BBQ Pulled Pork Butt in Instant Pot

Shredded pork butt in Instant Pot makes for fabulous sliders with barbecue sauce and just 2 other ingredients! Simple protein packed dinner made in your Ninja Foodi, IP, Crockpot Express or other pressure cooker brand. The timing 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 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 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. If yours is still frozen solid you can follow the Instant Pot frozen pork shoulder recipe we have. Timing would be the same for both of these cuts.

Pork Butt 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.

If you are working with a frozen pork butt you won’t be able to do this. Instead follow the instructions here and it will still turn out amazing.

3 Ingredient Pulled Pork Instant Pot

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.

• 3-4 lb pork butt bone removed, cut in fourths
• 2 tbsp steak seasoning
• 12 oz barbecue sauce
• 1/4 c beef broth is better than water

If you’d rather use our homemade steak dry rub that would be amazing too. Have your own concoction you like for pulled beef, go for that too. You just need liquid as well to reach pressure.

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.

Pork Butt in Pressure Cooker

So once you have it cut into pieces and seasoned you just throw it in with the sauce and a bit of broth to thin that out and you’re set! Really it is that simple to make.

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

Instant Pot Pulled Pork Butt

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.

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.

Ninja Foodi Pork Butt Recipe

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. About the same as if you cooked a pork loin in Instant Pot.

• Of course timing will vary slightly depending on how large your piece is. This was just shy of 4 lbs.
• If yours was substantially smaller you could get away with 40 minutes to 45 minutes probably.

Why don’t I sear the meat first? You could. If you wanted a bit more texture on your cuts of pork you could start with saute and some olive oil.

Brown just the outsides when cooking pork at the beginning. Remove, deglaze with wooden spoon to remove stuck on pieces off the bottom of the pot.

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 Instant Pot baked beans and serve them together side by side.
• Serve it over a bed of white rice, we do that often.

Remove bone from your pork butt and cut into 4 equal sized pieces. Rub your favorite type of dry steak seasoning on all sides of the 4 pieces.

1. You’re going to start off by placing the hunk of meat inside pressure cooker and pour in the broth.
2. Pour bottle of bbq sauce on top of your meat so it’s nicely coated.
   • You can also make your own sauce with apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and seasonings.
3. Seal lid and steam valve shut. Set to high pressure for 65 minutes followed by a 10 minute natural release.
4. 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.

How to store and reheat pulled pork

This is a peek at how we like to eat them up. The kids love finger foods they can pick up and are a bit messy. If you are having a get together and don’t want to turn on the oven these are always a huge hit!!

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.

Want to cook a smaller cut but still with killer seasonings and flavor? Try our air fryer pork steak recipe too.