Pressure Cooker Boneless Beef Ribs

Talk to moms regularly because they have the best ideas

Recently, the fella was on the phone catching up with his mom in the midwest when she mentioned she recently bought some boneless beef ribs and wasn't sure what she was going to do with them. After looping me in on the convo I said "I'd throw them in the pressure cooker first to cook and tenderize, then slather them in BBQ sauce and finish them under the broiler or on the grill to crisp up the edges." quickly followed by "Gosh, now I want boneless beef ribs too!" Cut to me purchasing 3lbs of boneless beef ribs that very afternoon for dinner the following night because I had rib envy (that's a thing, right?).

How to use salt to create tender, flavorful meat

In addition to fat, much of the flavor of a well-prepared piece of red meat is often dependent on how it's salted. Cooks often disagree as to whether you should salt immediately before cooking meat or well in advance, but in my experience, I've had the best results salting (unground) red meat a minimum of 1-hour before cooking and up to a night before if you're planning ahead. This allows the meat to have ample time to fully absorb the salt, leading to a more flavorful and tender piece of meat.

Atleast one-hour before (ideally the night before) pull out the boneless ribs and salt them liberally on each side. When cooking red meat in my pressure cooker, I use roughly ¾ teaspoon of sea salt per pound of meat.

If salting more than an hour in advance, I like to wrap the ribs in parchment paper (3-4 per packet), stack them on a plate, and return them to the fridge. Pull the ribs out of the fridge one-hour before you intend to use them. If salting one-hour prior to cooking, leave the meat to rest on the counter at standard room temperature.

I prefer to use this coarse sea salt from Jacobsen, but I know many cooks who also swear by a Kosher salt, like Diamond. I always like to steer clear of traditional table salt because it generally contains additional additives to prevent caking and I just don't think it tastes as good. *If you do, ultimately, choose to use table salt (for some unknown reason), you'll want to decrease the amount of salt used per pound by nearly half as the salt crystals are generally much smaller than their Kosher or sea salt counterparts, and thus each measured amount has much stronger salting power.

Broiling vs. Grilling

Though the meat cooks fully in the pressure cooker, I love to finish this dish with a quick turn under the broiler or on top of the grill to produce just a little bit of the char and caramelization to the outside of the ribs. I personally prefer to stick to broiling in the cooler months and grilling in the warmer months, but either method works nicely for these ribs:

Broiling: Place the ribs in a high-heat oven-safe casserole dish or sheet pan. Broil on high for 4-8 minutes total or until ribs have reached your desired level of char. Broil temperate can vary between ovens, though most range between 500-550 degrees F / 260 – 290 C on high. Therefore, I like to check on them after about 4 minutes to gauge their progress -- and every 2 minutes thereafter until I'm happy with the way they look.

Grilling: Bring your grill up to high heat (450-500 degrees F / 232-260 degrees C). Grill the ribs on one side for 2-4 minutes (depending on your preferred char-level) with the grill lid open, then flip and cook the opposite side for an additional 2-4 minutes.

*If you don't mind losing those lovely crisp edges, this recipe is perfectly delicious if you want to skip the broiling or grilling step after pressure-cooking, slather these bad boys in some BBQ sauce and call it done.

The magic is in the sauce

Don't get me wrong, salting and cooking the meat properly is the most important aspect of this recipe, but the sauce is what truly takes these Pressure Cooker Boneless Beef Ribs over the top! Though you can easily substitute your favorite bbq sauce in this recipe, my favorite option to use is this Carolina Gold Mustard BBQ Sauce. This mustard-based sauce comes together in less than 5-minutes and is the perfect balance of zingy vinegar + pinch of sweet + just the right amount of spice to make these ribs really sing!

If mustard-based bbq sauce isn't really your thing, check out my Spicy Red BBQ Sauce or my Chipotle Peach BBQ Sauce.

How to serve these Pressure Cooker Boneless Beef Ribs

My favorite side dish for these ribs is a simple coleslaw, like this 5-minute Spicy Cabbage Slaw recipe. A good slaw pairs well whether you're aiming for a low-carb dish or if you'd like to carb-it-up for the night and layer everything on a sandwich roll.

What tools do I need to make this recipe?

• An electric pressure cooker (preferably with a rack insert)
• Measuring cups and measuring spoons
• A basting brush
• If broiling: A high-heat oven-safe casserole dish or sheet pan
• If grilling: Grilling tongs

Are you looking to upgrade to your cooking tools or replenish your pantry? Check out my kitchen tools shop page and pantry staples shop page to find my must-have kitchen tools, pantry items, and other Whip & Wander favorites.

Which pressure cooker do I use?

This recipe is titled “pressure cooker” rather than “Instant Pot” intentionally because I want it to be flexible for the other models outside of the Instant Pot brand. I personally use an Instant Pot Ultra 6qt, but these Boneless Beef Ribs can easily be made in other electric pressure cookers as well. The reason I mention this is because each brand varies, and with that cooking times may vary slightly. These Pressure Cooker Boneless Beef Ribs cook in my Instant Pot on high for 45 minutes and have produced fall-apart tender results.

A note for special diets

These Pressure Cooker Boneless Beef Ribs are gluten-free, grain-free, low-carb, and SIBO friendly. In order to make this dish Paleo and Keto friendly, there are some small swaps you can make to the Carolina Gold Mustard BBQ Sauce below. These are additionally outlined in that post as well.

For those following a strict Paleo diet, a simple swap for Worcestershire sauce is coconut aminos. For those following a strict Keto diet who do not want to consume the (tiny amount of) honey contained in this BBQ sauce, you may substitute the honey for 1 tablespoon monkfruit or equivalent sweetener. Please note that these swaps may slightly change the flavor of the bbq sauce.

Estimated nutrition facts for this recipe when swapping honey for monkfruit in the BBQ sauce (per ½ lb serving of ribs): cal: 551, fat: 39g, chol: 152mg, sod: 1010mg, carb 0g, fib: 0g, sug: 0g, prot: 46g

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