Season your short ribs on both sides with salt and pepper.

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.)

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.

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.

Pour a little of the sauce mixture in to the 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!)

Add the ribs back in and pour the rest of the sauce mixture over the top.

Put the lid on the Instant Pot and close it, making sure the vent is pointed to “sealing.”

Press the manual button and set the timer for 40 minutes.

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.)

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.

Stir together 2 Tbsp cornstarch and 3 Tbsp water. Hit the saute button. Add the cornstarch mixture to the sauce in the pot and stir till thickened.

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!