This easy Instant Pot Hawaiian pulled pork loin recipe is amazing and perfect for any party. Kalua pork served as sliders or on top of rice is a tasty family dinner for all. Use the sauce for other meat too like our Instant Pot Hawaiian chicken or make in Ninja Foodi pressure cooker too.
If you have kids at home and looking for a new meal idea, this easy Instant Pot Hawaiian shredded pork recipe is perfect! It’s one of our favorite 101+ Instant Pot recipes. 😉 (affiliate links present)
Instant Pot Hawaiian Pulled Pork Recipe
This Instant Pot dinner is something I can whip together fast. High in protein with a whop of great flavors, everyone will love this one for sure. You can serve these wrapped up inside lettuce leaves as a wrap or inside little buns. Hawaiian rolls specifically work the best.
No worries if you don’t have the IP brand. You can use a Crockpot Express or make this as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe like we did with our Ninja Foodi pulled pork. We made this one with just a jar of bbq sauce to make it extra easy. Any and all electric pressure cooker will work with the high pressure function.
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
Ninja Foodi Hawaiian Pulled Pork
Throw it in my pressure cooker or Ninja Foodi on days where I don’t have a lot of time. It’s something hearty you can make into sliders or over rice that will keep our bellies full. Why do I use my Instant Pot as often as I do? Well during the summertime I do NOT want to turn on my oven when it’s 90ish degrees outside.
During the busy school year it’s great too because we are BUSY! To start with all you need are a few items that can be found at your local Stokes Fresh Food Market including this boneless Smithfield Pork Loin; it’s great for making pulled pork!
Pressure Cooker Kalua Pork
You see….not all pork is created equal. With Smithfield Prime Fresh Pork cuts you’ll get a piece of meat that is 20% more tender, there are no added hormones or steroids. It’s also a product of the USA, and is gluten free.
You could use their pork tenderloin for this but I wanted a larger cut of meat. The center cut pork loin is what I chose to use this time. Ours was about 3.5 lbs. in size and feed all 5 of us.
Ingredients
- 3.5 lb Boneless Pork Loin, yes you could use another part like pork butt but remove the bone beforehand
- Olive oil to saute at the start
- Vegetable broth or beef works too
- Onions diced adds flavor and texture
- Pineapple tidbits & some pineapple juice out of the can
- Soy sauce will make the sauce savory
- Apple cider vinegar gives it a pop
- Ketchup is part of the homemade sauce too
- Tomato paste will make it a bit thicker
Here is a quick step by step of Instant pot kalua pork but there is also a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for your convenience.
How to cook Hawaiian pulled pork
- Cut your larger piece of Kalua pig / pork roast into 4 equal smaller pieces and rub seasoning all over each one. (1 piece is missing from photo because it didn’t fit at the same time)
- Then add some olive oil to your Instant Pot (I am using a 6 qt. Instant Pot here) and set it to the saute function.
- Lightly sear all sides of your pork and remove when done, do this for all 4 pieces.
- Turn your Instant Pot off/cancel button and deglaze
What does deglaze Instant Pot mean?
Deglazing when cooking means to scrape all little pieces of meat off the bottom of your pot. It is best to use a wooden spatula to do this so you don’t scratch the insides. You should use a bit of broth or water to loosen the food and remove entirely before continuing to cook.
Put your seared pork pieces back into your pot with your diced onions and vegetable broth. Lock the lid and steam valve. Set your Instant Pot or other version of pressure cooker to pressure cook high pressure for 60 minutes. Mix ingredients for your Hawaiian Kalua sauce in a small bowl so it’s ready once your meat is fork tender.
When your pot beeps do a quick pressure release and smell the wonder already…and it’s not even done yet! Shred your OH SO TENDER pork with two forks (I usually do this in a separate bowl).
Drain your pot into a strainer keeping the tender onions, return those to your pot. Put your meat back in with pineapple tidbits and the sauce. Gently mix and put lid back on for about 15 minutes to soak up. Serve on top of rice or use our easy roll recipe topped with Hawaiian cole slaw and enjoy!!
Is Hawaiian pulled pork and kalua pork the same?
Kalua is in fact a traditional Hawaiian dish served at luaus or special occasions but it actually refers to the cooking method, meaning “to cook in an underground oven” (an imu) with a whole pig is seasoned with Hawaiian sea salt. Traditionally it is wrapped in banana leaves slow-cooked which gives it a unique, smoky flavor.
To make things easier when brought over to the U.S. people have adapted the cooking into this kitchen appliance using smaller cuts and a copycat sauce like this one.
Instant Pot Pineapple Pork
The pork keeps well for hours in your Instant Pot and is awesome if you’re having a party and want to keep it for grazing throughout the afternoon.
If you want to warm it back up just set your machine to sauté again and use tongs to gently move around until it’s all warmed again and then turn off again. Leaving the top on will keep it nice and warm too. Then make pressure cooker Hawaiian pulled pork sliders for everyone to enjoy.
This is what you’re going to need to get started on this. If you wanted to add a bit of heat you could easily use a bit of Sriracha and/or red pepper flakes.
What can I make with pulled pork besides sandwiches?
Well that is our go to as you can see below with these sliders. They can be a hearty appetizer or main dish. We have served it over rice too though. Other options would be to put it on top of a salad, inside a lettuce wrap, inside an Instant Pot casserole, or inside 5 ingredient chili instead of ground beef.
If stored in airtight bags or containers and in the fridge, it will be good for 3-4 days. Reheat in 30 sec. intervals in the microwave, stirring in between or in a pan on the stovetop over medium heat.
Other easy pressure cooker pork recipes you’ll love
We hope you love our dinner creation, if you’re looking for other easy pressure cooker recipes here are a few:
- Instant Pot tacos with beef or Instant Pot pork tacos are the bomb.
- This easy Instant Pot pork tenderloin is great too.
- Our tender Instant Pot pork shoulder recipe has a more savory sea salt sauce rather than sweet like this one. Next you’ve gotta try this Instant Pot Hawaiian chicken! It is so amazing. Jump to recipe and get started.
If you want to make pulled pork in your Crockpot Express, the directions will remain the same other than some buttons say brown instead of saute. We’ve made a slow cooker pork shoulder version too. Print recipe below.
Instant Pot Hawaiian Pulled Pork
Equipment
- 1 pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 3.5 lbs pork loin, if using a larger piece, you may need more time
- 1 tbsp seasoned salt
- 1 tbsp salt free seasoning, I used garlic and herb seasoning
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 c vegetable broth, or other broth of your choice
- 1 onion, diced
- 1/2 c ketchup
- 1/3 c apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 c brown sugar
- 3 oz tomato paste
- 1/2 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 3/4 tsp chili powder
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp soy sauce, I used low sodium
- 1.5 c pineapple tidbits, without juice
- 1 tbsp pineapple juice
Instructions
- Cut your Smithfield Prime pork center cut pork loin in 4 equal pieces. Rub your seasoning salt and salt free seasoning on all pieces – top and bottom.
- Turn pressure cooker to saute, low and add olive oil. When hot put pork pieces in and sear both sides, remove when all 4 pieces are done and turn pot to OFF/Cancel.
- Pour 1 cup of your vegetable broth into your Instant Pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape bits of seasoning and pork bits off bottom of pot. (called deglazing, link to how to do this above recipe card if needed)
- Leave broth in pot and put your 4 pork pieces back in. Pour remaining cup of broth into your pot with your diced onions.
- Close lid and steam valve and set to pressure high for 60 minutes. Allow to naturally release pressure for 5 minutes, then do a quick release when done. Turn pot OFF/Cancel.
- Take 1 piece out at a time and in a separate bowl shred your pork and remove fat (if desired).
- Dump contents of pot out into a strainer to keep the cooked onions. Put onions back into your pressure cooker pot.
- Add shredded pork back into your pot with your onions.
- Mix together all other ingredients listed above (from ketchup down) well in a bowl (except pineapple tidbits) and pour on your pulled pork inside your pressure cooker.
- Gently mix so pork is coated.
- Add in your pineapple tidbits and gently mix in.
- Serve on slider buns topped with our homemade cole slaw or if you want it a bit warmer set to saute low again, stir gently as it is warming and then turn pot off and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What spices do you use?
Ingredient list is in recipe card at bottom
I made this tonight and WOW it was so good. Husband & I highly recommend this recipe, was hard to not over eat! Will become a regular in our meal rotation. 😀
Oh yay, glad it was a hit
Could you also do a natural release instead of a quick lne
Do you know how I could make this in my crockpot? I don’t have an instant pot. Looks delish! Thanks!
I haven’t done that yet but it’s 6-8 hours on low for my crockpot pork butt so probably that long using this sauce on top.
Loved it!. Instead of tomato paste, put a bit of bbq sauce. So delish! My family loved it. Thanks!
Yeah!!
Ok I have read the comments about getting the BURN notice and that is what we keep getting! We followed the recipe exactly and you mentioned something about deglazing after sauteeing? But the recipe does not ever say to sautee! Help!
Yes, in step 2 it directs you to use saute function. Then in step 3 it states you must deglaze your pot, tells you how, and there is a link in the steps above within the post showing you how to do this if you are unsure how. In that post there is even a video showing you how. If you saute any meats in an Instant Pot this is a step you must do to ensure it doesn’t trigger the burn notice. Turning your pot off during that step is a must as well, as stated, to give you pot time to cool down or it will falsely trigger that message as well. If you haven’t done either then I would imagine your burn notice is on and all you can do is turn it off, let it cool down, remove meat, deglaze now as stated, and then set to designated time again.
Help, I thought I had brown sugar for this recipe but I don’t! Can I substitute it with something?
Hmmmmm it won’t have the same flavor but for sweetness you could add a bit of corn syrup or a bit of white sugar???
Maple syrup
@Aleda,
To make your own light brown sugar, mix 1 cup, or 200 grams (g), of granulated white sugar with 1 tablespoon (tbsp.), or 15 milliliters (mL), of molasses. If you need dark brown sugar, increase the molasses to 2 tbsp. (30 mL). And just like that, you have brown sugar.
I have a bone in pork loin, can I use this instead?
You could but I’d try to cut it off the bone and into larger chunks without it or timing will be off and it won’t be as tender.
We love trying new pulled pork recipes and this one is such a winner! Love the pineapple flavor!
Can I substitute the brown sugar with something?!
I love this pulled pork recipe – haven’t tried pulled pork in the instant pot yet but now I have a good place to start!