Pressure Cooker Pork With Citrus and Mint
- Total Time
- 2 hours 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:10 servings
- 5garlic cloves
- 2tablespoons honey
- Finely grated zest of 2 limes
- 2½teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste
- 1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2 or 3 pieces
- 1tablespoon peanut oil, more as needed
- 1bunch of cilantro, leaves and stems separated
- 3tablespoons Asian fish sauce
- 1tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1small red or green chile, sliced
- 1pomelo or 3 grapefruits
- 1½teaspoons fresh lime juice
- ¼teaspoon honey
- 6Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
- Leaves from 1 bunch of cilantro
- Leaves from 1 bunch of mint
- 1 to 2jalapeños, thinly sliced, seeds removed or not, to taste
- Fine sea salt, to taste
- Cooked rice or rice noodles, for serving (optional)
For the Pork
For the Salad
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)
508 calories; 34 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 15 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 16 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 33 grams protein; 740 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Grate 1 garlic clove into a small bowl, then stir in honey, lime zest, salt and pepper.
- Step 2
Cut 1-inch deep slits all over pork. Rub marinade all over, and into slits, and let sit for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, or even better, cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
- Step 3
Slice remaining 4 garlic cloves. Set electric pressure cooker to sauté (or use a large skillet), and add oil. Once it’s hot, add half the garlic and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer with slotted spoon to plate lined with a paper towel and sprinkle liberally with salt. Repeat with remaining garlic, adding more oil if needed.
- Step 4
Add pork to pot and sear until browned all over, about 2 minutes per side.
- Step 5
Add cilantro stems to pot with pork (reserve leaves for salad). Add ¾ cup water, fish sauce, vinegar and chile to pot. Set to cook for 90 minutes on high pressure. Manually release steam. Let pork cool until you can handle it, then shred it into bite-size pieces while still warm. Pork can be made up until this point up to 3 days ahead (store it in the refrigerator).
- Step 6
While pork cools, strain liquid from bottom of pot. Pour off fat, or chill liquid and scoop off fat.
- Step 7
When ready to serve, heat the broiler. Transfer pork to a rimmed baking sheet, and toss with a tablespoon or two of the reserved cooking liquid (just enough to coat it without making it soggy). Broil until crisped on top, 2 to 3 minutes; it will char in some places, and that’s fine.
- Step 8
Cut top and bottom off pomelo or grapefruit. Stand fruit up on cutting board on a flat end, then slice off the peel and pith, letting your knife follow curve of fruit. Working over a large bowl to catch the juices, slice the segments away from the membranes, letting fruit fall into the bowl.
- Step 9
In a small bowl, whisk together ⅓ cup reserved pork cooking liquid, lime juice and honey. Add mixture to bowl with pomelo or grapefruit and toss in cucumbers, cilantro leaves from the two bunches, mint and sliced jalapeño. Season with salt to taste.
- Step 10
In a large bowl, toss shredded pork with more cooking liquid to taste. Serve pork with salad topped with garlic chips, with rice or rice noodles if you like.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Mimi Pond
I LOVE the NYT cooking website. LOVE IT. But let me just say that this recipe, which I followed to the letter, is WAY TOO MUCH TROUBLE. Rub the pork, marinate the pork overnight, fry the garlic, pressure cook the pork. Shred the pork, broil the pork, chill the liquid, skim the liquid, cut the grapefruit away from the pith, thinly slice the cukes, chop the cilantro, chop the mint. JUST NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE!!! Just not that special! NO! I was intrigued by the flavor combo but it does not deliver!
Leah
Cont from previous note...
Next step, I did NOT shred the meat and toast under the broiler, because I didn't have time. However, I have done this for Carnitas and it is a good method. Next time.
I served the pork straight from the pot with the broth over rice. Presentation not the best but Man did it taste good!
Also skipped garlic chips, these never turn out to my taste.
I made the salad on the side w/o grapefruit (again lack of energy) and it was still good with the pork.
Hope this helps!
Leah
Here are adaptations for making in a stove-top pressure cooker. This turned out well for me and was shorter than the printed recipe.
First, I did not marinate. I browned the pork and added a diced onion and 3 cloves garlic to the pot. Then added the fish sauce, vinegar, cilantro, red chile pepper and 3.5 cups water (enough to barely cover the meat) S&P.
Then cook on high pressure for 2 hours. This was enough for tender meat for me.
Steve
I'm very glad top see these Instant Pot recipes and I hope there will be more. It's a "thing" for a reason!
B. Barajas
I added a little grated ginger (~1 inch of root) to the marinade, everything else was exactly as-is. It was a KNOCK OUT. Meltingly tender, flavorful pork, fresh herbs, nice acid from the citrus, crunch from the cucumber and potent little hits of fried garlic. One of my favorite ever Instant Pot recipes, the whole family agreed. Melissa Clark does it a again!
Ruth
Used 2 lbs of pork and 80 minutes cooking time. 4 lbs would be enough for probable 8 people.
Michael C
Not an expert but I will bet you could use oranges or another citrus. They will be sweeter, so you might experiment with additional lime. You should also check in again with your doctor if it’s statins that concern you, as the latest science is supposed to show that the concentrations required are far beyond what one would normally consume. Our doctor has said to go ahead, as long as it’s not tons and tons of grapefruit.
Leah
Forgot to write that I added lime zest to the pot with pork in lieu of marinating.
Chris
Really enjoyed Ms. Clark's recipe. Loved the flavors and will definitely make this again. A bite with some pork and salad and grapefruit was so good. // Modifications: I don't have a pressure cooker, so I used a slow cooker. Also went with bone-in pork shoulder since I used the slow cooker. I'm not a huge fan of eating lots of mint leaves, so I added some bibb lettuce to the salad (just a personal preference). I didn't make the garlic chips, but will try that next time.
Sandra
It would be so helpful to have the cooking time and temperature to use for a Dutch oven or other well covered pot in the oven. Not everybody has or wants an instant pot or pressure cooker. I got one, it was huge and is not how I'd normally cook. Didn't want to give up half my kitchen to a monster for occasional use, so I sent it back to Amazon. Yhis recipe sounds great, please translate it for us insta-holdouts.
Jack D
This recipe is great but one thing that didn’t really work is brushing the pork with honey and then searing it because it causes the sugar in the honey to burn and it'll stick to bottom of the pan. Salt and pepper worked the best and then adding the honey and lime zest (I used grapefruit and orange zest as well) to the braise it worked just fine. Another successful Sunday dinner night with friends in the books.
Greg
This was delicious. Mild in spice (adjustable) but had a lot of flavor. I added more garlic and more fish sauce and a bit of soy sauce and some Thai chili-garlic sauce. I also used agave nectar instead of honey and a bone-in pork shoulder - totally fine. The tartness of the salad was a great antidote to the richness of the meat. Loved it! Reheated the next day and was even better.
Gib
This recipe is perfect, from the crispy pork to the complimentary salad. The lime flavor carried through. There are so many layers of flavor to this dish. Although there’s a fair bit of work involved, it’s well worth sticking to the recipe as written. Each bite has different flavors, and even the salted garlic chips were a great surprise. We served the dish with coconut jasmine rice, following through on its Thai inspiration. Our guests raved about this meal. We will definitely make this again.
Joyce
Many thanks to all the good notes for this recipe. We marinated for about 3 hours, and because we had 2 pounds of meat, we cooked it at high pressure for 60 minutes. It was perfect! Our broiler isn’t the best, so we skipped that step. Loved the salad and felt it an excellent accompaniment to the rich meat. We’ll make this again, and want more creative recipes like it for the Instant Pot!
DC_Robb
Hello folks! This recipe sounds delicious, but I have to pass on the grapefruit products because it will react with my medicine. What other fruit can I use in place of the grapefruit (pumelo) that will cut through the richness of the pork?
Rachael
I could only find bone-in pork, so I cut the meat into 3 inch chunks and marinated it in all of the seasonings for 24 hours. I did not sear the meat before cooking, and only needed to cook it for 45 minutes under pressure since it was in smaller pieces. I followed the rest of the recipe as written and it was a HUGE hit in my house. The flavor combination was incredible and everyone had seconds. I’ll definitely be making this one again.
Vietnamese Carnitas
Truly delicious. Skipped marinating based on comments of others and concern about burned honey while searing. Definitely didn't notice any lack of flavor. Also skipped garlic chips because it seemed like a hassle. Added about five extra cloves of garlic to the pot as well as 2in of julienned ginger. Cooked 8 lb pork butt in the instant pot for 4 hours and it was the most tender pulled pork I've ever made
Janna
This recipe burned in my Instant Pot and the pork came out terribly dry.
Rachel
whole family loved this. Made it in the slow cooker-high 5 hours. I would skip the broil next time, dried it out. served the cooking sauce on side. i used chicken broth instead of water. skipped the garlic chips. added whole cloves garlic to the cooking sauce. added ginger to the cooking sauce, also to the marinade. added radish to the salad. added a little grapefruit juice to salad dressing and skipped the cooking sauce. that would have made salad heavy. per my son, served w/hawaiin buns.
Claire
I make this dish every couple of weeks and my whole family loves it. Like some other reviewers, I skip out on the garlic chips (just throw some peeled garlic cloves in the pot) and usually do just a quick marinade. I also don't bother to do a full sear on the pork in the Instant Pot, though I do like to broil the pulled pork in the oven for a few minutes before serving. Serve over rice or in tacos... yum! The salad is divine!
Teri
Followed the cooking time for my Instant Pot but needed to another 2 hours at 325 in order to shred the pork. It tasted delicious prior to the extra cooking but needed to be sliced if used at that stage. I also added 1/2 squeezed lime to the marinade to emulsify the honey. Then overnight in the fridge. Things I added to the pot after searing; 4 sliced scallions and a dark beer instead of water. Then used the strained liquid for finishing in the oven.
karla
I don’t do the garlic chips. I don’t sear the meat. It’s not necessary, since you’re broiling it at the end. I do save some of the juices for the salad. Easy and delicious.
bekah
I added graded fresh ginger and raw sugar to the marinade. I made a run out of salt, sugar and the rest of the ingredients. For the sauce I added sesame oil and soy It tasted better hot than cold. But it was insane as a salad. I added lettuce.
Ines
Excellent! Meat is tasty. I just shredded it into big chunks and added to rice. Made a salad. I will make this for tacos soon. Delish.
Jodi
So, I just cooked this. I followed another reviewer’s suggestion to add some grated ginger and otherwise followed the pork recipe. The pork was very good and I did not find the amount of work overly onerous. The garlic chips came out bitter, so I tossed them and made fried shallots instead. Yum I did not add the cooking liquid to the salad but instead made the dressing with lime juice honey and fish sauce to taste and it worked very well. Good fish and will probably make again.
Emily D.
Really good! I would double the marinade as it came off a little too subtle. My IP was totally burnt after searing the meat and I had to clean it before cooking - I tried to deglaze it but it smelt horrible so I started fresh. My 5 year old loved the salad too!
Sukie
Shred the mint. Reconsider grapefruit. Double salad dressing. Slow cook garlic
Caitlyn
A favorite for years -- thoughts from having made this many times: * I've noticed no difference between bone-in and boneless, other than buying a heavier weight if bone-in. I usually buy >4 lbs because sometimes it's a bad cut and the middle has tough stuff * I usually skip garlic chips and sub peanuts * Don't skip crisping, mmmm * Good for keto family members if you skip the honey (sigh) * Rice is lovely with the sauce Not as fussy as it appears and always a hit -- high recommend!
Kymmore
Delicious! Served in tortillas with avocado, sour cream, cilantro, and green onion! Served the salad on the side with greens, grapefruit, cucumbers, sliced jalapeno, and a sprinkling of mint. Easy and a fun Sunday meal!
Lisa Holland
This is flat out deliciousness. I didn’t find it too much work, especially considering the payoff and that you can do most of the work ahead. Cooked in a slow cooker as I don’t have a pressure cooker, took about 2.5 hours.
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