Instant Pot Pulled Pork Sandwich

Hello, and welcome to the Cuban Redneck kitchen. What’s for lunch? How about a Cuban pulled pork sandwich? Yes, you heard me correctly, and I am talking about the infamous pan con Lechon Cubano. Today’s recipe is all about a staple of the Cuban street food scene. A pulled pork sandwich so saw after and yet so misunderstood! As with many Cuban dishes, it is the simplicity that tricks people. There is nothing special about an authentic pan con Lechon (Cuban Pulled Pork Sandwich). It does not take mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, mustard, or pickles. But yet, people who want to be chefs try to get fancy about it, and always they fail. Even when you order this at a restaurant, it tends to be a hit or miss. Why? A Cuban pull pork sandwich is best with leftover pork about one to two days old. Any older and you start to get that rancid pork taste. Any younger, and the lack the depth in flavor is noticeable.

In this pulled pork recipe, I will use the Instant Pot to get around the lack of taste in the pork, and the 10 to 12 hours it takes to make authentic Cuban roast pork shoulder. Another critical ingredient needed to make a killer Cuban pulled pork sandwich is the mojo criollo! You are going to need both versions of this, the fabulous marinade and the sauce. If you are unfamiliar with Mojo Criollo, please check out my Cuban mojo recipe videos on YouTube. Last but not least is the bread. An authentic Pan con Lecho is a foot-long piece cut from a loaf of Cuban bread. Today, many grocery chains offer this same recipe in rolls, which I find more practical for making pulled pork sandwiches, mojo chicken sandwiches, Cuban sandwiches, and more.

As mentioned earlier, we need mojo marinade and mojo sauce for the 2 lbs to make Cuban pulled pork. For this amount of pork, we’ll need about a cup of each. If you like onions like me, consider having a few extra rings, but that is optional. After rinsing the pork, deposit it into a small missing bowl, cover it with mojo marinade and let it sit in the fridge for at least four hours. Overnight is better, and if you don’t have enough mojo marinade to cover it, it is ok to cheat and add a little broth.

After your pork has marinated, we can go straight into the instant pot bowl. Arrange the pork flat in the bottom and pour the mojo over it. We are going to cook this in the Instant Pot on high for 30 minutes, in pressure cooking mode. Once the time has expired, we will allow for a natural pressure release of 10-15 minutes and then do the remaining pressure manually.

Take the pork out of the instant pot bowl and into a large serving plate or baking dish as I used in the video. The remaining mojo can be frozen or disregarded. Use tongs or a couple of forks to pull the pork into stringy pieces. Once complete, put the now pulled pork back in the instant pot bowl, sprinkle a little mojo sauce over it, and work it in by tossing it with the tongs. After spreading flat on the bottom of the bowl, lay some onion rings on top and dress those with a little bit more of mojo sauce.

We are going to put this back in the instant pot, but this time with the air fryer lid! We want to set the temp to 400 degrees, in broil mode for 7-minutes. Once that timer has expired, toss the pork with your tongs or fork. Try to get the pork from the bottom to the top and put it back to broil for about 3-minutes. If you are cooking 4-6 lbs. you may want to extend that to another 7-minute. But, for the small amount I am making here, 3-minutes will do!

Assembling the instant pot pull pork sandwich is as easy as loading your rolls, adding a few raw onion rings, and sprinkling a bit more mojo to taste! Yes, in less than an hour, we can have what is undoubtedly one of the best versions of pull pork sandwich, and that is the infamous pan con Lechon Cubano.

Thank you for stopping by. I look forward to seeing you next week with a new video, and if you do make this instant pot pull pork recipe, please come share it at our Facebook group, Cuban Food Nation