{Recipe}: Instapot BBQ Ribs

Y'all.

So many people purchased the IP last weekend. From what I know, at least 100 of you. Wow! It's been (a little crazy and) so much fun seeing all of my dear friends whip amazing IP meals these last few days. And can I just tell you that I have been getting so many questions? (LOL!) I think almost 5-8 people every day since Friday have been texting me/messaging me with questions...which to be honest is a little scary because I am an IP NEWB! (I've only had it for a couple of months myself so I'm still learning things every day).

But anyway - because of all the hype that I unintentionally (and yet, passionately, inevitably and okay, i guess a little bit intentionally) created -- I am challenged to try (and post!) a lot of yummy recipes for you guys. For the near future, we are looking at a chicken pho recipe, beef noodle soup recipe, and RIBS. (Yay!)

So let's start with ribs!

To be honest, I have never ever made ribs before. It's usually so expensive and it's just plain intimidating to me! It seemed like such a tedious and long process that I never really ventured out and gave it a try. Also, I really really don't like using my oven.  But alas, this week ribs were ridiculously cheap (say $3 a lb?) and I have all this IP pressure (pun intended) that I was like, hey lets give it a go.

And I am so glad I did, because man - it was so easy. And so good! 

First thing I learned as a rib-cooking newb: did you know that these ribs have a "membrane" you have to remove? Say whaaaa

Anyway - I also suck at following recipes and so although the recipe originally only called for salt and pepper, I wanted to spice it up a bit (har har) and added my pork dry rub spice mix -- which is essentially salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, a dash of cinnamon and some garlic powder. 

Raw meat is so nasty to me but not so much after a good rub! If you're feeling crazy, rub a little bit of liquid smoke if you want. 

Then water goes in. The IP comes with a "trivet", so put that in. Or you can put a steamer basket if that's your thing. Put the Ribs on top so it's not submerged in water - you don't want the liquid to take away all that flavor. 

Cook on "Manual" for 18-25 minutes. 18 minutes if you want tender but a little bit of bite and then full 25 if you want it falling off the bones. 

Don't forget it takes time to build up pressure and for the pot to depressurize after cooking! So I think the entire process from putting the lid on to taking it off was about 30 minutes for me.

So tender, smokey and rich in flavor! Now comes the BBQ sauce...

Slather it on and put on a foiled cookie sheet. It's gonna go in the oven to finish off. 10 minutes on 450 degrees or 3-5 minutes on broil. I used my toaster oven (lol!) because like I said, I really don't like using my oven...

To round out the meal, I decided to use my instapot for all of the other elements. I washed my pot and put in some potatoes and just enough water to cover em all. Hey, what's that trivet doing there?

Dun, dun, dun! Here I introduce the amazing PIP (pot-in-pot) technique. There are a lot of other things you can do this for that I haven't tried yet (i.e. cooking rice while making curry, etc!! WHAT?!) but today I just used the PIP method to heat up my corn (lol!) You can probably do corn on the cobs right on top if you have em. I only had canned this time around.

On manual for 10 minutes (though I probably could have done less time i.e. 6-8 minutes) and the corn was ready and the potatoes were super soft. If they keep form, you can probably make a warm potatoe salad to serve with the ribs. Because I overcooked them a bit, I decided to make mashed potatoes. I drained the water out and added some milk, butter, sour cream and green onions (hello, loaded mashed potatoes!) Mash it right there in the pot. You can even turn the SAUTE option on if you need a little bit of heat.

There it is, only one pot to clean and dinner is ready in less than an hour! 

Cheers to more IP adventures! xo

Easy Instant Pot BBQ Ribs 

Cook time: 18-25 minutes 
Total time: 30 minutes


1 rack of baby back ribs
salt + pepper (1 Tbs, 1 tsp respectively)
cumin, garlic powder, paprika and cinnamon (optional, in 1:1:1:dash ratio) I did about 1/2 tsp.
your fave BBQ Sauce
2 cups water

1. remove membrane from ribs. pat dry.
2. rub spice mix (if desire) onto both sides of ribs. if no spices, at least do salt + pepper to season.
3. add 2 cups of water to pot. place trivet or steamer basket inside.
4. place ribs on top to fit, ensuring that ribs are not submerged in water.
5. close lid. ensure that valve is on SEALING.
6. press MANUAL, set timer for 18-25 minutes (depending on how you'd like your meat cooked)
7. preheat oven to 450 degrees.
8. when finished cooking, let NR (natural release) for 10 minutes, then QR (quick release) to release steam. open lid carefully and remove ribs with tongs.
9. coat both sides of the ribs generously with your fave BBQ sauce. did you forget to preheat your oven? no worries - it happens to the best of us. set to broil.
10. set bbq sauced ribs on a foiled pan or cookie sheet, place in oven for 10 minutes (450 degrees) or 3-5 minutes (on broil)

serve immediately.