Instant Pot Puerto Rican Pulled Pork, inspired by Pernil al Caldero. The flavors of Puerto Rico from my pressure cooker, tender and shreddable in about an hour, with pantry ingredients I could find in my local markets.
A friend asked me for an Arroz con Gandules recipe, leading me to Pernil. All the local Puerto Rican restaurants I visited had a combo plate with pulled pork and a side of rice and pigeon peas. It's a fantastic combination! I came home determined to make some Pernil. And then...I ran into the lack of a Puerto Rican grocery store in my area.
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This is my attempt at Pernil based on the pantry items I could find in my local stores. (All my local Latin markets are Mexican, so the Puerto Rican ingredients are sparse). No fresh culantro or aji peppers, so I went with jarred Reciato Culantro. (I've tried both Goya Reciato Culantro and Loisa Sofrito, and they both go well with the pork.) I buy packets of Sazon seasoning and a jar of Adobo seasoning for the spice rub. Think of this as shortcut Pernil, with most of the flavor from a simple set of pantry ingredients.
Ingredients
- Pork shoulder roast
- Sazon seasoning
- Adobo seasoning
- Jar of Reciato Culantro (or Sofrito)
- Olive oil
- Chicken Broth
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Instant Pot Pernil
Marinate the pork: Sprinkle the cut pieces of pork roast with the Sazon and Adobo, put them in a gallon zip-top bag or small baking dish, and cover with the Reciato Culantro (or soffits). Marinate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
Brown the pork in 2 batches: Heat the olive oil in an Instant Pot set to Sauté mode - High until the oil shimmers, about 3 minutes. Remove half of the pork from the marinade, let the excess marinade drip off, then put the pork in the pan in a single layer. Let the pork sit in the pan until it is browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. (We are only searing the pork on one side). Move the browned pork to a plate, then put the rest of the pork in the pot, and cook until browned on the bottom, about 3 more minutes.
Everything in the pot: Pour a cup of chicken broth or water into an Instant Pot (or use the minimum liquid amount for your pressure cooker), and use a flat-edged wooden spoon to scrape loose any browned bits of pork stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the pork (and any juices) from the plate to the pot, stacking the pork in the pot in a loose pile. (Don't pack it in, we need space for hot steam to circulate around the pork.) Pour any marinade left in the bag over the pork.
Pressure cook the pork for 45 minutes with a Natural Pressure Release: Lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 45 minutes (use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook-Custom mode in an Instant Pot). Let the pressure release naturally, for about 15 more minutes. (You can quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes if you're in a hurry.)
Shred and serve the pork: Scoop the pork out of the pot with tongs and/or a slotted spoon, and move it to a large platter with a rim. Shred the pork with a pair of forks, drizzle with a cup of the pot liquid, and toss to coat. Serve and enjoy!
🛠 Equipment
📏Scaling
You can double this recipe in a 6-quart pressure cooker. You don't need to double the cup of chicken broth or water, just the pork and other ingredients. You can halve the recipe, too, if you need to fit it in a 3-quart pressure cooker, but again, keep the water amount at 1 cup. (You need 1 cup of water to come up to pressure.)
No matter how you scale the recipe, up or down, the cooking time remains the same. 2-inch by 2-inch pieces of pork shoulder cook in the same amount of time, regardless of how many are in the pot.
Sazon seasoning and Adobo seasoning
These two store-bought spice rubs are what I "rub" - really, sprinkle on - my pork shoulder. If you buy Goya Sazon, get the Original version, "Con culantro y achiote." The culantro and achiote in the Sazon and the garlic-forward Adobo are a great combination with the pork.
Reciato Culantro
Reciato culantro needs some unique ingredients that are hard to find in my local grocery stores. (My local Hispanic markets are all Mexican and don't stock Puerto Rican specialty ingredients beyond the Goya products I list below.) So, I buy my Reciato pre-made in jars. Both this Reciato Culantro from Goya, and this Sofrito from Loisa will work for this recipe.
If you want to make your own, here's a recipe adapted from Simply Recipes:
- 6 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 medium onion, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 large green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into chunks
- 6 ajes dulces peppers (or substitute mini-sweet peppers)
- 1 bunch culantro (or substitute a bunch of cilantro)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Make the Reciato Culantro: Drop the garlic cloves through the feed tube of a running food processor and process until thoroughly minced. Add the onion, bell pepper, and mini sweet peppers, and mince with one-second pulses of the food processor, scraping down the sides if needed. Add the culanto (or cilantro) and oregano and mince with one-second pulses of the food processor, scraping down the sides if needed, until everything is a chunky paste.
Tips and Tricks
- Cut the pork roast into strips before pressure cooking: Large roasts don't pressure cook well. It takes a long time for the heat to penetrate the roast's center. That's fine when you are slow cooking all day in an oven, but not so good in a pressure cooker. To help the pressure do its work, I cut my pork shoulder into 2-inch by 2-inch strips before cooking. Why 2-inch by 2-inch strips? Because the pork roasts I get from the grocery store are usually 4 inches thick. I cut them in half, then cut each half into 2-inch wide pieces. That gives me pieces with even thickness, so they cook consistently.
- Pork Butt: Pork Shoulder is also called picnic shoulder, pork butt, or Boston butt. They're all the same cut of pork and work in this pork recipe. If you get a bone-in roast, remove the bone before cutting the pork into 2-inch strips. Don't use pork loin, which is a leaner cut of pork and won't stand up to the long cooking time.
Serving Suggestions
As I mentioned in the opening, the traditional side dish with this shredded pork is Arroz con Gandules - Rice with Pigeon peas.
Adapted from: Puerto Rican Slow Cooked Pork Roast (Pernil al Caldero), Milk Street Magazine
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Instant Pot Pernil Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 3 pounds of pork 1x
Description
Instant Pot Puerto Rican Pulled Pork, inspired by Pernil al Caldero. The flavors of Puerto Rico from my pressure cooker, tender and shreddable in about an hour, with pantry ingredients I could find in my local markets.
Ingredients
- 3-pound boneless pork shoulder roast, cut into 4 pieces, each roughly 2-inches by 2-inches by 4-inches
- 1 tablespoon Sazon with Coriander and Annatto (2 packets Goya Sazon)
- 1½ teaspoons Adobo seasoning
- 12- to 16-ounce jar Reciato Culantro (or Sofrito)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
-
1 cup chicken broth or water
Instructions
- Marinate the pork: Sprinkle the cut pieces of pork roast with the Sazon and Adobo, put them in a gallon zip-top bag or small baking dish, and cover with the Reciato Culantro (or Sofrito). Marinate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
- Brown the pork in 2 batches: Heat the olive oil in an Instant Pot set to Sauté mode - High until the oil shimmers, about 3 minutes. (Medium-high heat with a stovetop PC). Remove half of the pork from the marinade, let the excess marinade drip off, then put the pork in the pan in a single layer. Let the pork sit in the pan until it is browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. (We are only searing the pork on one side). Move the browned pork to a plate, then put the rest of the pork in the pot, and cook until browned on the bottom, about 3 more minutes.
- Everything in the pot: Pour a cup of chicken broth or water into an Instant Pot (or use the minimum liquid amount for your pressure cooker), and use a flat-edged wooden spoon to scrape loose any browned bits of pork stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add the pork (and any juices) from the plate to the pot, stacking the pork in the pot in a loose pile. (Don't pack it in, we need space for hot steam to circulate around the pork.) Pour any marinade left in the bag over the pork.
- Pressure cook for 45 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 45 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker, or for 40 minutes in a stovetop PC. (use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook-Custom mode in an Instant Pot). Let the pressure release naturally, for about 15 more minutes. (You can quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes if you're in a hurry.)
-
Shred and serve the pork: Scoop the pork out of the pot with tongs and/or a slotted spoon, and move it to a large platter with a rim. Shred the pork with a pair of forks, drizzle with a cup of the cooking liquid, and toss to coat. Serve and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Category: Sunday Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican
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Charlie DeSando says
That does look delicious
Mike Vrobel says
Thank you!
PaulE says
Thanks Mike! Where's the Arroz con Gandules recipe?
Mike Vrobel says
It's coming, I promise! I'm still fighting with the dry pigeon peas and will have it soon.