Instant Pot Korean Pork Chops, The Best Instant Pot Pork Chops Ever!
This is by far my favorite Instant Pot Pork recipe. It might be my favorite of all recipes! These Instant Pot Korean Pork Chops are an adaptation of my favorite regular Korean Pork Chops, that I used to make on the stove and in the oven. But the thing with baking pork chops is that they tend to dry out. The Instant Pot fixes that. Pork chops made in the Instant Pot come out super tender and juicy.
Adapting this recipe took a bit of tweaking. First, the normal recipe does not use a lot of liquid, so I had to increase the soy sauce so that the pot could come to pressure. But I did not want to simply double or triple the whole recipe since the sriracha spice would carry through well without increasing it too much. So, I played with the amounts and found what seemed to work.
Because this makes a lot of sauce, you can use this recipe for up to about 6 chops if they will fit in your pot. You may have to saute them in batches to initially sear them.
The ingredients are pretty simple. I used prepared garlic for this simply because my garlic press broke. It worked out fine, but I usually prefer to use fresh garlic. I highly recommend using fresh ginger. I do not have a suggestion for the amount if substituting dried powder ginger. The nutrition information is based on low sodium soy sauce. It will be much higher in sodium fi you use regular soy.
Also note that I have a Keto version of this recipe on my SnackRules site. I haven’t tried that yet in the Instant Pot, but using the same substitutions in the new amounts shown here, should work fine. Visit the link to see what I use in place of honey, soy, and sriracha.
My pork chops happened to be bone in chops. They did not fit well in the Instant Pot to sear two at once with the bone in, so I cut the bones out before cooking. I seasoned them up with a bit of salt and seasoned pepper.
After searing the chops, the ingredients are mixed and poured over the chops. I cooked them on manual high pressure for 12 minutes with a natural release for 14 minutes. They came out so tender that one actually broke in half! Here they are after cooking, while I prepared to thicken the sauce.
The sauce with these normally is baked on in an oven to be a sticky glaze. To adapt for the Instant Pot, I thickened it with a slurry of cornstarch and water and spooned it over the pork chops.
The taste of the Instant Pot Korean Pork Chops was the same as the original recipe, yet the chops were much more tender and moist. I will make them in the Instant Pot every time now!
I served these with easy to make roasted broccoli and cauliflower. The timing of that worked really well for me to preheat the oven when I tuned on the Instant Pot and then I put them in when the pot had about 5 minutes left on its cook timer.
Here is the recipe. I make mine quite spicy. If you prefer mild, lessen the amount of sriracha.
Instant Pot Korean Pork Chops
These Instant Pot Korean Pork Chops are the best pork chops I have ever made in the pressure cooker! They come out super juicy and tender and have a great Asian spice taste.
Ingredients
- 2 to 6 small pork chops or pork steaks
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 6 tbsp honey
- 6-8 cloves garlic minced, or 5-6 Tablespoons prepared minced garlic
- 3 tsp sesame oil
- 3 tsp fresh ginger minced
- 3-6 tsp sriracha sauce, less for mild and more for spicy
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in Instant Pot on saute
- Salt and pepper pork chops
- In batches, saute pork chops on each side until browned, about 3 minutes per side.
- In a medium size bowl whisk together the soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and sriracha sauce.
- Place pork chops in the Instant Pot and cover with the sauce .
- Pressure cook on manual high pressure for 12 minutes.
- Use natural release for at least 14 minutes.
- Remove chops and set aside.
- Mix corn starch with water to form a slurry
- Set the Instant Pot to saute and whisk in the cornstarch slurry.
- Simmer and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes.
- Spoon sauce over the pork chops and serve.
Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 300Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 90mgSodium: 670mgCarbohydrates: 12gSugar: 9gProtein: 29g
Love this recipe… hubby too. I have made it twice and it never fails to impress me. Thank you.
Sauce was delicious. Center cut 1 inch pork chops were dried out and I followed your instructions exactly. Everything else I’ve cooked in the instant pot came out perfectly, never dried out, always moist. This was quite disappointing.
Odd that they dried out on you. When I make these in the oven they will sometimes get dry but I have never had them dry out in the Instant Pot, which is why I now almost always use the pot for them. Pork chops can be touchy though, it is much harder to keep them moist than other meats.
Yes mine dried out too
The ingredients ratios are way off on this recipe for the amount of meat. I had to adjust the measurements quite a bit to make the sauce edible for our taste. The recipe calls for too much soy, too much garlic, too much sesame oil. If you cut just those three ingredients in half your dish will be ok. I made this tonight and was ok with the adjustments. The chops needed to be cut up and put in the sauce to get the flavor into them.
Thanks for your thoughts! I would say that it is all a matter of taste. If you cut everything in half you still have the same proportions and hence the same taste, but it will be much sweeter with a bit more kick if you are leaving the honey and sriracha at the same amount and cutting the rest. Note that the ingredient amounts are high overall in order to allow the pot to fully come to pressure and to avoid a burn notice. Cutting in half would risk that happening, but it might also work out fine. It would probably take it under the required amount of liquid for 6 and 8 Qt pots but often you can get away with going under. As for cutting up the meat, that certainly works fine. I tend to just use the extra sauce on the side for a similar effect. If cutting up the meat first the pressure time can probably be decreased a bit.
Loved this recipe! It makes a lot of sauce, but we used that the next day for stir fry!
Glad you liked it! I love the idea of using the extra sauce for stir fry!
Is there any advantage to marinating the pork chops for a couple of hours before cooking?
You can marinate them if you like. But I have made them both marinated and not and they seem to come out the same either way.
Oh, ok then. I guess, I’m not getting “Marinated “ today!
I have a 6 qt instapot. Followed the recipe **Without Salting The Pork**, smelled fantastic! Sadly…did not taste fantastic. WAY too salty to be eaten until we added a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and almost a quarter cup more of honey, and even then it’s definitely necessary to eat with rice or another starchy bulker due to the very prevalent flavor of salt. Am somewhat disappointed so will be reducing the amount of soy sauce and replacing with water or a neutral flavored broth in the future.
Definitely has fabulous potential!
Like others, I think the sauce, as it is, is way too salty. I was dubious of adding 3/4 cup of soy sauce, but followed the recipe. I think next time I may use 1/2 cup of orange juice and 1/4 cup soy sauce instead. And the pork chops only need to cook for about 4 minutes on high. 12 minutes is enough to saute them in a pan without the instant pot.
Far too salty..too much soy sauce. Will not make again with these measurements.
Loved the sauce after I added some apple cider vinegar…. But the pork chops came out as dry as can be. Not even edible at this point. Super disappointed.