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.

You’ll find the full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Be sure to check out the blog post itself for extra tips and tricks!

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 styles. 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 well in this classic Brunswick stew. 

♡ Tanya

A Quick Look at The Ingredients

Ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions are on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.

• Pork Shoulder/Butt - either cut would work; make sure you cut it into 3 large pieces, each about 1lb. This will allow your pork to cook and shred in the allotted time.
• BBQ Seasoning/Rub - I like to use a homemade BBQ seasoning, but your favorite store-bought blend will work as well.
• Liquid Smoke - this is kind of optional, I add this to the pork while it pressure cooks to add a bit of smoky flavor. Since classic NC BBQ is smoked, this will give our pork a little bit of that flavor.
• Vinegar BBQ Sauce ingredients - apple cider vinegar, water, ketchup, light brown sugar, salt, red pepper flakes, and ground black pepper

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 my 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 thin, so it’s the perfect choice for your Instant Pot Pressure Cooker. 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. If you're a fan of pulled pork, you'll love this slow cooker pulled pork recipe.

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 

Print Recipe

4.83 from 39 votes

North Carolina Instant Pot Pulled Pork

Tangy and delicious vinegar based pulled pork recipe made right in the Instant Pot.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: instant pot pulled pork

Servings: 6 people

Calories: 393kcal

Author: Tanya Harris

Ingredients

• 3 lbs pork butt cut into 3 large pieces
• 2-3 Tablespoon bbq rub
• 2 teaspoon liquid smoke

Vinegar Bbq sauce

• 2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 ½ cup water
• ½ cup ketchup
• ¼ cup light 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