Instant Pot Garlic Pork & Kale Recipe
A delicious, tender pot of shredded pork with kale and garlic.
Ingredients
2 1/2 lb. boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks (ask your butcher to trim it for you off the bone and cut off some fat, but keep the bone because we are going to use it in a future recipe)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
2 fresh thyme sprigs
20–25 whole garlic cloves (I am lazy and buy the pre-peeled ones)
1 tsp. minced fresh rosemary (or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary)
2/3 cup dry red wine
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
2/3 cup beef or chicken broth (I have tried it both ways and it makes little difference so use what you have – my favorite was with pork broth that I made from the leftover pork bones from making this recipe previously).
About 1 lb. kale, tough stems removed, leaves cut crosswise into wide strips (or just buy a bag of kale from trader joes and shove it all in there)
Instructions
Season your chopped up pork generously with salt and pepper. I’m talking lots of salt and lots of pepper. Set your [amazon_link id="B00FLYWNYQ" target="_blank" ]Instant Pot[/amazon_link] to sauté and warm the olive oil. Working in batches, add the pork and sear, turning as needed, until well browned on all sides, 6 to 7 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon, pull it out of the Instant Pot and transfer to a plate.
Pull the pot out and pour off most of the fat. This is key, your dinner will be greasy if you don’t do this (pork shoulder is fatty). Return the pot and turn on the sauté function again (If you prefer, you can do all of these steps in a pan on the stove, but I try to be Instant Pot-only for clean-up’s sake).
Add the onion and thyme and sauté until the onion is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic (all 20-25 cloves, fully not chopped) and rosemary and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the wine and vinegar and stir to deglaze/scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom.
Add the broth and the pork and stir to combine. Cover. Use the manual setting and set it for 40 minutes at high pressure. When the time is up, use quick release. Take the lid off and add the kale. Put the lid back on, turn it to seal, and cook at high pressure for another 10 minutes. Do a quick release again (not required, but you’re probably hungry by now). The pork and kale should be very tender. If you stir, the pork will shred (kinda like carnitas) or you can be delicate and keep it in fork-tender bites.
Using the slotted spoon, transfer the pork and kale to a platter. Skim any fat off the cooking liquid (this is key… this can be a fatty meal (which is delicious, but best to skim where you can), then drizzle the liquid over the meat and serve immediately.
