This simple and Whole30-friendly weeknight Instant Pot Magic Pork has a high flavor to effort ratio! You can make it ahead and freeze the leftovers for future taco nights, stir-fries, omelets, or hearty soups!
Table of Contents
It’s no secret that I love simple, umami-packed, fork-tender pork recipes that are ready in a jiffy when pressure cooked in an Instant Pot. Some of my favorites include my Instant Pot Kalua Pig, Instant Pot Carnitas, and Instant Pot Spicy Pineapple Pork—but one can never have enough, right? So if you’re hankering for another porktastic dish that’s perfect for weeknight suppers, I’ve got just the thing: my easy peasy Whole30-friendly Instant Pot Magic Pork!
The easiest, and tastiest Instant Pot pork!
This dish will amaze you with its high flavor to effort ratio. Why? Because it utilizes my Magic Mushroom Powder, which you can make yourself or purchase online at Amazon or The Spice Lab. Magic Mushroom Powder is my go-to seasoning blend when I need to turn a basic protein or vegetable into a company-worthy dish—with zero heavy lifting required. In addition to Magic Mushroom Powder, this Instant Pot Magic Pork uses stuff I already have in my fridge and pantry. Best of all, it’s dang delicious.
Leftover Bestovers!
Bonus: This pork is fantastic for leftover makeovers! It’ll keep in the fridge for up to four days and in your freezer for several months. I like to fry it crispy before adding it to tacos, salads, stir-fries, cauliflower fried rice, egg muffins, and frittatas. You can even use the leftover cooking liquid as a soup base—simply take off the fat cap after you chill it, dilute with more broth or water, and add your favorite veggies and leftover Instant Pot Magic Pork!
Ingredients
- Boneless pork shoulder (a.k.a pork butt): This cut of pork will become tender and shreddable when you cook it in the Instant Pot. Don’t waste pork tenderloin in this recipe because it’s too lean and doesn’t have enough collagen.
- Magic Mushroom Powder (or Diamond Crystal kosher salt + one of the optional umami boosters listed below): This seasoning blend is what makes this pork so dang tasty—it’s magic!
- Ghee, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or cooking fat of choice
- Onion
- Garlic cloves
- Orange juice: You only need a half cup of liquid—the pork will release a ton of liquid as it cooks. If you don’t have OJ, you can also use pineapple juice, apple juice, coconut water, applesauce, chicken broth, or water. I’ve tried them all and they all work!
- Dried shiitake mushrooms and/or Red Boat fish sauce (optional umami boosters)
How to make Instant Pot Magic Pork
Cut up the pork shoulder…
…and toss the cubed pork shoulder with Magic Mushroom Powder. No MMP? Just use the same amount of Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or half the amount of Morton’s kosher salt or a fine grain salt).
Grab your Instant Pot and turn on the sauté function. When the metal insert is hot, add ghee or your preferred cooking fat. Toss in the sliced onions.
Stir fry until the onions are no longer crunchy (about 2-3 minutes). Dump in the smashed garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Pour in the orange juice and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
Add the seasoned pork to the Instant Pot and stir to mix well. (If you aren’t using MMP and want to amp up the umami, you can toss in a couple of dried mushrooms or add a few shakes of Red Boat Fish Sauce. Even if you are using MMP, these additions will make your stew AMAZING!)
Lock the lid and cancel the sauté function.
Program your Instant Pot to cook under high pressure for 35 minutes. When the pork is finished cooking, wait for the pressure to release naturally. Check that the pork is fork tender and adjust seasoning if necessary with extra Magic Mushroom Powder or salt. Ladle it up…
…and shred it up with a couple forks.
Dig in and thank yourself for tasty leftovers!
How do you save leftovers?
You can save leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. After you defrost the meat, you can toss it in any dish to add extra protein!
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
Instant Pot Magic Pork (Whole30, Keto, Paleo)
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 4 pounds pork shoulder cut into 1½-inch cubes
- 2 ½ teaspoons Magic Mushroom Powder or Diamond Crystal kosher salt + one of the optional umami boosters listed below
- 1 tablespoon ghee extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or cooking fat of choice
- 1 medium yellow onion thinly sliced
- 6 garlic cloves peeled and smashed
- ½ cup orange juice you can also use pineapple juice or chicken broth
- 2 dried shiitake mushrooms and/or Red Boat fish sauce optional umami boosters
Instructions
- Cut up the pork shoulder and toss the cubed pork shoulder with Magic Mushroom Powder. No MMP? Just use the same amount of Diamond Crystal kosher salt (or half the amount of Morton’s kosher salt or a fine grain salt).
- Grab your Instant Pot and turn on the sauté function. When the metal insert is hot, add ghee or your preferred cooking fat. Toss in the sliced onions.
- Stir fry until the onions are no longer crunchy (about 2-3 minutes). Dump in the smashed garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour in the orange juice and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
- Add the seasoned pork to the Instant Pot and stir to mix well. (If you aren’t using MMP and want to amp up the umami, you can toss in a couple of dried mushrooms or add a few shakes of Red Boat Fish Sauce. Even if you areusing MMP, these additions will make your stew AMAZING!)
- Lock the lid and cancel the sauté function. Program your Instant Pot to cook under high pressure for 35 minutes. When the pork is finished cooking, wait for the pressure to release naturally.
- Check that the pork is fork tender and adjust seasoning if necessary with extra Magic Mushroom Powder or salt. Ladle it up and shred it up with a couple forks. Dig in and thank yourself for tasty leftovers!
Video
Notes
- You can cook this dish in the slow cooker! Cook the onions and garlic in a pan and deglaze with the orange juice before transferring the alliums to a slow cooker. Add the seasoned pork to the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
- This pork is fantastic for leftover makeovers! It’ll keep in the fridge for up to four days and in your freezer for several months. I like to fry it crispy before adding it to tacos, salads, stir-fries, cauliflower fried rice, egg muffins, and frittatas. You can even use the leftover cooking liquid as a soup base—simply take off the fat cap after you chill it, dilute with more broth or water, and add your favorite veggies and leftover Instant Pot Magic Pork!
- Not a fan of pork? You can make this recipe with chuck roast and keep everything else the same! If you opt to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs, only cook the stew for 15 minutes under high pressure.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m obsessed with Chipotle burrito bowls with carnitas. I made my own at home using this pork, cilantro lime cauliflower rice, frozen onions & peppers, a little sour cream and cheese (I’m not totally paleo), and it was AMAZING! Like seriously just as good Chipotle. This will be my new freezer staple!
what do you serve this with? thanks! looks great!!
im making this right now and serving it with creamed baby lima beans, homemade spelt sourdough bread and home canned applesauce. But im southern and lean more “primal” than paleo = )
Easy, delicious and freezes beautifully.
This was sooooo good! I had some leftover chipotle chilies in adobo (about 2-3ish tablespoons) that I added to the orange juice before tossing it in. It added a subtle heat and great flavor! Thanks for such a quick, easy and delicious recipe!
Absolutely delicious recipe! I served it with some mashed potatoes and okra. Enough liquid I was able to make some gravy too. My husband couldn’t stop ooohing and ahhhing over it.
I have 3# of pork, instead of 4# as listed in the recipe. would you adjust the time under pressure? Do you have a rule of thumb on timing different weights of meat?
You don’t need to change the cooking time if the pieces of pork are the same size (1.5-2-inch cubes).
I did not like something about this.. I did not have the mushrooms so I used salt and fish sauce as stated and it just didn’t come out well… but then I added green Cholula sauce and it was phonomenal! Perhaps it is better with the mushrooms instead of the fish sauce…
I’ve tried this recipe both ways: searing the pork first, and not searing the pork. Well, Michelle is right – you don’t have to sear the pork. It doesn’t improve the flavor and only adds time to the recipe. I love meal prepping with this (over cauliflower rice or add the tandoori cauliflower as a side and freeze for lunches), and I even had this as a side with scrambled eggs this morning – delicious! Sometimes I add liquid smoke to the recipe.
This recipe works… and tastes amazing!!!! The first time I tried to make pulled pork the butt became rubbery and was definitely not shreddable, but this recipe has restored my faith in pork! I’ll definitely be making pulled pork more often.
This looks delicious! I’ll try it out. Thanks for sharing.