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.
Why pressure cook short ribs? First, they're done with 45 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)
, at least 4 cups in size).
Pressure Cooker Short Ribs
- 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 ½ 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
- ½ 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 ½ 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 ½ 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.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Category: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
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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 ½ inches thick...but sometimes they are thinner, more like 1 to 1 ½ inches thick. When this happens, I cut the time under pressure down to 30 minutes electric PC/25 minutes stovetop PC.
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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SueM says
I thought so - and I just made your recipe. Superb!!! This one is a keeper. I'm not a big fan of thyme tho - and wonder if you had a suggestion as to a difference spice I could use. It was good and I think not having used it much before - it had the pungent smell that made me almost eat the whole pot of ribs. I'm going to check out some of your other recipes. If they're as good as this - dear God I may be using my pressure cooker every other day.
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
Sue,
The top of the recipe is my estimate of total cooking time - including the sautéing and natural pressure release. You have the right time under pressure.
Sue M says
I'm trying your recipe tonight - but a quick quesiton. I notice at the top of the recipe you show cook time: 1 hour - but in the instructions you indicate 25 minutes. As I'm using an electric pressure cooker - I set mine for 30 minutes. Now I'm worried.
Steven says
Omg I made these actually was my first meal in my pressure cooker and by far this us the best recipe on the net. Thanks. I'm making then tomorrow.
mef says
I made these yesterday to serve tonight so it's too late to ask but...do you really use 2 tablespoons + of kosher salt? It sounds like a lot. I'm holding good thoughts for the $26 of ribs my husband purchased.
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
I use chicken stock because I always have some on hand; beef stock would be a good substitute.
Try an extra 20% of time for the electric PC versus the stovetop. Good luck!
Jeff says
Looks like a great recipe! I'm just wondering why you use chicken stock rather than beef stock. I've just gotten an electric pressure cooker and from what I've discovered it operates at a lower pressure than the stove top ones (12 psi vs 15 psi). I guess I'll just have to set it to cook a little longer... not sure how much longer, though. I'm going to give this recipe a go, for sure!
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
You're welcome, and good idea with the defatted/thickened sauce - I'll have to keep that in mind for next time.
Vinylunkee3 says
Mike -
This was really great. I prepared this for the family using my Fagor 10 Qt. Futuro and as you said, it really makes the meat incredibly tender. I followed your recipe "to the t", even used a Cote du Rhone, and the flavors were absolutely excellent.
The only slight adjustment I made is that I did follow your variation and completely de-fatted and filtered the sauce. However, rather than use a hand blender I added a cornstarch/chicken broth slurry and thickened the sauce slightly. The sauce was velvety in texture....very nice.
Curious what cut of short rib you normally use....I have read about English cut and Flanken. I like the cut in your picture with the bone running across (versus along the length which I normally find at our market). Lastly, do most of bones simply fall off as you remove the short ribs? Mine did.
Thank you for a great technique and recipe!
Mike
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
I have to admit - I haven't pressure cooked much grass fed beef. When I have, I've used the same timing, and it has worked out fine. I would be more worried about the size of the short ribs - mine are usually cut around 3 inches thick, and 25 minutes under pressure (plus the natural release) gives them plenty of time to break down the connective tissue.
If they're still tough after 25 minutes, you can always lock the lid, bring the pot back up to pressure, and cook them longer - say another five minutes to start.
Good question - let me know how it goes!
Kim says
do you adjust your pressure cooker timings for grass-fed beef? thanks for the great recipes!
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
Heidi,
Thanks for the tips - I can always use a new short rib recipe!
Heidi Younggrasshopper says
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 😀
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
You're welcome - those sound like great changes to the recipe!
Kristin Brancaleone says
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!