Unlike the quick everyday recipes we typically share, this one is a little more indulgent so we reserve it for more special occasions (a good contender for date night in or a weekend dinner)! We used to get our short rib fix at weddings or fancy restaurants, but over a year of quarantine, Nick has been experimenting with cooking it and the results are pretty darn good. **Update: For a budget-friendly version, we just made this with beef stew meat on the Instant Pot for 35-40 minutes and it was also a hit!**
This recipe marries the thicker cut short ribs typically found at American grocery stores with the savory soy-based flavor of Korean BBQ-style short ribs (the ingredients list on the back of TJ short ribs served as a starting point!) and results in a satisfying, delectable dish that is melt-in-your-mouth tender. All the family members Nick has cooked this for -from our toddler to our parents- gobble it right up, leaving me always wishing for leftovers!
The InstantPot is awesome for getting short ribs perfectly tender and also infusing them with flavor and depth, however you can get similar results using a Dutch oven on low heat for several hours. Nick simplified the recipe below using just regular soy sauce since it’s more common in household pantries, but the best tasting batches he makes use some dark soy sauce and fish sauce as well (see the notes at the bottom of recipe card), so do try that modification if you happen to have all those ingredients!
Instant Pot Beef Short Ribs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs bone in short ribs the thick American grocery store cut, not the thinly sliced kind
- 1 to 2 packages whole baby bella or white mushrooms cut into halves (these will cook down tremendously)
- 2 medium potatoes cut into halves
- 1/3 cup light soy sauce see notes section
- 1/2 cup low sodium broth we use Pacific low sodium beef
- 2.5 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 5 cloves garlic minced or smashed whole
- 2 teaspoons ginger minced
- frozen peas optional
- cilantro or scallions, sesame oil optional for garnish
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Salt & pepper the short ribs, then add oil to the InstantPot and set to "Saute." When the oil is heated, brown the short ribs a few minutes on each side, in batches if necessary (careful not to burn, as the InstantPot gets hot fast on Saute depending on your model)
- Turn off the heat, remove browned short ribs to a plate and set aside. Carefully scoop or pour out excess oil / fat from the pot.
- Add soy sauce, broth, sugar, garlic, and ginger to the pot. Stir gently to mix, scraping up any browned bits off the bottom.
- Place the short ribs back into the pot so that they sit in the sauce mixture. Add in mushrooms, then layer the potato halves on top.
- Cook on the "Meat / Stew" pressure setting for 45 minutes. Do natural release for at least 20 minutes and carefully remove the lid after venting fully.
- Stir in frozen peas until heated through. Serve with the potatoes (which can be cut just a little smaller and kept in the pot, or mashed up separately on the side), rice, or a hunk of bread. Garnish with optional cilantro or scallions and a drizzle of sesame oil on top if desired.
- Optional but recommended: de-fat the dish if you're able to make it in advance, or use a fat separator (see reader comments!). This will take extra time and effort but we always try to do it! After opening up the Instant Pot, use tongs or a large slotted spoon to remove all the potatoes and short ribs from the sauce and place them in a separate bowl. Let the sauce cool and then chill in the fridge, and skim off and discard the white layer of fat on top. Reheat everything together when you're ready to eat.
Notes
- If you have these in your pantry, Nick likes to sub in a little dark soy sauce and fish sauce as well for added depth of flavor. To make it this way, instead of 1/3 cup regular soy sauce from the ingredients list above, do: 4 Tablespoons regular soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon fish sauce.
- If you don’t have time to mince the ginger, you can do thick slices but use more like a generous 2 to 3 inch chunk.
- We included carrots in the photos but note they get mushy after the longer pressure cooking time (our toddler doesn't mind).
- For a little heat, you can add gochujang or chili flakes into the sauce.
Below: Start by browning the salt & peppered short ribs on the “sauté” setting and then remove them from the pot. Combine the sauce mixture directly in the pot before adding the browned short ribs back in.
After adding the browned short ribs back into the pot, we layer the mushrooms and halved potatoes on top before closing the lid. We all love mushrooms in this dish, so usually do 2 boxes!
Tip: we love our Instant Pot glass lid, convenient for popping leftovers in the fridge directly in the pot!
After the optional (but highly recommended) step of de-fatting the chilled sauce, you can combine and reheat everything right back up within the InstantPot using the Sautee setting again. Or, use a separate pan that’s easier to serve out of.
You can keep the potatoes in the dish as part of the stew (see above) to eat with rice, or take them out and mash them up as a side (see below)!
Hi there – What tableware set are you using here?
This is so easy and tasty! I never imagined I could cook short ribs and so well! Thank you Jean!
I am excited to make this tonight. One question though: step one says “when the oil is heated, brown the short ribs” is this the sesame oil you mentioned in the recipe? Or a different kind of oil?
Made this tonight. So good. Skipped the potatoes and served over ready made mashed potatoes. Also, to de-fat, I poured the liquid in a glass and packed out the fat. So easy.
Oh my gosh Jean…I made this tonight and it’s SO BOMB. It’s out of this world!!!
I almost always double the garlic in any recipe and this was no exception. I also used portobello mushrooms instead of the baby Bella. Was considering trying some shiitake in the mix next time.
I have a few questions:
1. Can you please post more instant pot recipes? I love your recipes and they are perfect for that time of month when I’m hormonal, hungry, tired, and really craving Asian food and flavors of home.
2. I know short ribs are really fatty – does separating the fat remove most of the fat in the ribs? How healthy is this?
3. What exactly is “browning” the meat? I just did it for 3 min on each side but didn’t know how brown they’re supposed to get.
Really excited to try more! Thank you!
Hi Jean, if I were to slow cook it on stove top, when would you suggest to put in the potatoes and mushrooms?
Hi! You could add them in the beginning but if you keep the potatoes cut largely, you could potentially just fish them out into a bowl after 1.5 hours if they’r tender enough for your liking. Mushrooms surprisingly hold up their texture well after a long period of cooking … It’s mostly carrots that might get too mushy if they’re in there for the full cooking time. And peas we always add just at the very end.
Thank you Nick and Jean! Delicious recipe and super easy to pull together. (Used a fat separator).
We doubled the recipe for our family of 5. One of our teenage daughters had 4 bowls. Yum!
So happy to hear that, Sharon! Looks like we need that fat separator gadget!
Wow! This looks so good! Thanks for this!!
Hi Jean. Thank you for sharing the recipe with us! I saw your post and I immediately saved it for my dinner tonight! I don’t have an instant pot and some of the ingredients you listed so I had to make some adjustments!
I used a le creuset 22cm round pot for this (approx 900g of short ribs as well!) and it was just fine. I used it to brown the ribs and to braise as well with no problems. But had to make a few adjustments for stovetop cooking.
My adjustments:
– replaced bone broth with home made dashi stock because that’s all I had on hand and it was fine.
– added water just enough to cover the contents in the pot to braise for a couple of hours. I didn’t have to add any additional water after that.
– added a little Japanese cooking wine to remove the meat smell
I ended up braising this dish for about 2 hours on low heat.. and my husband wouldn’t stop saying how good my cooking was tonight! Thank you once again for sharing the recipe with us!
Thanks so much May Ling for taking the time to leave such a thorough and helpful comment on cooking this stovetop plus your modifications! We’re so happy that you and the husband enjoyed it.
Wow, these look amazing!
Briana
Can this be done in a slow cooker ?
Hi Cara, we haven’t done it ourselves but I don’t see why not! You can probably skip the browning of the short ribs and just throw everything in after mixing together the sauce ingredients first
Love the instant pot! Keep them coming
Yesss it’s one of our most used appliances after our air fryer!
Ooh this looks so tasty! Definitely going on the grocery list.
If you didn’t know, OXO makes a fat separator, super easy to de-fat the sauce and serve immediately: https://www.oxo.com/4-cup-fat-separator.html
I need that! Thanks for the tip!