This post contains affiliate links.
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:
FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST for more great recipes!
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.
Text me new recipe ideas!
Simple, tasty ideas sent once a week. No spam.
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!!!
I have an 8 quart IP. Can i cook more Than one coil of ribs at a time for a big party?
Yes you can! Cook time will be the same, it will just take the pot longer to come to pressure.
Made 4 lbs in my 6qt last night for my anniversary. Sooooooo good! Used the apple juice in the water and just doubled the rub recipe. Cooked 25 min and my only complaint was that they fell apart while trying to take them out. Still delicious! I would try cooking them for 20-22 minutes next time to see if I can get them out of the IP in one piece. #firstworldproblems ?
Ask anyone how they make their ribs, and they will give you ten steps and two days in the making. This one is simple and tasty! Just finish them off in the oven with some good barbecue rib sauce.
Tough, flavorless, and terrible.
Outstanding recipe. Cooked to perfection. Spices not overwhelming so you can get the flavor of the meat even with the BBQ sauce. Adding liquid smoke is a must. Don’t leave it out.
This recipe is spot on!!!! I made them this evening and they were delicious.
Have made this 3 times and it’s my husbands favorite! Love Thai recipe! Will continue to make it!
Delicious, fall off the bone tenderness. I used my own rub but otherwise followed the directions exactly, including apple cider vinegar & liquid smoke. My family of 6, including my 5-year old who had 2nd’s, devoured a whole rack of ribs in about 10 minutes. Thanks for sharing! I’ll be making these again for sure, just wish I had a bigger instant pot lol
I know why people are all saying, “WOW!” I usually roast ribs for 3 hours on a low temp. I can’t believe how amazing these are…in 25 minutes! I used McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning as the rub. Only complaint by the 3 guys in my house (husband and 2 grown boys)…I didn’t make enough! (I used apple juice in the water, BTW.)
Oh I will certainly be making this again and again!
Made this again but with more meaty baby back ribs and had both my 6 and 8 qt. IPs going with a different rub…(Penzeys Bavarian rub and their Southwest blend). Both excellent. I did the broiler thing with bbq sauce to finish them off. Used Stubb’s Sweet Heat. There weren’t too many ribs left from the 4 of us eating 2 racks. Served with roasted veggies…parsnips, carrots, onions, leaks, garlic, turnips coated with olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper all roasted to a caramelized goodness.
First time making ribs and 3rd recipe in IP ever. These literally fell off bone when trying to remove from pot BUT it was my mistake. I did tweak my rub to include some cayenne and Italian seasoning. And used a tablespoon of apple liquid smoke along with apple cider vinegar and apple juice-no water. I had only one rack of baby back ribs but 2 packs of country style boneless ribs. So wrapped the ribs as in circle in trivet and took the country style ribs standing them up circular inside the rack of ribs. My first error was setting for 32 minutes cook time. I just thought maybe too much meat they may need more time (wrong). I should have stuck with exact directions of cook time. I was all set and doing the 15 NP release then got side-tracked and didn’t get to QR until 22 minute mark. I started by using tongs for country style and they were breaking apart and when I tried to remove the baby back ribs I was getting same thing. So I just pulled out trivet with the baby back ribs on it. Put on pan and slathered with bbq sauce. Cooked both sides and last 2 minutes put on broil to get that good carmelized, slightly charred look. No doubt they were tender and I feel I may have dried out the country style a little bit with the oven. Had i followed instructions as given, i know 100% i would have achieved optimal results. I do think that i may dry-rub and let rest for a few hours or overnight next time. And even with increasing to a tablespoon of the apple liquid smoke, I just couldn’t taste that smokiness. But I bought the apple smoke on a whim as I had never seen that flavor before. Next time I will stick to exact times and go back to my original smoke. Also I will not mix the 2 types of ribs. I did that because it’s what I had on hand. Think I might jack up the smoke flavor to 2 tablespoons though…..we like it smokey lol. Now my research tonight has been how to reheat these without losing moisture. In fact I’d love to throw some moisture back in them. I don’t reheat in microwave and I’ve spent a cple hours looking on specifically reheating ribs in IP. Not too much out there. Just the pot in pot method for most part and some suggestions were 2-3 hour reheats….yikes!!! And I know the responses aren’t immediate but does anyone have a good moisture locking IP reheat on these or even oven? If you’ve read this far then God bless because I do tend to be lengthy. But overall thank you for the recipe. Without user error, no doubt they would have been perfect. (Still might be, I only tasted them last night as it was very late so family will be getting the reheated process today). Looking forward to doing these again. I’m an IP newbie and so far am thrilled. And I appreciate your descriptive breakdowns of the recipe. For those of us just starting out, there’s a lot of buttons to learn and IP terminology that gets short-handed a lot in recipes and it gets confusing when you don’t yet understand quick releasing, natural pressure and my most confusing thing was learning that 20 minutes cook time does not mean put in pot and 20 minutes you are done lol. Also I thought the times were in seconds and that 200 meant two minutes Haha. BIG whoops. But I’m sure common mistakes for those that have never owned a pressure cooker. And all of my crockpots were manual. Thanks again.
Line a sheet of foil with sheet of parchment paper. Make sure the paper is just a little smaller than the foil. Place any meat in the middle and wrap and seal very tightly.. Place on rack in oven pre-heated to 350 degrees. Heat for 20 minutes. This method has never failed me. The meat does not dry out.