Instant Pot Pork Shoulder and White Bean Stew Recipe. An Tuscan-style stew with pork shoulder, dry white beans, tomatoes, and kale, seasoned with herbs and a splash of white wine. 35 minutes of pressure cooking and a 10-minute simmer with the kale gives you this taste of Tuscany.
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I am falling behind on my Rancho Gordo bean boxes, so it's time to use up some of my beans. I love pork and beans, and I love beans and greens, so I made a mashup of my Pressure Cooker Tuscan Bean Soup, Instant Pot Cannellini Beans and Greens, and Instant Pot Pork Stew recipes.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Dry Bean Substitutes for Cannellini Beans
Cannellini beans (Marcella beans at Rancho Gordo) are the traditional Tuscan beans, but this recipe will work with other dry beans; you just have to change the pressure cooking time. The rest of the recipe is unchanged. I prefer white beans in this recipe; here are some other white beans you can substitute for cannellini beans:
- Navy beans or Rancho Gordo Alubia Blanca beans: 25 minutes at high pressure
- Great northern beans: 30 minutes at high pressure
- Borlotti beans or Cranberry beans: 40 minutes at high pressure (not a white bean, but borlotti beans are another traditional Tuscan bean, so I'll allow it.)
Make-Ahead Beans or Canned Beans
If you have canned beans, or even better, dry beans you've made ahead of time and frozen, you can substitute them for the dry beans. Cut the chicken broth back to 2 cups, follow the recipe as written (except for the dry beans), and add the make-ahead or canned beans with the kale, so they simmer in the stew to warm up.
Pork Shoulder or other cuts of pork?
Pork shoulder is the best cut for pressure cooking. It stands up to the long pressure cooking times, and we need 35 minutes to cook unsoaked dry beans. Don't use pork loin - it's too lean and will dry out in the long cooking time. You can substitute pork "stew meat", pork leg, or pork round for the pork shoulder if you have to.
Dry Herbs Instead of Fresh
I buy a poultry mix pack of fresh herbs at the grocery store to get my sage, rosemary, and thyme. If you want to substitute dried herbs, use ½ teaspoon of each dried herb - or just use 1 ½ teaspoons of a dry Italian Herb blend instead of the fresh herbs.
Cut the Heat
I add red pepper flakes and jarred hot cherry peppers, so there is a little heat in this recipe. You can skip them both if you want a no-heat version of the recipe.
What Wine Should I Use?
A Pinot Grigio is what I reach for with this recipe - a dry, crisp Italian white wine. That said, almost any white wine will work, so I'd look for cheap wine more than a specific type. (Luckily, there are lots of cheap Pinot Grigios available.
Non-Alcohol Version
I like a little bit of wine in my stew - it helps bring out the flavors of the browned meat, aromatics, herbs, and spices. If you choose not to use alcohol in your cooking, substitute an extra ½ cup of chicken broth for the wine.
Hot Cherry Peppers
Why add the cherry peppers at the end? The bits of sweet, hot, tart pickled pepper add a contrast to the rich and earthy stew. You can skip them if you want, and the stew will still be good.
How to Make Instant Pot Pork Shoulder and White Bean Stew (In Pictures)
Brown the Pork Shoulder in Batches
Using Sauté mode, brown the pork shoulder cubes on one side in 2 batches.
Sauté the Aromatics and Simmer the Wine
Sauté the onion, celery, and carrot, then add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and herbs. Add the wine and simmer for 1 minute to boil off some of the alcohol.
Everything in the Pot
Add the browned pork, dry beans, diced tomatoes, and chicken broth to the pot, and lock the lid.
Pressure Cook for 35 Minutes
Pressure cook for 35 minutes with a 20-minute Natural Pressure Release
Simmer the Kale for 10 Minutes
Unlock the lid and stir in the kale and pickled cherry peppers. Simmer the kale on sauté mode - low for 10 minutes, then stir in fresh ground pepper and serve.
Tips and Tricks
Browning the Meat on One Side
Browning the meat adds a lot of flavor to the stew - the caramelized browned bits on the meat and the bottom of the pot add depth to the stew. Browning the meat on all sides takes forever, and I tend to scorch the bottom of the pan after a few turns. My compromise is to brown the meat on one side only. Also, I brown the meat in two batches so I don't crowd the pan - crowded meat steams instead of browning, which defeats the purpose of the browning step.
Do I Need to Soak the Beans?
No, you don't need to soak the beans. Dry beans will cook through in the pressure cooking time - see the ingredient notes for timings with other dry white beans. Just make sure to sort and rinse them before cooking ...
Sorting and Rinsing Dry Beans
Dry beans are an agricultural product, and stuff tends to creep in during processing. Dry beans should always be sorted to remove any twigs, stones, clumps of dirt, or broken beans. Then they need to be rinsed to remove any remaining dirt or dust. After that, they're ready to cook.
What to Serve With Tuscan Pork, Beans, and Greens Stew
This stew is a one-pot meal; I like to serve it with a green salad and a crusty loaf of bread or breadsticks. If I want a little more on the table, I'll add a green vegetable side dish like broccolini or Sautéed Green Beans.
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Instant Pot Pork Shoulder and White Bean Stew Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
Description
Pork and beans meets beans and greens! This Instant Pot Tuscan Pork & White Bean Stew is the ultimate hearty one-pot dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (or vegetable oil)
- 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1½- to 2-inch cubes
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and minced
- 1 celery rib, minced
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup white wine
- 1 sprig of fresh sage
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
- 1 sprig of fresh thyme
- 4 cups chicken broth (preferably homemade chicken broth) or water
- 8 ounces (1 heaping cup) dry Cannellini beans, sorted and rinsed (aka Marcella beans from Rancho Gordo)
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt (if using homemade broth)
- 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes with juices
- 4 ounces baby kale greens (or baby spinach)
- 4 ounces jarred hot cherry peppers, drained and sliced (optional)
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Sear the pork in two batches: Heat the olive oil in an Instant Pot using Sauté mode - High. (Use medium-high heat with a stovetop PC.) Sprinkle the pork cubes with 1 teaspoon fine sea salt. When the oil starts shimmering, it is heated enough to start searing. Add ½ of the pork and sear until well browned on one side, about 4 minutes. (Don't crowd the pot, or the pork will steam, not brown.) Remove the browned pork to a bowl. Add the rest of the pork to the pot and sear until browned on one side, about 4 more minutes, then transfer to the bowl with the rest of the pork and set aside for later.
- Sauté the aromatics: Add the onion, celery, and carrot, and sprinkle with the ½ teaspoon salt. Sauté until the onions soften, about 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits of pork. Make a hole in the center of the onions, add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook until you just smell garlic, about 1 minute. Stir the garlic and pepper flakes into the onions. Pour the wine into the pot and add the fresh sage, rosemary, and thyme. Bring the wine to a simmer, and simmer for 1 minute. Stir in the pork and any juices from the bowl, then stir in the sorted and rinsed beans. Pour in the chicken broth (and 1 teaspoon of salt if using homemade broth) and add the can of tomatoes. Scrape the bottom of the pot one last time to ensure nothing is sticking.
- Pressure cook the stew for 35 minutes with a natural pressure release: Lock the lid on the pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 35 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker or for 30 minutes in a stovetop PC. (Use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook-custom mode in an Instant Pot.) When the cooking time finishes, let the pressure come down naturally, about 20 minutes. (If you are in a hurry, you can quick-release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes.)
- Cook the kale: Unlock the pressure cooker lid. Set the pot to Sauté mode - Low (low heat with a stovetop PC). Stir the kale and sliced cherry peppers into the stew, and simmer for 10 minutes to cook the kale.
- Final seasoning and serve: Stir in the fresh ground pepper, serve, and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 70 minutes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 271
- Sugar: 3.4 g
- Sodium: 681.4 mg
- Fat: 5.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.1 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 32.1 g
- Cholesterol: 76.4 mg
Scaling
This recipe scales up and down easily. You can double this recipe if you have an 8-quart pressure cooker to fit the doubled ingredients. (2x the ingredients is too much to fit below the max fill line in a 6-quart pressure cooker.) Cut all the ingredients in half and this recipe will fit in a 4-quart pressure cooker. The cooking time does not change in either case; it takes the same amount of time to cook the pork cubes and beans, no matter how much you have in the Instant Pot.
Storage
You can store this recipe in the refrigerator for a few days, or in the freezer for a few months. (It freezes beautifully.) I freeze leftovers in 2-cup containers so I have ready-made lunches on hand when I need them.
Related Posts
If you're looking for other Instant Pot pork stew recipes, try my Instant Pot Pork Stew, Pressure Cooker Mexican Pork Stew With Summer Vegetables, or Instant Pot Greek Braised Pork with Honey, Orange, and Rosemary. If you want some other Instant Pot Italian ideas, try my Pressure Cooker Wild Boar Stew (Spezzatino di Cinghiale), Instant Pot Pasta e Ceci (Pasta with Chickpeas), Pressure Cooker Venetian Pasta and Beans (Pasta e Fagioli alla Veneta), or Instant Pot Ragu Tucci.
For Instant Pot Tuscan recipes, try my Pressure Cooker Tuscan Bean Soup or Instant Pot Tuscan Pork Ribs (with Rosemary, Fennel, and Garlic).
If you're looking for something else, here is my index of Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes.
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