This easy Instant Pot Hawaiian pulled pork 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.
If you have kids at home and looking for a new meal idea, this easy Instant Pot Hawaiian pulled pork recipe is perfect! It’s one of our favorite 101+ Instant Pot recipes. 😉 Sponsored by Smithfield® Prime Fresh Pork. (originally published 9/18, affiliate links present)
Instant Pot pulled pork
This Instant Pot dinner is something I can whip together fast.
Let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then LIKE our IP Facebook page for new ideas daily.
- This is a great InstaPot cookbook to grab too.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot. It is easier to clean and will avoid the burn message too.
- For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have and use for all recipe creations.
- 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!
Kalua Pork Instant Pot Recipe
To start with all you need are a few items that can be found at your local Stokes Fresh Food Market including this Smithfield® PRIME Boneless Center Cut Pork Loin; it’s great for making pulled 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.
Here is a quick step by step but there is also a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for your convenience.
Time needed: 1 hour.
Instant Pot Kalua Pork
- Cut pork loin
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)
- Saute
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. - Deglaze Instant Pot
Turn your Instant Pot off/cancel button and deglaze your pot. (scrape all little pieces of meat off the bottom of your pot)
- Add ingredients
Put your seared pork pieces back into your pot with your diced onions and vegetable broth. Lock the lid and steam valve.
- Pressure cook
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 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 Instant Pot.
- Put your shredded pork back into your pot with pineapple tidbits and the sauce you just made.
- Gently mix together and put lid back on for about 15 minutes to soak up.
Serve your Instant Pot Hawaiian pulled pork on top of rice or use our easy roll recipe topped with Hawaiian cole slaw and enjoy!!
Pressure cooker Hawaiian pork
This is what our Instant Pot Kalua pork looked like when it was done! Then we decided to make sliders out of it.
- Smothered in a tangy but sweet Hawaiian barbecue style sauce, this pulled pork is great no matter how you serve it.
- Compared to the bbq or oven, it has a short cooking time to get it fall apart tender.
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 Instant Pot to sauté 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.
Instant Pot Hawaiian pulled pork recipe
This is what you’re going to need:
- Smithfield Boneless Center Cut Pork Loin – about 3.5 lbs.
- yes you could use another part like pork butt but remove the bone beforehand
- Olive oil
- Vegetable broth
- Onion
- Pineapple tidbits & some juice out of the can
- Soy sauce
- Apple cider vinegar
- Ketchup
- Tomato paste
I use a variety of seasonings to really bring out the flavors I want in this meat. It has a bold taste that’s sweet with a bit of tang.
Here are a few questions you might have before you get started.
If you have others that come to mind let us know, we will try to answer those as well:
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.
Or for my Ninja Foodi pulled pork I can reheat on saute for a few minutes.
We hope you love our dinner creation, if you’re looking for other easy pressure cooker recipes here are a few:
- We made Instant Pot hamburger casserole and it was a hit too
- Instant Pot tacos
- 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.
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 version too. Print recipe below.
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***** If you LOVED this recipe give it 5 Stars below and let everyone know what you thought about it. 😉
Instant Pot Hawaiian Pulled Pork
Ingredients
- 3.5 lbs pork center cut 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
Heather says
What spices do you use?
The Typical Mom says
Ingredient list is in recipe card at bottom
Crystal says
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. 😀
The Typical Mom says
Oh yay, glad it was a hit
Angela says
Could you also do a natural release instead of a quick lne
Michele S says
Do you know how I could make this in my crockpot? I don’t have an instant pot. Looks delish! Thanks!
The Typical Mom says
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.
Michelle says
Loved it!. Instead of tomato paste, put a bit of bbq sauce. So delish! My family loved it. Thanks!
The Typical Mom says
Yeah!!
Derek says
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!
The Typical Mom says
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.
Aleda says
Help, I thought I had brown sugar for this recipe but I don’t! Can I substitute it with something?
Justine says
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???
Donna says
Maple syrup
Kerry says
I have a bone in pork loin, can I use this instead?
Justine says
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.
Rebecca Hubbell says
We love trying new pulled pork recipes and this one is such a winner! Love the pineapple flavor!
Aleda Routhier says
Can I substitute the brown sugar with something?!
Beth Lee says
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!