Barbecued Baby Back Ribs - 15 minutes (Pressure Cooker Style)

 

Yes, dear readers. Once again, I'm sharing another success story with my beloved pressure cooker. I can't help myself. Pressure cooking has become "hip again, and I'll take any way I can join that movement.

This recipe can be adapted for a slow cooker, for those of you who don't own a pressure cooker. You just need to wait for a zillion more hours-- well, okay, like six or eight hours.  I've made them, this way, with bottled BBQ sauce. They're pretty good. But, nothing beats slow grilling ribs on a Weber.
Even grilled ribs take 1-1/2 hours to be tender and ready to dig in.

I'm still having a love affair with America's Test Kitchen's cookbook, "Pressure Cooking Perfection".  Several of the recipes, in this cookbook, have been adapted from their recipes that are made in a more "conventional" way.  I've made at least a half dozen of their recipes (a few more are yet to be shared with y'all).

While my Boston Baked Beans were slow baking in the oven, I pondered what to make with them.  It was a raining, like nuts, and so grilling was out of the question.  That's when I remembered that I bookmarked this rib recipe.  The rub took only minutes to put together.

I do love a rub that has brown sugar.  It gives the ribs a beautiful color, and a nice layer of flavor. The rest of the aromatics are paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper and salt & pepper.

I bought just one rack of ribs, since I was cooking for two.  I own an 8-Quart oval electric pressure cooker (no longer made, I'm sorry to say) so I could have cut the rack in half.

ATK adapts their recipes for a stovetop Pressure Cooker, so the ribs are cut into two-rib sections.

 Press the rub in, generously...

I'm going to preface how I made the sauce, by saying it's incredibly good! I just love it.

Better yet, it doesn't take a lot of time to make. The most time spent is in dicing onion and mincing garlic. The rest of the ingredients are molasses, apple cider vinegar, water, Dijon mustard, water and ketchup.  This barbecue sauce is so good, that the recipe stands alone-- all by it's glorious self. Make it. Bottle it. You'll love it.

Using the browning/searing feature, of my P/C, the onions  are cooked until just soft-- just a few minutes -- then the garlic is added until fragrant. Like, 30 seconds. Toss in the rest of the ingredients, stir and cook for a minute. Reserve one cup of the sauce, and set aside. This will be poured on top of the ribs, before pressure cooking them.

NOTE: I made this recipe with my former pressure cooker. I now use an InstantPot electric pressure cooker, and I love it!
So, now the ribs are set along the rim of the pressure cooker, meat side "out", ribs facing "in". 

If you are adapting this to a slow cooker, cook the sauce on the stove, then add it the slow cooker. Nestle the ribs in the sauce.  For the PC, I clicked on the lid, locked it in place and set it on medium-high for 15 minutes.  For the slow cooker, set it for 6-8 hours.  Have I convinced you why pressure cookers are so awesome?

Okay, then, 15 minutes have passed. I turn off the pressure cooker to what's called a "natural release".  

These don't look so pretty, do they?  They're very tender, I can see.  Set them on an aluminum foil covered baking sheet, and on top of a rack. Turn the broiler on, and move the rack to about 6" below the flame.  At the same time, skim off the fat from the braising/barbecue sauce and simmer on medium-high. Simmer the sauce until thickened and it measures about 2 cups.

Baste those bad boys, generously.

Flip 'em over and baste well. Pop these under the broiler, checking them every 2-3 minutes. Baste again...and again...

You can broil these up to 15 minutes, but I quit at ten minutes. I like a little char, but because of the brown sugar, I didn't want these to burn to all black.

Serve these with the extra sauce, and plenty of napkins, on the side.

... Boston Baked Beans.  What a way to bring some summer into our home, on a rainy Spring day!

TASTING NOTES:  Where do I start?  The ribs-- you could pull the bones out of the meat, with minimal effort.  The meat was butter tender, moist and that sauce!   This recipe is now my #1 favorite indoor version for making Barbeque ribs.   Bottle sauce isn't so bad to use, but making this homemade sauce is so worth the extra 10 or 15 minutes.   Hubs and I were pretty silent, as we enjoyed our rib and beans combination. These are a match made in Foodie Heaven.  This made three servings, which my son ate as a midnight snack.

America's Test Kitchen-- bam!  Great recipe.  Dig out your pressure cookers that you've stored in your garage, under the Christmas ornaments. You'll be Über cool when you start pressure cooking with confidence. I've said it dozens of times, and I'll say it again-- whatever explosions you've witnessed or heard about... not gonna happen.  Today's pressure cookers are fool-proof.  

Now, go!  Discover how fast and effortless pressure cooking is.  Start with this recipe. Then use my search bar to find other pressure cooker recipes I've posted-- including rice pudding for dessert. Da bomb!

As always, a printable recipe card is at the end of this post.