Easily Shred-able Pulled Pork Instant Pot Tacos!
Pulled pork is meat that has been cooked until it’s tender enough to pull apart with a fork. Usually, people will use a slow cooker, because it gives you the tenderness necessary to pull it apart. But we’ve been experimenting with using an instant pot, so we don’t have to wait 6 hours for dinner!
I love cooking a pork roast because you can cook once, and then the leftovers can be used in so many different meals. Some things we enjoy eating with pulled pork include:
- BBQ pulled pork sandwiches
- Tacos (like this recipe today)
- Pulled pork over rice (like this Kalua pulled pork)
- Enchiladas
- Taquito’s
- Topped on pizzas
- Topped on baked potatoes
- or as is, with seasonings and sauces!
The pulled pork is easier for kids to eat, because it’s not tough like other kinds of meat. Even I can choke on pieces of steak because it can be tough if not cooked properly. But this recipe for pulled pork in the instant pot is tender enough for even small kids.
What kind of meat do you use for pulled pork?
Whether you cook it in an oven, slow cooker, or Instant Pot, the best meat for making tender, shred-able pork is the pork shoulder. Once I started using the pork shoulder cuts, I never had a problem with shredding. The way the meat is structured, it almost shreds by itself.
Tips for pulled pork in the Instant Pot
- Liquid : You don’t need much, but when you are using the instant pot, steam is what creates the pressure to cook your food. This recipe uses a little bit of orange juice that can really help the meat to get tender and moist.
- Slice it up: Another thing we did to speed up cooking time and tenderness is to cut the roast into smaller pieces. This increases the surface area for cooking and allows it to cook a bit more quickly. The recipe still takes over an hour, but it’s much quicker than the slow cooker.
- Size of pressure cooker: I used the Instant Pot 8 quart size for this specific recipe, but it was probably too big. You can use the 6 quart and have plenty of room to cook it.
- Cut of meat: As mentioned, best pork for shredding- SHOULDER!
Changing this recipe to a slow cooker
Since we’ve gone back and forth with this recipe, we know it works in a slow cooker as well! We have a great article, the Ultimate guide to turning a slow cooker into an instant pot recipe, and we’ve used it to do both with this one. Nothing changes except cook time. We put all the ingredients in a slow cooker, and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
If you haven’t cooked pulled pork to use in a variety of dinners yet, what are you waiting for? Have you started using an Instant Pot yet? An Instant Pot is a pressure cooker with special pre-programmed functions that makes it effortless to prepare many different foods.
Next, make our most popular instant pot recipe, the All In One Instant Pot Chicken and Brown Rice!
Let us know what your kids think of this recipe! Adding the pineapple, red peppers, and spinach can really increase the nutrition of this dinner, and make it tasty for kids. We also added our corn tortillas to a griddle for a few minutes to help them keep their shape, but kept them soft enough for kids to chew.
For another cooking method we love, try a rice cooker! Here are 13 foods you never knew you could cook in a rice cooker, beyond rice!
Instant Pot Pineapple Pulled Pork Tacos
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon cumin, ground
- 2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano, dried
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, ground
- 2 1/2 pound pork shoulder, lean
- 1 medium orange
- 2 clove garlic
- 1 medium onion, red
- 2 cup pineapple
- 1 medium bell pepper, red
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 2 medium lime
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup spinach
- 8 medium tortillas, corn
Serve With
- 2 medium orange
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together cumin, chili powder, oregano, 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt and pepper. Remove excess fat from pork and cut into slices. Toss in a large bowl with spice mixture. Set aside.
- Juice one orange into the Instant Pot and add 1 teaspoon of orange zest as well. Mince garlic, add to pot. Slice half the onion, and finely dice the remaining half. Add slices to the Instant Pot. Add pork and lock the lid in place.
- Set the Instant Pot to MANUAL for 1 hour, 15 minutes. Once it beeps use the QUICK RELEASE method to vent. Carefully open the lid and shred pork using 2 forks.
- Add finely diced onion to a mixing bowl with pineapple (cut into chunks). Dice pepper and chop cilantro, add to mixing bowl. Juice 2 limes into the pineapple mixture; add oil and sea salt. Mix together to coat evenly.
- To each tortilla, add spinach, pork and salsa. Serve with orange wedges on the side.
