The Best Instant Pot Keto Ribs Recipe

4.50 from 12 votes
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The Best Instant Pot Keto Ribs Recipe – the easiest, fastest way to get tender, delicious, melt in your mouth Keto BBQ ribs right from your Instant Pot!

picture of ribs in front of instant pot

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At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe – my goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

I want each reader to walk away with a solid knowledge of each recipe, with all of the tips I’ve gathered from extensive testing of each recipe. I also answer questions my friends and family have asked about my recipes, to help everyone better understand the processes we use – and why!

There is nothing better than delicious, tender, and flavorful ribs for gameday – they are hearty and filling, and work perfectly for a keto diet – plus they are easy to serve for a crowd!

These amazingly delicious – and crazy easy – ribs are based off my recipe for the Best Smoked Ribs Ever.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, and don’t want to smoke ribs, please check out my Best Ever Baked Ribs – delicious keto ribs, right from your oven – or my Best Ever Slow Cooker Ribs for melt-in-your-mouth ribs from the slow cooker!

All can be made keto – simply swap golden monkfruit sweetener for the brown sugar in the rub, and make sure to grab a bottle of keto approved BBQ sauce.

And if you’re looking for the BEST chicken to go along with these ribs for gameday – be sure to get my top-reviewed BBQ Baked Chicken Drumsticks recipe!

picture of ribs in instant pot

Keto Instant Pot Ribs

Ribs are an awesome party food for those following a keto diet – but it is essential to make sure you’re using a keto-approved bbq sauce and rub.

I am giving you my best rib rub recipe (from my outrageously delicious best ever smoked ribs recipe that has had a ton of great reviews) below – but you can use any rib rub you love.

I suggest low-sugar BBQ sauces for ribs – and rounding up some below:

picture of rib rack curled into instant pot

How To Prep Ribs For Instant Pot

Ribs are a cut of meat that need to be trimmed well for the best flavor โ€“ and so they arenโ€™t chewy and tough.

Ribs come with a silver skin often over the ribs โ€“ trimming the most of this tough tendon off the rib will greatly improve the flavor of your oven baked ribs โ€“ so donโ€™t skip this step.

picture of ribs with bbq sauce on baking sheet

How To Trim Silver Skin Off Ribs

  • Run a knife under the silver skin to separate the membrane from the rib meat.
  • If the silver skin resists in one spot, try another.
  • Once you have separated enough with a knife, grab silver skin tightly and pull to remove from the ribs.
  • If silver skin breaks in one spot, loosen it again with a knife to remove it completely.
picture of ribs in front of instant pot

How To Cook Ribs in Instant Pot

The best instant pot ribs are simple โ€“ but there are a couple tips and tricks to make sure you have perfect ribs, every time.

Dry Rub

After removing silver skin from your ribs, generously cover with dry rub to help create a โ€œsmokyโ€ flavor โ€“ right in the IP!
Smoked paprika helps bring out a grilled meat flavor, without the grill.

Use a trivet


Placing the ribs up above the water needed to bring your instant pot to pressure is essential – you’re not boiling ribs, you’re cooking them!

Finish With Crisp Lid

Finish with a crisping lid for crunchy ribs! For a delicious, crunchy BBQ sauce bark, use a crisping lid or broil ribs after baking for 5-10 minutes.

To buy your own crisping lid for your instant pot, click here.

picture of ribs in front of instant pot

The Best Rib Rub Recipe

This rib rub is slightly modified from the one found in my slow cooker ribs, baked ribs and smoked ribs – we’re replacing the brown sugar with golden monkfruit sweetener.

If you’re not watching carbs, swap that out for brown sugar.

Rib Rub Ingredients

  • Tablespoon of garlic powder
  • Tablespoon of season salt
  • Tablespoon of oregano
  • Tablespoon of cumin
  • Tablespoon of golden monkfruit sweetener

How Long To Cook Ribs in Instant Pot

  • To Cook Baby Back Ribs In an Instant Pot, cook for 25 Minutes
  • To Cook spare ribs in an Instant Pot, cook for 30 Minutes
    • For high altitude cooking (I’m in Colorado!), cook 5 minutes longer.
  • Technically, ribs are overcooked when they are “fall off the bone” tender, even though that is popular (I’ll admit, I love fall off the bone ribs). To get them extra tender, cook an extra five minutes.
picture of ribs cooked in instant pot

What to Serve with Keto Instant Pot Ribs

If you’re looking for delicious gameday worthy sides for a keto party, look no further!

I get more questions on what to serve with ribs than any other dish, so I hope these picks help you out!

Click here for more amazing Instant Pot Recipes!

The Best Instant Pot Keto Ribs Recipe

If you love these ribs as much as I do, please help me share them on facebook and pinterest, and please give them a five star review!

picture of ribs in front of instant pot

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4.50 from 12 votes

The Best Instant Pot Keto Ribs Recipe

By: Courtney O’Dell
Servings: 8
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes
Total: 5 minutes
Bbq ribs on a baking sheet using the best instant pot keto ribs recipe.
Delicious keto ribs cooked in an instant pot are the perfect summertime main dish!

Ingredients 

  • 1 rack pork ribs
  • Tablespoon of garlic powder
  • Tablespoon of season salt
  • Tablespoon of oregano
  • Tablespoon of cumin
  • Tablespoon of golden monkfruit sweetener
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup apple juice or apple cider vinegar
  • 2 cups keto bbq sauce

Instructions 

  • Remove ribs from refrigerator and pat dry. Let come to room temperature for 20-30 minutes.
  • In a small bowl, combine rub ingredients.
  • Cover ribs with rub, working into meat with your hands.
  • Place trivet in instant pot.
  • Add water and apple cider vinegar or apple juice.
  • Place ribs in instant pot, add lid, and set to seal.
  • Cook for 30 minutes and let naturally release.
  • Remove ribs from Instant Pot and cover with BBQ sauce.
  • Return ribs to Instant Pot with crisping lid and cook another 5 minutes (NOT AT PRESSURE), or broil in the oven for five minutes.
  • Optional: cut ribs individually to broil (as pictured) with tons of sauce for a crunchy bark.

Nutrition

Serving: 2ribsCalories: 149kcalCarbohydrates: 6gProtein: 3gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 790mgFiber: 1g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Ribs
Cuisine: American
Tried this recipe?Mention @sweetcsdesigns or tag #sweetcsdesigns!

About Courtney

Courtney loves to share great wine, good food, and loves to explore far flung places- all while masting an everyday elegant and easy style at lifestyle blog Sweet Cโ€™s Designs. Sweet C's devoted to finding the best food and drinks you'll want to make or find, around the world!

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4.50 from 12 votes (12 ratings without comment)

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3 Comments

  1. Edyta Kieltyka says:

    Can I use regular bbq sauce?

    1. Courtney ODell says:

      You totally can – any sauce you love! If you’re going for keto, watch the carbs, if not – pick anything you love!

  2. Larry Haines says:

    I just found your web site, and enjoy reading your history, and your different types of recipes. I’m an old retired gentleman (some may differ), but anyway I’m learning to cook. I have a wide array of recipes I have gathered. I like learning to cook more on my instant pot, and my air fryer.
    I am a big fan of Baby Backs, and have some good recipes.
    In reading your rib recipe for Instant pot, you never mentioned which setting to use. Seasoned cooks probably know instinctively which setting.
    I could probably figure it out, but ribs can be expensive, so I don’t want to ruin them.

    Thank you, I’ll watch for your reply.

    Larry