How to make Instant Pot sweet and sour ribs

These sweet-tangy ribs are reminiscent of your favorite Chinese restaurant’s version of sweet and sour ribs. Restaurant ribs are usually made with small (1- to 2-inch) pieces of pork ribs and come to the table deliciously glazed in their flavorful sauce. In order to get their ribs perfectly tender on the inside while giving them a crisp exterior, restaurant chefs just toss them in a deep fryer. Since deep frying at home is unappealing as it can be messy and complicated, these use the Instant Pot to achieve the fall-off-the-bone tender effect and then get a quick run under a broiler or on a grill to crisp them up on the outside.

Instead of using baby back rib pieces, we use St. Louis-style pork ribs. These are ribs that have had the sternum bone, cartilage, and rib tips removed. You can put the whole slab into the Instant Pot, which makes them easy to handle, and the way they’re trimmed makes them easy to separate and serve once they’re cooked.