Pressure Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork recipe that is cooked in LESS than 15 Minutes, perfect for a weeknight family meal and so much better than takeout!
This recipe for pressure cooker sweet and sour pork is Paleo and very easy to make, If you are not Paleo you can simply swap out the arrowroot for cornstarch, and coconut sugar for brown sugar instead.
How to Make Pressure Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork
I used a 1lb Pork Shoulder Blade Steak (sometimes called Pork Butt Blade steak) and cut it into small chunks. It was not very thick, about a 1/2 inch at most. If you are using a different cut of pork, or different thickness of meat the cook time will vary.
I don’t recommend using a really lean cut of pork for this as it’s likely to dry out. If you can’t find pork shoulder steaks then any non-lean piece of pork with plenty fat marbling should work in a similar way.
This post contains affiliate links
The next thing I did was to prep the onions and peppers so that I was ready to add them as soon as the meat was cooked. The recipe is very quick to make so it’ s better to have everything ready to go before you start to cook.
Once you have all your ingredients prepped you can turn on the saute function on your electric pressure cooker and adjust it to the medium heat option.
I usually don’t wait for the display to say ‘hot’ to add the oil, I just add it right away. I give it a minute or so to heat up, then add the pork and brown on all sides it for just a few minutes before adding the pineapple juice, sugar, and vinegar
Then you simply lock the lid, turn the steam release vent to ‘sealing’ and using the manual setting and adjust it to cook for 3 minutes at High Pressure.
When the cook time time is up, allow the Pressure Cooker to reduce pressure on its own without opening the steam release vent (Natural Release) for 6 -7 minutes, then release the rest of the pressure and open the lid carefully.
To prevent the meat from overcooking I prefer to remove it with a slotted spoon and cover with foil, leaving the juice in the pot. At this stage you can turn on the saute function to the medium heat setting and add the vegetables and pineapple chunks and cook for up to five minutes, or until the vegetables are as soft as you like them.
Then add arrowroot mixed with cold water (or cornstarch if you are not Paleo) and keep stirring until the sauce thickens. You can always add a little more if you need to. I think Tapioca starch would work well if you don’t have arrowroot.
And lastly, return the pork to the pot and warm through for a couple more minutes and you’re done!
I’ve tested this recipe several times. The first time I cooked the meat and vegetables together under pressure, but of course the vegetables were pretty soft. My kids thought it was great, but I like a little more crunch so I tried it again by just cooking the meat in the liquid under pressure, and then adding the vegetables in after the lid had come off and using the saute function as described above, that was much nicer.
MORE PRESSURE COOKER RECIPES
I have several easy gluten free dinner recipes I think you’ll love! One of my favorites to make over and over again is my Pressure Cooker Pot Roastrecipe, it’s very simple to prepare and tastes delicious, we cook it several times a month.
My Instant Pot Whole Chicken is a breeze to make, so if you’ve never tried cooking a whole chicken in your pressure cooker you really need to.
And lastly, you can’t miss my Instant Pot Firecracker Chicken recipe, even my kids likes the little kick from the crushed red pepper flakes!
Pressure Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork
Pressure Cooker Sweet and Sour Pork recipe that is cooked in LESS than 15 Minutes, perfect for a weeknight family meal and so much better than takeout!
Ingredients
- 1lb pork blade steak , 455g, cut into small pieces
- 1 tbsp oil
- ½ red pepper , cut into chunks
- ½ green pepper , cut into chunks
- 1 onion , cut into chunks
- 4 tsp arrowroot, or cornstarch if not Paleo
- 1 cup pineapple juice , 250 mls
- 1 cup pineapple chunks - juice reserved from can
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar, or light brown sugar if not Paleo
- 6 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Instructions
-
Cut the pork blade steak into large pieces, remove any bone.
-
Turn on the saute function on your electric pressure cooker and adjust to the medium heat option. don't wait for the display to say 'hot' add, simply add the oil right away.
After about a minute, add the pork pieces and brown a little on each side, you may need to do it in batches, then turn off the saute function.
-
Stir in pineapple juice, sugar, and vinegar.
-
Lock the lid, turn the steam release vent to 'sealing' and using the manual setting, adjust it to cook for THREE minutes at High Pressure.
-
When the cook time time is up, allow the pressure cooker to reduce pressure on its own without opening the steam release vent (Natural Release) for 7- 10 minutes, then release the rest of the pressure and open the lid
-
Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and cover with foil, leaving the juice in the pot.
-
Turn on the saute function and adjust it to the medium heat setting, then add the onion, bell peppers, pineapple chunks and arrowroot or cornstarch (mixed with a little cold water) and cook for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables are as soft as you like them.
If the sauce is not thick enough, simply add a little more arrowroot or cornstarch to a small amount of cold water and add that to the pot and stir again.
-
Return the pork to the pot to warm through. Serve hot over rice, or cauliflower rice if you are paleo or whole30.
Recipe Notes
PORK BLADE STEAK - Blade steaks are very tasty cuts of pork that are rich in fat marbling which helps to prevent them drying out during cooking. This makes it perfect for braising in the pressure cooker!
If you can't find blade steaks then I would cut up some boneless country style ribs into small pieces and use those instead. What you want is a cut of pork with some fat throughout it, so avoid the very lean cuts as they tend to dry out. If you use larger, thicker chunks of pork then that will increase the cook time so you will need to play that by ear.
Adapted from Noshtastic
Leave a Comment