Instant Pot Mexican Pulled Pork–fall apart tender pork is cooked in your pressure cooker and then a few extra ingredients are added to give the meat a southwestern flare. This pork is perfect for tacos, salads, nachos and burritos!
Click here for the SLOW COOKER VERSION of this recipe
Instant Pot Mexican Pulled Pork
Today’s recipe is for Instant Pot Mexican Pulled Pork and the slow cooker version of this recipe is one of my very favorite ways to make pork. I love it! All you do is cook the pork until it’s fall apart tender, drain off all the juices and then add in some seasonings and a can of diced tomatoes with jalapenos. These are a little harder to find than diced tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel) but they are the key to this recipe being so yummy. So search them out!
I have read a lot about cooking times for the Instant Pot and it’s interesting to note that there is a lot of variety on what is said about how long to cook different types of foods. I guess that means I’ll just have to experiment for myself and make up my own mind. For this pork I decided to cook it for longer than the times that I read. The reason? I wanted it to be totally shreddable by the time it was done. Plus it was quite a large piece of pork. I decided to cook it for 70 minutes, plus the natural pressure release time. So it was in the pot for probably an hour and 40 minutes. Time to heat up (15), time to cook (70), time to release (20). I bought this piece of meat at Winco on sale and it was labeled “pork carnitas.” I’m not sure what cut of pork that was but I’m assuming it was shoulder although most all of the excess fat had been cut off. It was a total win whatever it was because it only cost me $1.38 a pound and it tasted delicious.
You can use this pork for burritos, tacos, salads, enchiladas, quesadillas, sandwiches etc. It’s a perfect thing to make for a family reunion or for serving crowd. This cut of meat went a super long way… after the meat was shredded it seemed to expand!
National Nachos Day
Today is national nachos day! I think you should celebrate by making this shredded pork and serving it over nachos. Or you can make any of these delicious recipes from my food blogger friends:
Cheesecake Dessert Nachos
Nacho Soup
Hawaiian Barbecue Chicken Nachos
Buffalo Chicken Nachos
Easy Dessert Nachos
Vegan Nacho Cheese
Chicken Fajita Nachos
Spicy pulled pork nachos
Homemade nacho cheese sauce
What Instant Pot Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Mexican Pulled Pork I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
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Instant Pot Mexican Pulled Pork
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: 16-20 servings 1x
Description
Fall apart tender pork is cooked in your pressure cooker and then a few extra ingredients are added to give the meat a southwestern flare. This pork is perfect for tacos, salads, nachos and burritos!
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, cut into large slices
- 2 cups chicken broth (or water with chicken bouillon)
- 4–5 lbs pork carnitas meat or pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
- 1 (15 oz) can diced tomato with jalapenos
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp oregano
Instructions
- Place onions in bottom of Instant Pot. Pour in the broth. Place pork on top of the onions. Cover the pot and make sure the valve is on “sealing.” Press the manual button and set the timer to 70 minutes. Once the timer beeps let the pressure release naturally for up to 20-25 minutes.
- Remove the lid and place the meat on a cutting board. Throw away the onions and any liquid in the pot. Shred the meat and return it to the pot.
- Add in tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic salt, pepper and oregano. Stir until meat is coated evenly. Season to taste with extra salt and pepper. If you want it very saucy you can add in a can of tomato sauce.
- Serve meat in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, salads, sandwiches etc.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot for this recipe.
This recipe is GLUTEN-FREE! Just check the broth to be sure it does not contain gluten.
- Category: Pork
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Mexican
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Could you substitute the park in the recipe for chicken?
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Sure but I’d only cook for 15-20 minutes depending on what kind of chicken you use.
I have made several of your recipes that indicate to throw out the cooking liquid and veggies left in the pot. My Granny’s voice in my head won’t let me do that. Instead I let it cool down, throw it in the blender, liquefy, then put it in empty yogurt containers and pop it in the freezer. When I need a little something extra for leftovers, I grab one of the containers, put in in my IP on saute, add a wee bit of cornstarch slurry and I’ve got instant sauce or gravy. It’s even a quick broth for lunch. Thank you for all your effort and positive attitude. Love you and my IP.
Thanks Linda! That is a superb idea!!
recette porc effiloche a cuisson lente .Pas réussi du tout après 10 heures de cuisson choisi cuisson lente normal comme un crock pot et la viande tres crue ????? MERCI
Karen hello! The smallest my grocery store had today was a 7.5lb Pork Shoulder. How long would you pressure cook a 7.5lb Pork Shoulder in the Instant Pot as opposed to the 4-5lb Pork Shoulder called for in your recipe? Also, they didn’t have the diced tomatoes with jalapeños just green chiles (Rotel). Is that gonna hurt? Should I double up on anything since my Pork Shoulder is slighting larger?
Thx so much! Love your recipes!!!
Sincerely
Stew Thiel
Richmond, VA
Definitely double up on all the ingredients so you have lots of flavor. I’d keep the cooking time the same but quarter the pork shoulder. Rotel will be great!
I would like to try this recipe and wondered if I could use pork tenderloin instead. If so how long should I time it for? Would 70 mins be too long for this cut of meat?
yes that would be way too long for pork tenderloin in the instant pot. I would cook it for only 7 minutes plus a natural pressure release.
This looks all kinds of awesome. I love how the Instant Pot speeds up the process, so that I don’t need to plan hours ahead… because let me tell you, when I’m craving nachos, I gotta have ’em ASAP!
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I can’t get over the things you can do with an instant pot…even make nachos! This may sound crazy, but I think I can veganize this! 🙂
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I’m always looking for more ways to use my Instant Pot, and this pork looks so good! Can’t wait to try it this weekend!
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I have nothing but problems with pork … in any venue! 🙁 I always ALWAYS get shoe-leather tough inedible meat! I’m going to try this and cross my fingers!! 😀
good luck!!
Oh yes this ticks all the boxes for me!! So much yum
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I love making pulled pork in my IP, but I haven’t done a Mexican version for nachos yet. Can’t wait to try when we host football this Sunday!
I hope you like it! We did!
I’m pretty new to using my Instant Pot, but I’m falling in love with it. Can’t wait to give this recipe a try. I’ll use the longer cooking time like you did, I like my pork to be falling apart!
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I hope you like it!