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Pressure Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork Tacos. A southeast meets southwest mashup between BBQ pulled pork and Tacos, ready in about an hour thanks to pressure cooking.
This week, DadCooksDinner is sponsored by America’s Most Mouthwatering Mashup from the National Pork Board.
The National Pork Board asked me to write a mashup recipe, taking different food ideas and mashing them together. Pulled pork shoulder is my favorite way to serve pork. I particularly enjoy pulled pork Southern barbecue style, tossed with a sweet, sticky sauce, served on smushy white bread, and topped with cole slaw and dill pickles. My second favorite way to serve pork? Shredded pork tacos. That’s it! That’s my mashup.
I’m giving that barbecue sandwich a Mexican-American twist. Instead of white bread, I use corn tortillas. Then I top the sweet, saucy pork with a tart, lime based slaw and spicy pickled jalapeños. I’m keeping the sweet barbecue sauce - it stands in for tomatoey salsa. It’s South of the Mason-Dixon line meets South of the border. 2
According to the National Pork Board’s survey, I chose well. Smoked, hot, and spicy flavors are frequently mentioned in their survey: 26% of people prefer hot flavors for their pork, 18% preferred spicy flavors for pork. Pulled Pork made up 15% of all pork mentions, and 7% enjoyed their pork in Mexican-styled dishes.
I love my pressure cooker for pulled pork; In an hour, I get tender, shredded pork shoulder that normally takes all day. (No pressure cooker? No worries…if you can cook all day. A slow cooker set on low for 8 hours gives the same tender, shreddable results.)
I’m biased, but I think I have a serious contender for America’s second most mouth-watering mashup.
Recipe: Pressure Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork Tacos
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker (I use a 6 quart Instant Pot electric pressure cooker)
Pressure Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork Tacos
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
Pressure Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork Tacos - a mashup of shredded BBQ pork and Tex-Mex tacos.
Ingredients
Pulled Pork with BBQ sauce
- 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch by 2-inch thick strips (aka “pork western ribs”)
- 2 tablespoons barbecue rub (Your favorite store bought brand or make your own)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup barbecue sauce (Your favorite store bought brand or make your own)
Baja slaw
- Juice of 1 lime
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 clove garlic, minced (or pressed through a garlic press)
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 8 ounces cabbage, sliced thin (1 small head of cabbage)
- 2 green onions, sliced thin
- ¼ cup minced cilantro
Accompaniments
- Corn Tortillas
- Extra barbecue sauce
- Pickled jalapeños
Instructions
- Cook the pork shoulder (in a pressure cooker): Sprinkle the pork evenly with the barbecue rub, then put it in the pressure cooker pot. Pour the water and barbecue sauce over the pork. Lock the lid on the pressure cooker, bring it up to high pressure, and cook on high pressure for 50 minutes in a stove top PC, or 1 hour in an electric PC. Turn off the heat and let the pressure come down naturally, about 15 minutes.
- Make the Baja slaw: In a large bowl, whisk the lime juice, salt, pepper, and garlic until the salt dissolves. Add the mayonnaise and whisk into a smooth dressing. Toss the cabbage, green onion, and cilantro in the bowl until well coated.
- Pull the pork: Scoop the pork out of the cooker with a slotted spoon - it’s OK if it breaks into pieces. Shred the pork with your hands, or a pair of forks, discarding any big hunks of fat or gristle that you find. Ladle some of the cooking liquid over the pork, just enough to make the pork look wet and saucy.
- Build the tacos: Warm up the tortillas, then let everyone build their own tacos. Pile some pulled pork on a tortilla and pour on a little barbecue sauce. Top with a scoop of slaw and a few pickled jalapeños. Fold in half and enjoy! (Go easy on the fillings - I’m setting a bad example with my pictures. Eating an overstuffed taco is a mess. Make a few smaller tacos instead of one big one.)
Notes
- Homemade barbecue rub recipe here.
- Homemade barbecue sauce recipe here.
- To cook the pork shoulder in a slow cooker: Sprinkle the pork evenly with the barbecue rub, and put it in the slow cooker crock. Pour the water and barbecue sauce over the pork, and cook on low for 8 hours.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Category: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Mashup
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Notes
- Don’t feel like slaw and pickled jalapeños on your tortillas? Go with your favorite taco toppings - lettuce, salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, sliced olives, diced tomatoes, chopped onions, whatever you enjoy.
- No pressure cooker AND no slow cooker? No worries. Put the pork in a dutch oven with a heavy lid, increase the water to 2 cups, and bring to a simmer on the stove top. Cover with the lid, move to a 350°F oven, and bake for 4 hours, or until the pork is falling apart tender.
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
America’s Most Mouthwatering Mashup
Rotisserie Pork Shoulder with South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce
Pressure Cooker Pork Chili with Pinto Beans
Port Tenderloin with Tomatillo Salsa and White Beans
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david says
This recipe is excellent! It is super easy,
Mary N says
Mike - can you cook more than 3 lbs of the pork at once? I have about 7-8lb from a halving a 15-lb pork shoulder I got from Costco. Would love to cook the whole thing. Any guess on how to adjust the cooking time and/or liquid needed?
Mike Vrobel says
Yes, as long as you cut it into 2-inch by 2-inch strips, and it fits under the max fill line of your pressure cooker, the cooking time and amount of liquid stay the same. (Increase the other ingredients, but not the liquid).
Rita says
I made this last night and we were very pleased. For the slaw, I used the juice of one medium lime which measured 3 tablespoons of juice. Too much! I doubled the mayonnaise and added a pinch of sugar which worked well to balance the flavors.
This happens so often with recipes that call for one lemon or lime. Depending on the season (limes especially) are sometimes a lot less juicy. Last year I managed once to squeeze about 1 1/2 teaspoons of juice, max, out of a whole lime.
Next time I might drop the cooking time (electric) back to 55 minutes.
We have a little leftover meat which are going to grace some killer nachos!
Karin says
I made this tonight and it was fabulous! I shredded the pork in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer in all of 10 seconds. I've had it for years and never knew that secret until recently, and now I shred chicken, beef, and pork in it with zero effort.
The only change I made to the recipe was that I used Miracle Whip since I didn't know I was out of mayo. I felt like the slaw was a bit too tangy without any sweetness to balance it so I added a small spoonful of sugar to the dressing. Just enough to make it sweet, salty, and tangy. I think I ate five of these myself. Great recipe!
Kevin says
I thought I was the only one that did that! Great way to shred!
Robert C says
Thanks Mike, this is a great recipe, I followed it to the last letter. Refreshing to have Mexican flavours without the cheese and sour cream. This is the second time I have cooked this, the last time the other night with a few friends around for a casual dinner. I really appreciate your Mexican focus together with the use of the pressure cooker to speed things up. Here in Sydney, Australia Mexican food is not that prevalent, great for Asian, many of the ingredients are not found in the supermarket so thanks when you do provide an alternative or an explanation of what is required. Can I ask that when you specify a "can" of an ingredient (e.g. canned chipotle, with adobo sauce) that you also include the volume as we may source from a different supplier.
Mike V says
Do you have a specific recipe you're referring to? Usually, I say One chipotle en adobo pepper from a can - not the whole can - that would be an amazing amount of heat.
Robert C says
I was referring to your Homemade BBQ Sauce and yes I had misread, and not really thought it all through, "canned chipolte" as a can of. Fortunately I followed the second option to that ingredient in an earlier version of your recipe which stated a tablespoon of pureed chipolte so did not do any damage! Thanks for your reply.
Rebecca says
This recipe is excellent! It is super easy, as well. I will definitely make this again!
David Somerville says
Mike, pretty impressive spread..especially considering it only took an hour for the shredded pork! I haven't played around with pressure cookers before but you have me interested!
Mike V says
Try the pressure cooker - you'll be amazed.
Lisa says
How much brown sugar?
Mike V says
Sorry, no brown sugar; that was from another slaw recipe. (Cut and paste will be the death of me.) I fixed the recipe to take out the references to sugar.