Instant Pot Korean BBQ Ribs are sweet and spicy, featuring a slow-burn sauce that hits every barbecue pleasure point on your tongue. These tender and flavorful Korean BBQ Ribs are easy to make in your Instant Pot!

This Instant Pot Korean pork ribs recipe is sure to be a sensation.

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Instant Pot Korean Pork Ribs (Spicy BBQ)

I recently got an Instant Pot and I was *so* excited to try it out.

It just so happened that on the day it was delivered, my husband had purchased a big ole stack of spare ribs from Costco.

The clouds opened up and flying piggies with little white wings descended to whisper in my ear.

I knew what I had to do.

In case you are new here and don’t know, I am a little obsessed with Korean food. Okay, maybe more than a little obsessed! Like, really really obsessed.

Which is lucky for you!

Because you get to ride along with this obsessed madwoman and sample my totally amazing Korean BBQ Ribs recipe, made simply in your Instant Pot.

How to make ribs in the Instant Pot

The Instant Pot came with a nifty little manual that lists cooking times for all sorts of recipes, including how long to cook various kinds of meat in the Instant Pot.

Here are the ingreidents you will need to make these Korean BBQ ribs in your Instant Pot.

Ingredients for Instant Pot ribs:

• 1 cup of water
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• One slab of St Louis style spare ribs (baby back ribs also work)

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup gochujang
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic

Tools:

• Instant Pot
• Metal trivet for bottom of Instant Pot
• Thick oven mitts

This is the Instant Pot that I used for this recipe, which also comes with the metal trivet required to cook the ribs.

The thick oven mitts will help protect your hands when releasing the pressure of the Instant Pot and removing the ribs!

See it now!
 

Preparing your Instant Pot to cook ribs

Pour the water and the apple cider vinegar into the bottom of the Instant Pot inner pot.

Take the metal trivet that comes with the Instant Pot and insert it in the bottom of the Instant Pot inner pot.

The water is going to help with cooking the ribs and the apple cider vinegar is going to give it a little extra flavor and make it fall-off-the-bone tender.

Preparing your ribs for the Instant Pot

Rinse your ribs gently with water and pat them dry with a paper towel.

Depending on the rib cut and your store, your ribs may still have a membrane attached to the bone side. If your ribs still have the white, shiny membrane on the back, you should remove it now. Costco removes ours prior to purchase, so we skipped this step.

If you have the membrane still attached, simply place the ribs with the meaty side down, slide a butter knife under the membrane, grab it and rip it off!

It will peel off very easily.

Once the membrane is removed, curl your ribs on top of the steam rack so that the meat side is facing out, bone side facing in.

Note: this recipe can be used with spare ribs (as I did) or baby back ribs. Cooking times can vary slightly by altitude; for low altitude, use cook shorter, and for higher altitudes cook them a little longer.

Additionally, longer cooking times will render more tender meat (my preference).

If you don’t want your ribs to be fall-off-the-bone tender, slightly reduce the total cooking time.

Instant Pot timing for ribs

Close the Instant Pot and make sure the lid is locked in place.

Set your Instant Pot to “high pressure” and “meat” and set the timer for 25 minutes (increase slightly for larger cuts or higher altitudes).

When the timer goes off, let the natural release vent itself for 15 minutes, and then turn to quick release and allow to vent completely.

Prepare the Korean BBQ sauce

While the ribs are cooking in the Instant Pot, combine all the ingredients for the sauce.

Mix well and place in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil.

Once boiled, reduce to simmer and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and set aside.

Optional step: broiling

Once the ribs are cooked, you can either brush them with the sauce and leave it at that or you can finish them under the broiler to get some caramelization (our preference).

CAREFULLY remove the ribs and place on a broiler pan bone side up.

(I say carefully because I wasn’t careful enough and my ribs fell apart! Doh! I had to squish them back together and brush with sauce for pictures. Oh well, they still tasted amazing. 😉 )

Set the broiler to high and make sure the fire is six inches from the rack.

Brush the bone side of the pork ribs with sauce and place under the rack for 2-3 minutes (times vary by individual broilers…KEEP AN EYE ON IT or else you risk burning the sauce.)

When the rib side is sufficiently caramelized (bubbling and darkening), flip to the meat side and add sauce evenly to that side.

Place back in the broiler for another 2-3 minutes (again, keep an eye on it).

Remove and allow to cool enough to handle.

Now enjoy your spicy Korean BBQ ribs!

Serve it along with your favorite bbq sides and enjoy!

Here are some more amazing Instant Pot recipes:

• Easy Instant Pot oxtail soup recipe
• 26 Best Instant Pot recipes (shared over 1 million times!)

Continue to Content

Quick 'N' Easy Instant Pot Korean BBQ Ribs (Spicy)

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Broil Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 2 minutes

Instant Pot Korean BBQ Ribs are sweet and spicy, featuring a slow-burn sauce that hits every barbecue pleasure point on your tongue. These tender and flavorful Korean BBQ Ribs are easy to make in your Instant Pot!

Print

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 rack spare ribs or baby back ribs
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup gochujang
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic

Instructions

Prepare the ribs

1. Remove membrane if still present (see notes above).
2. Pour the water and the apple cider vinegar into the bottom of the Instant Pot inner pot. Take the metal trivet with handles that comes with the Instant Pot and insert it in the bottom of the Instant Pot inner pot.
3. Rinse your ribs gently with water and pat them dry with a paper towel. Curl your ribs on top of the steam rack so that the meat side is facing out.
4. Close the Instant Pot and make sure the lid is locked in place. Set your Instant Pot to “high pressure” and “meat” and set the timer for 25 minutes (increase slightly for larger cuts or higher altitudes).
5. When the timer goes off, let the natural release vent itself for 15 minutes, and then turn to quick release and allow to vent completely.

Prepare the sauce

1. While the ribs are cooking in the Instant Pot, combine all the ingredients for the sauce. Mix well and place in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil.
2. Once boiled, reduce to simmer and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Once ribs are finished cooking you can either brush with sauce and serve or move to optional step below

Broil the ribs

1. Set the broiler to high and make sure the fire is six inches from the rack. CAREFULLY remove the ribs and place on a broiler pan bone side up.
2. Brush the bone side of the ribs with sauce and place under the rack for 2-3 minutes (times vary by individual broilers…KEEP AN EYE ON IT or else you risk burning the sauce.)
3. When the rib side is sufficiently carmelized (bubbling and darkening), flip to the meat side and add sauce evenly to that side. Place back in broiler for another 2-3 minutes (again, keep an eye on it).
4. Remove, cool enough to handle, and serve.

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As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 227Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 953mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 0gSugar: 15gProtein: 9g

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