Easy Instant Pot BBQ Ribs
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The easiest and quickest BBQ ribs made right in your pressure cooker! So saucy, sticky, and tender, it just falls off-the-bone!
I’ll be completely honest with you.
We had to recipe test these ribs a minimum of 3 times to completely perfect them. So I came home with 2 racks of baby back ribs on 3 separate occasions. In a span of 2 weeks, of course.
That being said, we can really thank Ben for this recipe. He was an avid recipe tester here, thoroughly eating through all the ribs each and every time.
So, thank you, babe. You’ve helped us create the most perfect tender, fall-off-the-bone ribs each and every time in less than one hour.
I’m serious, guys. This is truly the only way to prepare baby back ribs. The IP cuts down the time by more than half, and the quick broil at the very end helps caramelize the sauce so it’s super sticky, and well, just perfect.
Easy Instant Pot BBQ Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground mustard
- 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 2-pound racks baby back pork ribs, trimmed of excess fat, rinsed, and patted dry
- 2 cups chicken stock
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups barbecue sauce
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, salt, onion powder, chili powder, mustard, paprika, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, black pepper, cumin and cayenne pepper.
- Remove the membrane from the underside of the ribs, pulling it down the entire length. Season ribs with brown sugar mixture, rubbing in thoroughly on both sides.
- Add chicken stock and apple cider vinegar to a 6-qt Instant Pot®. Place metal trivet into the pot. Place ribs upright on top of the trivet, wrapping in a circle.
- Select manual setting; adjust pressure to high, and set time for 20-25 minutes. When finished cooking, quick-release pressure according to manufacturer’s directions.
- Preheat oven to broil. Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Place ribs, meat side up, in a single layer onto the prepared baking sheet; brush with barbecue sauce.
- Place into oven and broil until barbecue sauce is caramelized and browned, about 4-6 minutes.
- Serve immediately with remaining barbecue sauce.
Did you make this recipe?
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This worked just as smoothly as described, and the meat was tender and delicious. My one suggestion would be to apply barbeque sauce to BOTH sides of the ribs before putting them under the broiler (the last step). The spice rub on the ribs stays pretty intact while they’re in the Instant Pot, and it’s a tiny bit dry and gritty. Not bad, but where the sauce is applied, everything kind of melts together wonderfully under the broiler. The recipe says to put the sauce on top of the ribs, but next time I’ll put it on both sides.
I will also heat some barbeque sauce and serve it in small bowls, so more can be applied at the table, or the ribs can be dipped.
The flavor was great, though, and this is a really quick and easy way to make terrific ribs.
Yes to sauce on both sides! My husband and I thought the very same thing as you while eating these tonight.
I did this before and it came out awesome. Modified some seasonings, but used the brown sugar and some rib seasoning from Famous Dave’s here in Ohio, some garlic salt, and that’s all and the ribs were delicious. I used to work at a Damon’s restaurant, and our ribs were award winning for a restaurant, this recipe cuts off tons of time and are just as DAMN DELICIOUS!! Thank you for the great recipe.
Holy YUM!!!…those were amazing!!! I dont have grill and so ribs seemed out of my reach until I saw this recipe!!!! So amazing….I had to trade basil for thyme (didnt have any)…and used a little more chili powder as again no cayenne….but so amazing…..I will keep this recipe for another day…..THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I loved them!!!!!
Made these today! Oh my my my!! Had to tirn away or I would eat them all!! Absolutely delicious!! This is a true keeper. Literally no need to look elsewhere for a recipe! Thank you for sharing!!
These were so yummy and easy to do.
Followed the recipe exactly, and the ribs were absolutely fantastic! A new “go to” recipe!
Amazing! Followed the recipe exactly, cooking for 25 minutes, and they were delicious! They really were fall off the bone tender.
Super easy and delicious. Husband was a huge fan of the spice rub and compared these to restaurant ribs. Broiled on low, next time will either leave them in a bit longer or use high setting to really thicken the sauce. We’ll definitely make these again!
Made these exactly as instructed. They were Awesome!! My ribs looked significantly larger than pictured, so I cooked 33 mins. My bad!! Bones literally fell out of the slabs. New instant pot user… I’ll learn
I normally smoke ribs for 5 hrs and wanted an quick alternative to get some on the table fast. This recipe by far exceeded my expectations. I added a little liquid smoke to the broth and they were out of world. Will definitely make them again.
I usually make ribs in an electric smoker using the 3-2-1 method ( 6 hours total smoking time). They turn out pretty good, above average tasting and texture, but not mind-blowing ( if such a thing exists for ribs). But it’s a lengthy process and involves a lot of prep and clean up.
Enter the instant pot, I found this recipe / process to be pretty spot-on , the ribs came out as good as the ones that I typically make in an electric smoker. I was actually kind of surprised , the 25 mins for 4 lbs of ribs was good enough ( I did slow-release pressure for 10 minutes). I doubt I will ever spend 6 hours on the smoker to make ribs again.
I’m not sure I could change anything about this recipe to make it better? Maybe there is some magic in seasoning the ribs and letting them sit in the fridge overnight, definitely a question for the scholars.
Is that 4 lbs of ribs for the recipe? It says 2(2 pound)Does that mean 2 X 2 Lb racks?
Love this recipe. I increased to 30 mins pressure cook because my ribs were much thicker than the photo (Flintstones size racks, 7.25 lbs total for 2 racks). The ribs were melt in your mouth delicious, tender and juicy. Removing the membranes made such a difference. The other advantage of the pressure cooker is that huge amounts of excess fat ran down into the cooking water. This gave the ribs a much more pleasing texture, no more big pockets of fatty bites to work around, yet still silky soft and juicy meat. Great recipe!
Had a 3 lb slab and it didn’t make it to “fall off the bone” but they were amazing!
This is such a great recipe! I had never done ribs in the Instant Pot but I will from now on. So easy and so delicious!
Used St Louis ribs and Sweet Rub of Mine. Lowered cook time to 20 minutes 10 minutes depressure.
Peach glaze sauce under broiler for 6 minutes and they were delicious and fall off the bone tender.
Will definitely do these again.
Did you use same about of weight using St.Louis ribs ?
Insanely delicious! And so easy! Melt off the bone! Definitely will be doing this again! May even have to retire the smoker… no…. not really. I made one rack of 4 pounds of ribs in an 8 quart instant pot.
Loved it – so easy and delicious.
This recipe seems so easy! Can’t wait to try it! I actually have all the ingredients but not quite four full pounds of ribs. Lower cook time for 3.67 lbs?
Awesome ribs. Done in no time using the Instant Pot. We will be making these again for sure!
Just made this for my husband. I never made ribs before and these were delicious. So easy.
Can I use regular vinegar?
I have tried a bunch of Instapot rib recipes, and this one is my favorite by far! After trying recipes from various sites on the Internet, these pressure cooker ribs have made my recipe book to “keep.” My family loves the flavor of the dry rub. Yummy! I won’t be searching the Internet for a quick rib recipes anymore.