Instant Pot Short Ribs
Instant Pot Beef Short Ribs featuring homemade barbecue sauce is the quick, easy and flavor packed dinner that your family will want in weekly rotation.
Instant Pot Short Ribs are quick, easy and juicy perfection. What more can you ask for a Yummi dinner?
Instant Pot Short Ribs 101
We LOVE the Instant Pot for so many reasons, but above all how quick it cooks up delicious and the potential for truly juicy, flavorful dishes. These Instant Pot Short Ribs are no exception, with this quick cook method so much of the flavor and juices are kept, complimenting the homemade barbecue sauce quite nicely.
What kind of meat do you use for short ribs? Beef short ribs are the beef version of pork’s spare ribs. You of course can do spare ribs in the Instant Pot as well using the same recipe and method. Beef ribs offer a little more meat.
Why are short ribs on the expensive side? The meat is more tender and offers more flavor than other cuts of beef. They also tend to be pretty fool proof, especially with this Instant Pot method. Good meat can be an investment, but when you look at what you get with short ribs they aren’t as expensive as you think when factoring in the amount of meat and flavor.
What to serve with these beef short ribs
Roasted vegetables always pair nicely, but you can definitely have some fun with these honey roasted carrots.
Dreamy Mashed potatoes with butter, salt and pepper
Salads are a great way to start off the meal, especially one with barbecue. We like a crisp, basic salad with lettuce, a little cheese (especially a dash of Feta), a little crunch such as almonds and a delicious borderline sweet vinaigrette.
OR this blog favorite Southern Mustard Potato Salad is a crowd pleaser.
How to Cook Short Ribs in the Instant Pot
First and foremost, an Instant Pot is key to this meal, pressure cooking in the flavor with a quickness!
For the ribs: You’ll need ribs (of course), salt, pepper, liquid smoke, water and an orange for the ribs portion of this meal. Just 25 minutes on high pressure with a natural release and voila, you have juicy ribs ready for sauce and a little broil.
For the sauce: We use the fabulous homemade barbecue sauce that we use in our Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken. This step is also easy, just combine and simmer, whisk and stir while your ribs do their natural release.
Another fabulous sauce option is using the sauce we use in our Slow Cooker Beer Braised Short Ribs.
How to use an Instant Pot
There is no reason to be intimidated by the Instant Pot if you’re just getting started. This pressure cooker is pretty fool proof. You’re only going to use one mode for this recipe – high pressure cook. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
One thing we want to take a moment to note is the release. With this recipe, you’re going to do what is called a natural release, which should take around 15 minutes.
The key thing to remember is that a pressure cooker, even one as fool proof as an Instant Pot, should be respected especially when it comes to safety.
So make sure to use your Instant Pot away from cupboards or any obstruction above (so the steam doesn’t do damage as well!).
Also make sure to use a towel or something else to protect your hands from the steam when flipping the release (if your natural release is taking longer than 15 minutes). Most of the pressure will be down by that time but it’s still better to be safe than sorry when it come to this kind of cooking power.
Other recipes you might enjoy:
- Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken
- Ina Garten Mac and Cheese with Bacon
- Lasagna Roll Ups with Sausage and Spinach
Instant Pot Short Ribs with Homemade BBQ Sauce
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp liquid smoke (optional)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 whole orange
- 3 lbs bone-in beef short ribs
- salt and pepper to season
Homemade Barbecue Sauce
- ¾ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon molasses
- ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ Tablespoon liquid smoke
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- â…› teaspoon smoked chipotle powder (optional)
- ¼ Tablespoon chili powder
Instructions
- Season ribs liberally with salt and pepper on both sides of the rack.
- Place trivet in the instant pot and ribs on top of the trivet in a circular fashion.
- Add water, liquid smoke, juice from one orange and the leftover orange slices, into the Instant Pot.
- Secure lid and set on manual pressure at High for 25 minutes. Allow for natural release for an additional 15 minutes.
- While the ribs are cooking, place all ingredients into a medium sized saucepan over medium heat; stir to combine. Bring contents to a simmer and cook until sauce thickens and becomes darker in color, about 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and await ribs.
- Upon removal of the ribs from the instant pot, place onto a tin foil lined baking sheet and coat both sides of ribs with your homemade BBQ sauce.
- Broil in the oven on high for 2-3 minutes each side.