No Sugar Pulled Pork with Broccoli Lime Slaw

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75 min Prep time: 15min Cook time: 60min

Moxy Thoughts

August 14, 2017 in ,

Earlier this year a good friend bought me a life changing appliance – the Instant Pot!  I had seen a lot of posts and ads on this slow cooker lookalike in my social media but didn’t realize just how useful this pressure cooker would be in my daily life.  I don’t know if I’m unique, but I received a slow cooker as a wedding gift (18 years ago!) and honestly have only used it once or twice and only on days when I could be around the whole day to make sure it was working.  It’s a bit overwhelming for me to consider what I want to make 8 hours or more ahead of time.  I tend to decide what’s for dinner about an hour before it should be on the table and often pick up the right ingredients on my way home from the office.  But then, a funny thing happened.

We were in Chicago visiting friends and my friend made a slow cooker pulled pork while we all went to a Cubs game.  She is a planner, one of those people that has a spreadsheet for their vacation plans for the next  year and a half!  Slow cooking comes as an obvious solution to her and the meal she prepared was delicious, and seemed so easy.  My youngest could not get enough of the pulled pork sandwiches and that was what finally pushed me to figure out this new process for getting the family dinner on the table.

As soon as we got home I pulled out the Instant Pot from it’s box and read the instructions.  A little scary at first because you have to put everything in and then hope for the best. The timing for cooking is not particularly obvious to me, but I decided to use a recipe from a trusted blogger -wow, what turned out was fantastic!  Who knew that you could get home from work, take 15 minutes to put some ingredients together and then hang out with your family?  Not me!  So now I’m a huge fan and I honestly can’t say enough about how this has changed the way I think about mid-week meals.  It’s taken a bit of trial and error to find recipes that both eliminate sugar and still get all the juicy flavor that you want from your meals.  I’ll post them as I figure them out.  This one is a no sugar pulled pork that you can do with, or without the tortilla, because the flavors of the meat and the salad topping are just that yummy. That makes it a great recipe whether you’re following a no-carb, Paleo or even a Keto plan.

The last tip is around the sauté function.  I think it takes too much extra time on this recipe because the pot takes a while to heat up and doesn’t get hot enough for quick browning.  I have found that browning the meat on the stovetop is quick and easier and provides a better overall texture than the function in the pot.  Honestly, that’s the only criticism!

I’m planning on trying a lot of other recipes in this new appliance and hope that you’ll share your favorites with me, I’ll be posting them as I find the winners that are loaded with flavor and no added sugar.

Make it Matter, Make it with MOXY

 

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings (3 tortillas/person)

For the pulled pork

  • 3.5-4.5 lb pulled pork shoulder, cut into 4-5 pieces
  • 1 tsp. sea salt
  • 2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 2 tsp. paprika
  • 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
  • Butter
  • 1 bottle of beer ( I used Corona Light)
  • 1 cup low sodium chicken stock
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 cup chopped white onion
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 12 street style corn or flour tortillas OR 12 Romain lettuce leaves washed and trimmed

Broccoli Lime Slaw

  • 1/2 bag of pre-cut broccoli carrot slaw (I like the one from Trader Joe’s but most grocery stores have a version)
  • 1/2 small cucumber shredded
  • 1/4 cup chopped red onion
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 tsp. sea salt
  • Juice from one large lime
  • 1 cup no-fat greek yogurt
  • 2 tbsp. real mayonnaise

Directions

  • Rub pork with the salt, cumin and paprika mixture
  • Warm the olive oil and melt the butter  on a large pan at medium heat and brown pork on all 4 sides (about 3-4 minutes per side)
  • You can do the above step in the Insta-Pot but I find it takes much longer.
  • While pork is browning, pour beer and stock into the Insta-Pot along with with the garlic, onion and bay leaves
  • Once pork is brown, remove it and put into the liquid mixture in the pot.  Use a little water in the pan to scrape up the brown bits and pour this over the pork
  • Seal the pot according to manufacturers instructions and use ‘Meat/Stew’ setting to cook.  It takes about one hour.
  • While the pork is cooking, put together the slaw

Broccoli Lime Slaw

  • Combine all ingredients and chill until ready to serve

To Serve

  • If you want no additional carbohydrates, serve 2 tbsp. pork with 1 tbsp. slaw on top of Romaine leaf.  Otherwise, do the same on top of tortilla.

 

The Moxy Mamma

Hi I’m Anna. I’m a mom, wife, full time executive, part time amateur cook and love to be creative whenever I can.

In 2014, my husband received news that he had Type II Diabetes.I’m on a mission to eat great food and create delicious recipes that are packed with flavor instead of added sugar.

Do Good, Eat Great and Put some Moxy on your plate! (more about Anna)