Instant Pot 3-Ingredient Root Beer BBQ Pulled Pork

Instant Pot 3-Ingredient Root Beer BBQ Pulled Pork–the easiest and fastest way to make pulled pork! It’s slightly sweet and ultra tender.

Note: the SLOW COOKER instructions are listed in the recipe card below

Instant Pot 3-Ingredient Root Beer BBQ Pulled Pork

I love easy recipes! This easy recipe has just 3 main ingredients, it can feed a crowd and it’s perfect for a summer dinner. You can make pulled pork in the Instant Pot or slow cooker for an easy hands off dinner. I love the leftovers just as much as the first night. I love using leftover pork to make flatbread pizzas or pulled pork chili.

This particular recipe calls for simmering the pork in root beer. It sounds weird but it’s good! You can also use a can of Dr. Pepper. The pork is not overly sweet but just sweet enough. Try this recipe for dinner this week.

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Root beer–you can also Coke or Dr. Pepper. I’ve heard others that have successfully used diet.
• Pork butt–or pork picnic roast (I like using the pork carnitas meat I find at Winco)
• Barbecue sauce–I like to use Sweet Baby Ray’s
• Other: salt and pepper, buns, pickles

Steps

1. Pour the root beer into the Instant Pot.
2. Trim the pork (video tutorial) of excess fat and then cut it into 4 pieces. Add pork pieces into the Instant Pot. 
3. Pressure cook: Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 60 minutes. When time is up let pot sit until pressure has released naturally. Remove the lid. 
4. Shred: Move pork to a cutting board and shred, discarding extra fat as you come upon it. 
5. Add barbecue sauce: Discard the root beer. Add the shredded meat back into the pot. Turn it to keep warm setting. Add in the BBQ sauce and stir (you can add the amount of BBQ sauce that you like. I used slightly less than a whole bottle). Salt and pepper to taste. 
6. Serve on top of buns with a pickle. 

Notes/Tips

• Pulled pork is a great choice to feed a crowd at a party. You can double or triple the recipe. Supplement the meal by having guests bring salads and chips and desserts.
• If you want to double or triple the recipe you can do so by doubling the meat and the sauce. You don’t need to use more than 1 can of root beer though.
• It’s easy to freeze any leftovers for use at a later time. Freeze in an airtight container* or ziplock freezer bag.
• To reheat after freezing you can throw the frozen meat (or you can let the meat thaw in the refrigerator overnight) into your crockpot with a quarter cup of broth. Set your crockpot to low or high heat. Stir every 20-30 minutes or so until heated through. The crockpot will keep it at a perfect temperature until you are ready to eat. You can also reheat using the pot-in-pot method in your Instant Pot.
• This pulled pork tastes great served on a toasted bun with pickles or coleslaw. Serve with potato chips and a side of fruit or potato salad.
• I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in your 3 or 8 quart pot
• This recipe can be gluten-free. Make sure to use a gluten free BBQ sauce and serve on gluten-free buns.
• Try serving leftover pork on top of flatbread as flatbread pizzas! It’s so good. You can make your own flatbread from scratch.

More Instant Pot Pork Recipes…

• Instant Pot Brunswick Stew
• Instant Pot Easy Posole
• Instant Pot Kalua Pork
• Instant Pot Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.

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*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.