This is our 3 ingredient pork butt in Instant Pot with barbecue sauce recipe you can make for dinner tonight with fresh meat or we also have directions for Instant Pot frozen pork butt if you had a forgetful moment.
Looking for a 3 ingredient meal that will feed an army? Cooking a large piece of pork butt is the answer! Seasoned with just salt and pepper or our dry rub, you can make this one pot meal in about 1 hour. One of many quick Instant Pot recipes on our blog.
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
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. Want to make it spicy? Add a pinch of dry Sriracha or red pepper flakes on the outside of the meat!
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. If yours is still frozen solid you can follow the Instant Pot frozen pork shoulder recipe we have.
Do you need to brown the 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.
For an outside crispy texture like our pork belly in air fryer you can throw some in thereat 400 for 2 minutes at the end if you want that added texture.
FAQ
They are often confused but not exactly the same, no, but Boston butt and pork butt are the same. The latter is found higher up on the leg, closer to their hind end…thus the name. We have an Instant Pot pork shoulder recipe for the other cut.
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.
NO, absolutely not. Leave the fat pad on to create more moisture and flavor while cooking. You can remove that when it is done with a pair of tongs before serving but leaving it on will make it more tender with a ton more flavor too. Fat = flavor!
Do not use the really thick brown sugar types as those won’t work well when you are using a pressure cooker. 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 which will turn your pot off entirely in the middle of cooking. Instead use an original version from Sweet Baby Rays or Chick Fil A barbecue sauce.
If you cooked it in a sauce keep as much of that as you can. When cooled completely transfer it all into an airtight container. Make sure it is nicely coated with sauce to keep as moist as possible. If there is no sauce keep the leftover portion whole (not shredded) so it doesn’t dry out as much.
Add a bit more bbq sauce or broth and toss to coat so all shredded pork is nicely coated. Microwave in 30 second increments stirring in between until warmed. It is important to add some sort of moisture and heat slowly to prevent meat from drying out when reheating.
Instant Pot Pork Butt Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb pork butt, bone removed, cut in fourths
- 12 oz barbecue sauce
- 1/4 cup beef broth
Instructions
- Remove bone from pork butt and cut into 4 equal sized pieces. Rub steak seasoning (optional, or could use a dry rub) on all sides of the 4 pieces.
- Place meat inside pressure cooker and pour in broth. Pour bottle of bbq sauce on top of meat.
- 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.
- Use tongs to break or shred pork in pot. Leave in juices until ready to serve as sliders, on top of rice or otherwise so meat stays tender inside sauce.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
How to Serve
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.
Pork butt, sometimes called Boston butt, comes from the upper part of a pig’s shoulder.