Pressure Cooker Smoky BBQ Ribs

When I was a kid, my mum absolutely adored her pressure cooker. It was constantly on the hob, hissing away – she seemed to use it for everything. I was never really sure what the difference between that and a normal saucepan was, though, and it was only when the nice people at Tower offered to send me a pressure cooker of my very own that I realised I still wasn’t sure on the difference.

In a nutshell, it’s kind of like the opposite of a slow cooker. A fast cooker, if you will. The lid is sealed on tightly with a rubber seal, and it cooks the food much quicker than in any other way because there’s so much pressure in there. You have to use more water than you would in anything else to ensure that it generates enough steam to cook properly, but in general it's very simple to use. And food cooks so quick!

I debated what to cook with my new pressure cooker, but then I found a recipe for ribs and I was all like 'Dude, let's cook some ribs.'

So we cooked some ribs.

Pressure Cooker Smoky BBQ Ribs

Ribs (we used two packets that were about 0.8kg each)

A bottle of your favourite BBQ sauce (we used Jack Daniels)

Spices to rub the ribs with (we used Great British Butcher British BBQ Rub but you can use whatever you want)

200ml of water

1. Rub dem ribs all over with your spice rub

2. Heat up your pressure cooker, add a splash of oil and throw the ribs in, a few at a time, to brown them on both sides. They need a couple of minutes each - don't stress too much about them being 'done', as they'll cook through in a bit.

3. When all the ribs are done, pop them all back in the pressure cooker.

4. Over them, pour a whole bottle of BBQ sauce and 200ml of water.

5. Pop the lid of the pressure cooker on, seal it and cook on a high heat for 15-18 minutes.

6. Apparently the pressure gauge on top should pop up when it's done but I couldn't see any difference, so instead I carefully released the steam a bit at a time by pushing the lock of the lid to open. Once it's all released, it opens quite easily.

7. Remove all the ribs with some tongs, then cook the sauce on high for 5-10 minutes to thicken it. I recommend adding a paste of cornflour to help this along.

8. Serve with chips and coleslaw, then pour that nice thick barbeque sauce over the top.

My verdict? The pressure cooker was easy to use but I must admit the instructions were hard to follow. I'm still not sure we did it completely right, and the instructions mentioned things like setting the hook to our chosen cooking method, with no information about how to distinguish that! The ribs were very tasty though, and I loved how efficient it was, so that I could use one pan to brown the meat and to thicken the sauce.

You can read more about pressure cookers on the Tower Housewares blog!

I also have to mention the rub we used. Great British Butcher Giftboxes got in touch with me and asked if I wanted to try out their rubs which are available to buy on Not On The High Street - they'd be a great gift for a cooking fan! They smelt amazing and gave everything a lovely flavour, but I really want to try some of the others now, like the Bloody Mary Rub. They're also all vegetarian, so you could spice up some tofu. Or some halloumi. Ooooh. With the Bloody Mary Rub? Yes. Check them out - if you buy them as a gift for someone for Christmas, they might cook for you! DOUBLE WIN.