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.
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.
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 letting 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.
If you have leftover pulled pork from this recipe, it goes great in this classic Brunswick stew recipe.
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 liquid, 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 the Instant Pot and serve. Pour reserved Vinegar BBQ sauce over the 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.
This recipe pairs perfectly with our Vinegar Coleslaw.
Pin Instant Pot North Carolina Style Pulled Pork for Later
North Carolina Instant Pot Pulled Pork
Ingredients
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 🙂
Mandi says
I have made this recipe several times now and love it because it's so simple and turns out delicious every time!
Tanya says
Thank you so much Mandi 🙂
Michael Charles Clark says
This is a great recipe. I suffered a stroke on February 28th 2020 and a lot has changes for me. But this recipe was si.ple enough for me to work my way through it but yet very tasty. I love me pressure cookers. Now more than ever. I look forward to trying some more of your recipes. P.s. as a southerner, it was a little sweeter then I am used too. Also I always add two small jars of Baby food peaches. Wow . Try it out
Take care and God bless you
Donna B. says
This is a great Instant Pot recipe. I have a similar recipe I use to make NC BBQ in the slow cooker, so I used it with these cooking instruction. It turned out great!
Sandy says
this looks good...I'm new to instapot cooking...could this recipe be safely doubled? Thanks!
Tanya says
Yes, doubling it should be fine. I would keep the cook time the same. It’ll just take your pressure cooker a little longer to come to pressure.
Joey G says
Great recipes, however, technically the two styles of NC BBQ are Eastern (strictly vinegar based with spices, NOT SWEET) and Western or Lexington (vinegar, spices and ketchup). Our friends SOUTH of us are more known for the vinegar and mustard style. Please don't get me wrong...I like them all when prepared properly. Also, I like to put the pork in my smoker for about 1 - 1.5 hrs on low (225-250), then transfer to Instant Pot.
Tanya says
Hi Joey, I believe you are right. We've been able to get all three kinds here and it was my husband, a North Carolina native from birth, that explained it to me lol. We like them all as well.
becky says
ok, after reading all the comments, I can't wait to try this....im following you on Pinterest, and also signed up for your newsletter.
Stephanie says
This recipe has been with my Facebook saved recipes for a few months and I’m mad at myself for overlooking it. It was great! I only wish I had made more because my boys devoured it and didn’t leave any leftovers for lunch tomorrow ?.
CArrie says
Hi! Could I use pork tenderloin for this recipe? It’s what I have on hand and this looks so good I want to try! Thanks!!
Tanya says
Hi Carrie, I wouldn't reccomend a pork tenderloin for this recipe as I don't think it would shred like it should.
Lynne Packer says
I am male, 83 ,l and made this today in my IP. When I opened the lid, I was in a hurry to taste it and burned my lips. I am slow learner, so burned my lips 4 times.
Had it on hamburger buns for supper tonight.
The rest will be portioned and into freezer for later meals. I also posted about it on a huge IP cooking group.
Jamison says
@Lynne Packer, Eastern Carolina BBQ is the best! I can see why you burned your lips, multiple times! 🙂 It's best with cole slaw on top. Having been in the northeast for a while, I've come to love 'summer slaw' from the local grocery store. I've got a (insta) pot brewing right now...
JimmyB says
@Jamison, I was glad to see someone mention cole slaw. We used to live next door to a BBQ restaurant in Clearwater, FL. Their BBQ was eastern N.C. and they always put a small scoop of cole slaw on their pulled pork sandwiches. Brings back fond memories.
Bernadette Rehnert Haynes says
So good...easy and really tasty...love the vinegar sauce!
Tanya says
Awesome! So glad you liked it 🙂
Chris Floyd says
I've made this twice now. The first time I used a boneless Boston butt, followed the recipe, mostly (I added more pepper flakes and black pepper) and used a local pork rub from here in NC (yeah, OK, I'm lazy...). I made this in the "Instant Pot DUO Mini" and it easily handled ~3 lbs of pork. Until now, I've always made pulled pork BBQ on a stack-style smoker, and think this recipe comes *pretty damn close* to a 7-hour slow cook on the smoker. The only other thing I did different was after shredding the pork, I spread it into a roasting pan just to brown some of it a bit to give it a bit of 'char'. Then doused and stirred it in the eastern style spicy vinegar sauce, and served it. Was great. Making it again tonight using ~4.5 lbs of pork. A kinda tight fit in the Instant Pot mini, but it seems to be working just fine. So much easier (and cheaper) than using the smoker (which uses most of a standard propane tank after 7-8 hours of smoking... That's about $25 worth of propane, which is way more than the cost of the meat + other ingredients. Instant Pot uses maybe 50 cents of power...)
Great recipe.
Tanya says
Thank you Chris! I'm so happy you liked the recipe and I love your idea of putting them in the oven to allow it to crisp up a bit.
Leah says
Best North Carolina Vinegar based pulled pork I’ve made. Absolutely delicious. Made it for my husband on Father’s Day, and he thought it was so good, that he asked to have it again for Independence Day! My compliments to the Chef, because this is a good one!
Tanya says
Thank you! Such a compliment it is, North Carolina pork is ahmazing when done right. I'm so happy you liked it 🙂
Skip Simpson says
This is a “keeper recipe”. It was delicious. Loved the smell of the apple cider vinegar sauce while it was cooking. I left out the hot pepper flakes because my wife can’t eat spicy food; but I added some Texas Pete to my meet to make up for this. We like creamy cole slaw which my wife made and added that to our sandwiches too. Lastly, I chopped my BBQ instead. Our compliments to Tanya.
Allison says
Vinegar based bbq sauce is our favorite! We'll be making this pork all summer long!
Kate says
This pulled pork looks sensational. I love the flavours in the marinade and bbq sauce.
SIR Walter SCOTT says
@Kate, would like recipe for eastern style BBQ but using turkey instead
Jamison says
@SIR Walter SCOTT, This is something you can't substitute for. This is pulled pork, not pulled turkey. By all means try it, using the same recipe, but you're not going to get pulled pork. Were I going to do this, I would just recognize that if you want yummy, it's going to be pork. Turkey might be healthier, but it's just not the same. Turkey will shred as well, and the sauce, well, that's an important part. Drop in three pounds of turkey instead of pork. You don't need a recipe, you already have one brother.