Instant Pot Carolina Style Ribs taste like they were grilled for hours. The spiced rub gives them an all day smoky flavor.
Instant Pot Carolina Style Ribs
Hubs and I have, oh, let’s see, five, six, seven or so grills, smokers, fire pits, etc. We love grilling. Instant Pot Carolina Style Ribs is the pressure cooker version of my incredible My Favorite BBQ Pork Ribs Recipe! Just as good yet takes a fraction of the time.
Cast of Ingredients for Instant Pot Carolina Style BBQ Ribs
Summer Barbecue and Picnics just got easier with Instant Pot Carolina Style BBQ Ribs! Using the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker makes quick work of cooking the ribs.
Jump to Section
Ingredients to Instant Pot Carolina Style Ribs
- Ribs, Baby Back or Memphis Style
- Liquid Smoke
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Apple Cider (the juice)
- Onion
Pro Tip: First things, first. Make a big batch of the BBQ Pork Spare Ribs Rub now, so that next time you want to make ribs, you’ll have it all ready to go. I keep mine in a Lock N Lock and it stays nice and fresh.
If you prefer a really quick and simple recipe, using bottled barbecue sauce, you may prefer my Instant Pot Simple BBQ Pork Spare Ribs recipe.
Trim Ribs, Massage in BBQ Rub
Trim the fat off your ribs and remove the membrane along the curved part of the ribs. Generously massage the BBQ Rib Rub into the ribs.
Wrap in Plastic Wrap
Wrap your ribs in Saran Wrap and put in the refrigerator overnight….. or for at least two hours.
Why Wrap Ribs in Plastic Wrap?
- The plastic wrap keeps in the moisture and allows the seasoning to penetrate.
- Seasonings and sugar will become liquidity, which will tenderize the meat.
Ribs Are Curled in the Pressure Cooker
The onion liquid smoke in the bottom of the pot with the other liquid will infuse a nice onion and smoky flavor.
The trivet keeps the ribs above the liquid so that they steam and not boil in the liquid. This gives great flavor.
St. Louis Style and Baby Back Ribs
- St. Louis Style Ribs are spare ribs with the top meaty portion cut off. Use that part to make rib tips. St. Louis style ribs take just a bit longer to cook than Baby Back Ribs.
- Baby Back Ribs are the very tender and small ribs. The cook faster than St. Louis or Memphis style ribs.
I am not a fan of “falling off the bone” ribs. If ribs are falling of the bone, then they are not properly cooked. There, I said it! Ribs should be easy to bite right off the bone, but not hanging off or falling as you often hear.
Tender Ribs from Instant Pot
Pair the ribs with my fantastic BEST Instant Pot Macaroni Salad Recipe. It is a great macaroni salad to make in advance.
BBQ Grill or Oven?
- Precooked ribs can be finished on the grill or in the oven.
- I recommend the Dyna-Glo Dual Zone Premium Charcoal Grill.
Pro Tip: Make ribs the night before and package up and keep in refrigerator. The day of your BBQ, just heat up the grill and pop on the ribs.
The Carolina BBQ Pork Spare Ribs Sauce can be made anytime. For the wonderful Carolina BBQ Sauce, I actually prefer to use my Slow Cooker Carolina BBQ Sauce for Ribs recipe and let the sauce simmer in the Mini Slow Cooker from morning until ready to use.
Brown both sides of your ribs and when browned to your liking, remove from oven, place foil over and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Carolina Style BBQ Ribs Sauce
Your Pressure Cooker Carolina BBQ Sauce IS A CONDIMENT that you make separately from the ribs and should be served in a bowl at the table only. As you are browning the ribs in the oven, the sauce will cook in the Pressure Cooker and will be nice and hot when you are ready to serve the ribs.
The ribs can be eaten dry or with the Sauce. If you want a thicker sauce, try my Slow Cooker Carolina BBQ Pork Spare Ribs Sauce and let the sauce cook all day. I personally prefer the slow cooked sauce.
Can Crisping Lid Be Used?
Crisping Lid – Which to Use
- Mealthy Crisplid will fit on all 6 and 8 quart pressure cookers regardless of brand.
- Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid will only fit on specific Instant Pot models, so please check my article Instant Pot Air Fryer Lid to see if this brand will fit your model.
- Each lid can be purchased from Amazon, which I have linked below.
- Mealthy CrispLid (buy from Amazon)
- Instant Pot Crisping Lid (buy from Amazon)
Pressure Cooker Homemade Carolina BBQ Pork Spare Ribs
Serve these Pressure Cooker Homemade Carolina BBQ Pork Spare Ribs with Pressure Cooker Holiday Baked Beans and Pressure Cooker Corn on the Cob or Elote (Mexican Street Food, Corn on the Cob). Oh my, you will flip for the Elote!
More Rib Recipes You Will Love
- Slow Cooker Carolina BBQ Pork Spare Ribs Sauce
- Simple Pressure Cooker BBQ Pork Spare Ribs {Baby Back Ribs}
- Pressure Cooker Red Wine Braised Short Ribs {Goyisha Style}
- Pressure Cooker Korean Style Barbecue Country Pork Ribs
Kitchen Equipment and Essentials
- Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker
- J.A. Henckels Classic 7-inch Hollow Edge Santoku Knife
- Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
- Simply Gourmet (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
- Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
- Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk – a MUST have, probably my most used utensil
- Porcelain & Bamboo Salt Box with Spoon
- Bellemain Porcelain Ramekins
- My FANTASTIC Teak Cutting & Charcuterie Board
- Stainless Steel Trivet
- Dyna-Glo Dual Zone Premium Charcoal Grill
- Silicone BBQ Brush
Caring is sharing! If you would like to support This Old Gal, please share this recipe on Social Media, so that I can continue to bring you more wonderful recipes!
If you share a picture of something you make from our blog, tag it with #thisoldgalcooks so we can see it. We might feature it on Instagram! It makes my day when I see you’ve made one of our recipes!
Here is the handy printable recipe:
Ingredients
Ribs
- 1 slab Pork Spare Ribs
- 1 oz BBQ Ribs Rub (see below)
- 1 medium Onion chopped
- 1 cup Water
- 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Liquid Smoke
BBQ Pork Ribs Rub
- 4 oz Paprika
- 2 oz White Sugar
- 1 oz Granulated Onion Powder
- 6 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
BBQ Pork Ribs Sauce
- 8 oz Ketchup
- 4 oz Water
- 2.5 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
- 2.5 Tablespoons White Sugar
- 1/4 Tablespoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper freshly ground
- 1/4 Tablespoon Granulated Onion Powder
- 1/4 Tablespoon Dry/Ground Mustard Seed
- 1/2 oz Lemon Juice
- 1/2 oz Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 oz Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 oz Light Corn Syrup
- 1/2 Tablespoon BBQ Rib Rub (reserved from above)
Recommended Products
Instructions
- Trim ribs and remove membrane.
- Mix together paprika, sugar, onion powder and brown sugar. Set aside one-half of the Rib Rub for the grilling and BBQ Sauce.
- With the other half of the Rib Rub, massage it into the ribs and wrap with Saran Wrap.
- Place in refrigerator overnight or for at least two hours.
Pressure Cook Ribs
- Add diced onion, water, apple cider vinegar and liquid smoke to Instant Pot.
- Place a trivet in the cooking pot and place ribs on trivet.
- Lock on lid and close Pressure Valve. If using Baby Back Ribs, cook at high pressure for 15 minutes. If using St. Louis Style Ribs, cook at high pressure for 20 minutes.
- When Beep sounds, wait 15 minutes and then release the rest of the pressure.
- Remove ribs from Instant Pot.
Make BBQ Sauce
- Add all sauce ingredients to Instant Pot.
- Lock on lid and close Pressure Valve. Cook on High Pressure for 2 minutes. When Beep sounds, wait 15 minutes and release the rest of the pressure.
Grill Ribs
- Sprinkle the rest of the BBQ Rib Rub over both sides of the cooked ribs.
- Finish the ribs outside on the Barbecue Grill or finish them in the oven.
Oven
- Place ribs on cookie sheet and then place under the boiler for 5 minutes. Flip over and broil another 5 minutes or until nicely browned.
Serving
- Serve the ribs dry and let guests add sauce, if desired, or slather the sauce over all the ribs and serve.
Notes
DON'T COAT RIBS WITH THE SAUCE AND THEN BROIL. The sauce is a condiment that you use after plating of the ribs.
Nutrition
PIN this Pressure Cooker Homemade Carolina BBQ Pork Spare Ribs!
Pressure Cooker Homemade Carolina BBQ Pork Spare Ribs
wohh exactly what I was searching for, appreciate it for posting.
If caramelizing using the CrispLid, how long and at what temp?
375 and until they look the way you want. It’s no different than using the broiler in your oven. Jill
“Let me interrupt my story to say that I am not a fan of “falling off the bone” ribs. If ribs are falling of the bone, then they are not properly cooked. There, I said it!”
Thank you for saying this Jill! Everybody looks at me like I have two heads when I say this….Recipe looks wonderful and I will be getting some ribs today to make.
Thanks, Kandy. I’m just not a fan of over cooked ribs. 🙂 Jill
Not totally related to the recipe, but I was searching for instanpot ribs and came across your post. We actually live in Boynton Beach now and I was wondering if you would share that favorite fishing spot with us!!
Off the old bridge in Lake Worth. You can back the car right up to the bridge, so you never have to drag your stuff. Jill
Jill I am going to make your recipe for ribs tonight. I’m making 3 slabs and I have an 8 quart Instant Pot. Can I make them all at once? The recipe says 1 slab.Thank you so much for your great recipes. Rose
I would like to know how this can recipe can be claimed to be 5m prep / 15m cook / 20m total time.
It involves prepping the ribs, storing overnight in the fridge, pressure cooking them, clean the pot and pressure cook again, then finish on the grill/oven.
Even cutting out all of the wait time for cooking, I fail to see how it’s even less than 20m of prep time, much less 20m total.
I was looking for a quick set and forget recipe… this looked perfect until I realized that the claimed times and the reality of the recipe aren’t even close?
That’s terrible! You should immediately demand your money ba- OH WAIT
First, let me say that I can’t cook. So when you say 8 oz of paprika or 2 oz of onion powder, is that weight? Some things you list as 1/2 tablespoon and
others you list ounces. I’m just confused as to what the ounces translate to 😉
WOW- I printed this recipe- it took 2 pages because the first page was entirely taken up by the 6″ x 7″ photo and three lines of text. Were you aware of that??? Do you have stock in an ink cartridge company? This is a total waste of people’s resources. Please consider resizing necessary photos. Ink is SO expensive!
It kind of took the excitement out of trying the recipe thinking about 42 square inches of wasted ink.
Hi Beverly~
Sorry about that as it should not have happened. I think it is corrected now. Thanks for the comment.
Jill
That’s a somewhat rude comment, thank you Jill for sharing the recipes! And it’s a kind bonus allowing the print option! I’ve had my instant pot for three years with very little use. Now that it’s exploding on social media and people such as yourself share their talents, I have a newbie like joy putting it to use! I’m cooking the ribs now and made your potato salad and its chilling in the fridge. Thank you!!
Hi Candy Jo~
Thank you for your comments. I am glad you are enjoying your Instant Pot. It is funny how some people react when they are getting something for free. 🙂
Jill
You do realize you can always copy and paste into an ap like word and resize anything you want don’t you.
Aloha Jill,
Thanks for the quick response . . . I really appreciate it. If I can get my hands on a scale, I’ll try to do that. I got confused because in the recipe you stated 2 oz teaspoon Onion Powder; therefore, am confused if you’re measuring by ounce or teaspoon for the Onion Powder.
As you mentioned, you weighed all your dry ingredients; therefore, I can assume that you really meant 2 ounce Onion Powder?? I’m assuming that the liquid measurements I would just use a liquid measuring cup.
The other question I had was that the Caroline Rib Sauce for Pressure Cooker said it was 2 cups; on the Slow Cooker it said it was 4 cups . . . however, the ingredients were the same amount. Does the Pressure Cooker really cut it down to half the amount??
I look to your quick response again as I’d like to use the Instant Pot and tell my friends about it. Thank you in advance for your time, I really appreciate it.
Mahalo,
Robbie
Hi Robbie~
You are correct on the weight measurements. I had them in volume and then changed to weight, as it is more accurate. I’ve gotten used to using a scale, as it cuts down on cleaning. I keep my bowl on the scale and pour each item in and weigh as I go. Both make four cups. As I mentioned via email, I prefer the taste of the slow cooker method better. It seems to get thicker and just gives a better taste, but the pressure cooker one is very good too.
Jill
Aloha Jill,
Thank you so much for taking the time to rescue me and for clarifying that the Onion Powder is 2 ounc e . . . I really appreciate it! I was able to get my hands on a scale and just finished weighing the Dry Rub mixture and also measured it out in cups + tablespoon/teaspoon if it went over a cup. Most of my friends in Hawaii do not own a scale.
I trimmed the fat/removed the membrane from my ribs and put the rub on and will let it sit overnight. As for the sauce, because I don’t have time this time around, I will do it in the pressure cooker and then put it into a slow cooker for whatever time I might have available so that it will thicken a little more as you mentioned.
As mentioned in my email, I will also be making your Brown Butter Honey Garlic Salmon which also looks really good.
Thanks again for sharing your delicious recipes . . . I’m sure my guests will enjoy them! I can hardly wait to cook it tomorrow and see the smile on their faces. I’ll let you know how it all came out.
Mahalo,
Robbie
Aloha Jill,
Sorry me again, I was re-reading your instructions to prepare for dinner tonight and need clarification again if you don’t mind:
Under the ‘Rib’ instruction, last 2 items are: 1 Tablespoon BBQ Ribs Rub; and 1 oz + 1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar.
However,in Step #12 you state: Mix together 3 Tablespoon of the BBQ Ribs Rub and 2 Tablespoons of Brown sugar.
I would appreciate it very much if you could please clarify what it should be? I would love to have my ‘Ribs’ come out as delicious as yours.
Mahalo again,
Robbie