Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce (Video)

Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce is a great idea for an easy family-friendly dinner! Use the Pressure Cooker Index to find more Instant Pot Recipes like this one.

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Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce!

On Father’s Day I always miss my wonderful father so much, but I’m also grateful to have such a huge extended family where I get to watch good parenting carried on to a new generation of fathers and kids. And I hope all the fathers who read my blog are having a wonderful day, eating good food and being surrounded by people who love you.

And this new recipe for Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce seems like a pretty dad-friendly dish to post on Father’s Day. It’s an Instant Pot version of the Slow Cooker Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce that’s been such a popular recipe on the blog for years, so if you prefer the slow cooker just make that one instead.

Both my slow cooker and my Instant Pot pulled pork have a low-sugar barbecue sauce that I think is really good. I use a small amount of brown sugar along with Stevia-in-the-Raw Granulated Sweetener for my low-sugar sauce, but use your preferred sweetener and replace the brown sugar with more sweetener if you prefer. I’m not a big barbecue sauce fan, most of them just taste too sweet to me, so if you’d like a version of pulled pork with lots of savory undertones and just a touch of sweetness, try my version and see what you think.

Even though I made my slow cooker pulled pork with a lean pork loin roast, I was going to try the boneless pork shoulder that’s usually recommended for my Instant Pot version. But when I looked for pork shoulder roast, I went to three stores and only found enormous packages that were at least three times as much pork roast as I needed. So I decided I’d just test out the recipe using two of those Pork Sirloin Roasts that are such a good buy at Costco. I honestly thought I’d make the recipe again with a pork shoulder roast before I posted it, but the pulled pork was absolutely delicious using the leaner pork. Of course, take your choice on what type of pork to use; I’ll give options in the recipe.

Whether you use pork sirloin roast or more marbled pork shoulder roast, the cut pork against the grain into pieces and brown well in the Instant Pot. (Browning adds flavor; please don’t skip this step.) Then whisk together low-sugar ketchup, tomato paste, sweetener of your choice, brown sugar (or more sweetener if you prefer), apple cider vinegar, yellow mustard, Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link), Worcestershire Sauce (gluten-free if needed), and  Liquid Smoke (affiliate link) to make the sauce.

Once the pork is browned well arrange it in the Instant Pot and pour over 3/4 of the sauce mixture and 3/4 cup chicken stock. Lock the lid and set the Instant Pot to MANUAL, HIGH PRESSURE, 60 minutes. When the pressure cooking time is up, let it NATURAL RELEASE for about 25 minutes, then release the pressure if there is still pressure.

Remove the meat to a cutting board and strain the sauce if you think it needs it. Add the other 1/4 of the sauce you reserved to the liquid/sauce in the Instant Pot. Set Instant Pot to SAUTE, HIGH HEAT, and let the sauce reduce until it’s as thick as you prefer. This will probably only take a few minutes, but watch to make sure the sauce doesn’t burn.

While sauce reduces, shred the meat apart with two forks. When the sauce has thickened, add meat back to the Instant Pot and stir until it’s coated with sauce. Serve hot.

Serve hot and enjoy.

Make it a Meal:

The Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce in this photo was served with Spicy Mexican Slaw, which I thought was a great combination!

Love Your Instant Pot?

I use a 6 Quart Instant Pot for all my Instant Pot Recipes. Check out my growing collection of Pressure Cooker or Instant Pot Recipes! Find more Pressure Cooker/Slow Cooker Recipes on my other site!

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Instant Pot Cafe Rio Pork ~ Your HomeBased Mom

Weekend Food Prep:

This recipe has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!

Print Recipe

Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce

Yield: 8 servings

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes, plus additional time

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes, plus additional time to come to pressure, release pressure, and reduce the sauce

I’m not a big barbecue sauce fan, but I love this Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce that features my low-sugar sauce with lots of savory undertones and just a touch of sweetness.

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs. pork sirloin tip roast or pork shoulder roast, fat trimmed as much as you prefer
• 1 T Penzey’s Pork Chop Seasoning (or any seasoning blend that’s good on pork)
• 2 T olive oil (more or less, depending on how much fat is in the pork.)
• 3/4 cup chicken stock

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 cup low-sugar or no sugar added ketchup (see notes)
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup sweetener of your choice (see notes)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (or use more sweetener if you prefer a sauce with even less sugar, see notes)
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup yellow mustard (not Dijon)
• 4 tsp. Green Tabasco Sauce (or use a small amount of Red Tabasco if that’s what you have.)
• 3 T Worcestershire Sauce (Be sure to use Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce if needed.)
• 1 tsp. Liquid Smoke (probably optional, but recommended)

Directions:

1. Trim the pork sirloin roast or pork shoulder roast if there is a lot of visible fat on the outside. The cut the pork roast into thick slices around 2 inches thick.
2. Rub the pork on both sides with the Penzey’s Pork Chop Seasoning.
3. Turn the Instant Pot to SAUTE, HIGH HEAT, add one tablespoon of the olive oil, and brown the slices of pork on both sides, about 3-4 minutes per side. (You will probably need to do this in two batches, adding the other tablespoon of olive oil as needed when you brown the second batch, or just brown all the pork in a large pan on the stove if you prefer.)
4. Whisk together low-sugar ketchup, tomato paste, sweetener of your choice, brown sugar (or more sweetener if you prefer), apple cider vinegar, yellow mustard, Green Tabasco Sauce (affiliate link), Worcestershire Sauce (use Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce (affiliate link) if needed) and Liquid Smoke (affiliate link) to make the sauce.
5. Put all the browned pork slices into the Instant Pot and pour over 3/4 of the sauce mixture and 3/4 cup chicken stock.
6. Lock lid and set the Instant Pot to MANUAL, HIGH PRESSURE, 60 minutes.
7. When the pressure cooking time is up, let it NATURAL RELEASE for about 25 minutes, then release the pressure if there is still pressure.
8. Remove the meat to a cutting board and let it cool, until it’s just cool enough to handle.
9. Strain the sauce if you think it needs it. Add the other 1/4 of the sauce you reserved to the liquid/sauce in the Instant Pot. Set Instant Pot to SAUTE, HIGH HEAT, and let the sauce reduce until it’s as thick as you prefer. This will probably only take a few minutes, but watch to make sure the sauce doesn’t burn.
10. While sauce reduces, shred the meat apart with two forks. When the sauce has thickened, add meat back to the Instant Pot and stir until it’s coated with sauce.
11. Serve hot. This will keep well in the refrigerator for quite a few days and can also be frozen.

Notes:

I originally made this recipe with a mixture of sweetener and brown sugar, but now that I’ve discovered Golden Monkfruit Sweetener (affiliate link) I would use all sweetener and omit the brown sugar.

I use either Heinz Low-Sugar Ketchup (affiliate link) or G. Hughes Sugar-Free Ketchup (affiliate link) for this recipe.

I used a 6-Quart Instant Pot (affiliate link) for this recipe.

This recipe created by Kalyn, as an Instant Pot version of her Slow Cooker Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce.

All images and text ©Kalyn Denny for Kalyn's Kitchen.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Instant Pot Pulled Pork with Low-Sugar Barbecue Sauce has a sauce made with a little bit of brown sugar combined with sweetener, for best flavor. If you want a lower-carb sauce, you can certainly use all sweetener. However a sauce with any type of ketchup and tomato sauce will always have some carbs, so although I’d consider this recipe to be low-glycemic it would not be suitable for the strictest low-carb eating plans or Phase One of the South Beach Diet.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You can also Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Nutritional Information?
If you want nutritional information for a recipe, you can sign up for a free membership withYummly and use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information. Another option is entering the recipe into this Recipe Nutrition Analyzer, which will calculate it for you.