Basic Instant Pot Ribs
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
- Pressure Cooker Trivet
Ingredients
- 1 rack baby back ribs
- ¼ cup dry rub enough to liberally coat both sides of the meat
- ¼ cup barbecue sauce
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Mix water and barbecue sauce and place in the bottom of the inner pot.
- Trim ribs, as needed.
- Cut ribs into sections about 2-3 bones wide. Should be able to get 4-5 sections.
- Dust both sides of each section of rib with the dry rub.
- Place pressure cooker trivet in the inner pot and place ribs on the trivet. Its ok to pile them up.
- Set the pressure cooker to hold pressure. Cook the ribs on manual for 30 minutes. If you dont have an instant pot brand, use the Beef or Meat preset for 30 minutes.
- Release the pressure on the pressure cooker once complete.
- Place rib sections on a cookie sheet. Add more dry rub or sauce. Place in the oven for 10 minutes to allow the rub and/or sauce to cook in slightly. Let cook for a moment before serving.
I love ribs. I still prefer to smoke them, just because I really like that deep smoke flavor. However, a couple years ago when it was cold and I was still living in my apartment (and they wouldn’t let me grill outside anymore!), I had a hankering for some ribs. I hadn’t had much success with making ribs in the crock pot. The water would disappear and Id end up with really dry ribs. So I did a little digging and found ways to make them in the instant pot. Since I discovered this, this is one of my favorite ways to make ribs because its just so easy and so delicious. Assuming your ribs are already thawed, you really can have ribs without a lot of planning or prep.
The first time I made these, I literally did not leave the stove once I pulled them from the oven. I stood at the oven and ate the entire rack of ribs. I might have gone overboard a little bit, but the ribs were so good I just couldn’t stop eating them.
These ribs WILL fall apart. What I love about this method is the ribs just fall right off the bone. It’s also a flexible enough recipe that you can really play around with the flavor, just like you might with ribs done on the smoker. Just like making ribs on the smoker, the prep really is the same. Trim the meat if you feel you need to. You can also marinate the ribs in the dry rub by wrapping them in plastic wrap after dusting them with the dry rub. When I do this, I add a little more salt so the meat pulls in the flavor.
If you want a little more smoke flavor, add a little liquid smoke to the barbecue/water mixture. Also, depending on how meaty your ribs are, you can also cook these a little longer. I’ve done as long as 45 minutes. This may depend entirely on the unit also, but after 30 minutes, they’re more prone to falling apart easier. Adjust the time depending on how much you want them to fall apart.