Delicious, moist and tender, these boneless bbq pork chops cook up easy in your Instant Pot pressure cooker. Just a few simple ingredients and you can have amazing bbq pork chops on your plate in under 30 minutes.
Start with a good pork chop rub
We start by making a good bbq rub. It’s made up of very common ingredients you probably already have in the pantry – brown sugar, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper and salt. If you don’t have the ingredients for making the rub, feel free to use a good commercial bbq rub. The one I like to use is Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub
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Use thick cut pork chops
When making pork chops in the Instant Pot I always like to use “thick cut” pork chops that are about 1 inch thick. I’ve always had my best results with 1 inch thickness and the actual cooking time of 10 minutes cooks them to moist and tender goodness. Most pork chops purchased at supermarkets will say on the label that the chops include a solution (generally 12%) of salt and other ingredients to keep the pork chops moist and tender. Pork chops with this solution added are called “brined”. Again, the majority of supermarket pork chops do indeed contain a brine solution.
Use your Instant Pot to brown the pork chops first
The first step to making these pork chops is to liberally apply the rub to all sides of the meat, and sear for 2 and 1/2 minutes on each side with the Instant Pot on saute mode and a little oil added. This searing really adds to the flavor profile. Then we remove the pork chops and set aside on a plate while we press cancel (to stop the saute mode) and add 1 cup of water and “deglaze” the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon. This is simply scraping away all the bits, then we add a couple of tablespoons of bbq sauce to the water and stir it in good. Then the pork chops go into the liquid, the lid gets secured and the vent set to “sealing”. Now we pressure cook (manual on some Instant Pots or other electric pressure cookers) for 10 minutes. When the 10 minutes are up, we let the pressure naturally release which take 10-15 minutes. Once the pin drops we remove the lid and transfer the chops to a foil lined baking sheet and brush them with your favorite bbq sauce and into the broiler they go for 5 minutes. You can certainly skip the broiler part if you want, but it ads that great caramelization and flavor to the pork chops.
- 3 boneless pork chops, 1-inch thick
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water
- BBQ sauce (your favorite brand)
- 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder and salt. When well mixed, liberally apply the rub to all sides of the pork chops.
- Add vegetable oil to the Instant Pot and set on saute mode. When oil is hot, add pork chops and sear on each side for 2½ - 3 minutes. Then remove pork chops and set aside on a plate.
- Press cancel to stop the saute mode and add water to pot. Use a wooden spoon to scrape all the bits off the bottom, then mix in the 2 tablespoons of bbq sauce.
- Add pork chops to the liquid, leaving space between each if possible, secure lid, set seal to "sealing" and pressure cook (manual) for 10 minutes.
- When cooking time is complete, let the pressure naturally release (takes 10-15 min). Once pin drops, carefully remove lid and transfer pork chops to a foil lined baking sheet. Brush bbq sauce on pork chops and place under broiler for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.
Tried this is recipe as my first pork chop recipe in my 6 qt cooker. I used (4) boneless chops, which were roughly 1.5″ thick. I mostly followed the instructions including searing 2-2.5 min each side and a complete natural pressure release. However, I increased the cook time to 12 minutes because of the thicker chops. The chops fit somewhat snugly in the bottom of the pot, touching each other in some places, but not jammed in, They were all in the liquid, roughly halfway up their sides. The bbq taste was amazing, but unfortunately the chops came out dry and tough. Only the ends with the fat were moist and tender. I con’t figure out where I went wrong. I’d love to try this one again, but I’m fearful of ruining the meat. I was aiming for fall-off-the-bone, fork tender like I’ve gotten with beef roast recipes. Do you think I overcooked or not long enough? Any advice?
I love this recipe! My pork chops turned out so incredibly flavorful and tender! Will definitely be making these again soon! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Maria! So glad you enjoyed them!!
If you did more than 3 pork chops at one time do you have to increase cooking time?
Hi Sharon, i’ve not cooked more than 3 at a time but if you do and they’re packed in and sides are touching, you may indeed want to increase the time by a minute or two. You’ll also want to make sure the chops all stay in the liquid.
Can you use bone in chops? Also do you lay them on top of each other in the pot?
Yes indeed you can use bone in chops. You may want to Ann another minute or so to the cooking time, but not much. Now I’ve not stacked them, always lay side by side in the liquid.
It’s cup not cub lol
HA! Thanks for pointing that out, Annette!