My mum bought me an Instant Pot randomly out of the blue one day.  She already had one and wanted us to be able to share recipes with each other.  I know, I have the best mum!  However, I haven’t been the best at using it.  So this week I thought I would give it another shot and try a couple of recipes.

Something I have always wanted to make for dinner that normally takes way more hours than I have in the evening to cook, are beef short ribs!  They are just so fall apart, tender, delicious after they have spent hours braising in the oven.  Would it even be possible to create something comparable in the Instant Pot with just a fraction of the cooking time?

YES!!!  These beef short ribs ended up fall apart tender enough that they just broke apart in the delicious sesame garlic ginger glaze.  Melt in your mouth deliciousness.  This isn’t the first thing I’ve cooked in my Instant Pot, but it IS my favorite thing I’ve cooked in there to date!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs beef short ribs, (I used boneless for these)
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 3 Tbsp cornstarch mixed with 3 Tbsp water

Instructions:

1. Season your short ribs on both sides with salt and pepper.  
2. Add about 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil to the Instant Pot insert and set your Instant Pot to sauté.  Once the pot reads “HOT”, add about half the short ribs to the pot and sauté 4-5 minutes on each side.  (The ribs should have space between them while you are sautéing and a brown crust will form on the bottom of the insert.  This is what you want to happen.)  
3. When done, set the ribs aside on a plate and repeat the process with the rest of the ribs.  Hit cancel and remove all ribs from the pot.
4. Pour the half cup of water in to the instant pot and use a wooden spoon to scrape those delicious brown crusty bits off the bottom of the pan in to the sauce.  (There is a ton of flavor in that!)  
5. Whisk together the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes and black pepper in a small mixing bowl until all the sugar is dissolved.  
6. Add the ribs back in and pour the sauce mixture over the top.
7. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and close it, making sure the vent is pointed to “sealing.”  
8. Press the manual button and set the timer for 40 minutes.  
9. Once the meat is done cooking, be sure to let it stay in the pot and naturally release for a minimum of 15 minutes.  (You will see the instant pot read L0:00 once the cooking is done and it will then start counting minutes up to time the release.)  
10. After the natural release is complete, use the quick release to finish depressurizing the pot before opening the lid  Remove lid and take out the ribs.
11. Stir together the 3 Tbsp cornstarch and 3 Tbsp water.  Hit the sauté button.  Add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce in the pot and stir till thickened.  
12. Serve the beef ribs over rice with the sauce or do like me and break the beef up in the sauce and spoon it all over the rice.  Garnish with some sesame seeds and sliced green onions!  Perfection!