Fall Off The Bone Instant Pot BBQ Ribs

For me, a truly great rack of ribs starts with the seasoning, which is why I love my simple homemade sweet and spicy rub. It creates the perfect flavor base for these fall off the bone Instant Pot BBQ ribs. All that flavor gets locked in by the pressure cooker, making every bite amazing. They’re so juicy and flavorful, you’ll be amazed they didn’t take all day to cook.

This pressure cooker ribs recipe takes under an hour start to finish! Talk about an incredible recipe you can make any night of the week.

You can use baby back ribs or spare ribs. They turn out so tender they practically melt in your mouth, and that sticky BBQ finish is just irresistible!

🥩 Ingredients 

✔️Ribs – For this recipe, we are using baby back ribs which are coming from the higher portion of the back of the pig. You can also use spare ribs which come from the lower part of the back.

The spare ribs are the most common ones seen at the grocery store. Both of these will fit perfectly in the Instant Pot. 

✔️Red Wine Vinegar – Wine vinegars are fermented wines that allow you to up the flavor with no additional calories or fat. You can always use a wine white vinegar as a substitute here. 

✔️Honey BBQ Sauce – This adds a bit more sweetness to the ribs versus a traditional BBQ sauce. By all means, use your favorite!

✔️Homemade Dry Rub – I made this simple but perfectly balanced rub with common herbs and spices. It take a few minutes to put together and totally worth it. I used brown sugar, garlic salt, seasoned salt, seasoned pepper, onion powder, chili powder, ground mustard, cumin, Italian seasoning, and paprika.

🥔 Ingredients For Garlic Mashed Potatoes (Optional)

This is my family’s favorite side for these fall off the bone Instant Pot ribs. The creamy garlic mash is just amazing with that sweet and spicy BBQ sauce. You’ll need just a few ingredients:

• Potatoes
• Half & Half
• Butter
• Fresh Garlic
• Garlic Salt
• Salt & Pepper

🍽️ Instructions

This is one of those meals that you won’t soon forget. Incredibly, you can make ribs in your Instant Pot, and it’s genuinely so easy.

Homemade Dry Rub

This is your homemade dry rub that you will slather on ribs. You can opt for a store bought mix, but I promise this rub is worth the couple of minutes it takes to mix together.

👉Measure and mix together the brown sugar, garlic salt, seasoned salt, seasoned pepper, onion powder, chili powder, ground mustard, cumin, Italian seasoning, and paprika in a small bowl. Combine well and set aside.

Instant Pot Ribs

👉Step 1: Remove the membrane from the underside of the ribs by grabbing one corner and pulling it off. It should come off as one single sheet. You need to remove the white membrane or it will cause your ribs to be chewy.

👉Step 2: Add the rub to both sides of the ribs. Use your hands and make sure to get a nice even coating.

👉Step 3: Pour in the chicken broth and red wine vinegar in the Instant Pot. Add the metal trivet to the pressure cooker and add in the ribs. Bend the ribs to follow the shape of the Instant Pot and form a circle.

👉Step 4: Then, add the lid to the pressure cooker and make sure the valve is in the sealing position. Cook on MANUAL for 25 minutes and let the pressure release naturally.

Allowing a natural release will give the ribs the best flavor and texture possible. Remove the lid once all the pressure has been released, and the float valve is in the down position. 

👉Step 5: Line a baking dish with heavy aluminum foil. Place the ribs on the dish and add the barbecue sauce.

Coat them well with sauce and broil for 5-6 minutes or until the ribs are caramelized. Take the ribs out of the oven and add some more sauce. 

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

While the ribs are cooking, prepare the garlic mashed potatoes.

👉Step 1: Peel 3-4 pounds of white potatoes and chop them into pieces. Put the potatoes in a roaster pan and add cold water.

Sprinkle in two tablespoons of salt. Cook on high and boil for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are fork-tender. 

👉Step 2: Drain all but 1/4 of the water from the potatoes. Leave the potatoes in the pan.

👉Step 3: Mash them with a potato masher. Add a stick of butter, one tablespoon of minced garlic, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, one tablespoon of garlic salt, and one teaspoon of coarse ground black pepper.

👉Step 4: Stir the garlic mashed potatoes well and keep them on low. Keep them covered until you are ready to serve. 

👉Step 5: Add the ribs on top of the mashed potatoes. Serve with some homemade breadsticks and some of your favorite barbecue sauce. Enjoy hot!

🍱 Meal Prep Tips

🔸If you are meal prepping, prepare the seasoning ahead of time. Keep it in a sealed jar for several weeks.

🔸The night before cooking, add the seasoning to the ribs and keep them refrigerated. This will save you time to prepare the meal.

🔸Another option is to cook the ribs and mashed potatoes the day before. Then, save them both in the fridge for up to 4 days.

♨️ Reheating

Reheat by covering with a paper towel and warming in the microwave. It’s that easy! I often make this on Sunday evenings to have it for Monday when I know that work and school will make my evening challenging.

🍴 Variations 

While our family adores the classic sweet and spicy BBQ flavor of this recipe, it’s also a fantastic base for experimenting! Here are a few of our other favorite flavor combinations that work beautifully with this Instant Pot method.

⚡Sweet honey garlic ribs – For a sticky, savory (and less smoky) rib, try this! Use a simpler dry rub of just garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Then, when it’s time for the broiler, brush the ribs with a glaze made from ¼ cup honey, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and a clove of minced garlic. Broil until it’s bubbly and caramelized.

⚡Memphis-style dry rub ribs – If your family isn’t big on saucy ribs, this is a delicious way to go. Be extra generous with the sweet and spicy dry rub before you cook them. After they come out of the Instant Pot, pat them dry with a paper towel and skip the BBQ sauce entirely. Just pop them under the broiler for 3-4 minutes to get a fantastic, crispy, seasoned “bark” on the outside.

⚡Tangy Carolina-style ribs – For a completely different (and wonderfully tangy) BBQ experience, go for a mustard-based flavor. You can add a tablespoon of mustard powder to your dry rub. Then, instead of a traditional red BBQ sauce, finish the ribs under the broiler with your favorite Carolina-style gold (mustard-based) BBQ sauce.

📌 Recipe Tips

After you learn how to make ribs in the Instant Pot, it will become a favorite, especially during those cold winter months when you don’t want to spend time at the grill.

Here are a few tips for cooking ribs in the pressure cooker to give you the best results. 

⭐Don’t put too many ribs in the Instant Pot. It’s important not to put more than two racks of ribs in the pot at a time. Any more than that and they won’t be able to cook properly. If you need to make a lot, then work in batches or get a second Instant Pot. We all need a second one at some point, right?

⭐It’s important to put in the trivet in the bottom of the pot. If you skip this step there is a strong chance that the ribs will burn to the bottom of the pot. Then you will end up with a burnt mess. Let’s not ask me how I learned that lesson, ok?  

⭐Don’t skip out on broiling. The pressure cooker will make them tender and juicy, but broiling them will give them that caramelized deliciousness we all crave! 

❓FAQ

Related Recipes: 

Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with me through social media by following me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!