Instant Pot Frozen Pork Shoulder

Instant Pot Frozen Pork Shoulder. Pressure cooking a pork shoulder from frozen works surprisingly well. After two hours under pressure, the frozen pork shoulder turns into tender, juicy, shreddable meat.

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• Ingredients
• How to cook a frozen pork shoulder in an Instant Pot
• Equipment
• Tips and Tricks
• Substitutions
• What to serve with Pork Shoulder
• Instant Pot Frozen Pork Shoulder
• Related Posts
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Here's a follow-up recipe from my Instant Pot Frozen Pot Roast. That technique, borrowed from Chris Young's YouTube channel, worked so well on a chuck roast that I had to try it on a frozen pork shoulder.

Now, not an entire pork shoulder - that thick of a piece of meat takes forever to cook, even if it is not frozen. I use half a pork shoulder butt roast or picnic roast, about 3 inches thick at its thinnest part. It should weigh 4 to 5 pounds, though you can go lighter or heavier if the roast isn't over 3 inches thick.

Adapted from: Chris Young Pressure Cooker Frozen Pot Roast Can Cooking from Frozen really be juicier? - Youtube

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 to 5-pound pork shoulder roast, about 3 inches thick
• 2 large onions, diced
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 4-6 sprigs fresh thyme (or ½ teaspoon dried thyme)
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary (or ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary)
• 1 cup cider (hard cider or non-alcoholic)
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 ½ cups chicken broth (preferably homemade chicken broth, or store-bought low sodium broth)
• ½ teaspoon salt (if using store-bought broth)
• 15-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (or soy sauce)
• 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 pound carrots (about 4 thick carrots), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 celery rib, sliced into ½-inch rounds
• Minced parsley for garnish

How to cook a frozen pork shoulder in an Instant Pot

Brown the frozen pork shoulder

In a wide Instant Pot (8-quart or 7-quart wide), heat the 2 tablespoons of oil until it starts to shimmer, about 5 minutes. (Use medium-high heat in a stovetop pressure cooker.) Carefully add the frozen pork shoulder to the pot. It's going to splatter when it hits the oil in the pot, so I put a lid on the pot or use my splatter screen over the top. Cook the shoulder until it is browned on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Flip the shoulder (again, be careful of splattering oil) and brown on the second side for about 4 more minutes. Move the shoulder to a plate and pour out all but 1 tablespoon of the oil in the pot. (I also wipe down the outside of my Instant Pot and the counter to clean up any oil droplets.)

Sauté the aromatics and simmer the cider

Put the onions in the pot, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, and sauté until the onions soften, about 5 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot with a flat-edged wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits of pork. Scatter the thyme and rosemary sprigs over the onions. Pour in the cider, bring it to a boil, and boil it for 1 minute. (This will cook off some of the alcohol if you use a hard cider.)

Pork shoulder, broth, tomatoes, and Worcestershire into the pot

Put the browned pork shoulder into the pot (along with any juices on the plate). Sprinkle the roast on both sides with 1 teaspoon of salt. Pour in the chicken broth (and ½ teaspoon of salt if using homemade broth), drizzle the Worcestershire sauce over the roast, and then pour the can of crushed tomatoes over everything.

Pressure cook the pork shoulder for 2 hours with a Quick Release

Lock the lid and pressure cook at high pressure for 2 hours in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker or for 90 minutes in a stovetop pressure cooker. (Use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook - Custom mode in an Instant Pot.) When the pressure cooking time is done, quick release the pressure in the pot.

Pressure cook the root vegetables for 8 minutes with a Quick Release

Unlock the lid of the pressure cooker—tilt it away from you as you open it to avoid the scalding steam. Add the potatoes, carrots, apples, and celery to the pot. Lock the lid and pressure cook at high pressure for another 8 minutes to cook the root vegetables (the same cooking time in an Instant Pot or stovetop PC). When the pressure cooking time is done, quick release the pressure in the pot.

Slice and serve

Unlock the lid of the pressure cooker. Again, tilt it away from you as you open it to avoid the scalding steam. Fish out the thyme and rosemary stems and discard them. Remove the pork shoulder from the pot with a spatula and a slotted spoon, and move it to a carving board for slicing. (Be gentle; the pork is fall-apart tender; let it rest while you scoop the vegetables so it can firm up for slicing). Scoop the root vegetables out with a slotted spoon and move them to a serving bowl. Pour the pot liquid into a fat separator. Slice the pork shoulder into ½-inch thick slices. (Don't worry if some of them shred apart while you're trying to cut - serve them as shredded pot roast.) Transfer the sliced pork to a serving platter, surround it with some root vegetables, and drizzle with a healthy amount of the defatted pot liquid. Serve with the rest of the root vegetables on the side, and pass the defatted pot liquid as a sauce at the table. Enjoy!

Equipment

You need a wide Instant Pot for this recipe. A 4- to 5-pound pork shoulder is probably going to be too big to fit in a 6-quart pressure cooker because the pot is narrow and tall. (And the frozen roast will not let you bend or squish it to fit.) If you can find a roast that fits in your 6-quart, go ahead, but I recommend using an 8-quart pressure cooker (or larger) or a wide pressure cooker like the Instant Pot Wide 7-quart cooker.

Tips and Tricks

Simple pulled pork version

If you want the simplest version of this recipe, skip all the vegetables and browning. Add the chicken broth and cider to the pot, add the frozen pork roast, and sprinkle it with 1 teaspoon of salt (or your favorite BBQ spice rub). Drizzle a cup of BBQ sauce over the frozen roast, then lock the lid and pressure cook for 2 hours with a Natural Release. Shred the meat, stir in more barbecue sauce, and you're ready!

Add the potatoes, carrots, apples, and celery at the end

Vegetables will cook to mush during the 2-hour pressure cook time needed for a frozen pot roast. That's why I added them in at the end. (It's a trick I've used before in my Instant Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe).

Browning the pork shoulder is good - but messy

In the original recipe, Mr. Young deep-fried a pot roast to brown it before pressure cooking. I'm not big on deep-frying, so I sauté in a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil. As I said in the recipe, watch out—frozen food and hot oil mean a lot of splatter. Wear an apron, and keep a lid or splatter screen on the pot to keep the mess contained.

You can skip the browning step if you want - the recipe will still work - but browning adds a lot of flavor to the pork shoulder. (Personally, I always brown the meat.)

Also, a frozen roast will not sit flat on the bottom of the pan, and will brown in spots. That's fine; the browned bits will add their flavor to the pot during the long cooking time. The roast doesn't have to be perfectly browned to get the extra flavor.

Thin roasts

These instructions are for a 4- to 5-pound roast, 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches thick. If you have a thin roast, about 2 inches thick, reduce the pot roast cooking time to 90 minutes under pressure in an Instant Pot.

Slow cooker

I don't recommend cooking a frozen pork shoulder in a slow cooker. It takes too long to come up to a safe temperature. From the USDA: "Frozen pieces will take longer to reach a safe internal temperature and could possibly result in foodborne illness." (Source: Is it safe to cook frozen foods in a slow cooker or crock pot? [ask.usda.com]). Stick to pressure cooking if you want to cook from frozen.

Substitutions

Larger roasts?

The largest roasts I buy are half of a pork butt roast (or pork shoulder roast) from my local grocery store. I haven't tried a full-size pork butt roast (or pork shoulder roast), which weighs about 10 pounds. (I'm not sure it would even fit in my Instant Pot Wide 7-quart pot). I assume it would have to cook even longer than 2 hours at high pressure, but I don't know how long.

Other cuts of pork

I am a pork shoulder purist when it comes to pressure cooking. Other cuts of pork don't work with this pot roast technique and tend to dry out in the long cooking time. If you don't have a pork shoulder roast, a pork leg roast will work with this technique, as long as it is 2 ½ to 3 ½ inches thick and weighs roughly 4 pounds. Don't try this with a frozen pork loin roast or pork tenderloin - those cuts are too lean and will dry out in the long cooking time,

Other root vegetables

You can use other root vegetables instead of potatoes, carrots, apples, and onions. I'd suggest turnips, parsnips, or sweet potatoes cut into 1-inch chunks. You can also add bell pepper cut into 1-inch squares.

Skip the alcohol

I like having hard cider in the pot; some flavors (especially the herbs and tomatoes) dissolve better in alcohol. I bring the cider to a boil to simmer out some of the alcohol, but there is still alcohol left in the dish. If you can't drink alcohol (or don't want to), use apple cider, apple juice, or extra chicken broth instead.

Worcestershire sauce

I like adding Worcestershire sauce to my pot roasts; it adds a bit of umami depth to the flavors. If you don't have Worcestershire sauce, you can substitute soy sauce or skip it.

What to serve with Pork Shoulder

This pork shoulder is a one-pot meal; it's got protein (pork pot roast), vegetables (carrots and celery), and starch (potatoes). I like to serve pork shoulder with something to soak up the liquid, mashed potatoes or dinner rolls. And, more vegetables are good with it, especially something green, like

Instant Pot Green Beans, Instant Pot Collard Greens, or Pressure Cooker Kale.

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Related Posts

Want to see the frozen chuck roast version of this recipe? Try Instant Pot Frozen Pot Roast
If you've thawed your pork shoulder, I've got a bunch of recipes for you. Instant Pot Pulled Pork - Quick and Easy is my weeknight shredded pork recipe. Instant Pot Chashu Pork Shoulder (Japanese Braised Pork), Instant Pot Puerto Rican Pulled Pork (Pernil al Caldero), and Instant Pot German Pot Roast with Mustard (Senfbraten) are three different international ways to cook a pork shoulder.

If you're looking for different cuts of pork shoulder, try my Instant Pot Boneless Pork Ribs (Country Style Shoulder Ribs) or Instant Pot Pork Shoulder Chops with Apples and Onions recipe.

For a traditional pork stew, try Instant Pot Pork Stew.

If you're looking for something else, here is my index of Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Recipes.

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