This is a really special recipe for me. This recipe was a collaboration between my best friend of about 15 years and myself. These are instant pot tamales. My best friend, Ashley, learned how to make tamales the traditional way from her family. If you don’t know, the traditional tamale making process usually takes place in the winter and typically takes a very long time, and makes TONS of tamales. But who doesn’t love tamales at any time during the year? Also, you probably don’t need boat loads of them all the time. So Ashley had been experimenting with a smaller batch and quicker process at home for awhile. She finally nailed that recipe down and then she ended up coming for a week long visit at my house.
We live over five hours apart now, so we don’t get to see each other often. So sometimes she will bring her son and come visit me for a week. We cherish this time together where we have multiple days of nearly 24 hour quality time. It is reminiscent of our days as kids. We were pretty much inseparable. Pretty much anywhere I went, Ashley went. Anything Ashley did, I did too for the most part. We spent many family vacations together, nearly every weekend for many years, and most week days too. Even when my wonderful step-mom had me drive when I had my permit, Ashley got a turn too. There was even the time when my parents were out of town. So naturally, Ashley stayed with me, and we didn’t eat because we didn’t cook and neither of us would call the pizza place😂 Who would have known that years and years later, we regularly text recipes to each other and teach each other new recipes when we get the chance.
Anyway, you get the point! So when Ashley came for a visit in July, we decided we were going to figure out how to make her quicker, small batch recipe for tamales in the instant pot to cut down on time further. And so this instant pot tamale recipe was born. It turned out just as delicious as we had hoped and so we decided it would be a great recipe to share here, on the blog. This recipe does still take some time, and effort in the assembly depart, but it’s faster than the regular way! So let’s get into it!
*NOTE: There will be simplified instructions for making these without an instant pot at the bottom*
Ingredients:
Meat:
- 1 1/2 lbs pork loin
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground paprika
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp chili powder
Sauce:
- 2 cups canned medium heat red chile sauce (about 2/3 of a 28 oz can)
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tsp corn starch
- 1/4 cup water
Wrapping:
- 16 dried corn husks
- 2 cups instant corn masa mix
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 cups chicken broth
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
Directions:
1. Add the chicken broth, onion powder, minced garlic, seasoned salt, black pepper, paprika, cumin, and chili powder to the instant pot. Then stir it all together.
2. Add the whole pork loin to the pot. Then put the lid on, set it to “sealing”. Then set it to pressure cook, high pressure, for two hours.
3. When the two hours are done, let the instant pot natural release for 30 minutes.
4. While the instant pot is doing the natural release, place about 16 corn husks in a pot and fill with water until the husks are covered. Boil them with a lid on for 20 minutes, or until they are soft.
5. Remove the corn husks from the water and place on a paper towel to dry a little bit.
6. When the instant pot has natural released for 30 minutes, use a long wooden spoon to set the valve to “venting”. When the steam has stopped coming out and the float has gone down, it is safe to remove the lid.
7. Using tongs, remove the meat from the liquid and set on a plate. Then shred the meat on the plate, and set aside.
8. In a medium pot, add the chile sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt. Then give it a stir.
9. In a small bowl, add the corn starch to the water and mix together, making a slurry. This will thicken the sauce some.
10. Add the slurry to the sauce in the pot. Then bring the sauce to a simmer.
11. While the sauce is coming up to a simmer, make the masa by mixing the 2 cups instant corn masa mix, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 tsp baking powder in a mixing bowl.
12. Then add the 2 1/4 cups chicken broth and mix well, forming a paste like substance.
13. In a small bowl, whip the vegetable shortening with a fork to make it softer and easier to mix in.
14. Then add it to the paste substance in the mixing bowl, forming the masa. Mix well to ensure everything is combined.
15. When the sauce is simmering and has thickened some, add the shredded meat in and then remove the pot from the heat. You should now have the masa, meat with sauce, and the corn husks ready for assembly.
16. To assemble, lay a corn husk flat on a plate and spread about a spoonful of masa on the widest part of the corn husk.
17. Then add a spoonful of the meat/sauce mix in the middle of the masa.
18. Add one more spoonful of masa onto the meat and spread gently to mostly cover the meat.
19. Fold one side of the corn husk over the masa at a time, then fold the bottom up over the folded down sides.
20. Find a small, unusable corn husk, and tear a strip off of it. Then use the strip to tie the tamale closed. A double knot seems to work fine.
21. Continue this process of assembling the tamales until all of the usable boiled corn husks are used. (There should be about 10-12) Extra meat/sauce mix can be frozen.
22. When you have all of the tamales assembled, place the steaming rack in the bottom of the clean instant pot.
23. Add two cups of water to the bottom of the instant pot. Then arrange the assembled tamales on the steaming rack.
24. Place the lid on the instant pot, set the valve to “sealing” and then pressure cook, high pressure, for 30 minutes.
25. After 30 minutes, let the instant pot natural release for 10 minutes. Then again use a long wooden spoon to set the valve to “venting”. After the steam has stopped and the float has gone down, remove the lid.
26. Take the cooked tamales out and place them on a a plate or a tray until ready to serve.
27. When you’re ready to eat, unwrap the corn husk and enjoy! The tamales can be stored in the fridge and then reheated when you are ready to eat.
NON INSTANT POT DIRECTIONS:
If you do not have or are not using an instant pot, the directions are mostly the same. Instead of cooking the meat in an instant pot, do things the same but in a crock pot on high or on the stove in a covered pot over med-high heat and cook for 6 hours or until the meat is soft. Follow the rest of the directions the same until you get to the steaming of the assembled tamales. For this, place a steamer basket in the bottom of a deep pot over medium heat, add the water to the pot, place the tamales on the steamer basket, cover with a lid, and steam for an hour and a half (90 minutes).
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