Instant Pot Pork Roast and Gravy
Our Instant Pot pork roast recipe makes delicious, tender, pork roast with a smooth, flavorful homemade gravy in under an hour.
You know those times when you buy a roast with the intention of slow cooking it all day, but then your morning gets crazy or life just happens? Then you find yourself wondering what you’re going to do for dinner, because oops your plan went out the window.
Well, this Instant Pot pork roast recipe will save you on days like that! Using a pressure cooker gives you tender, fall apart roast pork so quickly. And it’s so yummy and easy that you’ll love it just as much as a slow cooker version! We’ve even added simple instructions for making a flavorful gravy that is perfect for spooning over the pork and some fluffy mashed potatoes on the side.
Getting amazingly tender meat in the Instant Pot isn’t something new. If you like this make sure to try our recipe for Instant Pot pulled pork, Instant Pot brisket, and Instant Pot beef stew too!
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Ingredients You’ll Need
You don’t need much to make delicious pork roast in the Instant Pot. Here’s what to gather together:
- Pork Shoulder – You can use pork should or pork butt. You’ll want to trim any excess fat off of it, and remove the bone if it has a bone in it. Then cut the meat into 1 pound pieces.
- Spices – Onion powder, garlic powder, Kosher salt, and black pepper give this a delicious blend of flavor.
- Olive oil – Use olive oil to sear the meat.
- Chicken broth – You need the liquid to pressure cook the pork roast and chicken broth adds a little bit of flavor too.
- Aromatics – You’ll need both thinly sliced onions and crushed garlic cloves.
- Flour – This is used to thicken the broth into a delicious gravy.
We used a 6qt Instant Pot for this recipe.
New to using an Instant Pot? Make sure you read our beginner’s guide on “How to Use an Instant Pot” to get started!
Instructions
Step 1 – Season the pork. Use a spoon or fork to combine the onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Sprinkle the seasonings all over your pork so it is completely covered. Rub in the spices a little to make sure the seasonings stay put when you cook the roast.
Step 2 – Sear the roast. One of the most important flavor steps is searing the outside of the pork. Don’t skip this step! Fortunately, when you use your Instant Pot for pork roast, you can easily sear the meat. To do this, pour the olive oil into the inner pot and set it to saute mode. Once it is hot, brown each piece of meat on all sides. This should take about 2 minutes per side.
Step 3 – Clean the bottom. If you have cooked with the Instant Pot for a while, you have almost certainly had the burn notice come on at least a few times. To avoid this, remove the pork from the inner pot and set aside. Next, add the broth and stir it. Make sure you use a sturdy spoon so that you can really scrape the bottom of the pot. Your goal is to remove all the brown bits that can set off the burn notice when you start the pressure cooking.
Step 4 – Pressure cook the pork. Once you get all the brown bits scraped up, cancel saute mode. Add in the pork roast, garlic, and onions. Lock the lid in place and set the valve to SEALING. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. Once the timer goes off, select cancel and allow the pressure to release naturally for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, release the remaining pressure using the quick release valve.
Step 5 – Making the broth. Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl. Remove the pork from the Instant Pot and pour the remaining liquid through the strainer. Dispose of the solids in the strainer.
Use a fat separator to remove the excess fat from the liquid. If you don’t have one no worries, just a spoon to skim the top layer of fat off of the broth.
Step 6 – Make the gravy. Once the excess fat is removed pour the broth back into the pot and set it to SAUTE.
While the liquid is brought back up to temperature combine the flour and water in a small bowl and whisk together until it is smooth (this is called a slurry).
When the broth in the Instant Pot comes to a boil pour the slurry in , whisking the whole time, and then let cook for 2-3 minutes until it has thickened.
Step 7 – Serve. Serve sliced pork with gravy poured over it and enjoy!
What is the best cut of meat to use for a pork roast?
We prefer using pork shoulder or pork butt because it has more fat than pork loin. The extra fat is great for low and slow cooking. The fat and connective tissue breaks down as it cooks giving you a moist, tender piece of meat that is practically falling apart at the end. The Instant Pot helps speed up the cooking process quite a bit. You can get a similar texture using the Instant Pot in about 45 minutes instead of cooking the meat all day.
How Long Do You Cook a Pork Roast in the Pressure Cooker?
When you use a pressure cooker to make roast, weight is less important than overall thickness of the meat. A whole shoulder will take longer than if you cut the same shoulder in half, thirds, or fourths.
The good rule of thumb is to cook pork roast for 20 minutes per pound. If you cut a 4 pound pork shoulder into 4 equal pieces or about 1 pound each, you can cook it for 20 minutes. But if you keep the shoulder intact, you’ll need to cook it for about 80 minutes. That’s why I often recommend cutting the meat first, it will save you a lot of cooking time in the end.
Looking for More Pork Recipes?
- Air Fryer Pork Tenderloin
- Instant Pot Pulled Pork
- Instant Pot Pork Chops with Mushroom Gravy
- Air Fryer Pork Chops
- Provolone and Prosciutto Stuffed Pork Loin
- Instant Pot Pork Belly Tacos
- Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas
- Easy Pork Tacos
- Sheet Pan Spicy Pork Chops and Sweet Potatoes
- More Pork Recipes…
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Instant Pot Pork Roast and Gravy
Ingredients
- 3 pound Pork Shoulder or Pork Butt, fat trimmed off and cut into 1 pound pieces
- 1 teaspoon Onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon Black pepper
- 1 medium Onion, sliced into thin wedges
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1.5 cups Chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons Flour
- ¼ cup Water
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Sprinkle the seasoning over your pork and rub it in so it is covered.
- Set your Instant Pot to SAUTE and add the olive oil.
- Once hot add your pork shoulder and brown the pieces on all sides, approximately 2 minutes per side.
- Remove the pork and set aside then add the broth and stir, making sure to scrape up all of the browned bits so you won’t get a burn notice later.
- Press CANCEL on the Instant Pot and add the pork back to the pot along with the onion and garlic.
- Lock the lid in place, move the valve to SEALING and set to cook on HIGH PRESSURE for 25 minutes. See Note #1
- When the timer goes off press CANCEL and let the Instant Pot do a natural release for 15 minutes. Then flip the valve to VENTING and let the rest of the steam out.
- Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl. Remove the pork from the Instant Pot and pour the remaining liquid through the strainer. Dispose of the solids in the strainer.
- Use a spoon or a fat separator to remove the excess fat from the liquid.
- Pour the liquid back into the pot and set it to SAUTE.
- In a small bowl or cup add the flour and water and whisk together until it is smooth (this is called a slurry).
- When the broth in the Instant Pot comes to a boil pour the slurry in , whisking the whole time, and then let cook for 2-3 minutes until it has thickened.
- Turn off heat and slice or shred the pork and serve with gravy poured over it.
Notes
- The general rule for cook time is 25 minutes per pound. Since we’ve cut our roast into 1 pound pieces we can cook them at the 1 pound time.
Nutrition
