Instant Pot BBQ Pork Spare Ribs made with St. Louis style or Baby Backs are super simple to make in the pressure cooker. Make them a head and then crisp them up under the broiler or Mealthy CrispLid, on the grill or right in the pot using the CrispLid!
Pressure Cooker BBQ Pork Spare Ribs
When you are in a hurry and want some ribs NOW, this is the recipe for you. There are a couple of options to make your life easier.
You can partially prepare these Instant Pot BBQ Pork Spare Ribs today in, your Instant Pot, Mealthy MultiPot or Pressure Cooker and package them up and then finish them off the next day on the Barbecue Charcoal Grill or in the Oven.
Use Mealthy Crisplid to Caramelize!
You can even crisp them up right in your pressure cooker using the very cool CrispLid!
So, if you are planning a barbecue, either at home or away and don’t want to spend hours over a hot Charcoal Grill or precious time in the kitchen using the oven, this recipe for you.
Of course, you can finish them off with barbecue sauce outside on the Charcoal Grill or set your oven to broil. There are so many possibilities.
Cast of Ingredients to Instant Pot BBQ Pork Spare Ribs
I use half apple cider and half apple juice. Some people add a bit of apple cider vinegar to their pot. This is a super fast and very easy recipe, using a Pressure Cooker and bottled barbecue sauce.
My preference for ribs is always on the Grill, using My Favorite BBQ Pork Ribs Recipe with homemade barbecue sauce, but sometimes we want ribs now, today, without any planning, so this recipe is great.
You also might be interested in my Pressure Cooker Homemade BBQ Pork Spare Ribs, which is made with a Homemade BBQ Pork Ribs Rub and homemade Carolina BBQ Pork Spare Ribs Sauce.
Place the onions, apple cider, vanilla, (liquid smoke, if using) and water into the Pressure Cooker cooking pot.
If you are going to finish off the ribs on the Charcoal Grill, don’t use liquid smoke, as the ribs will get smoky enough from the Charcoal Grill.
Salt and pepper your ribs and place them in the cooking pot and cook for 20-30 minutes, depending on the type of rib. Baby Back Ribs take 15 minutes and St. Louis Style and Spare Ribs take 20 minutes.
If you want “fall off the bone ribs,” add 5 minutes. I prefer to bite the meat off my ribs and not having them fall a part.
Remember though, “fall off the bone ribs” are really overcooked ribs. 🙁
If you are planning to finish off the ribs on the Charcoal Grill, use the Kosher Salt. If you are planning to finish off the ribs in your oven, use either Kosher Salt or Rachael Ray Applewood Smoked Sea Salt.
At this point, you can let the ribs cool, wrap them up and place in the refrigerator. Then finish them up at a later time.
Or, you can slather on your favorite barbecue sauce and finish them off in the oven, under the broiler or Mealthy CrispLid, or on your Charcoal Grill!
Brush on the barbecue sauce and place in the oven, under the broiler or Mealthy CrispLid, or on the Charcoal Grill.
If using your broiler, place the rack on the second area down from the top. Watch the ribs closely, as the sauce may burn.
If cooking on the grill, you may only need a minute or two for each side.
If using the CrispLid, follow the instructions on the recipe card below.
Pressure Cooker Super Simple BBQ Pork Spare Ribs
Pressure Cooker Super Simple BBQ Pork Spare Ribs, in under an hour, from start to finish! Ribs are always great served with Elote (Mexican Street Corn), Pressure Cooker Corn on the Cob, Pressure Cooker Baked Beans, Pressure Cooker Potato Salad and a green vegetable.
Equipment Equipment and Essentials
- Instant Pot, Mealthy MultiPot or Pressure Cooker
- J.A. Henckels Classic 8 inch Chef’s Knife
- Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
- Alton Brown Salt Box
- My FANTASTIC Teak Cutting & Charcuterie Board & Compartments
- OXO Stainless Steel Tongs
- Silicone BBQ Brush
- Extra Large Charcoal Grill
- Weber Chimney Starter
- Rachael Ray Applewood Smoked Sea Salt
- Mealthy CrispLid
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Here is your handy printable recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 rack Baby Back Ribs or St. Louis Style Ribs
- 2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract (gives a Bourbon flavor)
- 1 cup Apple Juice
- 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 cup Yellow/Brown Onion rough chopped
- 1.5 teaspoons Smoked Sea Salt
- 1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
- 1.5 cups Barbecue Sauce
Recommended Products
Instructions
- Place onions, vanilla, apple juice, apple cider and liquid smoke into cooking pot.
- Salt and pepper the ribs.
- Curl the ribs and place into cooking pot.
- Lock on lid and close Pressure Valve
- Cook on High Pressure for 15 if making baby back ribs or 20 minutes if making St. Louis style ribs.
- When beep sounds wait 10 minutes and then release the rest of the pressure.
- Place ribs on baking sheet and slather on the barbecue sauce.
- Place in a 450 degree oven for about 5 minutes each side. Or place under a broil. Or, finish off on the grill.
CrispLid Instructions
- Place long legged trivet into pressure cooker and place CrispLid basket on top.
- Slather ribs and place into basket. You will need to do this in sections.
- Place CrispLid onto cooking pot and set temperature to 450 degrees and time to 10 minutes.
- Flip ribs after 5 minutes and cook until the sauce has caramelized and ribs have a nice char.
Notes
Nutrition
PIN this Pressure Cooker Super Simple BBQ Pork Spare Ribs {Baby Back Ribs}!
Pressure Cooker Super Simple BBQ Pork Spare Rib
Thanks for a great recipe, Jill! Like you, I don’t like it literally falling off the bone. The cooking times you suggested were perfect.
Thanks, Michelle. So glad you like my recipe and timing. Jill
Absolutely delicious! These ribs came out like I slow cooked them for 3 hrs!
After cooking in the Insta Pot and placing them in the over, take out about 3Xs to baste and the sauce gets thick and sticky!
Hi Sharon. Thank you. I am thrilled you enjoyed my recipe. Jill
Perfect 4th of July dinner! Used Baby Back Ribs and finished them on the barbecue – YUM!
Wonderful, Toby. Thank you. Jill
I found your recipe in the Instant Pot Miracle Cookbook (pages 86-87) with a link to your blogspot. I did a taste test with this recipe and regular oven baked method. Hands-down…..this was the bes! The meat did ALMOST fall off the bone. Excellent! I’ll admit I was a little uncertain about the addition of vanilla, but after sampling these ribs I wouldn’t change a thing. I will not be making ribs any other way again. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Thank you, Sherry. I appreciate you talking the time to find me and comment. I hope you will enjoy the other recipes on my blog. Jill
I made these this morning for lunch. Kept them on warm in the Instant Pot all day because we decided to go out for lunch. So about 9 hours later I did the sauce and put them in the oven. They are SO delicious! Super easy to make.
I cut up 15 lbs of St Louis Style ribs last night, seasoned them, wrapped them and put them in the refrigerator. Today I’m going to cook them for 20 minutes and finish them off tomorrow when my company will be here.. I have a Trager wood pellet grill. Since the ribs will be cold, do you have any estimate on the cook time on this type of grill? I’m worried that I will ruin my ribs because I’ve never cooked them in two stages like this before. I have made this recipe by putting the ribs under the broiler after taking them out of the pot and they were fabulous. it will be 90 degrees here tomorrow so I’d rather cook them outside on the grill.
Thanks for your consistently wonderful recipes!
Jill, can I make these in the Mini? Any adjustments you would recommend?
Hi Ann, No adjustment needed. Jill
So my cooker does not have a high pressure button! What do I use to set the time!
I am not finding this as easy to use. Not enough information.
It’s actually a great and helpful piece of info.
I’m happy that you simply shared this useful info with us.
Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
I did everything that this recipe was but I put chipotle cranberry wing sauce on baby backs and they were awesome
Jill,
Doing baby back ribs for the first time. Didn’t have apple juice or cider- so, cranapple juice was used. Should I have put thrm on a rack? Already to pressure. How long NPR? Thanks for your recipes and help.
Can you do anything with the oniony liquid afterwards? I hate throwing that out. Country style ribs turned out fantastic! Left in for 25 min and NPR 20 accidentally. Oven 5 minutes on each side. Thanks for the recipe!
I cook it down & make bbq sauce with it. Find a recipe & use it as the liquid.
I freeze the leftover liquid from the ribs and use it as a soup base or as the liquid for the next time I make ribs. It already has all the seasoning and taste and it is a thin liquid. Win, win, win.
What a wonderful idea, Susan. I am so glad you enjoyed my recipe. Thank you so much. Jill
I could use ur help. I made ur rib recipe for the 3rd time. They haven’t been as tender as I would like so I did 30 min. I had some hard cider I had left. So used that for the liquid. My ribs turned out extremely tough? Any idea what I did wrong? Appreciate ur wisdom and feedback. Thanks
I didn’t plan ahead and my ribs are frozen. Can I cook them right from the freezer? If so, what adjustments to cooking time do I make when starting ribs that are frozen?
Hello! I had a question! It says vanilla…. does this mean vanilla extract? Thank you!
Hi Jen!
Vanilla extract.
Jill
In your picture it looks like the rack is in the pot with the ribs on top of it but the instructions don’t say to use the rack. This is my very first time using the Instant Pot so pardon my ignorance. Does the rack need to be in the pan to use this recipe? Thanks in advance.
How much apple cider vinegar, onions, water, etc. I would like to know the amounts to use before adding the ribs.
Hi Sarah~
Please look at the recipe for the directions.
Jill
I followed the directions-20 mins for spare ribs then 15 NPR and they came out cooked on the outside and bloody raw on the inside. What would cause that? I “finished” them in the oven to cook through, but wasn’t expecting them to be raw centered after cooking them in IP. When all was said and done they did taste good and I do appreciate having a recipe.
From my experience I would guess the rib slabs were laying right on top of each other. It cooked like one large price if meat. Space them out, or use the onions as spacers or place tbem in teepee style
So, using my Instant Pot for the first time tonight. Did the water test. Then used your rib recipe. Made my own sauce – just winging it as I usually do. Didn’t realize until I read a comment, that I used apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider and thought I was about to have a total fail for dinner. Well, it wasn’t – still one of the best rib meals I’ve ever done! I usually do them on the BBQ and while they taste great, they tend to be tough and on the dry side. These were moist, tender and yummy! I finished them off under the broiler after slathering them in sauce. And if I hadn’t mentioned the vinegar faux pas, my husband wouldn’t have noticed. His comment – “you can make these every week”! Looking forward to trying some of you other yummy recipes. Thank You!!!
I did the same and started freaking out till I read your comment. Hope mine turns out good. It’s in the instant pot now…
I’m so excited to try these. My husband loves ribs. One question though, is the vanilla the same flavoring used in baking or is this something different? I don’t mean to sound silly, I just wasn’t sure. Thanks
Hi Jill!
I just bought my IP on Black Friday! I tried cooking 4 small racks, more like strips, of baby back ribs last night and got mixed results. I cooked it in the IP for 20 minutes and then natural release. Finished with BBQ sauce in the oven. 2 of the ribs were tender and the other 2 were dry. Not sure what went wrong? Is it just that ribs with less fat tend to get dry/over cooked? Now I’m afraid to cook baby back ribs ???? Help!
I tried cooking a chuck roast in a different brand pressure cooker a couple months ago. It turned out more like shredded meat withnot much flavor. The flavor was all in the sauce it cooked in. Could you share some tips for a foolproof roast?
Lastly, have you ever cooked prime rib in the IP?
Love your site! So useful!
Emmie
Just bought an Instant Pot so am very interested in this group.
In your picture it shows apple cider vinegar, but in the list of ingredients and what you refer to is simply apple cider. Is there a difference? Can both be used interchangeably?
Angelica, under the photo is says that I use apple cider and/or juice. If using the apple cider vinegar, just use a little. I like to give people options.
Jill
I love your bar-b-que recipes!! Thank you sooo much for sharing them!!