These Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs are fall off the bone tender! Bursting with flavor, these ribs taste like they were made at your favorite BBQ joint! Make the best pork ribs in under an hour with your pressure cooker.
Easy Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs
Who doesn’t love a good fall of the bones rack of baby back ribs! When I was younger I used to be obsessed with baby back ribs from a local restaurant called Dustin’s. My parents and I used to go there what seemed to be once a week and I always got the ribs.
Fast forward a whole bunch of years and now these ribs rival them! Or dare I say these Instant Pot baby back ribs are BETTER!
These pressure cooker ribs are a great recipe if you’re entertaining a few friends or if you just want finger licking good BBQ for dinner. This recipe serves 4, so we both had leftovers for lunch the next day!
If you love these baby back ribs in the Instant Pot, you need to check out these Instant Pot Beef Back Ribs. These baby back ribs pair nicely with this Instant Pot Mashed Cauliflower. You can make it while the ribs are getting their sauce glazed under the broiler!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Make tender baby back ribs in less than an hour! The pressure cooker not only makes the ribs super tender, but it speeds up the cooking time!
- Easy Recipe – No worrying about boiling ribs on the stove and then cooking them on the grill and watching them constantly. These ribs cook effortlessly in the Instant Pot!
- Save money! Making restaurant quality ribs at home for a fraction of the cost. This recipe is made with simple ingredients that you most likely already have in your pantry (besides the ribs).
These ribs were legit falling off the bone! See picture below for reference 🙂
The best thing about these ribs, besides how amazingly delicious they are is that they take hardly any time at all to prepare or cook!
These pork ribs are simply cooked in the Instant Pot and then slathered with your favorite BBQ sauce and then finished under the broiler for a few minutes to get that delicious caramelized BBQ sauce.
Ingredients
- 3-3.5 pounds of baby back ribs
- 1/2 cup water
- homemade dry rub: coarse salt, black pepper, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder
- 1/2 cup keto BBQ sauce or your favorite barbecue sauce
- OPTIONALLY you can add in a 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar or apple juice in with the water
Best Instant Pot Ribs
I made these ribs low carb by using a homemade rib rub and using my keto homemade BBQ sauce. If you’re not worried about making them low carb, you can add brown sugar to your rib rub.
If you want to add a little spice, add in a little bit of chili powder or cayenne pepper to the rib rub.
Tips and Tricks
Some people swear that you need to remove the membrane from the back of the ribs to make them “fall off the bone tender.” This is false.
I never remove the silver skin or membrane from my baby back ribs. My method for making baby back ribs in the electric pressure cooker always produces fall off the bone ribs.
Once you use my recipe, you’ll use it over and over again to make Instant Pot BBQ Ribs. And if you decide to do beef ribs, you can use this same method and just add 4 additional minutes to the cooking time.
Equipment Needed
- Instant Pot – I used this 6 quart Instant Pot but any 6 or 8 quart Instant Pot will work
- Baking Sheet
- Aluminum Foil
- Tongs
- Instant Pot Trivet
How to Make Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs
- First make the Pork Rib Rub: Combine all of the spices into a small bowl and mix.
- Season the pork ribs. Blot the ribs with a paper towel to absorb any moisture. Next, coat pork ribs evenly with spice mixture all over the top of the ribs.
- Insert the Trivet. Put the trivet and 1/2 cup of water and optional apple cider vinegar into the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Insert the ribs. Place the raw baby back ribs into the Instant Pot, curling the rack of ribs or slicing it in half so it’ll fit into the Instant Pot.
- Set the Instant Pot. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the knob is set to sealed. Hit “manual” then select “high” and change time to 18 minutes.
- Natural Pressure release. Once the timer is up, allow the Instant Pot to perform an 10 minute “natural release.” Meaning once the cooking timer is up, allow the pressure to dissipate from the Instant Pot by itself. Once the timer reaches 10 minutes, manually or “quick release” the rest of the pressure by carefully switching the knob to open.
- Broil the ribs. Turn your oven to broil (high). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. With tongs transfer the cooked baby back ribs to the baking sheet.
- Baste the Ribs with BBQ sauce. Generously coat your ribs with barbecue sauce. I use this homemade keto BBQ sauce. Then place the ribs under the broiler for 6-7 minutes or until the barbecue sauce starts to caramelize.
- Remove the ribs from the oven and coat with a little more BBQ sauce if desired.
Best dry rub for ribs
Step by step photos how to make Baby Backs Ribs in an Instant Pot
How to Reheat Baby Back Ribs
These Instant Pot baby back ribs are perfect to have leftovers for lunch the next day! Simply reheat them in the microwave for 1.5 minutes.
Or if you want that nice caramelized barbecue sauce on your ribs, place them in your oven or air fryer to reheat. I would try 400F for 5 minutes in the air fryer and closer to 10 minutes in the oven.
What to serve with these Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs
When I think of pairings for ribs, I think of my favorite BBQ joint back home. They would serve their baby back ribs with baked beans, sweet potatoes and delicious garlic bread.
But if you’re here on my blog you are probably looking for healthy sides to serve with ribs. Below are some easy and delicious sides for baby back ribs.
- Roasted Garlic Parmesan Asparagus
- Instant Pot Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower
- Air Fryer Broccolini
- Instant Pot Cauliflower
More Ribs Recipes to try!
If you loved these easy baby back ribs recipe in the Instant Pot, check out these other delicious rib recipes.
- Instant Pot Beef Ribs
- Slow Cooker Hawaiian Ribs
- Instant Pot Ribs with Bourbon BBQ Sauce
- Pork Spare Ribs
- Braised Beef Short Ribs
More Instant Pot Recipes to enjoy
If you’re obsessed with your Instant Pot like me, check out these other easy Instant Pot recipes.
- Instant Pot Mashed Cauliflower
- Instant Pot Chicken Curry
- Instant Pot Beef Brisket
- Instant Pot Shredded Chicken breast
- Instant Pot Keto Cheesecake
- Easy Instant Pot Shredded Chicken Thighs
- Instant Pot Whole Spaghetti Squash
Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Small trivet for Instant Pot
- Cookie Sheet
- Aluminum Foil
- Tongs
Ingredients
- 3.5 pounds of baby back ribs
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 cup keto BBQ sauce or favorite BBQ sauce
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar optionally in addition to the 1/2 cup of water
Instructions
- First combine all of the spice ingredients into a small bowl.
- Coat pork ribs evenly with dry rub.
- Put the trivet and 1/2 cup of water into the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Place the raw baby back ribs into the Instant Pot, curling it or slicing it in half so it’ll fit into the Instant Pot.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the knob is set to sealed. Hit “manual” then select “high” and change time to 18 minutes.
- Allow the Instant Pot to perform an 10 minute "natural pressure release."
- Turn your oven to broil (high). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. After 10 minutes, carefully release the rest of the pressure. Next, with tongs transfer the cooked baby back ribs to the baking sheet.
- Generously coat your ribs with barbecue sauce. I use this homemade keto BBQ sauce. Then place the ribs under the broiler for 6-7 minutes or until the barbecue sauce starts to caramelize.
- Remove the ribs from the oven and coat with a little more BBQ sauce if desired.
Notes
- Place ribs on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for 1.5-2 minutes
- Place ribs in your air fryer, preheat to 390F and cook for 3-4 minutes
Nutrition
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