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Instant Pot Beef Back Ribs

Instant Pot Beef Back Ribs with a dry rub and made in the Instant Pot using apple cider vinegar as the liquid.  This summertime favorite is easy from start to finish and delicious.

These ribs are finished in the oven for a crispy texture and coated with your favorite BBQ sauce.

Instant Pot Beef Ribs on a large white platter with a side of baked potato and corn.

RELATED: Instant Pot BBQ Beef Brisket

Preparing the Ribs

To prepare the ribs, you will need to remove the membrane from the back of the ribs.  It is easy to do this by finding the thickest part of the membrane and peeling it away from the ribs.

Using a paper towel to grip the membrane makes it a little easier to keep ahold of.  After removing the membrane, rub the dry ingredients over the ribs and cover to refrigerate for at least an hour.  This gives the ribs a chance to absorb the spices.

The longer the ribs sit with the seasonings the more flavorful they will be!  After cooking the ribs in the Instant Pot, remove them and lay them on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Baste the desired amount of BBQ sauce of your choice on the ribs and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

RELATED: Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs

Instant Pot Beef Back Ribs BBQ Sauce with a grey background with a red checkered napkin.

Accessories Needed for Instant Pot Ribs:

Instant Pot - 6 quarts at least so that the ribs will fit.

Trivet (Or balled up aluminum foil to elevate ribs from liquid)

Basting Brush

Ingredients in Beef Back Ribs

  • Beef back rib rack - with the membrane removed
  • Paprika
  • Onion Powder
  • Garlic Powder
  • Granulated Sugar
  • Dry Mustard
  • Cayenne Pepper
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Apple cider vinegar
  • BBQ sauce - your choice!

Instant Pot Ribs

One thing I love about my Instant Pot is its ability to make meat super tender and fall off the bone in very little time.  These ribs are pressure cooked for just 25 minutes and they're so tender!

To make these ribs crispy, they do require oven time to reach the much-desired crispiness when eating ribs.  I use apple cider vinegar as the liquid for the ribs versus water for a very good reason - water tends to make meat bland when pressure cooking.

By adding the apple cider vinegar, the flavors infuse into the meat instead of taking flavors away.  In fact, I rarely use water as the liquid of choice in most of my recipes!

This Instant Pot Beef Back Ribs recipe does use apple cider vinegar as the liquid of choice. 

If you're not a fan of a strong vinegar flavor, swap out some of the apple cider vinegar for beef broth, water, or even alcohol.  You want to make sure you have one cup of liquid for the pot to come to pressure. You can choose your combination of liquids for this step.

RELATED: Instant Pot Root Beer Pulled Pork

Make More Ribs

Have more than 1 rack of ribs to make?  No problem!  You can fit more than one rack of ribs in the Instant Pot and you don't even have to adjust the cooking time!!

Of course, you will want to double the ingredients to make 2 racks at once to maximize the flavor but no additional steps! You don't need to double the liquid in the pot however, that will stay the same! So double all the ingredients except for the liquids that create the pressure in the Instant Pot.

RELATED: Instant Pot Beef Barbacoa Tacos

📖 Recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Instant Pot Beef Back Ribs

Instant Pot Beef Back Ribs BBQ Sauce

Beef Back Ribs with a dry rub and made in the Instant Pot with apple cider vinegar.  These ribs are finished in the oven with BBQ sauce to add a crispy texture 

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Natural Release 15 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. Remove membrane from the beef back ribs.
  2. In a small bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and blend well.
  3. Rub the dry ingredients evenly to coat the ribs.
  4. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour - even longer for more flavor.
  5. Preheat oven to 450°
  6. Place trivet inside the inner liner of the Instant Pot.
  7. Place the rib rack inside the pot, curving the ribs to make them fit.
  8. Pour the apple cider vinegar into the middle of the pot.
  9. Close the lid and the vent, cook on MANUAL for 25 minutes.
  10. Allow pot to perform a NATURAL RELEASE for 15 minutes.
  11. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lay the ribs onto the foil.
  12. Baste with the desired amount of BBQ sauce and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes (depending on the desired amount of crispiness).

Notes

After feedback, the option for reducing the vinegar flavor by subbing water for part of the apple cider vinegar has been added to the ingredient list.

A natural release is very important when pressure cooking meats. If your ribs are more thick than usual, please are an additional 3-5 minutes pressure cooking time.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1 grams

Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g

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Instant Pot Beef Back Ribs 2

John P

Monday 10th of July 2023

For cooking 2 rib racks, would you recommend doubling the seasoning and vinegar amount?

Dana

Monday 10th of July 2023

There is no need to double the liquids but you can double the seasoning for both racks.

Jenn S

Wednesday 17th of May 2023

Awesome recipe!! Ribs were so tender, flavorful, and so so easy. This will be on the menu again. Used 1/2c ACV, 1/2c water as recommended.

Juli Greenberg

Sunday 14th of May 2023

Delicious! Only used 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar with 1/2 cup water. Super easy and a big hit. Thanks for this great recipe.

gary

Friday 16th of September 2022

Turned out great! thanks

Annette Barnes

Monday 5th of September 2022

These are so easy and delicious! We were eating in under an hour!!! I used the traeger instead of the oven.

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