hey friend! boston butt is the same thing as pork shoulder. 😉 And yes, searing adds loads of flavor but it sounds like it still was a hit so I am glad! xx

Hi Jenna! I’m on an ELR cooking roll and am so glad you’re blogging simple recipes!! I eat a mostly-vegetarian diet and so haven’t ever really learned to cook meat, but I am trying to cook meat 1-2x/week for my kids/husband because my oldest daughter is so darn picky I have reached a point of being willing to try anything. This recipe seemed simple, so I added it to our weekly meal plan. I was already confused by the ingredient list (WHAT IS PORK SHOULDER?? the meat guy at Publix told me I was actually looking for something labeled Boston butt? Not sure still that I wasn’t misled?!) and apparently I missed the trimming step, not that I want to spend any more time touching the meat. Anyway, I also missed step one and simply dumped the meat into my crockpot with salsa and cooked for 10 hours, then put it into my family’s burritos. According to my meat thermometer, it was plenty cooked, and the meat-eating family members still devoured this (with exception of oldest daughter, but don’t take THAT personally). I’m guessing the searing step would have added more flavor? Is that the idea? Must learn to read recipes better…

Anyway, I just thought I’d throw this comment out in hopes that it is helpful for someone else who forgot step one. It will still turn out!!

I would love to hear about that as well! My husband tried making a slow-cooker meat dish in the Instant Pot recently and it didn’t work all that well. Anything that wasn’t submerged in liquid was super dry. I’d love to hear your tips.

I haven’t but I bet it would work great! I can actually sear in my slow cooker so it’s no added work for me there, but I included that tip since many crock pots don’t have that function. I will try this in the IP soon and report back!