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These Instant Pot Ribs are so tender, flavorful, and delicious, it's really hard to believe they cook in just about 30 minutes! Another great, easy recipe made with your pressure cooker.
Instant Pot Ribs
Cooking tender, bbq ribs at home is one of those dinners that will always, always make me feel like a rock-star for how amazing they turn out, and how little work was required on my part.
My go-to ribs recipe is usually these slow cooker ribs, but the instant pot also makes fantastic ribs and it's perfect for those of us that don't always plan dinner out early enough to pull the slow cooker out in the morning.
My favorite quality about the instant pot (and the area where the instant pot really shines) is how it can take hefty cuts of meat and cook them to tender in such a short amount of time. These instant pot ribs are the perfect examples of the type recipe that cooks GREAT in the pressure cooker or instant pot. Learn all of my instant pot tips!
How to make Instant Pot Ribs:
- Season the ribs all over with a dry spice rub.
- Add liquid to the bottom of the instant pot.
- Curl the ribs around the instant pot, with the meat side facing out. If your ribs are already cut in sections then stand them up in the same manner, lining them up around the pot.
- Cook them on high pressure. Cooking times will vary just slightly depending on the type of ribs you use, your elevation, and if you want them tender to the bite, or fall-off-the-bone tender.
When the ribs are finished cooking you can slather them in your favorite store-bought or homemade bbq sauce.
I also like to stick them under the broiler for just a few minutes, to let the bbq sauce caramelize and char a little bit. YUM!
Tips for the perfect instant pot ribs:
What type of ribs to use:
I prefer baby back ribs but you can also use spare ribs. It's important to not that your cooking time will vary, depending on your altitude and what type of ribs you choose.
How long to cook ribs in the instant pot or pressure cooker:
- Baby Back Ribs: 25-30 Minutes
- Spare Ribs: 30-35 Minutes
- For low altitude, use the lower number, and for high altitude cook them a little longer.
- Also, the longer you cook them, the more “fall-off-the-bone tender they will be. If you want them tender, without falling off the bone, use a slightly lower cook time.
What size instant pot for instant pot ribs?
Any 6 quart or larger instant pot will work!
Removing the membrane from the ribs:
Depending on where you buy your ribs, they may still have the white, shiny membrane connective tissue on the back (bone side) of the ribs. I buy mine from Costco and they already have the membranes removed. Check to make sure the membrane on your ribs has been removed and if it hasn't, follow these steps to remove it:
- Just flip the ribs so the top (meaty part) is face down.
- Slide your fingers or a butter knife under the membrane and rip it off.
- No special skills needed here, just use your fingers to yank it up and off the ribs.
Consider serving with a Side Dish. Here are some of my favorites:
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Instant Pot Ribs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1-2 racks pork ribs, (*see note below)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup apple juice, , or ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke, , optional*
- 1 cup barbecue sauce, , homemade or store-bought (*see note)
Instructions
- Remove membranes from the back of ribs, if needed.
- Rubs seasonings over both sides of ribs.
- Place wire trivet rack in the bottom of the instant pot.
- Add water, apple juice (or apple cider vinegar) and liquid smoke (optional, but recommended for that great smokey flavor).
- Place the ribs upright, with the meat side facing out. If you’re using one large rack of ribs, then circle them around the pot.
- Secure lid and close vent.
- Press “manual” or “pressure cook” and cook on high pressure for 25 minutes.
- When the timer beeps, allow the pressure to naturally release for 15 min, then turn the valve to quick release.
- Carefully remove ribs to a large, foil-lined baking sheet and slather them in BBQ sauce.
- Optional: broil them in the oven for 2-3 minutes to caramelize the bbq sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE this recipe and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
Excellent recipe! Turned out delicious!! Its my staple instapot pork ribs recipe.
WOW!!! We LOVED these ribs!! I did take liberty with the rub. I added some allspice, Ceylon cinnamon, a little cayenne pepper and dry yellow mustard. FANTASTIC!!!
Absolutely perfect! Today I learned how to use the trivet rack 9f my instant pot for the first time, thank you so much!. I followed you recipe but for the marinade I also used BBQ sauce and have them in the fridge since the day before. I cooked the ribs for about 40 minutes and then broiled for 10 minutes with extra BBQ sauce!.
Your recipe states 1 hour cook time, but in the description just under that, it says “cooked in just about 30 minutes!” Might want to change that. 🙂
They do “cook” in 30 minutes–the cook time in the recipe card is accounting for the time it takes to come to pressure and the time it takes to release the pressure.
I have made ribs this way a number of times.. I use my own rub, which is actually very similar to this recipe, apple juice and liquid smoke in the bottom of the pot, cook for 25 minutes, baste with my homemade BBQ Sauce and then throw them on the grill to caramelize and finish them. My rib process used to take 2 days, with seasoning, slow roasting, etc. I’m making them again today for about 20 people coming to our house for a party. I’ll make them this morning, and just reheat them this afternoon and throw them on the grill….super easy!!!
WOW! I have never successfully made ribs at home before. They are usually so greasy that they are not eatable. This recipe is so easy and the ingredients are staples that most people would have in their pantry. My family loves these. Thank you for the recipe.
Can you put another ring of ribs inside the first ring? Or does that change the way it cooks. I have an 8 qt.
That would work fine!
I’m confused. This recipe call for 1 1/4 cups of liquid to pressure cook the ribs. However, the manual that comes with the instant pot says to always use no less than 18 oz liquid when pressure cooking in the instant pot. Is 1 1/4 cups o.k.?
We really enjoyed these ribs! This was my 1st attempt at ribs in the insta pot and I was really pleased with how they turned out!
Wow. My first meal with our instant pot. I can say it was absolutely amazing! We bought a baby rack of ribs for only $6 at the store today, so I looked up recipes and this game up first. We made a few substitutions, but I still think it tasted about how it was intended, because it was fantastic (I also really appreciate all the instructions, because I wasn’t too sure how long to cook it for/do the natural release for).
The ribs were cooked for 30 minutes at an altitude of 5,000 ft., with 15 minutes natural release. Instead of broiling them afterwards, I stuck them just in just the standard oven for 14 minutes and it had the same effect. I had about 1/3 of a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s which was enough, but we could have used a bit more if we cut the ribs apart before sticking them in the oven and glazed them individually for the best flavor. I’ll definitely be making these again!
———–
If anyone was wondering what substitutions we did, here they are:
We used Cayenne pepper powder instead of chili powder.
We didn’t have powdered onion or garlic, so we took a bit of actual garlic/onion and just minced/diced them really small and mixed it in the seasoning.
We added about the same amount of Lawry’s seasoning (I think it’s mostly paprika, but it also had garlic/onion/turmeric) to the rub (we add that to pretty much every meat we make) so that probably added whatever flavor we weren’t able to add.
We also didn’t have apple cider vinegar or apple juice; however, we did just buy some balsamic vinegar, so we added a bit less than a 1/4 cup and a bit more water into the pot, then put some lemon pepper in the water. I’m not sure if the lemon pepper did anything with the flavor whatsoever because it was in the water only, but the vinegar was definitely present in the ribs and it actually was very, very good!
One thing to note, though, is that the amounts listed for the seasoning is just enough to cover a single rack of baby pork ribs, so I’d suggest to double that for another rack.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I will be sure to check out some of the other ones on your site.
Just made these tonight and they were a winner! My husband was a little reluctant on instant pot ribs but he loved them! I followed the recipe exactly and used the apple cider vinegar. I think next time I’m going to broil both sides first and then adding a little sauce or leaving them dry since we like to try different sauces. Overall great recipe!
Used this recipe to make ribs for the first time ever in my Instant Pot. They were AMAZING! And the recipe was super simple to follow. I broiled them after applying the BBQ sauce for about 4 minutes. My husband said we don’t ever need to make ribs any other way. Thank you so much for sharing it!