Instant Pot Short Ribs Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my ribs tough in Instant Pot? ›

Why Are My Instant Pot Ribs Tough? If your ribs are tough, they likely haven't been cooked long enough. Try adding a little extra time to help them tenderize.

The first five ribs of the animal are shorter (hence the term “short ribs”), and the meat around them is more muscular than that around the other ribs. Like other tough cuts of meat, when slow cooked, short ribs break down and become incredibly tender and delicious.

Barbecue the short ribs using the 3-2-1 method: 3 hours without foil, then 2 hours wrapped in aluminum foil, then 1 more hour without foil. After three hours of cooking, the short ribs will look something like those shown in the fourth photo above.. Wrap each slab in aluminum foil and return them to the cooker.

Yes and no... You can certainly toss them in a pot and let it simmer for a few hours, you'll extract some flavor and there's no danger. But broth usually uses bones that have only been roasted, not cooked low and slow in liquid as I'm guessing you did in the crock pot.

Nothing that a little sauce can't fix, and it does mean you get more of the pork flavor, but they're not as nuanced. And the winner is: The slow cooker, but just by a hair (by a rib?). If you're pressed for time, pressure cooker is the way to go.

Braising beef short ribs: why and how

You end up with a meat and a sauce that are ideally suited to each other and are both incredibly tasty. Braising is an ancient means of cooking tough cuts of meat to tenderize them, and is also quite simple.

Short ribs that are cooked completely submerged in liquid will come out with a thin, watery sauce, while those cooked in just a thin layer of liquid—enough to provide a moist environment under your Dutch oven's lid—will produce a rich, flavorful sauce.

If they aren't braised long enough, they can be super tough to eat; if they are cooked too long, the meat will just fall apart. The key to preparing short ribs is to cook them until they reach a point that is just before they would fall apart.

Short Ribs & Braising:

You don't need any special equipment to braise ribs. First, brown or sear the ribs at a high temperature then cook them in liquid at a lower temperature for a longer period of time. This is an excellent cooking method for tougher cuts of meat that will become tender after prolonged cooking!

Short ribs usually come with quite a bit of fat, and while you can trim some of this off before cooking I prefer not to, since it insulates the meat and keeps it moist and tender while cooking. But all that fat, melted off during cooking, can give a pronounced greasy feel to the meat.

Do you cook short ribs fat side up or down? ›

These ribs are the bones that are cut off from a Prime Rib Roast. They may not be as meaty but they are just as delicious. Lay the beef bone side down and fat side up while cooking in the oven.

Soak them (yes, soak them—it drains the ribs of excess blood) in a very large bowl of cold water for two hours, changing the water after the first hour. Drain the ribs and put them in a large pot or Dutch oven, cover with water, and bring to a boil.

They're like steak, but a lot cheaper and really hard to screw up. First of all, I like the flavor profile. Short ribs are tender and have a lot more flavor than some other cuts. It has the bone in it, so when you serve it, it has a nice look to it.

A subtle smoky flavor combined with the meat's incredibly tender texture makes for a winner. This tender texture is a direct result of a long and slow cooking process. Short ribs are quite dense and marbled with fat, so it takes time to tenderize. The meat on short ribs is marbled with fat.

This means that they're not cooked long enough. Be sure to cook the ribs for the full 30 minutes on high, and let the pressure release for 15 minutes before removing the lid. If you did this and the ribs are still tough, I recommend cooking them for an additional 5 minutes on high in the Instant Pot.

If your ribs are dry, you likely cooked them too hot and fast. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to fix dry and chewy ribs. For next time: Want Great Ribs?

“Boil your meat first”

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add in the ribs and turn the heat low. Allow the ribs to simmer for about 45-minutes until just tender but the meat is not falling off the bones.