche burger buns! So good in fact, especially with Greek Roast Potatoes like in the photo below.

It's also great on top of Mac and Cheese, and this Instant Pot Mac and Cheese recipe is perfect for it.

What Instant Pot is this with the big screen and handles on the inner pot?

In the photos you see the Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus. You can, of course, use any Instant Pot for this recipe.

One of the reasons I love the Evo is the convenience of the handles in the inner pot.

Other Pressure Cooker recipes you might like:

• Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Creamy Paprika Sauce
• Instant Pot Meat Loaf
• Instant Pot Duo Crisp Greek Roast Potatoes
• Instant Pot Duo Crisp Sweet Potato Fries
• Instant Pot Ratatouille Pasta

Air Fryer Recipes you might like:

• Air Fryer Smoky Fajita Chicken
• Air Fryer Roasted Vegetables
• Instant Pot Duo Crisp Sweet Potato Fries