Last updated on March 29th, 2018 at 11:45 am
These Instant Pot BBQ Pork Ribs are fall off the bone tender, delicious and super sticky from a delicious Whiskey BBQ sauce, but most importantly can be on your dinner table in under an hour!
I’ve been using my Instant Pot for about a month now and I’ve been sharing some recipes with you guys and I really really hope that you bought or are planning on getting one, because it’s seriously one of the best pots you could have in your kitchen. Why? Because it’s like 7 pots in one. That’s why. You can throw away your slow cooker, throw away your pressure cooker, rice cooker, you name it, this pot will do it all. Which is why I’m in love with it.
MY LATEST VIDEOSEverything I’ve made in it so far has been outstanding. Which brings me to these ribs. I usually don’t make a lot of ribs because I always think they’re too much work or they take too long which is why I usually order them at a restaurant.
Not anymore!
These baby back ribs only take 20 minutes in the pressure cooker and they are fall off the bone tender. They were so tender, you really have to be careful when you take them out of the pot because they could break on you.
My biggest dilemma with this recipe was whether or not to put a dry rub on them and in the end the dry rub won. I was afraid that once I added all the liquid to the Instant Pot my ribs would wash out in all the apple juice. Thankfully they didn’t and they retained all those wonderful flavors from the dry rub, which is great because that dry rub just give the ribs that much more flavor.
I also made an incredible Whisky BBQ sauce, because let’s face it, is there any other kind? If you haven’t had Whiskey in your BBQ sauce yet, you haven’t lived, so I strongly urge you to make this and try it. It’s finger licking good.
The hardest part about this entire recipe is to wait for the pressure cooker to release all of that pressure from the inside, which is why this recipe takes about an hour, but most of the time is just waiting around, which is really hard, trust me. Your house will smell amazing and your neighbours will come knocking.
Once you can finally open the Instant Pot you will want to brush these baby back ribs generously with some of that BBQ sauce and then you must place them under the broiler for just about 5 minutes. Make sure you keep your oven door open, otherwise your fire alarm might go off. It’s like I’m speaking from experience or something.
Hey, all that’s left to do is eat and be merry. You’ll have plenty of BBQ sauce leftover to use as a dipping sauce. Trust me, these will be some of the best baby back ribs you’ll ever have.
If you’re a fan of the Instant Pot, check out my Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma!
Check out the video!
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
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These Instant Pot BBQ Pork Ribs are fall off the bone tender, delicious and super sticky from a delicious Whiskey BBQ sauce, but most importantly can be on your dinner table in under an hour!
- 1 tbsp dry mustard
- 1 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp cumin ground
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp black pepper ground
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 racks baby back pork ribs (about 3 to 4 lbs)
- 4 cups apple juice
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp liquid smoke
- 1/2 cup bbq sauce store bought
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup whiskey
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp liquid smoke
Prepare the dry rub by combining all the dry rub ingredients together in a small bowl.
Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs with a paper towel.
Season the baby back ribs with the dry rub generously on both sides.
Place the ribs inside the Instant Pot, standing up and wrapping around the Instant Pot.
Pour the apple juice, apple cider vinegar and liquid smoke inside the Instant pot, no need to stir. Close the lid (follow the manufacturer's guide for instructions on how to close the instant pot lid). Set the Instant Pot to the Meat/Stew setting and set the timer to 20 minutes.
Once the Instant Pot cycle is complete, wait until the natural release cycle is complete, should take about 15 minutes. Follow the manufacturer's guide for quick release, if in a rush. Carefully unlock and remove the lid from the instant pot.
While the ribs are cooking prepare the BBQ sauce. In a small saucepan add all the BBQ sauce ingredients and stir to combine. Simmer on low heat for about 20 to 25 minutes, the sauce should reduce a bit.
Carefully remove the ribs from the Instant Pot and place them onto a baking sheet. Brush them generously with the prepared BBQ sauce on both sides and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes. Keep the door to your oven open while broiling the ribs and keep an eye on them, because they could burn quickly.
Serve with leftover BBQ sauce.
I strongly recommend reading the manufacturer's guide for instructions on how to use your Instant Pot before attempting this recipe.
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
★ Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to give it a star rating below!
Excellent recipe! 5Stars for sure! I use different flavors of smoke, and all are totally awesome with this recipe. If you can find the smoke that has maple flavor to it, it puts the flavor totally over the top and is a perfect compliment to the robustness of the sauce. Never had a bad batch yet when following this recipe.
That sounds amazing! We’ll have to try that next time.
Enjoyed the recipe for the most part but am I reading the liquid smoke requirements correctly? 3 tbsp total? I ate last night and I still have the taste of liquid smoke in my throat.
Yes that’s correct. 1 tbsp for each rack of ribs, and 1 tbsp in the BBQ sauce. Could possibly be the brand, or your racks of ribs could’ve been smaller than the ones we used.
Do you place the ribs on a rack or directly into the pot. Thank you.
Directly into the pot, as you can see in the video.
Awesome Recipe!!!
These ribs were amazing!!! Followed the recipe exactly, did the for 15 minutes in the IP and then finished them off on the barbecue. So tender, finger licking good….and we did lick our fingers!
Yes!!
BEST recipe ever! Easy and delicious! Drool worthy!
I made these today, but tweaked it slightly as we are not lovers of sweet BBQ sauces, and it was spectacular. We were planning that there would be leftovers but that was optimistic. It was the first time that I had done ribs in the Instant Pot and I will certainly be doing this again, although now that summer is here we might just throw them on the BBQ to caramelize a little.
I would like to put them on the barbecue for a bit after being in the instant pot so don’t want them fall off the bone, how long do you think I should do them in the pot? Thanks can’t wait to try
I’d probably go with 15 minutes, no more.
Can you tell me how long it takes country ribs to get to a point where they can be “finished” on the grill? (Instant Pot) Without falling to pieces.
Do you mean the boneless ribs? I still think 20 minutes would be required but not sure without trying. Best to read the manual for instructions.
For the love of BBQ!!! I just made this recipe ribs and the sauce. LOVED IT!!! I used Jack Daniels whiskey 🙂 Thanks for posting.
Yes! So happy you liked them. 🙂
Delicious! I seldom bother making the sauces in a recipe because they’re often more work than commercial sauces but this one is exceptional. Next time, I will not wait 15 minutes to open the pot as I found ribs were a bit too falling off the bones.
Hi there! I am making these babyback ribs tonight in my 6 qt IP. Very excited!
There are only 2 of us, though, so I am using a rack that is slightly less than 3 pounds — would you recommend that I only use 3/4 of the liquids to cook it? And will it require less time because it’s only 1 rack?
THANK YOU!!!
Hi Leah! These ribs are so good you’ll wish you made the whole recipe. 🙂 Having said that, yeah you could use 3/4 cup of the liquids and I would probably change the timer to 15 minutes.
They were amazing!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
My pleasure!