52 Week Challenge – Meal #13

Best Damn Instant Pot Ribs

My beloved Philadelphia Eagles just lost on this day when I came up from our downstairs of an entertainment area. Always bleeding green, I was obviously miserable. In turn, my wife made an attempt at helping me from my bird driven madness. She asked me if I was interested in helping with the ribs for dinner. And just like that – Game on!

Now, she picked the music of Anderson East via Spotify for our meal making sound. She loves this guy. At a concert in Baltimore, here’s a picture of her meeting Mr. East:

(Me – holding the camera on this overexuberant shot)

Anyway, the man can truly sing and thankfully there was a really long line of other people that followed for pictures with him. Otherwise, I don’t know how I would have gotten her out of that place that night.

Just like with all the recipes done here, simply click on the above title for the link of what was borrowed (adapted?). As always, I’ll lay out what we followed as well as any of the changes that were made along the way.

The Line-up (Ingredients)

  • 1 slab of pork baby back ribs (1.5 – 2.5lbs)
  • 2 tbs brown sugar (light or dark)
  • 1 tbs kosher salt
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground mustard
  • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
  • ½ cup chicken broth
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp liquid smoke
  • BBQ sauce (about ⅓ cup of your favorite brand)

Game Plan (Instructions):

1. Remove membrane from the underside of the ribs by sliding a butter knife under the membrane and gently lifting it off. Use a paper towel for the best grip.

2. Mix all dry ingredients well.

(Before we mixed them up really well)

3. Then, rub the dry ingredients liberally on top and bottom of ribs. Get the sides too.

(Both top and bottom – rub it in good!)

4. Place trivet in Instant Pot and pour in the chicken broth, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke.

5. Place ribs on their side on the trivet, curled around the inside of the Instant Pot with the top of the top facing outward. Secure lid, close vent, and pressure cook (manual on some models) for 28 minutes.

(Perfect curling of the slab of rib meat)

6. When cook time is complete, let pressure naturally release for 10 minutes, the go ahead and release the remaining pressure.

7. Remove lid and carefully remove the ribs with tongs. Place ribs on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

(We soaked ’em with some spicy BBQ sauce)

8. Liberally rub your favorite BBQ sauce all over the ribs and place under the broiler of the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce had nicely caramelized.

(Final shot with Celebration beer peeking in from the left – delicious!)

This was delicious and a clear cut winner for us. Another favorite part of mine was the leftovers – it wasn’t because it wasn’t enjoyed – we were just plain stuffed that night. In turn, I got to devour these meaty joys again later for an upcoming lunch – always a bonus. This is definitely a quicker and easier way to do some juicy, fall off the bone ribs in a much faster manner than cooking them up on the grill for hours.

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