Instant Pot Chinese Braised Pork (also known as Hong Shao Rou) is tender, juicy, and flavorful. This Shanghai-style braised pork belly is so easy to make in a pressure cooker, and so much faster than the traditional slow-cook method. Juicy and tender pork belly is seared in the instant pot and pressure cooked with carrots and an easy and delicious sauce loaded with Asian flavor. Once you try it, you’ll wonder why you haven’t spent more time making Chinese takeout dishes in the comfort of your home. It’s cheaper and just as (if not more) delicious!
Why You'll Love Instant Pot Chinese Braised Pork
- Braised meat is easy to make in a pressure cooker. Braising is a unique cooking method where you sear your meat (usually pork or beef) on high heat before slow cooking it in a tasty liquid. Braising is traditionally done in a Dutch oven or slow cooker, and this pressure cooker braised pork is just as good but so much faster.
- Tender, juicy meat and a delicious sauce. The magic of braising is that the liquids lend flavor the meat — and the meat lends flavor to the liquids. You reserve all the goodness stored in the pork fat since it melts into the sauce, and the instant pot braised pork belly delivers flavor in every bite. It is truly a delight.
- It's a crowd favorite. It always feels good to cook food that people rave about. Well, this Shanghai-style braised pork belly is exactly that. Even if you don't feel very confident in the kitchen, you’ll be able to impress anyone with an easy to follow recipe like this.
Ingredients and Substitutions
To make this delicious Instant Pot Braised Pork, you will need the following ingredients (full quantities in recipe card below):
- pork belly
- brown sugar
- soy sauce - or substitute with oyster sauce.
- Shaoxing wine
- sauce - the flavorful sauce is made from dark soy sauce (for color), chicken broth (or water), sugar, five spice powder, ground white pepper (optional), ginger, star anise, and cornstarch (to thicken it up).
- carrots
- green onions - optional, for garnish.
You will also need measuring cups and spoons and a pressure cooker like an instant pot.
How to Make the Best Instant Pot Braised Pork
- Marinate the pork. In a large mixing bowl, combine pork belly, sugar, soy sauce, and Shaoxing wine. Stir well to coat evenly. Cover and marinate for at least 15 minutes to soak in all the flavour. You can also marinate it in a ziploc bag, seal, and press the marinade around to coat.
- Sear the pork. Turn on the Sauté function on high on the Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Add the pork belly and cook until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.
- Add remaining ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients and mix well until smooth. Add the sauce mixture and carrots to the instant pot.
- Pressure cook. Switch the instant pot to pressure cooking mode on manual High and seal the lid (the steam release knob must be turned to the sealed position). Let the pork belly pressure cook for 10 minutes until tender. Once the time is up, you can let the instant pot slowly release the pressure, about 20 minutes or quick release the remaining pressure by turning the steam release valve to the venting position.
- Serve. Garnish with green onions and serve warm with a bowl of steamed rice.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
- Make it thicker: To thicken the sauce more, stir in an additional ½ teaspoon cornstarch and sauté on HIGH for 2-3 minutes until thickened to a desired consistency.
- Skin on or skin off: Whether you cook your pork belly with or without the skin in this braised pork recipe is up to you. I recommend keeping the skin on for the best texture, but it’s truly a matter of preference.
- How to store: Instant Pot braised pork belly will stay good in the fridge for 3-4 days inside an airtight container.
- How to reheat: Reheat this Shanghai braised pork belly in a steamer pot of boiling water until warmed through. You can also reheat in the microwave in 30 second increments until warmed through.
More Instant Pot Recipes
- 30 Best Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice
- Instant Pot Beef Curry
- Instant Pot Cranberry Chicken
- Instant Pot Whole Chicken
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
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Recipe
Instant Pot Braised Pork
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4-6 servings
Description
Instant Pot Chinese Braised Pork (Hong Shao Rou) is tender, juicy, flavorful, and easy to make in a pressure cooker. Try this Shanghai dinner at home today!
Ingredients
For the pork:
- 1 + ½ pounds pork belly, cut into 1-inch strips
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (or oyster sauce)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 1 cup chicken broth (or water)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon five spice powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper (optional)
- 3-4 slices ginger
- 1 star anise
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
Other ingredients:
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 1 tablespoon green onions, finely chopped (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine pork belly, sugar, soy sauce, and Shaoxing wine. Stir well to coat evenly. Cover and marinate for at least 15 minutes to soak in all the flavour. You can also marinate it in a ziploc bag, seal, and press the marinade around to coat.
- Turn on the Sauté function on high on the Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Add the pork belly and cook until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients and mix well until smooth. Add the sauce mixture and carrots to the instant pot.
- Switch the instant pot to pressure cooking mode on manual High and seal the lid (the steam release knob must be turned to the sealed position). Let the pork belly pressure cook for 10 minutes until tender. Once the time is up, you can let the instant pot slowly release the pressure, about 20 minutes or quick release the remaining pressure by turning the steam release valve to the venting position.
- Garnish with green onions and serve warm with a bowl of steamed rice.
Notes
Make it thicker: To thicken the sauce more, stir in an additional ½ teaspoon cornstarch and sauté on HIGH for 2-3 minutes until thickened to a desired consistency.
Skin on or skin off: Whether you cook your pork belly with or without the skin in this braised pork recipe is up to you. I recommend keeping the skin on for the best texture, but it’s truly a matter of preference.
How to store: Instant Pot braised pork belly will stay good in the fridge for 3-4 days inside an airtight container.
How to reheat: Reheat this Shanghai braised pork belly in a steamer pot of boiling water until warmed through. You can also reheat in the microwave in 30 second increments until warmed through.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Marinate Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Pork
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: Chinese
Joanna says
I made this tonight for the family and everyone agreed it was delicious! I substituted quite a few things: the wine with apple cider vinegar, the fresh ginger with ground, and the 5-spice with allspice.
Things I’ll do differently next time: sauté pork on stovetop instead to crisp it up (didn’t crisp at all in the instapot) and add another tablespoon of cornstarch instead of a teaspoon (it was still pretty runny). However, neither of these issues detracted at all from the flavor.
Finally, we decided to top the dish with a splash of lime juice before eating and my son agreed it enhanced all the flavors that much more. This is now in our dinner rotation!
Natasha Wesson says
We live in rural Virginia and I was dying for some Chinese food minus all the salt - this was *amazing*!
I swapped regular soy sauce with low sodium and added some Szechuan Chilli paste, paired it with sesame boy choy and served it over rice. It was so delicious - definitely a recipe to use again and again!
AL says
My family who are very fussy told me this is the most delicious meal they have tasted and rivaled restaurant meals. It was so full of flavour, tender and delicious. I made it exactly to recipe and did not need to tweak it. I took the suggestion of skinning it and broiling/grilling the skin separately so it was crunchy and then chopped it and added it just before I served it as my family love crackling. Served with rice and Chinese broccoli. Thank you it was an amazing dish!
Cait says
I made this for dinner last week; it was delicious! I had no five-spice so used a pinch of allspice. I also added a chopped onion to the carrots and mixed it round in the pot on sauté before adding the sauce. If I was making it again I will use less soy sauce as it was a little salty, I may have put too much in, otherwise this was easy and really satisfying. We had it with some steamed rice and green salad. Thanks, I will look forward to making this one again.