Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp packed brown sugar, plus extra as needed (light brown sugar works)
- 2 Tbsp paprika
- 2 Tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- Salt and pepper
- 1 (4-pound) boneless pork roast (often labeled Boston butt), trimmed and cut crosswise into 4 pieces
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar, plus extra as needed
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
- 6-8 hamburger buns (King's Hawaiian recommended)
Steps
- Gather ingredients as listed above.
- Prepare pork: Combine sugar, paprika, chili powder, cumin, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper, then rub the mixture evenly over the pork. Combine vinegar, water, ketchup, and liquid smoke in the pressure cooker pot.
- Cook pork: Nestle the spice-rubbed pork into the pot. Lock the pressure cooker lid in place and bring to high pressure over medium-high heat. As soon as the pot reaches high pressure, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 45 minutes, adjusting heat as needed to maintain high pressure.
- Remove pot from heat and allow pressure to release naturally for 15 minutes. Quick release any remaining pressure, then carefully remove the lid, allowing steam to escape away from you.
- Pull pork, reduce sauce, enjoy: Transfer pork to a large plate or bowl, let cool slightly, then shred into bite-sized pieces, discarding any fat. Using a large spoon (or a fat separator, transferring the sauce to a small saucepan), skim excess fat from the surface of the sauce. Bring sauce to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook until thickened and measures 2 cups, 15 to 20 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, extra sugar (about 1/4 cup light brown sugar for a sweeter bbq sauce), and extra vinegar (1 tsp. at the end of simmering to brighten the flavor) to taste.
- Stir 1 cup sauce into the shredded pork, then add extra sauce to taste.
- Serve shredded pork on buns with remaining sauce.
- Add coleslaw and baked beans for an authentic Southern-barbecue-worthy meal.
Notes
Author: bobcatsteph3 (Instructables, in CookingBBQ & Grilling)
Servings: 6-8
Source: Adapted from "Pressure Cooker Perfection" by the editors at America's Test Kitchen; posted to Instructables as "Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork"
How do you get juicy, tender, flavorful pulled pork in under 2 hours? You pressure cook it. The pork is prepared with a sweet-spicy rub, and the juices that result get boiled down to make barbecue sauce.
6-Quart Electric Pressure Cooker Variant
Pressure cook on high for 45 minutes, turn the cooker off immediately after the pressurized cooking time and let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes; do not let the cooker switch to the warm setting. Use the browning setting to simmer the sauce in the reduction step.
Notes
The photocopied pages had a handwritten title "Crockpot Pull Pork" at the top of the ingredients page, but the printed instructions throughout are entirely a stovetop/electric pressure-cooker method (locking a pressure-cooker lid, bringing to high pressure, natural/quick release) — there's no crockpot/slow-cooker step anywhere in the source. The handwritten label appears to be a mislabel or the cook's own shorthand; the recipe here is transcribed faithfully to what the source pages actually describe (pressure cooker), titled to match.; A handwritten annotation next to the "Salt and pepper" ingredient line specifies "2 tbsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tbsp onion powder, 1 tbsp garlic powder" — this is more salt/pepper than the printed instructions actually call for in the rub (1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper) and adds two spices (onion powder, garlic powder) not in the original ingredient list at all. This reads as a genuine personal modification to the rub rather than a pure scaling note; if following the cook's preferred version, use the handwritten spice amounts in place of the printed "Salt and pepper" line.; Photo: the source pages had good, clear step-by-step food photos throughout — ingredients gathered (page with Step 1), raw pork prep (page with Step 1, second photo), a photo of the finished pulled pork plated two ways (shredded on a plate, and a full pulled-pork-sandwich-with-coleslaw-and-baked-beans plate) on the Instructables intro page, and two more photos of the shredded/plated pork on the "Pull Pork, Reduce Sauce, Enjoy" page. The intro-page combo photo (shredded pork plate + finished sandwich plate) is the strongest single candidate for an attached recipe photo.; The physical pages in the source PDF were scanned out of logical order (the "Cook Pork" step appeared after the "Pull Pork, Reduce Sauce" step in the file); the recipe above has been reassembled into the correct logical order (gather ingredients → prepare pork → cook pork → pull pork/reduce sauce/serve).