This ground pork vindaloo is spicy, tangy and absolutely delicious!
Think of this dish as spicy comfort food: the Indian version of meat and potatoes – with a bit of tang! This ground pork and potato vindaloo is the perfect weeknight recipe. It’s effortless to make in an instant pot.
I actually have another pork vindaloo recipe (which is excellent, by the way). There are a few differences between that recipe and this one. This ground meat vindaloo isn’t as saucy, and it calls for ground meat rather than pork shoulder. I wanted to create a casual everyday kind of recipe, and this is it. If you’re looking for more of a weekend or dinner party kind of dish, try this one.
Of Portuguese Origin
Vindaloo, a popular Goan curry, is of Portuguese origin.
The dish was brought to India by the Portuguese, and the recipe was adapted using local ingredients and spices.
This is our new favorite way to eat ground pork – I’ve been making it weekly because it’s just so easy and delicious. I have yet to try this with ground beef or ground chicken, but I’m sure it will be just as good – if you try it that way, let me know!
I add potatoes to this dish to make it more filling. You can leave them out if you’d like, just reduce the ginger and garlic a bit, and be prepared for a dish that’s a bit more flavorful. The spices listed in the recipe take the potatoes into account. It’ll still be delicious, though 🙂
Wondering what to serve this with? Try my basmati rice or brown basmati rice or pea pulao or jeera rice.
Instant Pot Ground Pork Vindaloo with Potatoes
Instant Pot Ground Pork Vindaloo with Potatoes
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 1 onion diced
- ½ – 1 serrano minced
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
Instructions
- Press the sauté button, add oil and allow it a minute to heat up. Add the cumin and mustard seeds. Once the cumin seeds brown, add the onions and Serrano pepper. Stir-fry for 5-6 minutes, or until the onions begin to brown.
- Add the ground meat, garlic and ginger and cook until the meat is mostly browned.
- Add the spices, give everything a good mix, then add the vinegar, water and potatoes.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 10 minutes at high pressure.
- Quick release pressure.
- Garnish with cilantro if desired and serve.
Sybinta says
Tonight I made this dish and it was delicious. My picky eating partner even had seconds! Very filling, I tripled the recipe and made dinner for the next few nights.
Thank you so much. I’m looking forward to trying another recipe from your blog.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
I’m so glad you guys liked this recipe 🙂
André says
Made this tonight, 4/20/23. Substituted yellow mustard seed for the black. Followed directions & all of my family enjoyed a flavorful dinner!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
André, I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how much you like this 🙂
Diane Brunjes says
This is absolutely fantastic! I didn’t have black mustard seeds so used yellow ones, and didn’t have cumin seed, so added about 1.5 teaspoons of ground cumin. (Hubby and I love it.) Also didn’t have the serrano, so added a regular red pepper and 5 thai chilies, which might have been a bit much for us. Substitutions we made were actually quite minor when you think about it, so feel like I am giving it a fair rating when I say, 5 stars! Make this today!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Diane, I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Carol M Steele says
We made this with a dried serrano pepper because we couldn’t find fresh one. I chopped it with the onion and it turned out excellent
I would like to double this recipe and freeze some but I’m not sure it would work because of the potatoes.
Liz says
I ran out of paprika so used half that and half smoked paprika. Sooooo delicious!! This was really out of this world yummy.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Liz, that’s awesome! I’m so glad you loved it!
Nikki S Collins says
I made this with buffalo meat and generally followed the recipe exactly. Was a bit generous with the ginger/garlic/cumin, no cilantro to add, and added a large serrano pepper, but that was the extent of my tweaking. I wanted more spice. It’s good, but seems like it has more potential. And my spices are fresh, so when I make it again, perhaps I will add more to the other spices. Thanks for the recipe!
Scott Huckleberry says
Can you use pork shoulder in lieu of ground pork?
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Scott, I actually have a pork vindaloo recipe that calls for pork shoulder – you can find it here: https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-pork-vindaloo/ I’m sure you can use it for this recipe too, I’d just adjust the cook time (25 minutes with a natural release). Hope that helps!
Monica says
Thank you for this recipe! I was skeptical from the first bite of pork, since the flavors seemed a bit “sweet” from the cinnamon and potentially other spices, BUT once I mixed some potato into my bites, the game changed! The potatoes, pork, and spices work so well together! My husband also really enjoyed it, particularly commenting on the potatoes working in the dish as well. Will make this one again for sure!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Monica, great to hear that you and your husband liked this! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Victoria Spasic says
I made this exactly as written and it was incredible. Perfect seasoning. We stirred through baby spinach to wilt after the pressure cook. We served it on cumin rice with dollops of sour cream and a scattering of cashews. It’s like an inside out samosa. Yum!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Victoria, that’s great to hear! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Emily Tan says
I tried this recipe coz I wanted something different from my usual Chinese minced pork & potatoes cooking style. My 2 kids, my husband & our guests loved this dish & they wiped it out instantly. It’s super easy to put together & I will definitely cook this again soon. Thanks for the recipe.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Emily, that’s so great to hear! I’m glad everyone liked this so much 🙂 Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you.
Carli says
This was so good! A perfect weeknight dinner for my family that everyone loved. Thank you so much for sharing it. I used lemon juice after cooking in place of the vinegar as I just seem to prefer lemon in warm dishes over vinegar.
My Heart Beets says
Carli, that’s so great to hear! Thanks for letting me know how the vindaloo turned out for you and your family 🙂
Semi-good Cookin' says
This was my first time making this. I didn’t have mustard or cumin seeds, so used a small amount of ground for both. My wife would give this 4 stars, but my three sons and I give it a 5! Two of them said 10/10. The only variation I did was adding red and orange bell peppers for color, which added some nice flavor as well. I’d recommend increasing the meat to 1.5-2 lbs if you have hungry boys. This was just enough for one serving each and they all wanted more. This is definitely going into the meal rotation and I will use some of the additions from the other comments.
My Heart Beets says
I’m so glad your family liked this! Love the bell pepper idea 🙂
Helen says
This was my second instant pot use and the recipe was really easy to follow. I added more spice as I found it a bit bland. With that change in mind, I’d make it again.
My Heart Beets says
Helen, I’m so glad you liked it 🙂 I’m surprised you found it bland though – it should be very flavorful – are your spices a bit older by any chance? I’m glad you were able to make it work for you!
Helen says
They might be actually… I’ll update them since I’ll make this again. I have some version of curry once a week at least, so I may of killed my spice detector 🙂
My Heart Beets says
Let me know 🙂
House husband says
This is recipe is really good. Whole family loved it. Used ground turkey instead of the pork and omitted the cayenne for the kids (the grownups added some red pepper flakes on our plates for heat). Cooked on the stovetop until the potatoes were done. Another fantastic recipe!
My Heart Beets says
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Jon says
Tried it tonight on the stovetop. I reckon I ended up tripling the water, adding it to the dish as it steamed off. Instead of 10 minutes under pressure I’d say about a half hour during that step. End result? Quite tasty with a nice amount of kick to it.
My Heart Beets says
Jon, really good to know it worked well on the stovetop! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Jennifer says
Excited to try this, but can I use frozen pork? I should be able to in the instapot, just not sure how it’ll impact the recipe. Help please 🙂
Stacy says
How many does this recipe feed?
My Heart Beets says
I’d say 4-5. Hope you love it!
Chaz says
4 if you’re serving anything else. We didn’t make anything else… this was our entire meal, and it was basically 3 meal sized bowls… My gf had one bowl, and I had 2. She thought it was too spicy, I did not, but that’s the argument almost every time I cook. I was actually surprised… I thought it mild enough for her (she likes a little kick, but apparently this was too much for her). She cut the heat with cream cheese.
Sue says
I made this recipe for my wife and some friends and everyone was impressed with the flavors. I’m now printing this recipe to add to my go to recipes. It’s sooo good!
My Heart Beets says
Sue, I’m so happy to hear that your wife and friends liked this recipe! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Cedric T says
Oh man, this is as good as everyone says. I found this recipe when looking up what to do with Potatoes + Ground Pork, and am glad I found your recipe!
Since I was working with the remainders of fresh vegetables I added Kabocha squash and Rice Wine Vinegar (Japanese) and used Zhoug Sauce (Yemeni roots and its heat is mostly Jalapeño) since I didn’t have any Seranno Peppers. Then since there was so much of everything we doubled all of the spices.
I do wish I had the black mustard seed on hand, that makes it look great, but I’m not complaining, ours too looks and tastes wonderful.
My Heart Beets says
Cedric, I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how the ground pork vindaloo turned out for you 🙂
Helen says
Hi there! This was delicious. Thanks so much. I will make this again and again. I used cut up potatoes b/c I cooked the dish in a heavy stainless steel skillet on the stove top. I found that I needed to use about 3/4 cup of water for half a recipe for 2 of us. My meat mixture was half beef, so it may have bit a bit more dry than using all pork. I could have increased the EVOO. I wanted a bit of thickness for the sauce, so I sprinkled on about 2 tsp of flour near to the end. That worked well. I’d used 5% white regular vinegar, and the next time I will try rice vinegar or use the cider vinegar, as you had suggested. I got around the stronger vinegar taste by adding a bit of honey, I’m not sure I liked the coriander – though perhaps I was supposed to use powder? I increased the cinnamon a bit. Used a jalapeño b/c that was all I had on hand – I HAD to make it when I saw it b/c reading the recipe made me so eager to make it right away! Towards the end I also stirred in some braised and chopped rapini. That added nice colour and taste b/c I didn’t have any cilantro. And rapini is so good! Helen – Burlington, ON Canada!
My Heart Beets says
Helen, I’m so happy to hear that you made it! Thanks for letting us know how it turned out on the stovetop 🙂 When my recipes call for coriander it means the powder and if I say cilantro, that means the herb 🙂 Hope that helps!
Monica says
So in other words, you didn’t make this recipe
Jennipher says
Made it with ground chicken and it was a hit! Everyone is asking to make it again
My Heart Beets says
Jennipher, I’m so happy to hear that!! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out with ground chicken 🙂
Alison says
Delicious! Highly recommend!
My Heart Beets says
Thank you!! 🙂
Elizabeth says
I made this tonight but added diced acorn squash, diced red and yellow bell peppers, and diced celery. I wanted to add more veggies for the family. It came out delish! Thank you for the inspiration.
My Heart Beets says
That sounds delicious!!
Tricia says
This is very similar to our favorite dish at the local Peruvian restaurant, Arroz Tapada – I left out the Serrano pepper, added raisins before pressure cooking, and added a fried egg on top , like the arrow tapada we get – so very good and easy to make!
My Heart Beets says
That sounds delicious – love the idea of adding a fried egg on top!
Cheryl says
This was a perfect meal for a busy weeknight, and so delicious and fragrant. The cook time was also perfect for cooking basmati rice in a bowl stacked on a tall trivet. This is a keeper!
My Heart Beets says
Cheryl, I’m so happy to hear that! 🙂 Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
liv says
Thanks Cheryl for mentioning it worked with your pot in pot rice!
leukothea says
I made this recipe tonight using ground bison, and it was delicious! The whole family and one guest loved it. Next time I’ll have to make more!
My Heart Beets says
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for letting me know how this turned out for you using bison!
Todd says
We enjoyed this recipe very much. The first time I made it with ground pork and the second time with ground beef. Both were very delicious, but the ground beef was our favorite. Thanks for such a great recipe. I can’t get enough.
My Heart Beets says
Todd, that’s so great to hear! I’m glad you liked it 🙂 And good to know about the ground beef – I actually have some in the fridge now so I think I’ll try it that way tonight! Thanks for the tip 🙂
M P says
I don’t have an instant pot. Can this be modified for stove top?
My Heart Beets says
Yes, definitely! After step 3, just cover the pot on the stove with a lid and simmer until the potatoes are tender. You may need to check it periodically and add a bit more water as more water escapes as steam on the stovetop. Let me know what you think 🙂
Kimberly says
I made this last night and it was DELISH and TASTY!
My Heart Beets says
Kimberly, that’s so great to hear! 🙂
Roman says
This was amazing. I’ve never had an Indian dish with pork in it before, but this was instantly a favorite! So savory!
My Heart Beets says
Roman, so happy to hear that! I’m glad you liked it 🙂
sarita says
Left out the serrano and it was the perfect spice level for my 21 month old who kept saying “yummy!” Great recipe, thanks!!
My Heart Beets says
Sarita, that’s so great to hear!! So happy your kiddo liked it!!
Irene says
I did make the Instant Pot Ground Pork Vindaloo with Potatoes recipe with ground lamb, all I had on hand and it was delicious, just not enough for 3. Have to make more next time.
Thank you Ashley,
Irene
My Heart Beets says
Glad you liked it, Irene! 🙂
Sara says
We loved this! I doubled the amount of spices, but left everything else the same. It was delicious!
My Heart Beets says
Sara, that’s so great to hear! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂