Instant Pot Sweet ‘n Sour Pork Chops
Make this Top Selling Instant Pot Sweet 'n Sour Pork Chops Recipe. Tender, Juicy Pork Chops drenched in a deliciously appetizing sweet and sour yummy sauce. Add this pressure cooker pork chops to your easy weeknight meal plan!
- Prep time
- 16 min
- Cook time
- 36 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 4 (808g) boneless or bone-in pork chops (, pounded)
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) peanut oil or olive oil
- ⅔ cup (100g) canned pineapple chunks
- 1 (140g) green/red bell pepper (, chopped)
- 1 (100g) small onion (, chopped)
- 3 (13g) garlic cloves (, minced)
- ¾ cup (188ml) cold water
- ¼ cup (60g) ketchup
- ¼ cup (60ml) white vinegar
- 1.5 tablespoon (21g) white sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) regular soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon (15g) tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon (2.3g) white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon (1.25g) kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon (1.25ml) sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) regular soy sauce
- 2.5 tablespoons (22.5g) cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) cold water
Instructions
- 1
Tenderize Pork Chops: Use the backend of a heavy knife or meat tenderizer to pound both sides of pork chops with all your might (see below photos as reference).
- 2
Marinate Pork Chops: Marinate with ½ tsp white sugar, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp sesame oil, and 1 tbsp soy sauce for at least 30 minutes. If you are marinating for 1 1/2 - 8 hours, place them in the fridge.
- 3
Prepare Instant Pot Pressure Cooker: Heat up pressure cooker over medium heat (Instant Pot: use Sauté Normal Function). Ensure your pot is as hot as it can be (Instant Pot: wait until indicator says HOT). This prevents pork chops from sticking to the pot.
- 4
Brown Pork Chops: Add 1 tbsp (15ml) peanut oil. Ensure to coat oil over whole bottom of the pot. Brown 2 marinated pork chops for roughly 75 - 90 seconds per side (don’t constantly flip them). Remove and set aside. Repeat for remaining pork chops.
- 5
Sauté Onions & Garlic: Add chopped onions, a pinch of kosher salt and ground black pepper if desired. Cook onions for roughly 1 minute until softened. Add minced garlic cloves and sauté for another 30 seconds until fragrant.
- 6
Deglaze: Add ⅔ cup (188ml) cold water and deglaze by scrubbing all the flavorful brown bits off the bottom.
- 7
Pressure Cook Pork Chops: Add ¼ cup (60ml) ketchup, ¼ cup (60ml) white vinegar, 1.5 tbsp (21g) white sugar, 1 tbsp (15ml) soy sauce, 1 tbsp (15g) tomato paste, and 1 tsp (5ml) Worcestershire sauce. Stir and mix well. Place pork chops + all meat juice in the pot. Pressure cook at High Pressure for 1 minute, then 10 minutes Natural Release.
- 8
Make Sweet & Sour Sauce: Remove pork chops. Press Cancel button, then Sauté button to heat up the sauce. Add ⅔ cup (100g) pineapple chunks and chopped green/red pepper. Stir and cook for a minute.
- 9
Thicken Sauce: Mix 2.5 tbsp (22.5g) cornstarch with 3 tbsp (45ml) cold water. Mix it in one third at a time until desired thickness. Taste the sweet ‘n sour sauce and season with more salt, sugar, or vinegar. For reference, we added 2 pinches of kosher salt. Turn off the heat. Add pork chops back in and coat them with the delicious sauce.
- 10
Serve: Drizzle sweet ‘n sour sauce over pork chops, then enjoy!