How to make my amazing beef short ribs – in an Instant Pot

For Christmas, my parents sent my wife, Stacey, and I the same thing we got them for Christmas last year. And I'm not even mad! My mom fell so much in love with the Instant Pot that we got them that they felt we needed one too. I'm glad they did!

I'm not too much into soups and stews, something I hear the Instant Pot excels at. But I remember watching a cooking show with Guy Fieri and he was using a pressure cooker to cook braised lamb shank, and I knew there would be tons of food I would love coming out the Instant Pot. Today I broke that bad boy in with beef short ribs!

I started by rinsing the short ribs in cold water and patted them dry before I seasoned them with garlic salt. After that, I had to figure out how to turn the Instant Pot on to sauté on high. It took a couple of button pushes and head scratches; I didn't pick up the instruction book.

Once 2 tbsp of olive oil were heated up, I browned the short ribs in the Instant Pot, three at a time. They smelled very good at this point, but it turned out they would get even better!

Rinsed and seasoned in garlic salt!

Rinsed and seasoned in garlic salt!

The first three short ribs sizzling away!

The first three short ribs sizzling away!

At this point, they were already looking and smelling pretty good!

At this point, they were already looking and smelling pretty good!

Ohhhhhhh damn!!!!

Ohhhhhhh damn!!!!

Once the short ribs were sufficiently browned, they were set aside on a plate and I deglazed the Instant Pot with a diced onion and a 1/2 cup of Wild Turkey. The smells started getting really, really good at this point.

Once the pot was deglazed, 1 tbsp of paprika, 1 tsp of cayenne pepper, 3 tbsp of sugar, 3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, 6 cloves of garlic, and 1 cup of beef stock were added to the pot. After just a couple of minutes on the sauté setting, it was time to get the ribs back into this!

This smelled soooooooooo good!

This smelled soooooooooo good!

Once the ribs went back into the pot, a couple sprigs of thyme were dropped in and I sealed it up and set it to pressure cook for 45 minutes. Actually, I had to call my mom and ask her how to do it, because I still wouldn't pick up the instruction manual.

As the short ribs cooked, it killed me because I couldn't see what was going on with my food! I was now cooking dinner without actually doing anything, and it felt a little wrong. But I was to find out that it was very worth it!

At this point, it smelled ridiculously good and was starting to look ready to eat, but it still needed 45 minutes of cooking under pressure.

At this point, it smelled ridiculously good and was starting to look ready to eat, but it still needed 45 minutes of cooking under pressure.

After 45 minutes, the Instant Pot alarm went off to let me know it was done cooking. I set a timer for 10 minutes to let the pressure naturally decline and sat back and waited some more. Then, it was time! I bled the remaining pressure and removed the lid, and it was absolutely amazing!

The smell was so rich! The sauce was absolutely beautiful. The ribs were pulling from the bones. It all looked so good in the pot. I removed the ribs to a plate and returned the Instant Pot to sauté, and added corn starch to the sauce to thicken it. A short time later, it was time to plate the beautiful short ribs on mashed potatoes that Stacey made for the dinner.

You could just smell that there was so much flavor to this!

You could just smell that there was so much flavor to this!

Ohhhhhhh damn this was sooooooo good!

Ohhhhhhh damn this was sooooooo good!

Lawdy, Lawdy!

Lawdy, Lawdy!

Yes please! I'll take some more!

Yes please! I'll take some more!

So, how was it? Absolutely amazing! It was so rich with flavor! The beef ribs were just absolutely packed with beefy flavor. It was as if they were concentrated beef! And they were fall apart tender. There was no need for a knife! The gravy, also very beefy, was quite savory with a nice, subtle heat from the cayenne pepper. The mashed potatoes were perfect for sucking up all of the gravy. We ate three of the beef short ribs, leaving three more left in the Instant Pot. It killed me to not just finish them all off! But we'll get to eat them for dinner tomorrow!

Thank you Mom and Dad for the Christmas present! I can't wait to see what we end up making in it next!