Instant Pot Pork Stew – An Easy Pressure Cooker Recipe

This easy spicy Instant Pot pork stew makes a hearty weeknight dinner. Pork is combined with tomatoes, beans and corn for a filling southwestern inspired one pot meal. Cooking it in the pressure cooker means dinner will be ready for your family in less than 45 minutes.

Soups and stews are some of my favorite dinners, because they are easy to make without a lot of preparation. There are also an infinite number of variations possible, as you change up the vegetables, meats and cooking liquids.

All the flavors blend together for a delicious one pot meal. And a pressure cooker allows you to have stew on the table for dinner in much less time than if it is cooked in the slow cooker or oven – stews are one of my favorite things to make in my Instant Pot!

This Instant Pot pork stew is a recipe that I have converted from my favorite slow cooker pork stew recipe. This is one of my family’s favorite stews, and I have made it for years.

Once I got an Instant Pot I started using it much more than my slow cooker and I now prefer to make stews in the pressure cooker instead of the slow cooker.

Instant Pot Pork Stew Ingredients

This stew uses pork as the main protein. Pork is excellent for stew because it is flavorful and it doesn’t turn mushy or dry out when it is cooked at high pressure. The pork is flavored with southwestern spices like cumin and chili powder for a stew that is just a little bit spicy.

What really makes this pressure cooker pork stew unique is that it is thickened with cornmeal instead of flour. The cornmeal gives it a distinct Mexican or Southwestern flare and really adds to the flavor of the dish.

How to Make Pressure Cooker Pork Stew

It is always best to brown meat before making a stew. Browning it caramelizes the meat which results in a more complex flavor and a better texture in the finished stew. So the first step in making the pork stew is to brown the pork in oil, and then deglaze the Instant Pot.

Deglazing is done by pouring the cooking liquid (water in this recipe) into the Instant Pot and stirring to make sure there are no browned bits stuck to the bottom. 

Once the meat is browned just dump in all the remaining ingredients except the tomatoes and corn and stir well. Then pour the tomatoes on top, without stirring.

Bring the Instant Pot up to pressure and let it cook at high pressure for 25 minutes. Deglazing and not stirring in the tomatoes should reduce the chances that you will get an Instant Pot Burn error while making this recipe.

Do I Need to Brown the Meat?

Now even though I just said you should brown the meat, I will confess that I skip that step sometimes when I make this recipe. I don’t think browning makes as much of a taste difference with pork as it does with beef.

So if I am pressed for time I will just stir the pork in with all the other ingredients, top it with the tomatoes and bring the stew up to pressure. I converted this from a slow cooker recipe that didn’t call for browning the pork, and it is still very flavorful even if you skip the browning and deglazing steps.

After the pressure cooker is done cooking the stew I let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, and then release any remaining pressure manually. Then it is time to stir in the corn, put the lid back on, and let it sit for a few minutes to let the flavors meld together.

What Kind of Pork Should I Use for Stew Meat?

Almost any kind of pork can be used in this stew recipe. This includes:

• Pork Shoulder also called pork butt or Boston butt – this is traditional pork stew meat because it is cheap and has lots of marbleized fat. I tend not to use this for stew because I prefer to use a cut with less fat. I also think it is more difficult to cut into cubes.
• Pork tenderloin – This is leaner and its smaller size makes it easy to cut, so I use this frequently.
• Pork Loin – This is another great choice and is nice and tender when it is cooked in stew.
• Pork Chops – Pork chops work well in this recipe, although they tend to be on the more expensive side.

What Kind of Beans Should I Use in this Stew?

My family and I love black beans in this pressure cooker pork stew and that is what I almost always use. I have also made it with Pinto beans, which is tasty too.

I haven’t tried kidney beans, but I am sure that would taste good too. Basically any kind of beans that goes well with Mexican cooking would be appropriate for this recipe.

Easy One Pot Meal

This is a great homemade dinner that can be made in the Instant Pot on a busy weeknight that the entire family will enjoy. Sometimes I will serve this stew over rice, but if I have time I prefer to make air fryer cornbread to go with it.

I like to garnish it with some green onions and jalapenos to spice it up, and I serve it with lots and lots of cilantro.

Find more Instant Pot Stew Recipes

• Instant Pot Apple Cider Beef Stew
• Instant Pot Chili
• Instant Pot Chicken Stew with Tomatillos