10 Perfect Instant Pot Pork Loin Roast

Cook a perfectly seasoned and tender pork loin in your pressure cooker! It is so easy and makes a wonderful gravy, so give this recipe a try....

I've seen SO many people try cooking a pork loin in their pressure cooker and complain that it's too tough, too dry, or undercooked. Pork loin is a very lean cut of meat and will dry out unless you use the right cooking technique. If you want a shreddable pork, you'll want to use a fattier cut of pork: shoulder, butt, or country style boneless ribs. This recipe for a Sweet Pork Barbacoa is more suitable for these cuts of pork.

Today, we'll use a technique called "Sous Vide."  Sous vide is French for "under vacuum." No, we won't use a vacuum, but you'll understand what I mean later on...It's a method of cooking that ensures an even, uniform temperature all throughout the food. Never over cooked, or undercooked.

Pork loin (also known as a Pork Loin Roast) is different than pork tenderloin, as shown below. 

Pork loin is on the left, tenderloin is much smaller and is on the right in the photo.

Image from Peg's Home Cooking

TEST THE WATER 
Before we begin, you will want to test the temperature of your Instant Pot Keep Warm setting. The Instant Pot specs say there are 3 Keep Warm temps, but only list the range: 145°F - 172°F, but I find this temp to be more in the 140°-145°F range. This will give you a medium to medium rare pork.

From Serious Eats

To test your Keep Warm temp, fill your Instant Pot insert half full with water. (10-12 cups)
Push the Keep Warm button once. It will default to Normal.
The display will show 10:00 (10 hours)
Cover the pot with a lid, dinner plate, or plastic wrap.
Wait 30 minutes.
Use an accurate thermometer and take the temperature of the water.

If you have the Ultra, Smart WiFi, or Max, use the Custom temp setting. You will still want to test the temp of your water to ensure accuracy, adjusting the temp based on your results. For example, if you set it for 144°F, and your water is 140°F, set your cooker for 148°F.

My Instant Pot Duo Plus Keep Warm Test Results
Less = 135°F
Normal = 147°F
More = 169°F

LET'S GET STARTED! 

I found a HUGE pork loin at Costco - it's almost 2 feet long!

There's no way this will fit, so I cut it to 8.5" to fit into my 6 quart Instant Pot.

Measure the thickness of your meat and make a note for cook time.
This one is between 2.5"-2.75".

SEASON & BAG IT UP
Mix all the seasonings to make a dry rub. Rub this mixture all over the roast and put it into a freezer Ziploc bag. For maximum flavor, let this rub sit on the meat for 30-60 minutes, or up to 2 hours in the fridge. This is called "dry brining."

START COOKING
Lower the unsealed bag into your inner pot of water. When most of the air is removed, seal the bag and use a binder clip to attach the bag to the rim of the pot. This keeps the meat from moving around. You want the meat to be fully submerged, under the water.

You can use a FoodSaver, vacuum bags, and remove all the air to ensure that the food doesn't float. You can also use a dedicated immersion circulator that heats and circulates the water in any size pot for larger cuts of meat. I used an immersion circulator to cook a perfect medium rare steak and used this method for a quick, homemade vanilla extract!

Seasoned pork loin, with most of the air removed and ready to close

Cover your pot with plastic wrap, dinner plate or my favorite, a flat silicone suction lid.
We are not using pressure, and covering your pot will keep the water from evaporating.

Push the Keep Warm Button once.
It will default to NORMAL, light up and display 10:00 (10 hours).
Set a kitchen timer according to the chart below.

My fresh pork loin is between 2.5"-3", so I will use a 2.5 hour cook time.

    Fresh                     Frozen
2"    1 hour 30 min     2 hr 15 min
2.5" 2 hours               3 hr
3"    3 hours               4 hr 30 min
3.5" 3 hr 45 min         5 hr 40 min
4"    5 hr                    7 hr 30 min


**If you have the Instant Pot ULTRA, Smart WiFi or MAX, you're in luck! **
Use the CUSTOM temperature setting, select 144°F and use the cooking time chart above.

SEAR
You can grill or pan sear your meat. After the cook time has finished, put a little bit of cooking oil in a pan over high heat. You can use your Instant Pot to brown your meat, using SAUTE on its highest setting (Push the Saute button repeatedly until More/High is lit on the display).

Remove your meat from the bag (Save the juices in the bag!) and sear for 30 seconds on all sides. Transfer your meat onto a plate and cover it with aluminum foil to keep it warm while you make the gravy.

Checking the temp with my favorite Digital Thermometer

MAKE GRAVY 
Slowly add the 1/2 cup of chicken broth & remaining liquid contents in the freezer bag to your browned bits, or "fond," whisking and scraping off any browned bits as you go.
This is called, "deglazing."

In a separate bowl, make a "kneaded butter" by combining the all purpose flour and softened butter. The butter coats the flour particles and when put into a hot liquid, the butter melts, releasing flour particles without creating lumps.

Add this in your hot pan, stirring until thickened, about 3-4 minutes.

SLICE IT UP AND SERVE!

FAQ - (visit Serious Eats for more FAQ)
Is Pink Pork Safe to Eat?
If you are pregnant, elderly or very young, you may want to use the 145°F guideline for cooking pork.
These days, eating pink pork is just as safe as eating rare roast beef, according to Serious Eats.
As long as you are:
1. properly stored
2. cleanly cut meat
3. sear the exterior before serving

The risk for consuming rare pork is minimal.
At 130°F, the bacteria on the surface of the meat is actively being destroyed. Every moment your meat is in the cooker, it becomes safer to eat. You can read more about pork meat safety here.

Is Cooking in Plastic Safe?
From Cook's Illustrated:
"High-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, and polypropylene are considered the safest plastics. Many name-brand plastic bags are made with polyethylene and polypropylene. These types of plastic are resistant to the sub-boiling temperatures involved in sous vide cooking, and they are also considered safe in and of themselves."  Ziploc baggies are BPA free, but can fail when temps are above 150°F. Use a freezer Ziploc bag instead. 

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Perfect Instant Pot Pork Loin 

adapted from: Taste of Home May-6-2011

Use this fantastic spice rub for ultimate flavor. This recipe uses sous vide cooking techniques that create a perfectly moist and cooked pork loin. You can smoke or grill your meat after cooking for additional flavor. Reserve the liquid in the bag to make a fantastic gravy to serve over the meat.

Ingredients

• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon Seasoned Salt (Season All)
• 3/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
• 3/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 pork loin, about 3-4 pounds
• 1 Tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 Tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon butter, softened
• 1/2 cup of chicken broth (I like to use Better than Bouillon)
• Gallon size freezer Ziploc bag
• Enough water to fill your pot insert half full (10-12 cups)

Instructions

1. Mix together all the dry seasonings. 2. Sprinkle seasoning over meat, rubbing on all sides. 3. Place seasoned meat in freezer baggie, or use vacuum sealer. Close baggie and put seasoned meat into the fridge for 30-120 minutes.4. Remove meat from fridge and open freezer baggie (leave vacuum sealed bag closed). Pour water into pot insert and select Keep Warm. Cooker will default to Normal, 10:00 hours. If using the Ultra, Smart WiFi or Max, Select the Custom setting to 144°F.5. Lower the bag of meat into the water, until most of the air has been removed and seal the bag closed.6. Set a kitchen timer for time according to meat thickness on the chart below.7. When cook time is up, remove the meat from the bag, reserving the liquid.8. In a saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon cooking oil over over high heat. When oil is shimmering, sear meat for 30 seconds on all sides, set aside, and cover with aluminum foil.9.Reduce heat to medium-high. Slowly add the chicken broth, and remaining liquid from the freezer bag, scraping off any browned bits from the pan.10.Combine all purpose flour, softened butter, till no flour is visible.  Put the kneaded butter into hot liquid, cook and stir until thickened, about 3-4 minutes. Slice the meat, and serve hot, with gravy.
Fresh                     Frozen
2"    1 hour 30 min     2 hr 15 min
2.5" 2 hours               3 hr
3"    3 hours               4 hr 30 min
3.5" 3 hr 45 min         5 hr 40 min
4"    5 hr                    7 hr 30 min

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 1.5 -5 hours Total time: 2-5 hours Yield: 6-8 servings 

11 Instant Pot No Pressure Vanilla Extract or Sous Vide

From Instant Pot FaceBook Community

I have found another great way to get vanilla extract in a very short time! Making vanilla extract is so simple, so easy, and will cost you much less than buying pure vanilla extract. Gifting a bottle of your homemade vanilla extract is sure to impress your family and friends.

Vanilla extract uses vanilla beans, liquor, and time.  Making vanilla extract with the traditional cold extraction can take 8 weeks to 4 months to fully extract, shaking the bottle weekly. Adding heat and/or pressure to your extract shortens the processing time and forgoes the weekly shaking of your extract.

You can add a fourth element, heat, and shorten the processing time to have your vanilla extract ready to use in two to three weeks. Heating vodka for making vanilla extract was introduced by Cook's Illustrated in 2009. Fat/Oil + spice + liquor + heat = more flavor in a shorter time. Their results mention a "cleaner, more intense vanilla flavor" when heating vodka for making vanilla extract.

When you think of putting a tea bag in hot water vs room temperature water, you can see that the tea in hot water would steep more quickly, which makes a lot of sense!

One quick method is using your Instant Pot, with pressure, adds a fifth element of pressure, that speeds up the extraction process. If you don't want to use your pressure setting to make vanilla extract, here are two more methods to try, which will allow you to make a smaller batch of vanilla, use a variety of liquors and vanilla beans.

An Instant Pot cooker or immersion circulator on a low setting gently warms your ingredients, pulling out the essential vanilla oils that are suspended in the liquor, brings out color and flavor to your extract. This takes a little bit longer than the pressure cooked vanilla extract, but still speeds up the process and gives you a head start.

You can watch a short video here.

I did quite a bit of research to find out what temperature and time would work with this method. I discovered that Sous Vide (French for "under vacuum"), using an immersion circulator, is common for making alcohol infusions & syrups for cocktail recipes.

Method 1
Sous Vide with an Immersion Circulator
Sous Vide does a couple of things, according to this article. True flavors are amplified and you achieve maximum yield (little to no alcohol loss). Using an immersion circulator is very easy to set up and use.  (See my unboxing video here) You can use any food safe container or get this handy container with a lid that is perfect for sous vide.

Temperature & Time
Sources give 140°F - 155°F as a starting point for infusing dried spices, cinnamon bark and other ingredients. I chose 140°F as my temperature.

At the four hour mark, the extract was fairly light. At the 8 hour mark, it was much darker. The color of your extract can depend on the variety and quality of your vanilla bean, and how many beans you use. Do not process your extract more than 24 hours, and keep checking to make sure the water levels don't drop below the extract line. Processing more than 24 hours can break apart the bean pods.

Bean to Vodka Ratio
I used Cook's Illustrated's recommendation of 1 vanilla bean for 3/4 cup vodka. My vanilla beans were about 8" long. If your beans are shorter, you may want to add more. You can add as many vanilla beans as you want, essentially making a double strength (or fold) or higher vanilla extract. Double fold vanilla extract will cost more per ounce, but allows you to use less in your recipes.

Vanilla Beans
There are several varieties of vanilla beans, each with their own flavor profile.  I used Madagascar vanilla beans, which give a creamy, traditional vanilla flavor. Check out this helpful article about how to choose vanilla beans and find the best price.

Liquor
Neutral liquor, such as vodka, is preferred, to allow the full essence of vanilla to shine, but you can also experiment with other liquors. Clear rum, brandy, whisky are some to try. 80 proof is recommended. 100 proof is not necessary, can make your extract smell too strongly of alcohol and can dry out your beans.

Method 2
Instant Pot, No Pressure
You can customize the temperature on the Instant Pot Ultra and set it in the 140°F-155°F range. If you have any of the other Instant Pot pressure cookers, (Duo, Lux, etc) use the Keep Warm setting, which is about 145°F. After checking the other settings (yogurt & slow cook), the Keep Warm setting was the best option. I put 8 cups of water in my Instant Pot, pushed the Keep Warm button, it displayed Normal, 10:00 (10 hours) and the temp registered 142°-143°F. The Instant Pot Ultra time can be set for 24-99 hours.

Update: Instant Pot now has three different Keep Warm settings. 

Push the Keep Warm button repeatedly, and it will toggle between Less/Normal/More (or Low/Medium/High). You will want to use Normal or Medium, which will be about 145°F. High is too hot and can cause your contents to boil or bubble over in the jars. 

Low = 132°F

Med = 145°F

High= 165°F

This is 18 hours later...

They look dark and glorious! They should be ready in two weeks. I'm excited!

I can't wait to get some pretty bottles and labels for my vanilla extract to give as gifts for Christmas!

To get some ideas of how some of my readers have bottled and made pretty labels for their homemade extract, check out this gallery here.

Sous Vide Vanilla Extract
by Frieda Franchina, October 31, 2018
Making vanilla extract is so easy and simple, using this method. Do NOT use the stove top or slow cooker (crock pot) for this recipe. 
**Keep your Instant Pot & Immersion Circulator away from any open flame: gas cooktop, candle, etc.**

Equipment
Immersion Circulator & 6 qt food safe container
Instant Pot
8 oz canning jars
Canning Lids & Rings
Sharp knife or kitchen scissors - clean & sterilized
Canning jar lifter or silicone tipped tongs
bottles/labels for gifting vanilla extract - clean & sterilized
Funnel with narrow neck to fit jars

Ingredients
Vanilla beans (I used 6"-8" beans, 1 per jar. If your beans are smaller, increase to 1.5 beans per jar)
3/4 cup vodka, clear rum, brandy or bourbon for each 8 oz jar (a 375 ml bottle is 1.5 cups)
Water - room temperature

Instructions
1. Inspect your canning jars for any cracks or chips. Clean jars well with hot, soapy water or run them through the dishwasher. Set jars in your sink or heat safe container and pour boiling water over the jars. Pour out water before using.

2. Split your vanilla beans. Starting about 1/2" from the top,  insert a sharp knife through the middle through the top layer only, working your way down the bean all the way to the end. Use the dull edge of the knife to scrape out the vanilla caviar and seeds and put them into your jar.

3. Using kitchen scissors (or your knife), cut the vanilla bean into 1" pieces, letting them fall into the clean jar.

4. Pour your choice of liquor into your jar, filling it up to the first, bottom thread, leaving a 1/2" headspace between the top of the jar and the top of the liquid. This space is important!

5. Place a canning lid on top, and secure the canning ring finger-tip tight. This means turning the lid until you feel resistance and stop there. Do not tighten any further. Screwing on your lids too tight will cause the jars to break.

6. Choose your method of processing your vanilla extract:

Instant Pot: Place the trivet/wire rack into the inner pot. Put your prepared jars of vanilla extract on top of the trivet. Pour enough water to the same level of your extract. Do not have water above the jars.

Push the Keep Warm Button repeatedly until *Normal or Medium shows on the display. The button will light up and 10:00 will show on the display, for a 10 hour time. You can quickly push the (+) button to add more time. ( I did mine for 18 hours) Put a lid, dinner plate, pie plate or Instant Pot lid with vent closed. 

*Do not use High or More, as it is too hot to process your vanilla. It will cause it to bubble over and out of your jars.

Instant Pot Ultra:
Turn Dial to Ultra
Press dial to select
Turn dial to TIME
Press dial to select, turn dial to choose 8-18 hours, push to select
Turn dial to TEMP
Press dial to select, turn dial to 140°F, push to select
Press Start

Immersion Circulator:
Attach your immersion circulator to your 6 quart food safe container, set on a wood cutting board to protect your countertop.
Add the prepared jars of vanilla extract to the container.
Fill the container with water, up to the level of your extract, but not above the jars.
Select 140°F as your temperature, and 8-24 hours as your time.

Process your vanilla extract for 8-24 hours. I processed my jars for 18 hours.

7. When the cook time has finished, you can remove your jars using a canning jar lifter  -OR- simply let the water and jars come to room temperature. After removing the jars from the water, screw the rings on tightly.

Storage:
You can keep your extract in your canning jars, or pour them into prepared bottles for gift giving.
Store your extract in a cool, dark cupboard. It will have an indefinite shelf life. Do not put vanilla extract in the freezer or put in the refrigerator.
Keep your vanilla beans in the jar or bottle. They will continue to extract, mellow and deepen in flavor. When your extract is almost gone, top it off with vodka, add a new 1" bean, and let it extract naturally, or heat it again using the No Pressure or Sous Vide method. 
Extract will be ready to use in 2-3 weeks.

Updated 10/2021