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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.

pressure cooker bbq pulled pork

Looking for a 3 ingredient meal that will feed an army? Try pork butt in Instant Pot y’all! With some ready made rub, sauce and broth you can make this one pot meal in about an hour. One of many quick Instant Pot recipes on our blog. (affiliate links present, originally published 6/21)

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.

FIRST – You should sign up for my free newsletter so you get new posts emailed to you twice a week and never miss out on anything! Now let’s start with a few basic tips:

For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.

star wars instant pot

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.

pressure cooker pork butt

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.

pork bone

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 seasoning

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.

What is the best cut for pulled pork?

Either the shoulder or the butt. It has a great amount of fat on it and works well when slow cooking. This isn’t slow but it’s just the pressure that speeds up the process.

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.

barbecue pork butt instant pot

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.

pulled pork butt instant pot

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.

Pork Butt in Instant 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.

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.

instant-pot-pork-shoulder

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.

Want to see a few of my favorite things that I am totally obsessed with?? Take a peek and see how many you might already have…twinsies!

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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.
Course Entree, Main Course
Cuisine American, Mexican
Keyword barbecue, instant pot, pork butt, pressure cooker, pulled pork
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 6
Calories 402kcal
Author The Typical Mom

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Remove bone from pork butt and cut into 4 equal sized pieces. Rub steak seasoning 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 Facts
Pork Butt in Instant Pot
Amount Per Serving (2 oz)
Calories 402 Calories from Fat 117
% Daily Value*
Fat 13g20%
Saturated Fat 5g31%
Trans Fat 1g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 6g
Cholesterol 136mg45%
Sodium 767mg33%
Potassium 915mg26%
Carbohydrates 24g8%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 19g21%
Protein 43g86%
Vitamin A 162IU3%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 64mg6%
Iron 4mg22%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Recipe Rating




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Kathy

Wednesday 4th of August 2021

Pork butt, sometimes called Boston butt, comes from the upper part of a pig’s shoulder.

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