These Instant Pot short ribs will be your family’s favorite weekend dinner because these short ribs come out amazingly tender, succulent, and full of flavor. The sauce that these short ribs and vegetables are cooked in is out of this world! It will take you less than 2 hours to make this recipe from start to finish and the outcome will be outstanding.
At restaurants, I often find myself ordering things like short ribs or anything with a demi glace. In a good restaurant, those are some of the most delicious dishes because they put a lot of effort and time into it.
Many people don’t feel like recreating them at home, unless it’s a special occasion. That’s why I wanted to create an Instant Pot version of a braised short ribs recipe so that you can make it even on a week night.
Now, this recipe might still be too much for a week night because it will take about an hour and a half to make. And yet, it is still a fraction of the time that it takes to cook braised short ribs the traditional way.
Every minute of your time will be well worth the results. This dish is made with rich ingredients like red wine, balsamic vinegar, and beef stock, which gives the sauce amazing flavor. The only challenge will be waiting until it cools down to dig in!
Instant Pot Short Ribs Recipe
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Beef Short Ribs – Try to pick out the ribs that have a good amount of meat in them.
- Coarse Salt
- Cracked Black Pepper
- Canola Oil – This can be substituted with vegetable oil.
- Yellow Onion – Yellow onions can be substituted with a Vidalia onion.
- Medium Carrot
- Celery
- Garlic Cloves
- Red Wine – choose rich and full bodied wine that is not sweet. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot works well.
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Beef Stock – Stock has a richer, fuller flavor than broth.
- Tomato Paste
- Dried Parsley
- Bay Leaves
- Dried Thyme
- Dried Oregano
- Cracked Black Pepper
- Salt
- Cornstarch – This will be used to thicken the mixture.
- Cold Water
What are beef short ribs?
Short ribs come from the areas of beef that include brisket, chuck, plate, or rib areas. It is the short portion of the rib bone and come in different thickness and amount of meat.
You can get them bone-in or boneless. Bone-in version is usually cheaper and personally, I like the bone because it adds a lot more rich and full flavor to the sauce.
Most of the time, you will find short ribs already cut into 2-inch rib portions. If you get a slab with several ribs, you will have to cut it yourself.
How to Make Instant Pot Short Ribs
Prepare the meat. Let the meat adjust to room temperature for about 30 minutes, and pat it dry with paper towels. Then, season it generously with the coarse salt and black pepper on all 4 sides.
Slice and sear the vegetables. Slice the onion, carrot, and celery. Then, in the Instant Pot, add oil and sauté the veggies. Avoid stirring too much, that way you can let them get a nice golden sear!
Remove the vegetables. While the veggies are cooking, add the garlic and continue to cook together until fragrant. After that, remove everything from the pot and set the veggie mix aside.
Sear the meat. Working in batches of 3-4, sear the beef evenly on all 4 sides. Set all the ribs aside.
Pour the red wine. As you pour the wine, scrape the bottom of the pot. That’s where all the flavor is! Let it heat up for a moment, then return the beef and vegetables to the pot.
Mix in more ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together beef stock, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, herbs, and seasoning. Once mixed, pour it into the Instant Pot. Then, add bay leaves and stir.
Cook the meat. Close and latch the lid. Switch the setting from sauté to stew/meat or high pressure for 45 minutes. After those 45 minutes pass, allow the pressure cooker to do a natural release for 10-15 minutes before doing the manual release of pressure. Then, remove the meat.
To Thicken The Sauce
After you take the meat out of the pot, change the setting back to sauté. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch and cold water, then whisk the mixture into the pot. Stir and simmer for a little while, creating a deliciously thickened sauce.
Serve with your favorite sides. Pour the thick sauce on top of the meat. Voila! You now have a meal you’ll crave 24/7.
STORING:
How long will this meal last in the refrigerator?
Store everything in an sir-tight food storage container. In an airtight container, cooked short ribs will last anywhere from 3-5 days in the refrigerator! You can reheat individual portions in the microwave until heated through.
More Instant Pot Beef Recipes To Try:
This incredible dinner isn’t the only hearty dish that you can master in an Instant Pot. The colder months are perfect for Instant Pot beef stew, or my trusty Instant Pot chili. If you really want to be amazed, make sure to check out my recipe for Instant Pot pot roast! I really think Instant Pots were created to carry us through the winter.
If you made any of my recipes and shared them on Instagram, make sure to tag me @willcookforsmiles and #willcookforsmiles so I can see all the things you tried!
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Instant Pot Short Ribs
Ingredients
- 4.5-5 lbs bone-in beef short ribs cut in about 2-inch pieces
- 2 tbsp coarse salt
- 2 tsp cracked black pepper
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 medium carrot
- 2 celery ribs
- 6 garlic cloves smashed and minced
- 1 cup red wine
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 cups beef stock
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
- salt to taste
To thicken:
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp cold water
Instructions
Prepare short ribs:
- Take the short ribs out of the refrigerator and let them rest and warm up for about 30 minutes. Take them out of the package and pat them dry with paper towels.
- Season them well with coarse salt and pepper on all four sides.
- Slice onion, carrot, and celery and set aside.
Sear vegetables and short ribs:
- Set he Instant Pot to a "sauté" setting and let it preheat. Add oil and sauté the vegetables for a few minutes. Don't stir too much, let them get a golden sear for more flavor.
- Add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Take vegetables out of the pot and set aside.
- Add a little more oil if needed and sear the ribs in batches of 3-4, depending on the size. Make sure to sear on all 4 sides. Take them out and set aside.
Deglaze and cook:
- Pour in red whine into the pot while scraping the bottom of the pot. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes and add back the ribs.
- Add vegetables back to the pot as well.
- Whisk together beef stock, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, herbs, and seasoning and pour it into the pot.
- Add bay leaves and gently stir everything.
- Close the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure that it's latched. Turn the steam valve to "seal." Cancel sauté setting if it's still on and set the pot to cook on "stew/meat" setting for 45 minutes. (If the your pressure cooker does not have the "stew" setting, set it to cook on high pressure for 45 minutes.)
- When the time is up, let it do a natural release for 10-15 minutes and then carefully turn the valve to manually release the pressure.
- Carefully remove the ribs so you can thicken the sauce.
- Set the cooking setting to "sauté" again.
- Mix cornstarch and cold water together and whisk the mixture into the sauce in the pot. Let it simmer for a few minutes and stir while it simmers and thickens. Turn off the heat when it's done.
- Serve with your favorite sides and sauce on top.
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Janet says
This sounds like an awesome recipe! Can it be made on top of the stove?
Mindy says
Sauce was good. Ribs were super tough. Cooked at the 45 minutes and natural release for 15 minutes. Put back in and cooked another 20 minutes. So tough. Couldn’t even eat.
Jerry says
Turned out fine but was a lot of work to complete. Not sure it was worth the time to prepare and the short ribs were $8.50 per pound which made the meal somewhat expensive. I can get steak for a similar price. Served the short ribs with mashed potatoes and roasted zucchini. The gravy was good and worked well with the meat and potatoes.