Instant Pot Smoky Mountain Soup

Instant Pot Smoky Mountain Soup–a soup with shredded pork and vegetables in a sweet and savory broth.

Both the slow cooker and Instant Pot instructions are listed in the recipe card below.

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Instant Pot Smoky Mountain Soup

This is my take on Brunswick stew which is packed with protein and veggies. This stick-to-your bones stew is ideal for the colder months (like right now!). Greg looooved this soup so very much and ate maybe thirds. Even if you don’t think you like lima beans (I’m raising my hand) I think you’ll appreciate them in this soup.

The Instant Pot (or Crockpot) are the perfect tool to cook the pork and get it perfectly tender. It’s practically impossible to overcook pork butt in the pressure cooker or slow cooker. I love buying something called “pork carnitas meat” at Winco. I’m pretty sure it’s the blade cut of pork but it comes in a big package and is inexpensive. There is much less visible fat on it and I love throwing these pieces of pork (they are about the size of a large, thick pork chop) into my Instant Pot and cooking until tender. I even throw them in frozen and they turn out perfect every time.

Make sure to use a barbecue sauce that you like because this the soup is very much flavored by it. I found my bowl of soup just a little sweet for my liking (I’m not a fan of sweet pork, but I know that I’m in the minority). So you may want to go easy on the barbecue sauce and add more to taste in each bowl.

Ingredients/Substitution Ideas

• Pork carnitas meat or pork butt roast–trimmed of excess fat. Pork carnitas meat is found at Winco and it is inexpensive. It gets so tender in the Instant Pot and Crockpot.
• Chicken broth–or water and Better than Bouillon
• Smoked paprika
• Minced dried onions–or 1 cup chopped fresh onions
• Green pepper–or another color of bell pepper you like
• Canned diced tomatoes–or stewed or crushed tomatoes
• Worcestershire sauce
• Hot sauce-I used Tabasco
• Canned corn–or a cup of frozen corn
• Frozen lima beans
• BBQ sauce–I used Sweet Baby Ray’s. If you’re looking to cut carbs then use a low sugar bbq sauce.
• Salt and pepper to taste

The Basic Steps

• Pressure cook the pork until tender in broth and shred it.
• Add the rest of the ingredients into the broth and pressure cook for a very short amount of time.
• Stir the pork back into the soup.
• Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Notes/Tips

• Serve with garlic bread or cornbread and honey butter.
• I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in an 8 quart pot or halve the recipe in a 3 quart pot.
• This recipe can be gluten free if you use gluten free chicken broth and worcestershire sauce. This recipe is dairy free.
• Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• Other recipes you can make with BBQ sauce are Instant Pot Dr. Pepper Chicken and Sweet Baby Ray’s Chicken.

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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.