This pork and Spanish rice dish is easy to make, budget friendly, and done all in the Instant Pot. It's a delicious one pot, stick to your ribs meal!
I will be the first to admit that pork is not a protein I think to cook with often. Other than pulled pork sandwiches or bacon (which kind of feels like its own category altogether), I usually just kind of forget that it's an option.
My local Publix grocery store was handing out samples of a Pork and Spanish Rice dish recently, and hi - I pretty much never turn down a sample so of course I grabbed one. After I ate the couple bites on the plate I high-tailed it back to the demo station to get the recipe card because it was gooood. But I also knew I could make it even better!
The recipe card I picked up at the store had 2 ways to make the dish: in a slow cooker, or in a microwave pressure cooker. I had to do a little double take at that - microwave pressure cooker? Is that a thing?
Well, you learn something new every day because apparently it is!
I'm willing to bet that not a ton of people have a microwave pressure cooker, but I KNOW a lot people have an Instant Pot (and if you don't, you can pick one up online - we use this one)! So I set to tinkering to make it easy to make this Instant Pot pork and Spanish rice recipe in everyone's favorite electric pressure cooker.
I added some veggies for a little texture and freshness; the onions, bell pepper and zucchini add flavor and really round out the dish into a complete meal.
Pork shoulder blade steaks are sometimes called pork steaks, pork shoulder steaks, or pork blade steaks. They are steaks cut from the shoulder of the pig, which is the same cut of meat most commonly used for pulled pork. They can usually be found either bone-in or boneless, and they are cheeeeap!
This recipe calls for bone-in, but you can substitute boneless if that's what you're able to find (just buy a little less since the bone isn't accounting for some of the overall weight). But don't substitute pork chops in this recipe - they are much leaner and will not turn out well with this cooking method/time.
The addition of the sliced olives adds a nice briney bite that's a great contrast to the richness of the pork. I'm relatively new to the olive scene, and the only ones that I really like are Castelvetrano olives, so that's what I used here. If you're a little more diverse in your olive preferences, Spanish olives would be great too! And fitting with the theme of the dish.
The slight salty creaminess of the queso fresco, bright fresh cilantro and a little zip from a fresh-squeezed lime wedge are the perfect finishing touch to this stick to your ribs meal.
For more Spanish-inspired recipes, check out these bacon wrapped dates with romesco sauce, or this goat cheese baked in tomato sauce.
Yummy noises await you!
Instant Pot Pork and Spanish Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large green bell pepper, diced into ¾ inch pieces
- ½ large yellow onion, cut in thirds and sliced
- 1 large zucchini, cut lengthwise into quarters and sliced into ½ inch pieces
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt (plus more to season pork)
- ¼ teaspoon pepper (plus more to season pork)
- 1 24 oz. jar marinara sauce
- 1 cup water
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2.5 lb bone-in pork shoulder blade steaks, trimmed of excess fat
- 1 5.25 oz box Spanish rice
- ½ cup pitted Castelvetrano olives, sliced
- 8 tablespoon queso fresco, crumbled
- fresh chopped cilantro (for serving)
- lime wedges (for serving)
Instructions
- Turn the Instant Pot onto the sauté (normal) setting and add olive oil to the pot. When the pot has preheated, add peppers, onions, zucchini, salt & pepper and sauté until tender, about 7 minutes. Remove the vegetables to a plate/bowl and set aside.
- Add tomato sauce, water and paprika to the pot and stir to combine. Season the trimmed pork shoulder blade steaks on both sides with salt and pepper. Add pork steaks to pot and submerge fully in sauce. Place lid on Instant Pot and check that the valve is set to the "sealing" position. Set Instant Pot for 20 minutes on high pressure. When time is up, let it sit untouched for a 10 minute natural release, and then carefully flip the valve to the "venting" position to quick release the remaining pressure.
- Use a slotted spoon or tongs to remove the pork to a cutting board. Skim fat off top of sauce (I like to use a spoon and some paper towel to help soak up the excess fat). Add the rice to the sauce mixture in the Instant Pot & stir to combine. Place lid back on Instant Pot, check that the valve is set to the "sealing" position, and set for 3 minutes on high pressure. When time is up, carefully flip the valve to the "venting" position for a quick release. Meanwhile, chop the pork into bite-sized pieces, discarding the bones and any large pieces of fat.
- Add the reserved vegetables, chopped pork, and sliced olives to the pot with the sauce & rice and stir to combine. Spoon into bowls and top each serving with 1-2 tablespoon crumbled queso fresco, a sprinkle of fresh chopped cilantro, and a wedge of lime. Enjoy!
Notes
The instant pot is a new method of cooking for us. A gift from my brother-in-law. Thanks, Ken! The time saving of this method is so great! Looking forward to making this. I love that you added all the vegetables and olives! Thank you!
The Instant Pot can be a little intimidating at first, but it’s so cool that you can get slow-cooker style results in such a short time! Hope you like this dish...it’s a perfect hearty meal for a cold day!
I love my IP! This is one more IP recipe I am going to add to my already extensive list of recipes I want to make in my IP. It sounds yummy and easy to prepare. Thanks, Rachel!
It’s such a cool little appliance! Hope you enjoy this dish...it’s a great one pot meal!
This recipe sounded perfect until I got t0 the boxed rice mix part! I can't eat a lot of prepared box mixes...I will continue to look..
This is so delicious! We had to modify the recipe because the pork we purchased had a very gamey smell and needed to go back to the store! LOL! So, decided to switch out for chicken breasts we already had in the freezer. Followed the rest of the recipe to a T! I can't speak for the pork version, although I will definitely try it next time! The chicken version was very good! So tasty! Loved the other veggies, rice and the olives, which gave it a touch of brininess. We also drizzled with EVOO to add a little healthy fat to deepen the flavor profile since there was virtually no fat on the skinless, boneless chicken breasts. I love the simplicity of the Instant Pot.
Give it a try, I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as we did!
Thanks for another easy and delicious dinner, Rachel!