Instant Pot Pork Roast And Cabbage

This instant pot roast pork and cabbage recipe is probably the easiest meal you will ever make. With just four ingredients and really only four minutes of hands on time you will make a hearty, delicious meal for your family. Plus it makes a lot, so you’ll have plenty to repurpose for lunch the next day. I don’t know about you but I’ll always take a meal that feeds us more than once 🙂

Also, no worries if you don’t have a pressure cooker or Instant Pot! This can easily be made in a slow cooker.

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Ingredients for instant pot pork roast and cabbage

This only takes four ingredients to make but yet is packed with flavor and super hearty. If you’re looking for quick, budget friendly and healthy meals, this one has it all.

• Pork shoulder/butt roast, about 3lbs. You can use any cut of pork that you’d prefer for this recipe. However, I recommend getting something with a bit of fat on it. This adds so much flavor to the meat. Besides, you can’t digest protein without fat.
• Liquid smoke – use whatever kind you’d prefer or if you have a smoker, use that instead.
• Salt – we are going to use 1tsp salt per pound of meat to get started. Once everything is cooked you can add more salt to taste if you’d like. The cabbage can absorb quite a bit of the salt.
• Cabbage – about 2lbs, or a medium sized head. We’ve also made this without cabbage and it’s still great. However, the cabbage really rounds out the flavor and makes the meat go further. We love growing cabbages, they’re one of the easiest crops to grow in our Florida winters. While waiting for the heads to mature, we’ll harvest the outer leaves and throw those into this recipe.

How to cook roast pork and cabbage in the Instant Pot

First, add liquid smoke, pork roast, and salt into the pot. I like to add the salt last so it doesn’t wash off of the pork. You can also coat the pork roast in the salt first before adding to the pot if you’d like.

If cooking from frozen, which we do often cause I don’t always remember to pull the meat from the freezer, add about 1/2 cup of water to the pot to help the pork reach pressure.

Put the lid on top and select pressure cook. Adjust the time to two hours and thirty minutes. It may not need this long, but we want to make sure the meat is falling apart when done. If cooking frozen pork, add another 30 minutes to the pressure cook time.

Release the pressure valve after the timer goes off, you can let it sit for a few minutes before releasing if you’d like, but we haven’t found that to be necessary. While the pressure is releasing, chop up your cabbage if you haven’t already.

Turn on the saute function and add the cabbage. Mix everything together using tongs. Mix every couple of minutes until the cabbage is cooked to your liking and the pork roast is well shredded. We like our cabbage a bit soft which takes 10 minutes. Taste test as you go to get the texture you’d prefer.

And that’s it. Serve with rice or buns for pulled pork sandwiches. Leftovers also make a really good addition to steam buns 🙂

How to make roast pork and cabbage in a slow cooker

To make this recipe in a slow cooker, start by combining the liquid smoke, pork roast, and salt to the slow cooker. Set temperature on low for 8 hours or overnight if you can. Our old slow cooker timed out when left on to long, but if yours doesn’t go ahead and start your pork roast the night before you plan to eat it.

Two hours before dinner time, chop up the cabbage and add it to the pork roast. Mix it up well and stir every half hour or so until it’s time to eat. Add any more salt if needed and serve. 🙂

This recipe has been a staple in our family for years. It’s so simple, hearty and delicious. If you give this a try let me know how you like it!

As a side note, if any of you have been to Hawaii, you might recognize this dish as kalua pork. Well, my hubby and I met there and started our married life in O’ahu, so that’s where we picked this up. Although it’s nothing compared to traditionally prepared kalua pork, it’s still pretty good 🙂 Hope you enjoy!

Happy cooking 😊