Pork Butt in Instant Pot

This is our 3 ingredient fall apart pork butt in Instant Pot with barbecue sauce recipe you can make for dinner tonight with fresh meat or we also have directions for cooking from frozen if you had a forgetful moment.

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.

Ninja Foodi Pork Butt

This is a GREAT cut of meat to pull or shred! I mean you don’t even need 2 forks to make Ninja Foodi pulled pork either. 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. Make it in any type of pressure cooker or as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe with the lid that is not attached.

Ingredient Notes

You do not have to remove the bone from the pork butt 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. Ours was 3.5 pounds which is enough for the 5 of us with some leftovers for lunch the next day.

Can you use pork loin?

You can in fact cook Instant Pot Hawaiian pulled pork 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.

For the necessary liquid needed I combine barbecue sauce with some water or better yet I use beef broth to add more flavor. This will allow steam to build up and under high pressure it will break down the connective tissues making it fall apart.

You really don’t need much seasonings but could add salt and pepper to the outside. If you’d rather use our homemade steak dry rub that would be amazing too.

Variations and Substitutions

You really can add any sort sauce or coating to this, teriyaki would work too. This even works with beef like we did one night with this pressure cooker bbq beef. 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 Instant Pot

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.

Can you use frozen pork butt?

You can actually and the cook time isn’t a huge difference really, though a bit more if it is bone-in. We have instructions on this method in our Instant Pot frozen pork butt recipe post to refer to.

Is bone-in or boneless better?

In this case you want no bone so you can buy boneless or just remove it so it can be quartered. Once the bone is removed you will no longer have a large chunk of meat which means that the pulled pork strands will be shorter, if that is what you are making but also makes it shred easier.

Do you need to brown meat first?

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.

How do you know when pork butt is done?

The way you can tell pulled pork is done comes down to the texture and how tender it is. You want to be able to pull it apart into shreds easily with two forks. If it takes any degree of effort to pull it then it needs more time, period.

Tips

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.

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.

What should I serve with Boston butt?

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 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 reheat pulled pork

Allow it to come to room temperature. Store in a freezer bag, suck all the air out. Refrigerate for up to 3 days. 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. For crispy, do like our pork belly in air fryer at 400 for 2 minutes until warmed.

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.