Description

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.

Ingredients

Scale

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

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Instructions

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!