This bright and easy Instant Pot Maple Pork Stew is perfect for an impressive-but-easy dish to serve anytime. It's simple yet bursting with flavour. Try it!
By guest writer Claire of Sprinkles and Sprouts
My mission is to make ‘Staying-in’ the new ‘Going-out’, and this Instant Pot Maple Pork Stew is a major player in that effort. Don’t get me wrong, I love going out, but sometimes after a meal out I find my skin feels drier and my body is a little sluggish – and I am always designated driver so that is nothing to do with the wine! Eating at home has so many benefits. Not least of which is that you know exactly what has gone into your food. My Dad can’t eat gluten and when we are out for dinner the number of dishes he has to choose from is always so very limited! When he comes to stay, we do go out occasionally, but with his dietary restrictions, the kids, and the fact that we live thirty minutes from anywhere, staying in becomes the best option. And staying in with family and friends can make for the most wonderful of night! Put some music on, throw a table cloth down and enjoy a beautiful meal. But staying in has it’s downside. Many people get worried about cooking for friends, which is where simple, delicious and beautiful dishes come in. I can assure you this Instant Pot Maple Pork Stew is the perfect example. It is ready in half an hour, tastes like you have been cooking all day and the colours are stunning! Served on its own if you have an appetizer and dessert, or maybe with some rice if you are only serving one course. It really is a great one pot dish. The pork is seared for a crispy golden crust and then it is cooked at high pressure with some onions, stock, orange juice, maple syrup and a pinch of chilli. The veg is added at the very end and the whole thing is finshed with some delicious and iron-rich spinach.
Honestly the simple ingredients don’t do this dish justice! The sauce is thickened by the onions so there is no need for flour or thickening agents and the sweetness of the maple with the salt of the stock and freshness of orange makes for the most delicious sauce. Plus, the simple ingredients make it quite allergy-friendly as well. This Instant Pot Maple Pork Stew is a great dish for spring, the sauce is light and the new season veg is so fresh and crisp. Enjoy! P.S. DON’T add the zest of the orange to your dish. When you cook it under pressure it seems to add a bitterness to the dish! (Note from Beth: This recipe is particularly tempting to me right now as it’s actually AIP-friendly (Autoimmune Paleo = the special diet I’m using to address my autoimmune symptoms) if you leave out the chili flakes! I’m totally adding it to my meal plan for next week!) Looking for more posts like this one? Check these out: - 19 Easy (Real Food) Instant Pot Recipes for Hesitant Beginners
- 4 Things I Learned About My Instant Pot in the First 6 Months
Instant Pot Maple Pork Stew
This bright and easy Instant Pot Maple Pork Stew is perfect for an impressive-but-easy dish to serve anytime. It's simple yet bursting with flavour. Try it!
Print Pin RateServings: 4 servings
Calories: 411kcal
Ingredients
- 2 lb pork shoulder or pork neck
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 orange
- 1 cup chicken/vegetable stock instructions for homemade chicken bone broth here or DIY vegetable broth dry mix here)
- pinch red chilli flakes leave out to make it AIP-friendly!
- 9 oz baby carrots
- 2 celery sticks
- 10 dried dates
- large handful fresh spinach
Instructions
- Cut the pork into large 2 inch chunks.
- Set IP to Sauté and when reads 'Hot' add the oil. Sear the pork until it has a nice golden crust.
- Meanwhile finely chop the onion.
- Add the chopped onion to the IP and stir well. Cook for 2 minutes until the onions are starting to soften.
- Add in the maple syrup, stock, the juice of the orange and the chilli flakes.
- Once the stock and syrup mixture is simmering cancelling Sauté and placing the lid on. Set the IP Manual for 25 minutes.
- Whilst it is cooking prep your veg.
- Wash and trim the baby carrots (Unless they are really dirty there is no need to peel them)
- Cut the celery into three chunks and then cut each chunk in half.
- Chop each dried date into 3 pieces
- Wash the spinach.
- When the 20 minutes is up do a QPR and add in the carrot, celery and dates.
- Close the lid, press Manual and cook on high pressure for a further 5 minutes.
- Do a QPR (quick pressure release), add in the spinach, salt to taste and serve.
Notes
For AIP, be sure to leave out the chili flakes, and stick with the chicken broth instead of the veggie in case your veg broth has nightshades.
Tried this recipe? Tag me on Instagram!Mention @redandhoney and use #redandhoney
Nutrition
Serving: 0g | Calories: 411kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 251mg | Potassium: 987mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 31g | Vitamin A: 9575IU | Vitamin C: 24.3mg | Calcium: 95mg | Iron: 2.8mg
Hi there food lovers, I’m Claire and I blog over at Sprinkles and Sprouts. Sprinkles and Sprouts is my little spot on the internet where I share my favourite foods (especially appetizers), cocktails and entertaining tips using delicious whole food ingredients. You can connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to follow along.
Frances
This looks delicious!
Diane Trail
The recipe looks good but … AIP, … QPR … what the? Shouldn’t recipes be in language regular folk can understand? Please translate.
Beth
AIP = Autoimmune Paleo, the diet that I’ve been doing to help with my autoimmune symptoms. I’ve spoken about it lots in my email newsletter, but not really on the blog yet. I’ll update the post to clarify!
QPR = Quick Pressure Release, which is an Instant Pot term. There are two ways to release the pressure from an Instant Pot: let it release slowly on its own (can take 20-30 minutes), or turn the nozzle and let it release in a gush of steam, quickly. The latter is QPR.
If you want to just make this recipe on the stovetop, and aren’t on a special diet, you can ignore those things!