Instant Pot Ribs is the easiest way to achieve tender, juicy ribs. Whether you’re using baby back ribs or pork loin ribs, pressure cooking tenderizes the meat in a fraction of the time so you can enjoy homemade ribs even on busy weeknights.
Our Smoked Ribs take about 7 hours from start to finish and Baked BBQ Ribs take more than 2 1/2 hours, cooked low and slow in the oven. This recipe requires no marinating time and is done in around 45 minutes. P.S. you can even use frozen ribs!
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Instant Pot Ribs Recipe:
The ingredients here are simple: ribs (baby back ribs or pork loin ribs), apple juice, cider vinegar, seasoning salt, dry rub and of course bbq sauce. If you’re feeling adventurous, add half a teaspoon of liquid smoke to add that smoked element to your ribs. The instant pot makes the magic happen – amazingly fast with excellent results.
Instant Pots save time and have consistent results for corn on the cob, instant pot boiled eggs and dulce de leche. This Instant Pot Ribs recipe is sure to become a new favorite for you.
What is the Best BBQ Sauce for Ribs?
We love sweet bbq sauce for ribs because it caramelizes on the ribs when they are finished off. If you have a favorite bbq sauce you would recommend, I’d love to hear from you in a comment below. A couple of our family favorites include:
- Stubbs (Sweet and Sticky) – this has good ingredients, is inexpensive and I feel good about consuming it. We keep a steady supply on hand of Stubbs BBQ Sauce.
- Sweet Baby Rays – the flavor is excellent but it does contain high fructose corn syrup.
How to Prepare Baby Back Ribs:
Start by prepping your ribs. Baby Back Ribs and Pork Loin ribs typically already have the silver skin on the meat side trimmed and the membrane on the boney side removed. If they are present, use a small knife to loosen it at the corner and a paper towel to help grip and pull it off of the ribs. You want to remove that so the flavors can penetrate the ribs. If you want a visual, check out this photo tutorial from Weber.
How to Make Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs:
The process for making instant pot ribs is truly easy:
- Rub the ribs with seasoning salt and BBQ Dry Rub.
- Combine apple juice, vinegar, 1/3 cup bbq sauce and liquid smoke (if using) in the instant pot.
- Coil the ribs inside the pot, cover and cook on high pressure 25 minutes followed by a 10-minute natural pressure release.
- Remove ribs, brush with BBQ sauce and broil or grill 5 minutes
To Finish Ribs on the Grill:
Preheat the grill to 350-400˚F. Place the bbq sauce smothered ribs directly on preheated grill, cover, and grill 5 minutes.
To Finish Ribs in the Air Fryer:
Cut rack in half, smother with bbq sauce as usual and place both halves side by side in the air fryer basket for 4 min on high.
What to Serve with Ribs:
These saucy bbq ribs are perfect with just about any side dish. Some of our favorites include:
- Mashed Potatoes – so creamy, they don’t need gravy
- Coleslaw – super easy salad with creamy dressing
- Egg Salad – simple and satisfying
- Avocado Corn Salad – always gets rave reviews
- Soft Dinner Rolls – use leftover rolls and pork to make sliders the next day.
Can I Use Frozen Ribs?
Frozen ribs can be used following the same recipe. Before freezing ribs, cut them into thirds (so they fit into the instant pot later since they won’t be able to coil) and add the dry rub before freezing. Dry rub won’t adhere if you try to put it over frozen ribs.
More (Top Rated) Easy Dinner Recipes:
These easy dinner ideas are perfect for busy weeknights and are so much better (and usually healthier) than going out to eat.
- Chicken Fried Rice – use leftover rib meat to make it!
- Chicken Parmesan – an easy crowd-pleaser
- Philly Cheesesteaks (the real way)
- Beef and Broccoli – better than takeout
- Salisbury Steak – with mushroom gravy
Watch Natasha Make Instant Pot Ribs:
This really is the fastest and easiest way to make ribs that we have discovered and the results are mouthwatering good!
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Instant Pot Ribs
Ingredients
- 3 lb baby back ribs , or pork loin ribs
- 6 cups apple juice
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp liquid smoke, optional
- 1 tbsp. seasoning salt, (Johnny's or Lawry's)
- 2 Tbsp BBQ dry rub
- 2/3 cup sweet BBQ sauce, divided
Instructions
- Pat dry the rack of ribs with a paper towel and rub on your dry ingredients on both sides.
- In the Instant Pot, combine apple juice, vinegar, liquid smoke and 1/3 cup of bbq sauce.
- Coil the rack of ribs inside the with the bone-side facing the center. Ribs should all be partially submerged. Cook on high pressure for 25 min followed by a 10 min natural pressure release before manually releasing remaining pressure.
- Using two sets of tongs, carefully transfer ribs to a rimmed baking sheet lined with a wire rack with the meat side up. Brush the top and sides with the remaining 1/3 cup bbq sauce. Broil in the center of the oven on high for 4-5 min*. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5-10 min before serving. Serve with more bbq sauce if desired.
Notes
*To Finish Ribs in the Air Fryer: Cut rack in half and place both halves side by side in the air fryer basket for 4 min on high.
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Natasha I ❤️ ALL your recipes!! Your quick, simple instructions making cooking not only a breeze but enjoyable!! AND… Because you’ve taught me how to cook my boyfriend is probably going to propose now!! 😘🙏🏻THANKS! You’re truly a breath of fresh air! 💛🥂
Thank you so much, Tammy! I’m very happy to hear that.
Hi Natasha, I’ve made these and they are fantastic!! (as all your recipes are) I want to make them but I dont have any apple juice, what is your suggestion?
Hi Debbie! Some of my readers have used water in its place successfully.
Delicious! Can we do two racks of ribs without adjusting the time?
Hi Kathy, two racks will work, although I haven’t tried it, here’s what one of my readers wrote: “I doubled the amount of ribs in my 6qt instant pot tonight as an experiment. (I used my BIG stove top presto last time I cooked two racks and that thing is a pain to wash) I curled the ribs so one went to the inside of the other and cooked for the recommended time of 25min. I used a little less liquid to avoid going over the max fill line but I doubled the BBQ sauce and obviously I dry rubbed both racks. They came out perfect.” I hope that helps.
I so happen to have some Apple cider. Can I use that instead of Apple juice?
Hi Jenny! I think that would be fine.
I Don’t have an Instant Pot. Can I bake or broil rib in the oven?
Hi LoriAnn. I recommend my other recipe Fall off the bone ribs for that.
This is the BEST recipe ever for ribs. I’ve always had problems with ribs coming out tough or dry, not with this recipe. The ribs fall of the bone as I remove them from the instant pot and are so tender. Thank you for sharing this recipe
Do you have one for pulled chicken using the instant pot?
Hi Susan! I’m so glad you loved this recipe. I do not have a recipe for pulled chicken in an instant pot.
ok….first time I’ll be making ribs in IP. Following only uour recipe/directions. Gonna be my christmas holiday treat formyself.
Hi John! I hope you love the recipe! Let us know how it turns out.
Natasha I love every one of your recipes that I have tried. I tried the rib recipe tonight and it was delicious. Just wondering if next time, I could use maybe half of the apple juice. It seemed like a lot of juice. I also love all of your fun videos. So fun to watch.
Hi Shawna, great to hear that you’ve been enjoying our recipes. I have not tested that to advise but feel free to experiment. We’d love to know how it goes!
What happened to your original recipe? I made your rub from scratch and loved it.
Hi Amie, are you referring to my Smoked Ribs with the Best Glaze recipe possibly?
Hi Nat ! Well I decided on the instant pot ribs. They sound delish and I have never tried making them in the IP so should be interesting because I am not very brave when it comes to using it …..but , I guess if I never use it I won’t get used to it. Anyway , sounds delish..thankyou !!
Hi Lydia! I hope you love this recipe!
I LOVE this recipe!! It was better than the rib restaurant. Than you.
Hi Christine! That’s great to hear.
My family LOVES this recipe and its awesome for weeknights! Add some baked beans, macaroni salad (or potato salad) and cornbread and ready to eat in less than an hour!
That all sounds delicious! I’m so glad you love this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
ok, now that was a great recipe! I have only done ribs once in the InstaPot. The totally fell apart! it was awesome! Another Great Recipe Natasha! Thank you!
Hi Debbie! That’s great. So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Hi Natasha, love your recipes. I want to try this rib recipe and I didn’t see this mentioned in the reviews. Are these fall off the bone tender? My husband has missing teeth and can only eat ribs if they are almost tender to the point they are easy to shred. I was wondering if I could increase the cooking time to achieve this result. Thank you
Hi Jackie! This recipe makes for tender ribs, but yes, you may increase the cook time if you would like to. I had a few readers mention they cooked them a bit longer by preference.
Love the flavor, but personally like more resistance between the meat and the bone, can I steam the ribs 15 minutes or less to get the same results?
Hi Guy, You are welcome to test that out! If you do, please let me know how you like it!
Hi Natasha. Love your recipes and all the video. You and your husband are very creative. I travel a lot and have to prep meal for the family. What would be the freezing and defrost instructions for this recipe. Is it possible to include freezing instructions for other recipes as well?
Hi Ludmila! Thank you for sharing that. I’m so glad you are loving my recipes. If I have tested freezing a recipe, I will include instructions in the blog post. Some of my recipes have this note, if not, then likely I have not tested it to advise.
For this recipe specific, see my note in the blog above under “Can I Use Frozen Ribs?” This would be helpful for meal prep.
Also- be sure to check the comment section on my recipe. Many of my readers will share their experiment with the recipe if they freeze, defrost, etc. I hope that helps.
I’m never sure whether to leave the rack in the bottom of the pot or not. Can I assume if you do not say to put the rack I don’t put it in ? I’m just starting with using recipes so it isn’t obvious to me. This recipe was delicious.
Hi Angelica! The rack is often times used to elevate food above the liquid. If it has handles, it also serves as a way to help lift your food out of the instant pot. For this recipe, the ribs should all be partially submerged.
I’m glad you loved the recipe! 🙂
I always make applesauce right before I make the ribs and then use the liquid that I drain out of the applesauce to make my ribs. So good and I am using all of the great tasting juice to make one more dish.