Instant Pot Ribs
This quick and easy Instant Pot Ribs recipe gives you tender, flavorful, fall off the bone pork ribs in just a fraction of the time.
We love good barbecue food- slow cooked, tender meats, covered in sticky sauce. Yum!
We’ve made Chipotle dry rub ribs on the grill, and delicious BBQ ribs in the crock pot, and they are both delicious BUT they do take awhile to make.
But with our Instant Pot version, you’ll get the same melt in your mouth meat in just a fraction of the time so you can enjoy them whenever you want!
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Ingredients You’ll Need
One of the great things about this is you don’t need much to make it delicious. Here’s what to have on hand.
- Baby Back Ribs – These are pork ribs that come from the section of ribs connected to the backbone. They are called “baby” because they are shorter then spareribs. Alternatively you can use St. Louis-style spareribs. These ribs are a bit flatter, fattier, and more flavorful. Cook times vary slightly so make sure you read our notes on cook time below.
- BBQ Dry Rub – You can use your favorite BBQ dry rub or make your own at home with this simple recipe.
- Water
- Apple cider vinegar – I highly recommend apple cider, but red wine vinegar can work in a pinch.
- BBQ sauce – You can choose your favorite BBQ sauce or make your own following this recipe.
How to Prepare the Ribs
When you get them home, the first thing you need to do is remove the silverskin. Silverskin is the thin membrane on the underside of the ribs. Removing it helps make them more tender and easier to eat.
To remove the silverskin:
- Turn your ribs over so they are bone side up and then find the beginning of the thin membrane at one end.
- Pull the skin up and use a sharp knife to gently scrape between the skin and the meat to help separate them. If you can get a good hold on the skin (some people use pliers), you can begin pulling the skin. It should come away fairly easily. Don’t worry if you don’t get every bit of it, just do your best to get as much as possible.
New to using an Instant Pot? Make sure you read our beginner’s guide on “How to Use an Instant Pot” to get started!
Instructions
The Instant Pot can make amazingly tender ribs pretty quickly. Here’s what you need to do.
Step 1 – Prep the ribs. To start, prepare the ribs by removing the silverskin (see instructions in section above).
Once the skin is gone, rub the dry rub into the ribs on both sides.
Step 2 – Add liquids. When the ribs are ready, pour the water and apple cider vinegar into the inner pot of the Instant Pot. Next, place your trivet in the pot and then add your ribs on top of the trivet. The ribs should curl into the pot with the meat side facing out so that it presses against the inside of the pot.
Step 3 – Cook. Place the lid on top and lock it in place. Turn the valve to SEALING and then set to HIGH pressure for 25 minutes.
Once the timer goes off, let it do a full natural release. The pin will drop when it is done.
Step 3 – Broil. As the Instant Pot naturally releases, preheat your broiler.
Open the lid to the Instant Pot and remove the ribs. Place them on a baking sheet and brush the BBQ sauce over the top of your ribs.
Place the ribs under the broiler for 10 minutes or until the sauce is caramelized.
Serve with extra BBQ sauce and enjoy!
How Long to Cook Ribs in the Instant Pot
We used baby back ribs, which are not as tough. For these, you’ll only need to cook them for 25 minutes followed by a 10 minute natural release.
If you make St. Louis-style spareribs they are a tougher cut of meat so they take a little longer to cook. You’ll need to cook them on high pressure for 35 minutes and do a full natural release to get perfectly tender spareribs.
Looking for More Easy Instant Pot Recipes?
- Instant Pot Brisket
- Instant Pot Shrimp Boil
- Instant Pot Pulled Pork
- Instant Pot Meatballs
- Instant Pot Jambalaya
- Instant Pot Pork Chops with Mushroom Gravy
- Instant Pot Beef Stew
- Instant Pot Ham
- More Instant Pot Recipes…
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Instant Pot Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 rack Baby Back Ribs
- 4 tablespoons BBQ Dry Rub
- 1 cup Water
- ¼ cup Apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Prepare the ribs by removing the silverskin (see instructions in post above).
- Rub the dry rub into the ribs on both sides.
- Pour the water and apple cider vinegar into the pot of the Instant Pot.
- Place your trivet in the pot and the place your ribs on top of the trivet. The ribs should curl into the pot with the meat side facing out so that it presses against the inside of the pot.
- Lock the lid in place and turn the valve to SEALING. Set to HIGH pressure for 25 minutes.
- When the timer goes off let it do a full natural release (when the pin drops on top you know it is done).
- While it is naturally releasing preheat your oven broiler.
- When the natural release has finished unlock the lid and remove your ribs, placing them on a baking sheet.
- Brush your BBQ sauce over the top of your ribs and then place in the oven for 10 minutes. This will caramelize your sauce.
- Serve with extra BBQ sauce and enjoy!
Nutrition
This came out great, thanks so much. I used a simple dry rub recipe that I had, and then paired it with a Memphis style bbq sauce that is vinegar and pepper forward. It was off the hook good. Regarding the cooking time, IP had not quite released at 20 minutes post cook time. I did a quick release to finish the last little bit. Depending on the sickness of the ribs, I think a quick release could be done at 10 to 15 minutes after finishing the cook time.
I’m so glad you liked them! I’m all about a good Memphis BBQ sauce!
“thickness” of the ribs, lol. 😊