Fall Apart Pork Butt in Instant Pot

Shredded fall apart pork butt in Instant Pot with barbecue sauce is delicious. Just 4 ingredients makes this simple protein packed dinner in your Ninja Foodi, IP, Crockpot Express or other pressure cooker brand. Cook time below is for fresh or defrosted, refer to our Instant Pot frozen pork butt recipe if yours isn’t.

Instant Pot Pulled Pork Butt

This is a GREAT cut of meat to pull or shred! I mean you don’t even need 2 forks to make this Ninja Foodi pulled pork. This comes out so tender it falls apart when you lift it out of the pot with tongs. Get ready for pure comfort food that your family and guests will go crazy over for sure.

NO added ingredients necessary, just throw it on slider buns or on top of rice and BAM…dinner is ready! Of course you can also make your own homemade sauce or even choose teriyaki for an Asian flare. Your choice. Make it in any type of pressure cooker or as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe.

Ninja Foodi Pork Butt

If you are using a Foodi there are two lids, the one that is not attached is used for this recipe. That will cook it under high pressure which is necessary to break down the connective tissues and become so tender you can separate it into shreds with just forks.

If I find a large hunk of meat at the grocery store, pressure cooking is the way to go. It gets it nice and tender within an hour and dinner is served. A lot of times I’ll grab whatever is on sale that day, many times that gives us a chance to then try something new. Typically this is a pretty cheap cut of meat. With a rather thin bone in the center that can be cut out and not a ton of fat, it soaks up the flavor nicely and is easy to pull.

Is pork shoulder the same as pork butt?

They are often confused but not exactly the same, no. The latter is found higher up on the leg, closer to their hind end…thus the name. We also have an Instant Pot pork shoulder recipe you can follow, they are very similar.

4 Ingredient Pulled Pork in Instant Pot

You do not have to remove the bone really, but you should cut into 4 equal pieces so it gets more tender quicker. SO since you’re slicing and dicing anyway, mind as well get rid of that baby since you aren’t going to eat it anyway.

You really can add any sort sauce or coating to this. I prefer just using a bottle of my favorite bbq sauce and bottled seasonings because that means EASY. If you’d rather use our homemade steak dry rub that would be amazing too. Have your own concoction you like for pressure cooker bbq beef, go for that too. You just need liquid as well to reach pressure.

Ingredients

• 3-4 lb pork butt bone-in removed, cut in fourths
• 2 tbsp steak seasoning or dry rub of your own
• 12 oz barbecue sauce you love, not brown sugar based, too thick
• 1/4 c beef broth is better than water

Leave the fat pad on to create more moisture. You can remove that when it is done with a pair of tongs before serving it up. If yours is still frozen solid you can follow the Instant Pot frozen pork shoulder recipe we have.

How Long to Cook Pork Butt in Pressure Cooker

That depends on the weight, thickness, and whether you keep it whole. I prefer to remove the bone and cut into quarters so it breaks down better and becomes as moist as possible. The general rule though is a bit more than an hour, so you can keep that in mind for planning purposes.

That is the second best way to make this hunk o’ meat, slow cooker style. Always works great as well. We did this with our Crockpot bbq beef recipe. If you remember to throw it in early in the morning that’s a winner too.

How to Cook Instant Pot Pulled Pork Butt No Bone

1. Use a sharp knife and slice around the bone to lift that out and discard it. Cut meat into 4 equal sized portions.
2. Season all cuts of pork all over with dry seasonings of your choice.
3. Throw them in with the sauce and a bit of broth to thin that out and you’re set! Really it is that simple to make.
   • I started adding 1/2 cup of broth for some additional cooking liquid, but decided only 1/4 was really all that was needed. If you had a really thin sauce you could get away with not using any additional liquid.
4. Seal lid and steam valve shut. Set to high pressure for 65 minutes followed by a 10 minute natural release. Then release rest of steam.
5. Use tongs to break or shred meat in pot.

Do not use the really thick brown sugar types as those won’t work well. Not only will you have to thin it up quite a bit to come to pressure but the sugars may likely trigger the burn notice on Instant Pot and turn your pot off entirely in the middle of cooking. It is less likely to happen if you’re using a Ninja Foodi that has a ceramic pot, or a non stick pot. But….it’s still its best to use a thinner version.

Can you make shredded pork with pork loin?

You can in fact cook pork loin in Instant Pot like we did here with a sweet Hawaiian sauce. It works to shred similar to this cut except that it won’t be quite as moist since there is far less fat in a loin. More fat is better in this case really, even if you remove it before serving it is important for the cooking process.

Like I said earlier, it doesn’t matter what brand you have at home. They all work the same, some just have a few more buttons. Use high pressure cook setting, or you can press the meat button and adjust the time to about 60 minutes.

Do you need to brown Boston butt before cooking?

You could sear the meat if you wanted a bit more texture, I don’t. In this case I want it to fall apart as easily as possible so I don’t really want a crisp on the outside but you could start with the saute function and some olive oil. Brown at the beginning, remove, deglaze with wooden spoon to remove stuck on pieces off the bottom of the pot and continue with directions below.

What should I serve with Boston butt?

Our favorite would be pulled pork sandwiches. That way all I have to buy are small Hawaiian sweet rolls and blue cheese cole slaw is great on top of the meat too.

• You could just make our no soak Instant Pot baked beans and serve them together side by side.
• Serve it over a bed of Ninja Foodi white rice, we do that often.
• Once done this meat is ready to serve as sliders like you see here on Hawaiian buns, our fave.

How to store and reheat pulled pork

1. Allow it to come to room temperature.
2. Store in a freezer bag, suck all the air out.
3. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.
4. Reheat by adding more sauce and maybe a sprinkle of garlic powder and onion powder to the top. Toss with your meat. Microwave in 30 second increments stirring in between until warmed.