Instant Pot Beef Ribs. Dinosaur-sized beef back ribs, Texas BBQ Style, fall-off-the-bone tender thanks to pressure cooking in my Instant Pot.
BBQ beef ribs are a rare treat. The long bone "back" ribs are not as widely available as pork ribs, or even beef short ribs. I order them automatically when I see them at a barbecue joint. If a place is selling beef back ribs, odds are they do it out of love, not just to round out the menu. When I want to make them at home, and I don't have the time for real-deal barbecue, I cook them in a fraction of the time in my Instant Pot.
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Beef back ribs are the bones from a rib roast - that is, a prime rib. They are often called “dinosaur ribs” - the bones are enormous compared to pork ribs. There are 7 bones in a rack of beef back ribs, but my local grocery stores usually sell them cut into 4 bone lengths. That is, when I can find them. They’re not in the meat case that often. I can usually find them during ribeye roast sales when the butcher is trimming them from the roast to make the boneless cut. Or, I special order them. (Asking for back ribs will probably get you one-on-one time with your butcher; he’ll want to find out who’s asking for this rare cut, and why. That's great! Chat up your butcher - It's always good to know who cuts your meat. Start by asking how he cooks beef ribs.)
When I’m cooking back ribs, I like to emphasize the beef flavor. (The bones are my favorite part of the prime rib, after all.) I serve them with a simple Texas-style dry rub, equal parts salt, black pepper, and Ancho chili pepper. I don’t use barbecue sauce; again, I don’t want to cover up the beefy flavor. If you can't imagine eating ribs without sauce, look for a Texas-style sauce to pair with them.
Looking for different ribs? For pork ribs, try my BBQ Instant Pot Ribs recipe, or my Instant Pot Baby Back Ribs recipe. For a beef short rib recipe, try Instant Pot BBQ Braised Short Ribs, or Instant Pot Boneless Short Ribs.
Ingredients
- Beef back ribs
- Fine sea salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- Ancho chili powder
See the recipe card for quantities.
How to cook Instant Pot Beef Back Ribs
Season the ribs and put them in the pressure cooker
Mix the salt, pepper, and Ancho chili powder in a small bowl to make a spice rub. Sprinkle both sides of the ribs with the rub. Pour ½ cup of water into an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. Stack the ribs loosely in the pressure cooker, bone side down.
Pressure cook the ribs for 25 minutes with a Natural Release
Pressure cook on high pressure for 25 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker, or for 20 minutes in a stovetop PC. (Use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook - Custom mode in an Instant Pot.) After the cooking time, let the pressure come down naturally until the pressure valve drops, about 15 more minutes.
Broil the ribs (optional)
Put the ribs bone side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Broil the ribs on high until the meat starts to crackle and brown, about 5 minutes. (Broilers are all over the place, heat wise, so keep an eye on them.) Remove the ribs from the broiler and serve.
Tips and Tricks
Back Ribs vs Spare Ribs vs Short Ribs
What type of ribs should you use? This recipe will work with beef back ribs or beef spare ribs. (Beef short ribs are different, and should follow my Instant Pot short ribs recipe ). Beef back ribs are easier to find, because they are the bones that cover a prime rib roast; if a butcher wants to cut a boneless rib roast, they cut away the back ribs. Spare ribs are from the lower part of the ribcage, over the plate cut. Beef spare ribs are not as common in grocery stores, but work great in this recipe if you can find them…and if you can fit them in your pot, since they tend to be longer than back ribs.
Beef Rib Size
The big trick to pressure cooker beef back ribs is the length of the bones. (There’s a reason they have the dinosaur ribs nickname.) If you get particularly long cut bones, they might not fit in the cooker. I cut the ribs into 2-bone pieces to help them fit, and I don’t worry if they stack up beyond the “max fill” line - there is plenty of airspace in the pot to build up the pressure. But if you have an 8-quart Instant Pot, use it; the large pot helps with this recipe.
Cutting between every other bone
A rack of beef back ribs has 7 bones; it’s fine if cutting into 2-bone pieces leaves one of them as a 1-bone piece. (My local stores stock back ribs in 4-bone packs, so splitting them into 2-bone pieces is easy.)
Broil for some extra browning
The ribs are good straight out of the cooker, tender and falling off the bone, but the extra five minutes under the broiler adds a nice, crispy bark to the outside. I don’t skip that step unless I’m in a huge hurry.
A Bit of Heat
I like the subtle hint of heat the Ancho chile powder brings to this recipe. If you want to really bring the heat with your ribs, add ¼ to ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper to the spices before you sprinkle them on the ribs.
BBQ Sauce?
Like I said above, I try to emphasize the beef in my beef ribs, so I don't sauce them. (It's a Texas-style thing.) If you want BBQ sauce on your ribs, save it for after cooking. After removing them from the pressure cooker, brush the ribs with your favorite BBQ sauce. If you're doing the broiling step, broil until the sauce starts to bubble, then take the ribs out of the broiler and brush them with another layer of sauce before serving. (Can I recommend my own homemade barbecue sauce recipe ?)
Do you use a rack?
I don't use a rack when I'm cooking ribs. The bones act as a natural rack, lifting the ribs off the bottom of the pot. They also release enough liquid that the lower third of the ribs are underwater after cooking, even with the rack.
What to serve with Instant Pot Beef Ribs
I like to serve these ribs with Texas BBQ side dishes like my Instant Pot Collard Greens Instant Pot Mustard Potato Salad. Other condiments to serve with the ribs are thin-sliced onion, pickle chips, and a bottle of hot sauce for sprinkling at the table. (And if I'm feeling like too much muchness is not enough, I'll serve my Instant Pot Loaded Mashed Potatoes recipe with these ribs.)
Print
Instant Pot Beef Ribs Recipe
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 2-bone portions 1x
Description
Instant Pot Beef Ribs. Dinosaur-sized beef back ribs, Texas BBQ Style, fall-off-the-bone tender thanks to pressure cooking in my Instant Pot.
Ingredients
- 7 to 8 bones of beef back ribs (about 3 pounds), cut into 2-bone pieces
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Ancho chili powder
Instructions
- Season the ribs and put them in the Instant Pot: Mix the salt, pepper, and Ancho chili powder in a small bowl to make a spice rub. Sprinkle both sides of the ribs with the rub. Pour ½ cup of water into an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. Stack the ribs loosely in the pressure cooker, bone side down.
- Pressure cook the ribs for 25 minutes with a Natural Pressure Release: Pressure cook on high pressure for 25 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker, or for 20 minutes in a stovetop PC. (Use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook - Custom mode in an Instant Pot.) After the cooking time, let the pressure come down naturally until the pressure valve drops, about 15 more minutes. (You can quick release any remaining pressure after 15 minutes.)
- Broil the ribs (optional): Put the ribs bone side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Broil the ribs on high until the meat starts to crackle and brown, about 5 minutes. (Broilers are all over the place, heat wise, so keep an eye on them.) Remove the ribs from the broiler and serve.
Equipment
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Notes
A rack of beef back ribs has 7 bones; it’s fine if cutting into 2-bone pieces leaves one of them as a 1-bone piece. (My local stores stock back ribs in 4-bone packs, so splitting them into 2-bone pieces is easy.)
The ribs are good straight out of the cooker, tender and falling off the bone, but the extra five minutes under the broiler adds a nice, crispy bark to the outside. I don’t skip that step unless I’m in a huge hurry.
If you do want to sauce your ribs, brush the ribs with BBQ sauce right before the broiling step.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Sunday Dinner
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Instant Pot, Pressure Cooker, Beef Ribs, Beef Back Ribs, Beef Spare Ribs
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Pressure Cooker Baby Back Ribs
Pressure Cooker Pork Western Shoulder Ribs with BBQ Rub and Sauce
Pressure Cooker St. Louis Cut Spareribs
My other Pressure Cooker Recipes
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Travis says
Those turned out damned good. I needed to salt them a bit more. I cut them into individual bones to get more surface area during the roasting step. I think the roasting is key, came out sizzling with a little crispiness.
Also cooked lentils in the pressure cooker the same time (saute in oil 1/4 onion, add some crushed cloves of garlic, 1 cup dry lentis, 3 cups water). The lentils sucked up some of that beef fat and came out incredible.
George says
I follow your recipe for pork St Louis ribs and leave them on for the extra time that you noted afterwards to make them extra tender and fall off the bone. Do you recommend the same here for these Beef back ribs? Or is 20 mins enough on the stove top?
Mike Vrobel says
I haven't tried it with beef ribs, but they cook quicker than pork ribs, so I'd suggest adding 10 minutes to the "under high pressure" cooking time and see how that goes. If you try it, let me know!
George says
Made these last weekend and they were so good. Added 10 minutes and they almost fell right off the bone when I pulled them out so I think 8 extra minutes would be perfect. Thanks for the great pressure cooker recipes. It’s so much easier than smoking these things for 6-8 hours.
★★★★★
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome!
Virginia says
I only have chile de arbol peppers on hand which I can grind down in my food processor or a regular american chili powder as options. Have you tried with either of these? Would the effect on the flavor be very significant?
Mike Vrobel says
The regular chili powder is the better option - Chile de Arbol are a LOT hotter than the Ancho I recommend. Or, just skip the chili powder, and add extra black pepper.
Randall says
Question, what is the cook on the ribs, like medium or well done? Thanks
Mike Vrobel says
It's like barbecue, past well done into fall-apart tender.
Randall says
Thanks
Clayton says
I've made your Pressure Cooker Beef Back Ribs Texas BBQ Style recipe twice and it turned out perfectly each time. They were so tender and so flavorful and oh so popular. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Mike Vrobel says
You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoy it.
Jennifer says
I APPRECIATE the precise and quick detail in your post. Like: (“Manual” or “Pressure Cook” mode in an Instant Pot.)
It instills confidence! Thank you!
★★★★★
Mike Vrobel says
You’re welcome, I’m glad it helps!
JR says
I was searching for suggestions on how to cook beef ribs. The suggestions here are perfect! I will be cooking my beef ribs in my pressure cooker using beer rather than water. ( I would prefer red wine, but don’t have any right now. I usually buy a bottle and divide into separate containers and put in the freezer for this purpose, as well as using in my spaghetti sauce). I will put my ribs on my outdoor grill on low with our favorite Jim Beam BBQ sauce.
Mike Vrobel says
Good luck!
Mike Vrobel says
Thanks!
★★★★★
Kathi says
Absolutely can not wait to try these in the pressure cooker, I have become quite the pro with the pork ribs, but this Texan is missing her beef ribs, not sure why the rest of the country loves pork so much, sorry but I am a beef eater and I came here to see if I could sub beef ribs in the instapot recipe I had and looks like I can but Im going to go with your recipe here instead and yes, no reason to hide the taste of good beef with sauce, that's just a dipper if you need.....mmmm off to the store now for some good old beef ribs, stuck far away from Texas now!
Olga says
Instead of broiling, could I use the air fryer lip from my 8 qt Instant Pot? How many minutes would I need?
Thanks, I love your recipes!
Mike Vrobel says
Yes, you can use the air fryer - but I've never tried it, so I don't know how long. If you do try it, let me know how it goes.
Bobby says
Mike - I made this today and the meat was delicious, but there was a tough, chewy membrane on the meat where it met the bone - not the back side, which I removed, but between the meat and the bone. Did I get a bad batch of ribs or cook them incorrectly?
Mike Vrobel says
No, you did it right - I think that membrane around eCh rib is just the way beef ribs work.
Linda says
I had 8 ribs in my freezer from last Christmas. Made these tonight. Delicious. Truly fall off the bone. I did add about 1/4 cup Of water with Liquid smoke to pressure cooker. Cooked for 28 minutes slathered with our fave bbq sauce and broiled for about 7 minutes. Will definitely make again.
Lori says
do you stack the ribs on a trivet/basket or just stack them on top the the water in the bottom of the Instant Pot?
Mike Vrobel says
Either way works; the ribs act as a natural rack, so I usually just pile them into the pot, rib side down.
Randen Longwell says
thanks for the intel. gonna whip it up tomorrow.
★★★★★
Tammy says
Trying these tonight but using two different rubs in 2 different instapots! I received a ninja foodie for Christmas, and am thinking I may brown them in it. I'll let you know how they turn out! Thank you for the pointers....I had no clue about this type of ribs!
Nick says
I do not have an oven with a broiler. Believe me I'm as sad as you are for me. I do however have a grill. Would grilling them bone side up be an adequate substitute? In your opinion.
Mike Vrobel says
Yes, that works.