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These were delicious! Used my Instant Pot for the pork and cooked for 55 minutes with natural release. Done perfectly!! Thank you for the recipe!
Stacy'smom
Everything Greek Pork Pitas: because you can and should put EVERYTHING on them, including but not limited to:
- tzatziki
- feta
- parsley
- lettuce
- sun dried or fresh tomatoes
- red onion
- a squeeze of lemon juice
Are you picking up what I’m putting down? This is a salad pile on top of juicy, peppery pork tucked inside a warm, soft pita, and it is all kinds of good. Eat it alone (this is sloppy, drippy, make-out-with-your-food bliss) and let it love you right back.
HOW TO MAKE OUR GREEK PORK PITAS:
But let’s just stop and think about THIS for a second – we are SEVEN posts into our Feeding a Broken Heart series! and we have now come to what was the first meal that anyone dropped off at our house (thanks Amanda). We started this series after losing our son Afton just one day after he was born – you can read more about the series here, and more about Afton here.
Day one being home from the hospital, 9am, and a freezer bag of this pork and toppings was left on my front door step. I opened the door in my sweats, eyes practically swollen shut from crying, and squinted into the sun to see someone driving away. I shouted “WHO IS THAT” into the street because that’s totally normal, and then when I realized who it was, I shouted “YOU SHOULD COME IN” because she obviously wanted to come in, judging by the fact that she was, at that moment, driving away.
Luckily in moments of life-shattering grief, you get a pass on being socially awkward (how long does that last, by the way? I would like to put in a request for immunity for at least another 9 months) and you also get free meals like this delivered to you with so much love.
And you need them. Your heart is irreversibly broken. You cannot remember how or why you would ever enjoy food, and a bag of garlicky, peppery pork that is ready for your slow cooker can help you find your way. In this moment, the meal is both a juicy, overflowing, soft warm pita, and a broken heart lifeline.
I know I’ve been leaning heavily into the Instant Pot vibes lately, but this recipe just begs for it. The Greek pork can either sit in your slow cooker for 10-ish hours, orrrr you can think about this recipe at 6pm and have it ready by 7pm.
RIGHT? That is how I roll.
Everything Greek Pork Pitas
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
Everything Greek Pork Pitas – peppery pork with tzatziki, parsley, sun dried tomato, feta, and lemon juice. works in the Instant Pot!
Ingredients
Greek Pork:
- 3 pounds pork shoulder, fat trimmed
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
For the Pitas:
- pitas
- tzatziki
- toppings of choice! like lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, feta, lemon, etc.
Instructions
- Place all ingredients for the pork in a slow cooker on low heat for 10-12 hours, OR in an Instant Pot on the meat/stew setting (about 45 minutes). Shred the meat and stir it around in all those juices. YUM.
- Assemble pitas!
Notes
Instant Pot Tip: Multiple members of our team with different Instant Pots gave this recipe a try, and while the recipe works in the original Instant Pot as written, it can vary across others. If you’re using an Instant Pot Duo, we recommend adding 1 cup of water to prevent the burn warning and cooking for 60 minutes to ensure the meat falls apart easily.
I wrapped my pitas up (pita, pork, tomatoes) in foil and popped them in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes to get them soft and yummy. Then I dolloped them with tzatziki, parsley, feta, and lemon juice. Mwah.
If you are giving this meal to someone, just pack up the meat in a freezer bag (either cooked or uncooked with instructions) and then toss in a bag of pitas, store-bought tzatziki (or homemade – go you!), a jar of sun dried tomatoes, a lemon, a bag of parsley, and a container of feta cheese. Easy!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keywords: greek pork pitas, pork pitas, pork sandwich
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of yummy pork recipes. Check it out!
We tried this in the IP for 45 minutes and it’s definitely not done. We noticed that you didn’t specify quick or slow release. We are restarting the IP with 15 min cook time. Fingers crossed.
Hi
Can you please tell me the brand pita’s you use? Yours look soft and pillowy, mine dry and flat!
Thank you.
We can’t remember! Storebought naan though is a good option if you like it more pillowy 🙂
Hey there! I live in a halal culture, and was wondering if there is a substitute for pork? Could chicken thighs work similarly with a shorter cook time? Thanks for your help!
Yes, chicken thighs would be great here!
Hi! Looks delicious! If you were to freeze and make later in the instant pot, how long would the cook time be if you don’t defrost? I love your freeze ahead cook later recipes! Thanks!
I’d follow the same directions listed on this post! https://pinchofyum.com/freezer-meal-italian-beef
These are a sleeper hit! I’ve had this recipe tagged for a while and just hadn’t gotten it in the rotation. The meat was perfect, falling off the bone after 12 hrs in the slow cooker, and had great flavor. I served the pork in pitas with lettuce, tomato, shallot, and tzatziki. I had some homemade Rancho Gordo Mayocoba beans on the side. It was a hit with the whole family. The only sad thing was there were no leftovers.
We LOVE this recipe but have NEVER been able to find something as small as a 3lb pork shoulder in our grocery stores in the NE. The we moved to the SE and exactly the same problem. So we buy about 7 lb of pork butt and use that instead and adjust recipe, timing and seasoning. So this makes a LOT of pork for our family, but I basically describe it as a greek style pulled pork vs. the standard and that gets folks interested over just “pulled pork”. We love it!
Ok I LOVE all of your recipes and have for YEARS but this has been the only one that I felt was a flop sadly. The pork is very dry 🙁
We have a lot left and wondering if there’s a way to salvage it.
I have the Duo IP and even added 1 cup of water.
Absolutely delicious! Made this tonight for dinner and loved it. Definite 5 Stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Only addition to listed toppings was some sliced avocado. Husband really liked the pork and thought it would make a good burrito. He’s right. When I heat up the leftovers, I’ll add some cumin and a pinch of ground chile powder which will go very well with original spice profile. Cannot wait to make these again!
Yum! My family loved these, and leftovers are even better. This made a nice change from our usual, and one we’ll add to rotation. I had thick pitas, which cracked when I tried to fold. Wrapping a stack of pitas in foil (without meat) and putting in the oven at 350 for five minutes helped soften them up so we could fill them. I cut pitas in half, as well, as one whole pita made a very substantial meal and not all family members eat that much. For my family, this was a very messy meal to eat, so have plenty of napkins available. Thanks for the great recipe!
I was a little nervous about making these in my Instant Pot Duo, but the pork turned out really flavorful and tender. I used 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock as the liquid, and also added 1 lemon cut in half and 2 bay leaves to the braising liquid for extra flavor. Cooked on high pressure for 90 minutes with a 15 minute natural pressure release. Will make again!
Wow, these turned out so well!! The pork was so flavorful and a great texture.
After 45min in the instant pot the meat is very hard. I had added 1/2 a cup of water. Any advice to get it to be where I can shred it?
We’d recommend adding more cooking time! You may need to cook it up to an hour.
I’ve been following for a couple years and have truly enjoyed most recipes. HOWEVER, these Greek Pork Pitas are outstanding! I was skeptical about no added liquid to my crockpot but these were utter perfection. We are every last morsel. Thank you for this beautifully simple yet scrumptious recipe.
Could you freeze the mixture and cook from frozen? Trying to prep a lot of freezer meals for my upcoming little one’s arrival!
Yum this looks SO GOOD. I’m planning to prep this to be a freezer meal. If all of the ingredients that go into the Instant Pot are frozen, how should I adjust the cooking time?
We’d add 15 minutes to the cooking time!
Thank you so much Krista! I made these today for lunch after prepping it and throwing it in the freezer this weekend. After reading other comments I went with a 75 minute cook time (60 mins recommended for the IP Duo + 15 since everything was frozen) and added a cup of water and it turned out perfectly! I also did a 10 min natural release. The meat was just falling apart by the time it was all said and done. This meat would be so good in Mexican food as well!
Hi there! These sound delicious, but like another commenter, I don’t eat pork. If I were to use chicken breasts, how long would I cook in the instant pot? Thank you so much!
We’d guess about 10-15 minutes in the Instant Pot. 🙂
What side(s) would you recommend to go along with this?
Hi there, Courtney! With all the toppings in there, these can be pretty filling. If you wanted to add sides though, we’d suggest a simple green salad and some roasted potatoes.
Awe-mazing recipe! Like Oh mon dieu!
Just found this recipe and was wondering if you had a suggestion for a beef alternative? Unfortunately am unable to eat pork! Thanks!
Just curious what store you buy your tzatziki sauce from? I usually have a hard time finding it. Thanks!
Do you think this recipe would work if I prepped the raw meat and then froze to dump in the IP later? I am due in a month and LOVE all of your freezer recipes but I am also trying to please a husband who doesn’t like chicken (who doesn’t like chicken?! GAH!) so this pork would be a great option. 🙂 thanks!
Don’t see why not!
These sandwiches look delicious. I’ve had many gyro sandwiches in my life. My mom’s family is mostly Greek. 🙂
I made these last night and they were fabulous! I don’t have an instant pot – I have a Philips multi-cooker (I’m in Australia where we can’t get IPs). I added a lot more garlic – my husband is Maltese, I can’t help it – and a cup of water and I cooked for 60 minutes… but it was absolutely perfect.
We served ours on Turkish rolls with tzatziki, red onion, tomato, lemon juice and lettuce, and I’m seriously counting the minutes until lunch time when I can have some more. My husband said that the meat was the most tender that I’ve managed in the multi-cooker so far. Great recipe!
I’m attempting to make these tonight. The recipe says to increase the time from 45 minutes to 60 if you have an IP Duo, which I do. There’s nothing about how I should release the pressure. Should I go the full 60 and then quick release? Or do 45/50 minutes with a 10/15 minute natural release? Do you have a suggestion?
I wanted to leave a review since most of the people that used an Instant Pot didn’t have success!
I’ve made NomNomPaleo’s Kalua pork dozens of times, so just followed those cook instructions since it didn’t seem many people had a good result with these ones (90 min pressure cook). I also added about a cup of water because a) it wouldn’t affect the final product and b) I would’ve been super irritated to get a burn warning and delay dinner even further!
The meat came out SO tender and delicious! Our pitas were topped with the pork (duh), dairy-free tzatziki, kalamatas, pepperoncinis, lettuce, tomato, and a dash of hot sauce.
It was so so delicious, and will absolutely be something we make again! Would be perfect for a large group because all you have to do is set up a buffet of toppings!