These ribs are fall-off-the-bone tender and don’t use barbecue sauce… Do you know how hard it is to find a recipe for pork country ribs that does not have barbecue sauce in it? It’s pretty rare. I came across a version of this on the Kraft Foods website a few years back but this one is a lot simpler & WAY TASTY.
Don’t be scared by the ingredient list – it may seem weird but trust me – its so so so so so so good!
Start by dumping about 1/2 a cup of flour into a ziplock bag. Add about 1 tablespoon steak seasoning & mix it up. Then you can add the country ribs, one at a time, zip the bag & shake it up. Do this to all the ribs.
Turn the Instant Pot to the Sauté setting & hit More (this makes the oil really hot). Add oil to the pot. Brown the ribs one by one for a couple minutes on both sides.
Mix the orange juice & chicken stock & then whisk in the Thousand Island. While the Instant Pot is still on the sauté function, pour the sauce in & stir to deglaze the bottom of the pot. Hit Cancel, & then turn the pressure cooker on high & set it for 45 minutes. Press the ribs down into the sauce & make sure they’re all covered with the sauce. Add the lid & let it do it’s magic.
Side Note:
This time instead of using bottled Thousand Island dressing, I made my own. There are many recipes for Thousand Island from scratch on the internet… I chose this one for two reasons: 1) It had the most stars/best reviews. 2) It didn’t call for hard boiled eggs.
This picture shows the ingredients (simple stuff that you most likely already have on-hand) piled in the bowl. I just whisked it all together & poof! This Thousand Island is way better than bottled. It has no weird after taste. I’ll definitely be making more of this.
After the cooking time is complete, let the pressure cooker do a natural release for about 15 minutes. Then turn the dial to manual vent to let the rest of the steam out. Remove the lid & using a slotted spoon, transfer the ribs to a serving plate with an edge (so you can capture the yummy goodness that you’re going to pour over the top). Cover with foil while you finish the sauce.
Turn the Instant Pot back to the Sauté setting & hit more. Mix up the cornstarch & water and then add it to the sauce in the pot. It might be necessary to do a second addition of the cornstarch slurry, depending how thick you’d like the sauce. Whisk for a minute or two. Turn off the Instant Pot. Ladle the sauce over the ribs & ENJOY!
I served these ribs with steamed broccoli & ancient grain medley with the yummy sauce drizzled over everything. YUM.
Instant Pot Braised Country Ribs (without BBQ sauce)
Ingredients
- 4 country ribs
- 3-4 tbsp avocado oil
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tbsp steak seasoning
- 1.5 cups orange juice
- 1.5 cups chicken stock
- 3/4 cup thousand island dressing
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- 3 tbsp water
Instructions
- Mix the flour & steak seasoning in a ziplock bag. Add the ribs one at a time to dredge evenly on all sides. Using the Sauté More function on the Instant Pot, brown the ribs one at a time for a couple minutes on each side. Set them aside. Mix the orange juice, chicken stock & thousand island dressing. Pour it into the Instant Pot while stirring to deglaze the pot. Hit Cancel to turn off the Sauté function.Turn the Instant Pot to the Pressure Cooker function on high & set the time for 45 minutes. Add the ribs to the pot & push them down gently to cover all the ribs with the sauce. Add the lid. Once cooking time is complete, use the natural release. After 15 minutes, turn the dial to manual vent to let out remaining steam. Remove the lid. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the ribs to the serving dish. Hit Cancel. Turn the Instant Pot on to Sauté More. Mix the cornstarch & water together in a small bowl until no lumps remain. Whisk the slurry into the sauce in the pot. Continue whisking while the sauce is boiling for about 1-2 minutes. Hit Cancel to turn the pot off. Ladle the sauce over the ribs & serve.
