This incredibly delicious Instant Pot pulled pork literally falls apart. It doesn’t get any easier or tastier than this!
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From pulled pork bbq sandwiches to pork tacos to pork nachos, the possibilities are awesome! I had never made pulled pork before, so I was worried about being successful. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make pulled pork in the Instant Pot.
It’s so much faster than making it in a slow cooker, and it was so easy to shred once the pork was cooked.
It was a HUGE amount of pork, 8 lbs. to be exact. I thought we would have to freeze some of it, but it turns out in a few days it was all gone! That’s what 5 kids will do to any dreams of saving food in the freezer.
The first thing I made was pulled pork sandwiches, this was the family favorite!
With the leftovers, I also made shredded pork tacos and a couple of days later, I made shredded pork nachos!
All 3 meals were delicious and they were enjoyed by all 5 kiddos alike.
Essential Items
Here are some essential prep tools, utensils, and appliances I used to make this recipe.
Featured Items
Here is a list of the products featured in this post or products similar to those featured in this post:
- Instant Pot
- Tongs
- Shredder Claws
- Liquid Measuring Cups
- Flexible Cutting Mats
- Glass Food Prep Mixing Bowls
12 Must-Have Instant Pot Cookbooks
If you’re looking for a cookbook with easy and reliable Instant Pot recipes, then check out my list of approved Instant Pot Cookbooks.
How To Make Instant Pot Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork
As I said I had never made pulled pork before so I was a little intimidated. I looked through so many recipes. Some called for brine while many called for a rub. It all sounded like too much effort and complication. I mean, I have 5 kids and don’t have time for concocting some super-duper rub that requires a laundry list of spices. I needed something simple that everyone would love. So, I came up with this recipe.
Gather The Ingredients
4 ingredients. That’s it!
No brine. No rub. Just pork, Dr. Pepper, barbecue sauce and one onion.
Delicious fall apart pork in about 2 hours!
Brown the Pork Shoulder
First, you’ll want to use the Sauté feature on the Instant Pot to brown the pork.
I cut the 8 lbs pork shoulder into 4 pieces to make it easier to handle and made sure to get each piece nice and brown on all sides.
You can set the pork aside after browning it.
Sauté the Onion and Then Mix in the Dr. Pepper & Barbecue Sauce
Place the chopped onion in the Instant Pot and sauté for about 3 minutes.
Then mix in the Dr. Pepper and the barbecue sauce. This is our favorite barbecue sauce.
Cook The Pork Shoulder
Arrange the pork in the Instant Pot. The 8 lbs. of pork fit perfectly into my 8-quart pot.
Close your Instant Pot and set to sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 100 minutes. Do an NPR (natural pressure release) for 25 min, and then release any remaining pressure before opening the pot.
Shred The Cooked Pork
Remove the pork from the Instant Pot, place on a cutting board and shred with a pair of forks. Note: when you remove the pork from the Instant Pot, be careful because it will try to fall apart on you.
What I Made With My Instant Pot Pulled Pork
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
For pulled pork sandwiches, I added more barbecue sauce to the shredded pork and mixed it in well. Since my family loves Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce, that’s what I used. I then served it with pickles on a potato bun! Yum!
Pulled Pork Tacos
For the pork tacos, I heated up some leftover pork on the stove and served it on warm tortillas. I didn’t season the pork with anything additional. I topped with pico and sour cream.
Pulled Pork Nachos
For the nachos, I heated the remaining leftover pork on the stove and then seasoned it with Longhorn Steakhouse Grill Seasoning. Next, I placed tortilla chips on a cookie sheet and sprinkled the pork on top of the chips. I then topped the chips with shredded cheese, jalapeños, black beans, corn, pico de gallo and put them in the oven at 375 degrees until the cheese melted. After removing the nachos from the oven, I added sour cream.
Pulled pork 3 different ways!
IT’S YOUR TURN TO MAKE THESE PULLED PORK SANDWICHES!
Did you make this Pulled Pork recipe yet? I know you will love this recipe for Pulled Pork in the Instant Pot! You’ll be able to get a lot of sandwiches out of this recipe and that makes it the perfect dish for any celebration, party, or get-together.
Please let me know in the comments below when you make these pulled pork sandwiches and share how much you enjoyed them. Also, if you can come up with another way to eat the pulled pork, let me know that as well!
5-Star Rating: If you loved these sandwiches, I’d appreciate it if you could give them a 5-star rating to show how much you loved them.
MORE QUICK, EASY, AND DELICIOUS RECIPES
Looking for another sandwich recipe? Here are a couple more easy recipes that I know you’ll love:
Need a soup to go with your pulled pork sandwiches? If you’re looking for a perfect soup to serve with this recipe, then try my Instant Pot Vanilla Jalapeño Corn Chowder or Instant Pot Chili recipes.
For a full list of all my Instant Pot soup recipes, check out my Instant Pot Soup Recipes post.
Looking for the perfect side dish for these sandwiches? A salad is an excellent choice. You could also serve these sandwiches with oven fries or potato chips. For an extra tasty side dish, serve these pulled pork sandwiches with a side of my Instant Pot Potato Salad, this potato salad is fantastic.
More ways to cook pork shoulder: Have a pork shoulder but don’t know what to make with it? For ideas, try my other Instant Pot Pork Shoulder Recipes!
Still need an Instant Pot? If you still don’t have an Instant Pot, make sure you check out my Instant Pot Unboxing post to learn why I’m loving mine so much!
QUICK & EASY RECIPES
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Instant Pot Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork
TENDER PORK SHOULDER COOKED IN DR. PEPPER AND BARBECUE SAUCE
Essential Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 pounds boneless pork shoulder cut into 2-pound pieces
- 2 cups sweet onion chopped
- 1 cup Dr. Pepper
- 2 cups barbecue sauce I prefer Sweet Baby Ray’s Original Barbecue Sauce
Instructions
- Set the Instant Pot to Sauté and let warm.
- Brown the pork shoulder in the Instant Pot. Remove once it has browned on all sides.
- Add the chopped onion and Sauté in the pork fat for 3 minutes. Now is a good time to deglaze the bottom of the pot if there are any pieces of meat stuck to the bottom.
- Add the Dr. Pepper to the onion and stir. Then add your favorite barbecue sauce to the pot and stir.
- Place the pork shoulder into the Instant Pot, turn the Sauté mode off and then close the lid.
- Ensure that the pressure release handle is set to sealing.
- Cook on ‘Manual’ or ‘Pressure Cook’, High Pressure for 100 minutes.
- Once the Instant Pot has completed cooking, use the natural pressure release NPR method. I usually let it NPR for 25 minutes and then release any remaining pressure.
- Ensure that all the pressure has been released before opening the pot.
- Carefully remove the whole pork from the Instant Pot. It’s going to want to fall apart on you as you are taking it out 🙂 You can discard the liquid in the Instant Pot (it’s mostly fat from the pork).
- Place the pork on a cutting board and shred. You now have a delicious pulled pork that can be used to make so many different meals.
Nutrition Facts
Notes
Reheat on the stove. If you’re making any of my serving suggestions with the leftover pork and are pulling it out of the refrigerator, make sure you heat the pork on the stove beforehand.
Yes, it does say 100 minutes. I know 100 minutes seems like a lot of time but this is how you’ll get a pork shoulder that will be fall-apart good! I’ve tried cooking the pork for a shorter time but it didn’t turn out nearly as tender and juicy.
Serving Suggestions
Pulled Pork Sandwiches. Mix the desired amount of your favorite barbecue sauce into the shredded pork and serve on a bun! This makes for some amazing pulled pork sandwiches.
Tacos. Feel free to try mixing your favorite taco or meat seasoning into the shredded pork. Serve on a warm corn or flour tortilla and add your favorite taco toppings. Some topping suggestions: pico de gallo, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, avocado, cilantro and sour cream.
Nachos. Mix your favorite taco or meat seasoning into the shredded pork. Place tortilla chips on a cookie sheet and sprinkle the pork on top of the chips. Top with all your favorite nacho toppings. Some suggestions: shredded cheese, jalapeños, black beans, corn, pico de gallo, black olives and sour cream. Place the nachos in the oven at 375 degrees until the cheese is melted.
I used leftovers for tacos tonight. I heated the leftover meat added a little water to moisten the meat.
Then I added the the taco seasoning. My husband really liked it.
Thank you,
Dede
Happy to hear the tacos turned out good!! I think for you since your husband doesn’t like too much sauce, it would be a good idea, as I mentioned above, to add a little of the leftover liquid to the pork after you shred it. Hope this helps!
Hello Valerie,
I made this last night. I had a 4lb roast that I cut into 2 pieces. It seemed to take awhile to get the pieces browned on all sides. They never got that browned. I’m not sure why they didn’t I had it on saute. The meat turned out tender it easily shredded. My husband complained it was too dry.
I didn’t add more bbq sauce after I let him add it. He doesn’t like a lot of sauce.
What should I do the next time, so it’s not dry? My 8qt duo doesn’t show 100 minutes. I set mine at 1:40.
Tonight I’m making tacos with the left overs.
Thank you,
Dede
Hi Dede! Thanks for your comment. It definitely shouldn’t be dry, but keep in mind you have to add bbq sauce after it’s shredded in order to use it as a bbq pulled pork for sandwiches and such. I usually discard the liquid after cooking since it’s mostly fat, but you can always take a little of the liquid and mix it with your shredded pork. An hour and 40 minutes is perfect. Some models show the time in hours. Did you do the Natural Pressure Release?
I did do the 25 minutes npr. I never thought about adding some of the juice back in before serving. I’m freezing the rest and will make him the tacos on our next camping trip! Thank you Dede
So if you know you will need to make another dish with the pork, do you still cook it all in the BBQ sauce/coke mixture then add the taco season later?
Hi Tonia! Yes, the cooking process would be the same. Take the pork out of the liquid to shred and discard the liquid. You would only omit the step of adding bbq sauce AFTER cooking. Hope this helps!
I thought the recipe said to cook with the coke and 2 cups of BBQ sauce. So are you saying don’t not add extra? Sorry, just trying to make sure I make it correct and not have it taste funny. Thank you.
Hi Tonia! No worries, better to ask questions and be sure! So there are two parts of the recipe where you use bbq sauce. First, you use the 2 cups for cooking. After cooking is done, you take out the pork, shred it and discard the liquid. You will be doing all this with no change. Then, as you see in the video, I add bbq sauce again to make bbq pulled pork sandwiches. This is what you’d skip since you will be using your pork for something other than sandwiches. Does this make better sense? Please let me know!
This is a great recipe it made the best pulled pork. We have 4 to 6-pound bags of carnitas meat here that works great. I was skeptical of the 100 minutes of cook time. A lot of other recipes do 60 to 70 minutes, but I tried it with about 4 lbs of meat and it was perfect. I remember reading one comment where they toss out the juice, I don’t I am single so I often freeze the pork and the juice freezes nicely and keeps the meat from getting freezer burn. I agree that there is a lot of fat but once everything cools down it is easy to scoop off the fat and the juice is great. Thanks for the recipe. This was great!
Hi Robert! I am so happy you loved my pulled pork recipe! I really appreciate you stopping by and commenting about it! Definitely a great idea to freeze it with the juices! I do get a lot of people skeptical about the cook time, but it really needs it, and it makes for perfection! Once again, thanks for stopping by!
Hi Valerie,
Do I still cook the Pork for 100 minutes using 4-5 lbs in the 6qt Instant Pot? Recipe is easy, and sounds yummy!
Thank you!
Hi LouAnn! If you have 4-5 pounds and you cut it into 2 pieces of approximately 2 pounds each, then you would still cook it for 100 min. My pieces are approximately 2 pounds each and that’s what the cook time is based on. It really is an easy recipe! I hope you enjoy it!
i am going to make this later using an 8 quart duo. don’t i need to use more liquid than the 1 cup of dr pepper? to me bbq sauce does not count as liquid since it is thick
Hi Lauren! yes, 1 cup of Dr. Pepper will be enough. The pork will release liquid as well. Hope you enjoy it!
I would love this recipe (and others!) converted for the instant pot mini! We are blessed to have our birds leaving the nest and our 3 quart mini makes plenty for our small family.
Hi Olivia! Thanks for stopping by. I haven’t made it in the 3 qt yet, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I cut my meat into 2-pound pieces so I’d say you can do 2 pounds, 1 chopped onion, 1 cup Dr. Pepper and 1 cup bbq. I would still cook it for 100 min since the cooking time in the IP depends on the thickness of the meat and not the amount. Certainly, you need to make sure you don’t overfill your 3 qt. I’m estimating the amount of liquid since like I said, I’ve never made it in the 3 qt. If you feel that’s too much liquid, you can reduce it a bit. Please let me know how it turns out! Merry Christmas! (By the way, I just got a 3qt so hopefully, I’ll have some 3 qt recipes available soon!)
May have missed it, but how many folks will this recipe feed? Thanks!
Hi Jennifer! It feeds a crowd. I have a family of 7 and we ate pulled pork bbq sandwiches, as well as tacos and nachos from one batch. (Not on the same day of course!!)
Thank you!!
Do you have to deglaze the pot? Scrape of burned on pork? With wooden spoon? After adding dr pepper?
Yes Jennifer, on the video you can see after browning the meat, I remove it and deglaze the pot with the onions and the liquid. Hope it turns out great for you!
Can I cut this receipe in half? If so how long do I cook? And do I just cut everything in half? Nee to using IP. Thank you!
Hi Barbara! You can definitely cut it in half. If you make 4 pounds, you can cut it into approx 2 pound pieces, which is what I did. You cook it for the same amount of time and you don’t need to adjust any of the other ingredients! The IP cook time should be according to the thickness of the meat, not the amount and that’s why if you cut it into 2-pound pieces you’ll use the same cook time. Hope this helps and is clear! Let me know if you have any other questions!!
Awesome thank you so much!
Just added these ingredients to this week’s grocery list! I know the girls will love it!
Oh that makes me so happy Jennie!! Let me know how it turns out!
Can’t wait to try the pulled pork recipe, and all the others. I’m new to Instant Pot but have enjoyed everything I have made so far. Hubby loves it .
Thanks for stopping by Dee! Hope you were able to try the recipe!
Hi Val,
I’m waiting for the invitation to try the pulled-pork bites in order to attest the truthfulness of such a mouth-watering story. Love you!
Next week WW!! Hugs!!