This Instant Pot Cafe Rio Sweet Pork is tender, sweet and absolutely delicious. Perfect for tacos, enchiladas, burritos and salads. You will be in love!
Do you have an Instant Pot?
Have you been on the fence about buying one?
I finally jumped on the Instant Pot band wagon a few months ago when Amazon had a killer deal on them. It actually sat in my cupboard for several weeks gathering dust until I finally got brave enough to give it a try. Let me just say I am in love with it. There is definitely a learning curve, but I am getting the hang of it and loving it more and more each time I use it.
For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of ever eating at Cafe Rio, let me offer you my condolences. If you’re lucky enough to live by one then you know how fabulous it is. We are huge Cafe Rio fans and the pork is our very favorite meat there. I had tried several copycat recipes and finally found one that is the closest to the real deal. I made a few slight adjustments and it quickly became my go-to recipe. 
I’ve made this Cafe Rio Sweet Pork in my slow cooker for years (I can’t believe I’ve never posted it. . . so sorry!). The the other day I realized how simple it would be to turn it into an Instant Pot recipe so I tried it and voila, a star was born.
We use this to make the famous Cafe Rio Pork Salad, tacos, quesadillas, burritos, etc. We can’t get enough of it. Now it goes without saying that having the Cafe Rio dressing to go along with this is an absolute must. So I always make sure I have a batch of that made up.
Just look how amazing that pork is. It’s sweet, juice and so tender. You will want to make this over and over. I will definitely be posting more Instant Pot recipes and you have any to share, I’d love to try them.
- 3 lb. pork roast
- 1 cup Coke
- 1 can (10 oz) red enchilada sauce (mild or medium, I use mild)
- 1 can (4oz) diced green chilies
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar (you can use less if you don't want it super sweet)
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Cut your pork roast into 4 or 5 chunks and place in the bottom of your Instant Pot.
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In a blender or food processor, combine the Coke, enchilada sauce, green chllies and brown sugar.
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Pour 1 cup of this over the pork. Set aside the remaining sauce for later.
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Secure the lid on your Instant Pot and select manual and cook at high pressure for 50 minutes. Let your Instant Pot do a natural release for about 15-20 minutes.
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Shred pork and remove about 3/4 cup of the liquid from the Instant Pot and discard. Pour in the reserved liquid you made earlier and stir.
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Use for burritos, tacos, enchiladas, or salads.
I have used a pork sirloin roast and a boneless pork picnic roast, either one works fine.
After the pork has cooked, I like to remove some of the liquid from the Instant Pot because it become slightly "watered down" from all the steam. After I drain about 3/4 cup our, I then add the reserved liquid to the pork.
I've never posted my slow cooker version of this which is kind of criminal, but anyway, if you don't have an instant pot then you can use a slow cooker by placing the whole pork in your slow cooker with about 1 cup of coke and 1/4 cup of water. Cook for 7-8 hours on low or 4-5 on high (or until pork shreds easily). Remove pork and shred, drain juice from slow cooker and return shredded pork to slow cooker. Pour the sauce you made in the blender over pork and cook on low for about another 45-60 minutes.
Recipe Source: Adapted from Favorite Family Recipes
If your meat is partially frozen does that increase your time and amount of liquid?
Lisa, you won’t need to increase your liquid, but you will your time by just a few minutes. Frozen ingredients will lower the temperature in your pressure cooker, so it’ll take a bit longer for the liquid to boil and build up pressure in the pot. I would add 5 to 10 extra minutes.
Could you use beef or chicken? And if so, do you think it’s the same cooking times?
Of course you could, but chicken takes a lot less time to cook in an Instant Pot. I usually cook chicken breasts for about 12-14 minutes if they’re frozen and only 8-10 minutes if they’re not frozen. Beef I cook 50-55 minutes to get it to shred easily.
Life’s saver! i was set to make this tonight and forgot to pull my pork out, so the crockpot was out of the question. Enter in the amazing instapot, this blog and dinner is saved.
Hi Sierra, thank goodness for Instant Pots, right?! So happy dinner was saved!
Does the size of the instant pot matter? I have an 8 qt and it says to always use at least 3 cups of water when cooking in it.
Hi Brittany! I don’t think the size will matter. Mine is the 6 quart and I have cooked just a pork butt roast for carnitas with just 1/4 cup of water added to the instant pot and it works beautifully. I’ve done frozen chicken breasts with only 1/2 cup water and again, it works great.
Could I double this in an 8qrt insta?
Hi Andrea! I think you should be able to double this in the 8 quart just fine. No need to adjust the cooking time. Let me know if you give it a try.
What would be a substitute for coke if I don’t have it on hand?
Hi Stephanie, Coke really is the best thing to use. I did use Dr. Pepper once when I thought I had Coke, but didn’t and didn’t want to run to the store. It worked fine and I couldn’t tell a huge difference.
When using the slow cooker method, it says to put the pork in the cooker with 1 cup coke and 1/4 cup water. Does this mean you will need 2 cups of coke (1 for the sauce and one for putting in with the pork)?
Hi Bethany! Yes, if you make it in a slow cooker you will need 2 cups of coke.
Hi, how many does this recipe feed?
Hi Jamie, I’m really not sure an exact number, but when I make this for my family (7 of us) there is enough for us to have it for two meals. So you can easily get 12-14 servings.
Thanks for the great recipe! I love Cafe Rio but the location by me has started having terrible customer service so I don’t like going there any more. I had some pork chops on hand that I knew I shouldn’t have bought (they were buy one, get one free but every time I try to cook pork chops they end up dry and no one likes them) – so I used those instead of roast and it turned out great! I just cut my cooking time down to 45 minutes since they were such a thin cut of meat.
Hi Molly! I’m so glad you loved this recipe. That is a great idea to use the pork chops. I totally agree with you about them always being dry, it doesn’t matter what recipe I try, even if they say they’re moist and flavorful, they’re not! So glad this worked out for you.
Can you do this with a bone in roast?
Hi Rebecca! I have never done this with a bone-in roast but it should work just fine. There is a lot more fat on the bone-in roasts, so you will just have to make sure you remove all the fat (and the bones obviously) when you’re shredding the roast.
Hi!
How long do you let it naturally release for?
Hi Samm! I usually let it naturally release for about 10 minutes, sometimes 15.
How many will this recipe feed?
Hi Jennifer! Gosh, I’m not sure what to tell you because it depends on how you use it. When I make it we most of the time make tacos and salads with it and there is enough for two meals for us (there is 7 of us). And even after two meals there seems to be enough left to make a couple quesadillas with it. Hope that helps.
I’m using a power cooker brand pressure cooker and I’m confused on the cooking time. My guide says to cook the amount of pounds of pork for for 20-30 minutes. I’m afraid of ruining it if I cook it for 60 minutes.
Hi Kaylee, I’m not sure what to you tell you because I’m not familiar with the power cooker brand pressure cooker. I just know that 50-60 minutes in my Instant Pot cooks the pork so it’s perfectly tender and shreds easily. If you give it a try, let me know.