BBQ Beef Short Ribs {Electric Pressure Cooker Recipe}

My HB (Honey Bunny aka Boyfriend) had a BBQ meet to attend for his Acura NSX club this last weekend.  Attendees were mostly going to consist of men who like fast cars.  It was a potluck and we attended this event once the year before, and that time we brought with us Cream Cheese Stuffed Jalapeños Wrapped with Bacon that he threw onto the BBQ there.  He wanted to bring the same exact thing again this year!  No sir, I don’t like it!  I hate making the same thing for the same event.

I had been craving short ribs the last couple of weeks so I decided to make some in my pressure cooker for the BBQ event instead.  My HB still wanted to make the jalapeños though, so I told him to make those himself!  Haha!

This recipe doesn’t consist of many ingredients.  It’s pretty simple and I love simple.  However, I wouldn’t call it a healthy recipe.  It’s pretty much a heart-attack inducing, artery coating, hip enlarging recipe.  You have been warned!

All you need is one bottle of BBQ sauce, your favorite brand or any generic one will do.  A bottle of beer or ale.  I had leftover stout from St. Patrick’s Day that I had to desperately use up.  One yellow onion.  One package of bacon, any kind will do.  One package of mushrooms.  And ½ cup of fresh chives for garnish.  Oh, and let’s not forget the main star of the recipe.  Short Ribs!!!  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of them while they were still in the package.  I got too excited and ripped them all open and dumped them into the pot.  So I’m sorry you are stuck with photos of just raw meat!

Depending on your butcher or where you buy the ribs from, some may be a little more fatty than others, so trim or slice off any excess fat.  You will need about 3-5 lbs of short ribs.  Individually, it should yield about 25-30 pieces. Season the ribs with salt and pepper.

Pour the beer into a bowl and mix it up w/ ½ a cup of the BBQ sauce.  Pour the sauce into the pressure cooker pot along w/ the ribs.

Shut the lid on the pressure cooker and lock it into place.  Set the valve to Airtight.  Follow the instructions on your pressure cooker model and cook the ribs for 15-minutes.  This first 15-minute is what I call the pre-cook time.  I usually do this for meats that are fatty.  It helps to burn off all the excess fat and liquefy it so it can be discarded.  But it also precooks the meat so it starts the cooking process.

Now, onto the special sauce!!!

Bacon time!  I know, more fat and grease!  But I just can’t help it!  My vegetarian sister is going to kill me!!!  I promise, no more pork after this!

Slice the bacon into thin strips and start frying it up on a fry pan on medium heat until they are nice and crispy.  Usually takes about 5-10 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon or tongs, take out the bacon and set aside.  Do not discard the cooking grease from the bacon.  (I apologize for the mysterious blue bowl I found to put the bacon in.  It totally throws off the balance to the photo collage.  I promise to find a more non-descript bowl next time!  Hehe)

Slice up the onions into half rings and lightly fry them in the remaining bacon grease.  Trust me, this will add tons of flavor!  And tons of calories!  And tons of inches to your waistline.  But don’t worry, we’re going to run 1 mile for each rib we eat afterwards, right?  Right!

Drain the onions and set aside as well.  There should still be a little grease left.  Do the same with the mushrooms as well.  Yum yum yum!!!

Probably around this time, the pressure cooker is close to being done “pre-cooking” the short ribs.  If it is done, this is my favorite part.  Time to release the pressure!!!  For my particular model, I simply use an oven mitt or a dish towel.  I turn the valve to Exhaust, and choo-choo…..the pressure starts releasing in a stream!  Yee haw!!!  Sometimes, I place a folded towel over the valve because the hot steam gets a little too excited and starts to spit.  The steam should still be able to release through the folded towel.

Once all the pressure has released, carefully open the lid and look at the wonderful goodness inside!  This is where the “pre-cooking” comes in handy.  I take out all the individual ribs with tongs and set it aside in a platter.  You’ll notice that the meat on the bone is still a bit tough, but never fear, this is just the beginning. Ladle out about 2 cups of the sauce and juice that was rendered out of the ribs.  Save and discard the rest.

Pour the 2 cups of the sauce back into the pot.  Pour the remaining bottle of the BBQ sauce into it as well and give it a good mix.  Now, put all the ribs back into the pot and coat each one thoroughly in the sauce.
Add in the bacon, onions and mushrooms to the top of everything.
Shut the lid again and lock it.  Set the valve to Airtight.  Program the pressure cooker to cook for another 10-minutes.
For my event, I actually carried my portable pressure cooker to the BBQ and programmed it there for the additional 10-minutes so it would be nice and hot for everyone.  Not that my machine doesn’t have a Keep Warm function, but it was just what I decided to do.

Once the 10-minutes finish, you can either manually release the pressure like I did earlier after the “pre-cook”.  Or you can just let it naturally drop down in pressure on its own which may take another 15-minutes or so. Anyway, when it’s done, open the lid.  Mine is actually removable as well, so I just took off the whole darn lid to make self-serving a lot easier for the guests.  I sprinkled the fresh chives over all the ribs and rang the dinner bell for TIME TO EAT!!!
The meat was barely hanging on to the bone anymore.  It was also fork tender and you could cut through it with a plastic knife!  Make sure you serve each rib with a nice spoonful of the sauce with all the bacon, onion and mushroom goodness as well.

I had two pieces.  Then I ran two miles afterwards.  NOT!!!

BBQ SHORT RIBS RECIPE

Ingredients:
3-4 lbs of Short Ribs (Individually cut by butcher into about 25-30 pieces)
1 Bottle of Beer or Ale
1 Yellow Onion
1 Package of Bacon
1 Bottle of BBQ Sauce
1 Package of Mushrooms
½ Cup of Fresh Chives

• Put short ribs into pressure cooker.  Season with salt and pepper.
• Mix whole bottle of beer/ale with 1 cup of BBQ sauce in a separate bowl.
• Pour mixture into pressure cooker w/ the short ribs.
• Set pressure cooker to cook for 10-minutes.
• While you wait, chop up the bacon.  Slice up the onions into half rings.
• Fry the bacon until crisp, remove and set aside.
• Use the remaining bacon fat in the pan to lightly fry up the onions, remove and set aside.
• There should be more bacon fat remaining, lightly use it to fry up the mushrooms.  Remove and set aside.
• When pressure cooker signals that it is done.  Release the pressure and open the lid.
• A lot of liquid has accumulated from the cooking.  Remove the ribs individually and put into a bowl.
• Discard about ¾ of the remaining liquid and fat inside the pot; keeping at least about 2 cups of the liquid.
• Mix the remaining bottle of BBQ sauce into the remaining liquid and stir the mixture well inside the pot.
• Combine the onions, bacon and mushrooms to the mixture as well.
• Using tongs, put all the ribs back into the pot w/ the mixture, making sure to coat all the ribs thoroughly.
• Set pressure cooker for another 10-minutes.
• When the pressure cooker signals that it is done, you can either manually or naturally release the pressure.  Open the lid and let cool for 5-10 minutes.
• Serve ribs with chopped chives and lots of sauce.