Instant Pot Kalua Pork

Four ingredient Kalua Pork made in your Instant Pot in 90 minutes! There is no shredding needed since this pork literally falls apart while cooking and is ready to serve out of the pot. You have to make this ASAP!

This recipe is for Kalua Pork in your Instant Pot. No, not the espresso rum Kahlúa you are thinking of. Kalua literally means “cooked in an underground oven” and is a traditional Hawaiian dish that takes many hours to make. It's delicious and you should definitely try the real thing when you are in Hawaii. However, there is an easy shortcut to make a copycat version in your Instant Pot in a lot less time! You can also make this in your slow cooker, it just takes a little longer.

This is the perfect recipe to feed a crowd or for a simple weeknight meal. There's only 4 ingredients and so many ways to enjoy. I have some ideas at the end of the recipe.

Ingredients:

4 l.b piece of pork shoulder or butt with the bone (can make without bone too!)

2-3 tablespoons liquid smoke

2-3 tablespoons kosher salt

1 cup water (for Instant Pot, not needed for slow cooker)

1. Cut pork into pieces, this doesn't have to be exact or even but I find in the Instant Pot it cooks better this way. You will have to cut around the bone so just be creative. I cut mine into 6 pieces. If you are making this in the slow cooker, just leave the pork in one piece.

2. Add pork to Instant Pot and pour both the liquid smoke and salt on top. This is to taste and you can add more of both at the end but you can't take it away!

3. Pour in 1 cup of water to InstantPot and lock lid into place. For the slow cooker, no water is needed, just place lid on top.

4. Set Instant Pot to Pressure Cook on High for 90 minutes. In slow cooker, allow pork to cook for at least 8 hours on low.

5. After pressure cooking, allow Instant Pot to naturally release the steam. Yes, this adds time, but I swear it makes a difference. 😬

6. Once pressure is released (or slow cooker is finished) your house should smell amazing and the pork should just shred it's self and the bone will come out clean. Just give it a stir with some tongs to break up the pieces. My picture below is just from using tongs...WOW!

7. The Instant Pot will have quite a bit of liquid that was needed for cooking, I just dumped out most of it before serving. Since some of the delicious flavor goes with the liquid, here is where you can add more liquid smoke and salt if desired, I added about a teaspoon of each.

That's it. Everytime I make this for a crowd it's a hit. We make this all the time in my house and have meals for the week or we freeze some for later. Here is my list of ideas for serving, let me know if you have any others!

Kalua Pork Serving Ideas

- Kalua Pork Tacos

- Kalua Pork Nachos

- Kalua Pork with Rice

- Barbeque Sauce Kalua Pork Burgers

- Kalua Pork breakfast burrito (trust me, it's good)

-Kalua Pork served in fresh pitas (see post HERE for pita recipe)