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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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.
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.
This recipe goes great with this Vinegar Coleslaw.
Pin Instant Pot North Carolina Style Pulled Pork for Later
North Carolina Instant Pot Pulled Pork
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 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 🙂
Derek
Tuesday 6th of August 2024
Hey Tanya, I’ve been making this recipe for several years now and it’s my go-to for when we want homemade BBQ. Our family loves it. And we’re all NC born and bred so we know some good ‘cue! One thing I have started doing is cutting the pork and letting it sit in the rub in a zip loc bag (or bowl) for several hours/overnight. It seems to enhance the flavor even more. Either way this is an amazing recipe! Thanks so much for sharing. We get so many compliments when we make this!
Tanya
Friday 9th of August 2024
Thanks so much, Derek! Oh yes, great reminder, marinating in that rub makes it even better. So glad you all like the recipe :)
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 🤟👍👍
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.