Name: North Carolina Instant Pot Pulled Pork
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 6 people
Ingredients: 3 lbs pork butt (cut into 3 large pieces); 2-3 Tbsp bbq rub; 2 tsp liquid smoke; 2 cups apple cider vinegar; 1 ½ cup water; ½ cup ketchup; ¼ cup brown sugar; 1 ½ tsp salt; 1 Tbsp red pepper flakes; 1 tsp black pepper

This North Carolina Instant Pot Pulled Pork recipe is flavorful, tangy, and delicious. Covered in a vinegar-based barbecue sauce and pressure cooked until it shreds beautifully.

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Full Recipe/Instructions are available in the
recipe card at the bottom of the post.
You can find important tips/tricks in the
blog post.

One of my favorite things about North Carolina is the bbq. Fact is, North Carolina has the BEST bbq… at least in my opinion. North Carolina has two kinds of bbq that is most widely known, mustard based or vinegar based.

I’m a huge fan of vinegar based bbq and prefer it over other kinds of bbq. There’s just something about the tanginess of vinegar and pork that makes my taste buds dance.

I used to make this recipe by placing a huge bone in pork butt in my slow cooker and let it cook all day on low. But now, I use my Pressure Cooker. It cooks much faster without compromising on the same great flavor and the texture is just as amazing.

How to make North Carolina Instant Pot Pulled Pork?

I start by cutting 3 lbs of pork butt into 3 large pieces. I don’t use the bone when making it in the pressure cooker and cutting it allows my meat to cook a little quicker.

I then rub my pieces with a nice homemade bbq rub. You can follow that recipe or buy some from the store.

Once my meat is fully covered, I set it aside and make my vinegar based bbq sauce. Vinegar based bbq sauce is very liquidy, so it’s the perfect sauce to use in your Instant Pot. Sauces that are too thick can cause the dreaded “Burn” signal in the Instant Pot. This sauce won’t do that.

Prepare the vinegar bbq sauce by whisking together apple cider vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper flakes, and water.

Place pork pieces in the Instant Pot insert and pour 1 ½ cups of the vinegar based bbq sauce over the pork, reserving the remainder of the sauce for later.

Cover and cook on high pressure for 60 minutes. Once done cooking, allow the Pressure Cooker to naturally release for 15 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.

Remove pork from Instant Pot and serve. Pour reserved Vinegar Bbq sauce over meat for more flavor.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do. Enjoy 🙂

Looking for more Instant Pot Pork Recipes? Try this Instant Pot Pork Chops with Gravy Recipe.

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