Instant Pot Short Ribs

Making short ribs in the Instant Pot is not only quicker than a traditional braise, but they turn out more perfectly than any other way I’ve tried. You’re going to love this recipe!

Video: Making Instant Pot Short Ribs

When I discovered that I could cook short ribs in the Instant Pot in a fraction of the time, and without the dry brine needed, I was in heaven. I swear, I’ve been making short ribs like a crazy person lately.

That crazy-person-short-rib-making has led to an amazing discovery too: Short Ribs Do Not Need To Be Seared Before Pressure Cooking.

Yes, really. We’re going with the reverse sear here, and it’s amazing for Instant Pot Short Ribs. A. Maze. Ing.

What Are Short Ribs?

First, we should make sure we’re talking about the right cut of meat. There are actually two different types of short ribs.

What Is The Reverse Sear?

The reverse sear is a roasting technique that I first learned about on Serious Eats in their tutorial for cooking the best prime rib. I have since applied the same technique to many different things, including roast pork and roast chicken. Basically, you cook the meat as a braise or low and slow in the oven first, and then once it’s reached a safe temperature, then you cook it at a high heat to get a good crust.

The idea is to sear the meat at the end instead of at the beginning.

There are several reasons for doing this but for Instant Pot cooking, the reverse sear makes even more sense than for other cooking methods. If you were to cook in the more traditional sear-first method and then pressure cook it, any texture that you got from that initial sear would get washed away by the steam and pressure. If you sear it at the end though, then you get some nice crunch after all that steam is gone. Get it?

The biggest perk of the reverse sear for short ribs is that you don’t have to stand there searing all sides, or working in batches, or any of the things that you’d normally have to do. Instead, all you do is to season the short ribs on all sides, add some broth to the Instant Pot, and lay the ribs in there. That’s all you need to do to get started. It’s so great!

How Long To Cook Short Ribs In The Instant Pot

For the recipe below, I have about 3 pounds of short ribs on the bone. That’s about 8 short ribs. Note that I’ve used English-style short ribs here, not to be confused with flanken cut, or with beef back ribs. Learn more about the cuts of short ribs here.

I set them to pressure cook for 30 minutes, and then do a 15 minute natural release. At that point, the meat is really tender but is still attached to the bone.

Note that I’ve seen pressure cooker short rib recipes online that call for 45 minutes or longer plus natural release, but I have found the extra time to not be necessary, and to even make the ribs too tender (they are falling right off of the bone and are a bit stringy). Thirty minutes plus the 15 minute natural release gives you really tender meat that still has that bit of beefy texture to it. They’re tender enough to cut with the side of a fork, but you do need to put a little bit of pressure. I find that to be perfect.

How To Reverse Sear After Pressure Cooking

Okay, so you do the pressure cooking first. Like I said, just throw them in there. Then what? Well, they need a nice crust. I have tested two ways to get a nice crust on these after they’ve finished pressure cooking.

The first is to use the air fryer. Eight short ribs fit perfectly in a single layer in my air fryer. You mist the ribs lightly with cooking oil (use cooking spray or a mister with olive oil in it like this), sprinkle them with a little bit of salt, and then put them into the air fryer at 400F for 7-10 minutes, no flipping required, until nice and brown.

The second method to get a good reverse sear on the short ribs is to put them under the broiler. Again, mist them lightly with some cooking oil and season them lightly with salt, and then put them on a pan about 6 inches from the broiling heat source. Watch them carefully because they sometimes brown more quickly than I expect, but you’re looking at about 3-5 minutes and then you flip them over and do another 3-5 minutes on the other side.

I don’t recommend using the Instant Pot on Sauté to get a sear on the short ribs after pressure cooking. I tried it and it took a long time and I had to do it in batches or else they wouldn’t brown. So definitely go with the air fryer or broiler.

Can you eat the short ribs without searing them at the end? Yes. The meat is very tasty. It just doesn’t have that nice dark crust. It’s a paler color with no crunchy texture. If you’re not going to sear them at the end, I recommend simmering them in a thick sauce for a moment before serving. That will hide the lack of good color.

The Short Rib Sauce

The easiest thing is to use beef broth as the liquid for pressure cooking, and then simmer that down at the end, or add a cornstarch slurry to it to thicken it, like this. Just make sure to separate off the fat first since there is a lot of fat in the liquid after pressure cooking short ribs. I like using a fat separator like this for removing the fat from the simmering liquid.

But honestly, I prefer my short ribs without a sauce. They’re so tasty and their texture is so incredible that it’s a shame to hide all that in a sauce.

My favorite thing to do instead of a sauce is a simple balsamic glaze. I buy a bottle of balsamic glaze from the grocery store or Amazon and after the short ribs are finished searing, I brush them lightly with the glaze. That’s it!

I hope you love trying short ribs in the Instant Pot, and trying the reverse sear method. I think you’re going to be really impressed with how it all turns out!

Have a great day! – Christine xo

Podcast Episode On Pressure Cooking Short Ribs