Pressure Cooker Short Ribs
Short ribs, braised until they are melt-in-your mouth pieces of beefy goodness, are one of my favorite meals. But they are a little finicky for a home cook.
*I had Michael Symon’s short ribs at Lola’s, years ago. It is one of the best meals I’ve ever had at a restaurant, and I’ve been working on my short ribs at home ever since.
Part of why they are so delicious is they are loaded with fat. When cooking short ribs, there has to be a plan to get rid of the fat, or the ribs and the sauce will be much too greasy. Once again, the pressure cooker comes to the rescue.
Trimming the fat
Why pressure cook short ribs? First, they’re done with 25 minutes under pressure, instead of the 3 to 4 hours of simmering they would need. Pressure cooking seems to break down the collagen in the meat better as well – I like how tender the ribs are after pressure cooking.
*Thanks to the pressure cooker, all the collagen from the bones winds up in the sauce as well. The sauce, once it is defatted, is rich, luxurious, and full of beef flavor.
Finally, there is the fat issue. The best way to get rid of all the extra fat is to cook the short ribs, then refrigerate them overnight in their sauce. The fat will come to the surface and congeal into an easily removed fat cap. This is where the shortened cooking time from the pressure cooker really comes in handy. I can make my short ribs in about an hour, end to end, the night before I want to serve them. I make them while I clean up tonight’s dinner, and they are ready to go for dinner tomorrow.
*Don’t have a pressure cooker? No problem. See the Variations section for non-pressure cooking options.
Video
Video: Pressure Cooker Short Ribs – Time Lapse [YouTube.com]
Recipe: Pressure Cooker Short Ribs
Equipment:
- Pressure Cooker (I use a Instant Pot Duo electric
pressure cooker)
- Fat separator (You need a big one
, at least 4 cups in size).
Pressure Cooker Short Ribs
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
Description
Pressure Cooker Short Ribs recipe – meltingly tender short ribs from the pressure cooker – replace hours of simmering with minutes of pressure cooking.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 4 pounds beef short ribs, each rib about 2 1/2 inches thick
- 2 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 cup red wine (Preferably a fruity blend, like a Cote du Rhone)
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 1 1/2 cups water (or chicken broth)
Instructions
- Season and sear the ribs in two batches: Trim the fat on the top of the short ribs. Season the ribs with 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Heat 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil over medium-high heat in your pressure cooker pot (sauté mode in my electric pressure cooker). Brown the ribs in batches without crowding the pot. (4 pounds of ribs is three batches in my electric pressure cooker). Sear each batch of ribs on three sides – skip the bone side – until well browned, about 3 minutes a side or 9 minutes for each batch. Remove the browned ribs to a bowl. Once all the ribs are browned, pour out the extra fat, leaving 1 tablespoon of fat in the bottom of the pot.
- Saute the aromatics: Add the onion, garlic, and tomato paste to the pot, and then sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Saute until the onions are softened, about 5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot to loosen the browned bits of meat into the onions. Add the wine to the pot, bring the wine to a simmer, and simmer for 1 minute. Scrape the bottom of the pot one last time, to make sure nothing is sticking. Add thyme sprigs, the ribs and any juices in the bowl, and the water to the pot.
- Pressure cook the ribs: lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Bring the pressure cooker to high pressure and pressure cook at high pressure for 45 minutes in an electric PC, or 35 minutes in a stovetop PC. Let the pressure to come down naturally, about 15 minutes more.
- Prepare the sauce: Remove the ribs to a serving platter with a slotted spoon. Pour the sauce into a fat separator, let it rest for a few minutes to let the fat rise to the surface. Pour a little of the the defatted sauce over the ribs and serve, passing the rest of the sauce at the table.
Notes
If you have the time, refrigerate the ribs overnight to help remove the fat. After cooking, let the ribs cool to room temperature, then refrigerate overnight, or up to 3 days. This will let the fat rise to the surface and solidify. To serve, lift the solid fat from the ribs, then reheat the ribs over medium heat on the stove.
- Category: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Notes:
- Don’t have a pressure cooker? Replace step 3 with: Put the ingredients in a dutch oven and bring to a boil. Cover the dutch oven, and move to a 325°F oven. Cook in the oven for 2 to 3 hours, until the ribs are tender. Remove from the oven, and continue with step 4.
- If you want to speed up the browning, use two pans. I brown one batch in the pressure cooker while I brown another batch in a fry pan. Then, I saute the onions in the pressure cooker, while I heat up the water (or chicken broth) in the fry pan. This loosens up the browned bits in the fry pan, so I get their flavor in the final stew.
- Thin ribs: My grocery store usually sells ribs that are 2 to 2 1/2 inches thick…but sometimes they are thinner, more like 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick. When this happens, I cut the time under pressure down to 30 minutes electric PC/25 minutes stovetop PC.
Thin ribs – these should only go for 30 minutes
What do you think? Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts:
Pressure Cooker Chinese Pork with Plum Sauce
Pressure Cooker Chicken Stock (the best way to get chicken stock for this recipe)
My other Pressure Cooker Recipes
Adapted from:
Lorna Sass Pressure Perfect
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do you adjust your pressure cooker timings for grass-fed beef? thanks for the great recipes!
Heidi,
Thanks for the tips – I can always use a new short rib recipe!
Hi, I just recently got a pressure cooker and LOVE it, glad to find your blog 🙂 I’m making this for dinner tonight!
I have a pretty yummy Asian PC short rib on my blog and an awesome short rib risotto…. I’m obsessed with the short rib as well. in case you need an idea or two 😀
You’re welcome – those sound like great changes to the recipe!
oh my golly, this was insanely good. truly melt in your mouth delicious. i used homemade beef bone broth, beer instead of wine (we didn’t have any on hand) and added soy sauce and a touch of honey. so basically, i korean-ized it a little, but used all your instructions for cooking it. thanks so much for this!
Thank you! And good for you, having the patience to brown all six sides of the ribs…unlike me. I get tired of browning after about 10 minutes and say “that’s good enough…”
I love the richness that browning brings, so I brown all 6 sides of the ribs. I’ve also been using white wine for a slightly more delicate, but nonetheless sumptuous sauce. I add the wine to the sauteed aromatics, deglazing the pan, reducing the wine to about half its original volume, then add the broth. Yes, every home should have a pressure cooker!!! We use ours at least weekly chili, beans, chicken, soup, pot roast, many ethnic “slow cook” dishes are completely adaptable. Thanks for your experiences and encouragement.
I’ve been married 3 1/2 times and ALL of the ex’s took off with my pressure cookers, after I taught them how to use one! So, now I am single and found two used pressure cookers (4 qt) with their seals in great shape, in a second hand shop for $8 apiece!! I pressure cooked a cut up 10# turkey to make gravy for a 22# bird! After I ate the bits I wanted off of the big one, I stripped the carcass clean to add to my gravy which is so thick with meat you can eat it with a fork. I LOVE my pressure cookers! No man should be without one.
@Amateur cook:
Thanks for the recipe!
I usually go all the way and make a beef and barley soup using short ribs. I cook the short ribs similarly in the pressure cooker, and then after it is cooked, I remove the lid (after cooker is completely decompressed of pressure), and add the rest of the ingredients (canned crushed tomatoes, fresh tomatoes if available, potatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms (lightly sauteed prior in some oil/butter with onions and garlic), beef bouillon cubes, chili powder, paprika, fresh chopped parsley, and last but not least barley with constant stirring) to turn it into barley soup.
I only use the pressure cooker to cook the short ribs, but cook without the lid for the remaining steps. While your short ribs are cooking, you can prep the other ingredients. There is no need to defat when you use this recipe.
Beef with barley soup freezes very well, and serves as a great backup meal in the winter months.
@wminot:
You’re welcome. I’m glad you liked it!
Thank you!
This is the easiest and best of all the pressure cooker short ribs recipes I’ve tried. The gravy made itself, and the amount of liquid was perfect.
I flour my ribs before searing, and season the four with salt and pepper. Makes a lovely not too thick or thin sauce.
@Marni N:
Pressure Perfect by Lorna Sass is the best introductory cookbook for pressure cooking.
I am new at Pressure cooking …. they scare me.
I need all the help I can get and I was wondering if there are any cookbooks out there, just for “Pressure Cookers/Cooking”
I made my first meal tonight with my electric pc … so far so good. But I would like to try more things ( I made short ribs) expand my repertoire so to speak. Thanks for inspiring me.
I just made these. Wow, they were so good. My family loved them. I was a bit nervous as it was the first time I used a pressure cooker.
@Matt:
Thank you! Pressure cookers are nothing to be afraid of. But…I always get a little worried about the “lock the lid, leave it alone” part. I want to get in there and peek. It took me years before I learned to trust it and let it cook.
@Anne T:
Thank you for the great story! I’m glad my recipe worked so well for you.
Hi Mike, thanks very much for this simple and informative recipe. I feared pressure cookers from my experiences with them growing up – Mom would always scare the pants off us when she used one. My Mom gave me a pressure cooker for 5 years ago this Christmas and although I’m a proficient cook, I had no interest in using it so it sat on a shelf in the basement. Mom died 4 years ago, and in celebration of her birthday yesterday my sister and I dusted it off and found this recipe. It happens to be the same pot you mention in this blog and the directions seemed relatively easy – the hardest part was finding short ribs at the store! I served them with mashed potatoes and the whole family raved about them. I don’t think I’ll let the grass grow under the pressure cooker anymore. Thanks for your inspiration.
@Lorna Sass:
No, thank you, Lorna! Your cookbooks taught me how to use a pressure cooker, so I owe you a debt of thanks.
Hi Mike: I usually don’t trim off fat before cooking, finding the taste and tenderness best when you strain off the fat after cooking–a personal choice. Also, I just roll the ribs in a little bit of soy sauce for color and never bother browning them. (I’m too impatient…)
I’m really thrilled that you are spreading the good word about pressure cooking. With your help, the “pc” will find its way into every American kitchen. Thank you so much!