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North Carolina Instant Pot Pulled Pork

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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.

instant pot pulled pork on bread as a sandwich

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One of my favorite things about North Carolina is the bbq. Fact is, North Carolina has the BEST bbq… at least in my opinion. 

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.

pulled pork on white plate

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.

pork pieces covered in rub

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.

vinegar bbq sauce in glass

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.

pork pieces in instant pot

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.

instant pot pulled pork on bread

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.

This recipe goes great with this Vinegar Coleslaw.

Pin Instant Pot North Carolina Style Pulled Pork for Later 

pin image of pulled pork on bread

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4.77 from 30 votes

North Carolina Instant Pot Pulled Pork

Tangy and delicious vinegar based pulled pork recipe made right in the Instant Pot.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword instant pot pulled pork
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 6 people
Calories 393kcal
Author Tanya

Ingredients

Vinegar Bbq sauce

  • 2 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 1 ½ cup water
  • ½ cup ketchup
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

  • Whisk Vinegar Bbq sauce ingredients together, set aside.
  • Rub bbq rub over pork pieces, making sure all pieces are fully covered. Place pork in Instant Pot and pour 1 ½ cups of vinegar bbq sauce and liquid smoke in insert. Cover and cook on high pressure for 60 minutes.
  • After 60 minutes, allow Instant Pot to naturally release for 10-15 minutes. Quick release remaining pressure.
  • Remove pork pieces from Instant Pot and shred. Drizzle with remaining vinegar bbq sauce when serving. Enjoy 🙂

Video

Notes

Notes: This BBq pork has been prepared in the Instant Pot DUO . I have also used the Ninja Foodi to prepare it as well.

Nutrition

Calories: 393kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 43g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 136mg | Sodium: 946mg | Potassium: 961mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 630IU | Vitamin C: 1.4mg | Calcium: 104mg | Iron: 5mg
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Recipe Rating




Janet

Thursday 7th of September 2023

Hey Tanya, pulled some pork butt out of the freezer to make this, but I had cut it up into 2 inch pieces already. Would it still work, do you think? Maybe if I cut the cook time a bit? Thanks for any advice, and for your always yummy recipes.

Janet

Saturday 9th of September 2023

@Tanya, Thanks, that worked great. We like spicy food but I might cut back the red pepper flakes next time as the whole tablespoon was a bit too much for us. Otherwise delicious and our house still smells amazing the morning after!

Tanya

Thursday 7th of September 2023

Hey Janet! Yes, that would work and yes, reduce the time. I would do 20 minutes under high pressure.

Michelle

Saturday 26th of August 2023

This tasted just like my childhood! It’s amazing to be able to make this in my apartment without a smoker or grill.

Tanya

Monday 28th of August 2023

Yay! I'm so happy to hear that, Michelle! Agreed, the IP comes in handy.

Aeil

Monday 14th of August 2023

Thank you so very much It's flavor smoked butt only needs sixty minutes Delicious moist awesome and Pulled pork I'll use this alot the marinade is flavorful wonderful 10of10 Made three of them the taste the same friends Loved I have your blog Site. You're a nice blogger with fast easy delicious Recipes thanks again for your time and recipes πŸ€ŸπŸ‘πŸ‘

Tanya

Tuesday 15th of August 2023

Thanks so much Aeil!

Oscar Petree

Tuesday 25th of April 2023

I'm 75 years old, living in Florida, and remember growing up in Greensboro, NC. This was only a few miles from Lexington which is "Ground Zero" for BBQ in the USA. World's best. This recipe takes me back to my youth. It's some of the best "Homemade" BBQ Pork one can have. Using your rub I seared the 3 pcs in saute mode for a couple minutes per surface. That got us a little "Bark"... Then de-glazed with your BBQ Sauce. So very awesome!!! I'll make this again and again now that I know how to do it. Just wonderful! Would not change a syllable of your recipe.

Tanya

Tuesday 25th of April 2023

Yay! So glad you like the recipe Oscar! I've lived all over North Carolina, from the mountains to Durham, NC and I agree, there's nothing like North Carolina BBQ.

Alex

Tuesday 20th of December 2022

Not sure what I did wrong. Used a pork shoulder/butt and removed the bone and excess fat. Split it into 3 one pound chunks. Used a bbq rub. Poured the amount of sauce into the instant pot along with the liquid smoke. Cooked it on high for 1 hour and then natural release then quick. Pork was way overdone. The sauce was good. Sad I couldn't use it on the pork in the end.

Alex

Monday 26th of December 2022

@Tanya,

Hello Tanya,

It was actually the opposite. The pork was ultra soft. Almost to the point of being mushy and really dark. Much darker than pulled pork is typically.

Tanya

Sunday 25th of December 2022

Hi Alex, sorry to hear you had difficulty. Was the pork dry or was it hard to shred? If it was hard to shred, it may have actually needed a bit longer of a cook time in order to shred.