Make the best ribs you’ve ever had with these Ninja Foodi Baby Back Ribs!
Do you like steamed meat? I don’t. Not even a little, it grosses me out. So I tend to have a hard time with simply pressure cooking meats. Of course, if it’s going to be used in a recipe I can handle it.
What happens though when you pressure cook meat and then use the air fryer too? It’s MAGIC!
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It literally tastes like it just came off the grill, but the meat falls right of the bone and simply melts in your mouth.
Do you need a Ninja Foodi for Ninja Foodi Baby Back Ribs?
In this case, YES! Of course, you can do these in an Instant Pot and then simply broil them in the oven. That would work too but it’s much easier in the Ninja Foodi because you do not even have to remove them from the pot.
What do you use to make Ninja Foodi Baby Back Ribs?
For this recipe, you will use the air crisper basket. The ribs will be in this the entire time. That means you will want to cut the slab of ribs into 4 sections to be able to nicely fit in the basket. They can be on their side if needed.
How to cook ribs in the Ninja Foodi:
Ribs will be cooked in the Ninja Foodi in two parts, using both the Pressure Cooker and Air Crisper functions. That means you will need both lids to make these ribs. It will take about one hour to make the ribs.
The first part of this method is going to be using the pressure cooker along with the pressure cooker lid that comes with the Ninja Foodi.
For the final part of the recipe, you will use the lid attached to the Ninja Foodi to use the air crisper function.
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One thing to note is that you want to be sure to trim the membrane off the back of the ribs. We bought ours from the meat department at the local store so it was basically trimmed already. If they are not trim that off and it will allow them to cook up better.
Also, remember they need to be sliced into 4 parts to fit nicely in the basket.
What sauce should you use for Ninja Foodi Ribs?
These ribs can be made with your favorite sauce or a homemade sauce. We typically use Head Country BBQ Sauce for this Ninja Foodi recipe.
Now it’s time to make these fabulous Ninja Foodi Baby Back Ribs…trust me, ribs will never be the same after these!
Ninja Foodi Baby Back Ribs
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Water
- 1 Rack of Baby Back Ribs Trimmed & Seasoned
- 2 Cups Barbecue Sauce
Instructions
- Pour the water into the pot of the Ninja Foodi. (The pot that comes with the Ninja Foodi)
- Cut the ribs into 4 equal parts.
- Spray the air crisper basket with nonstick cooking spray.
- Cut the ribs into 4 equal parts and place in the basket.
- Put about 1/2 cup Barbecue Sauce in a separate bowl and lather onto the ribs with a brush.
- Place the pressure cooker lid on the Ninja Foodi and be sure it is set to 'sealed'.
- Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes.
- Quick-release the steam.
- Add additional barbecue sauce if preferred to the ribs.
- Set the pressure cooker lid aside and use the lid attached to the Ninja Foodi.
- Using the Air Crisp function, set to 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Carefully remove and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
did you make this recipe?
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Comments & Reviews
I have a Instant Pot but we bought a Ninja because it has an air fryer and crisper. I love the ribs cooked in the instant pot but I have to crisp them in the oven. So we will see how the crisper works.
It works great at least in my opinion. 🙂 I bet you’ll really enjoy it. That was the downside for me with the Instant Pot was that I still had to use the oven.
Love your website and your recipes, new here, making these tonight for New Years Eve
Yay! So glad you are enjoying it. We love these ribs, hope you enjoy them too!
When she’s saying put water in the pot is that in the actual ninja foodie or the pot that it comes with that you sit inside the ninja. Then set air fryer basket inside that pot?
It’s the pot that you sit inside the foodie, then you put the basket inside the pot.
My Foodi didn’t come with a basket. It came with a black crisper insert and a slatted rack. What should I do?
The crisper should work.
After pressuring them do you need to clean the pot under the rack in order to airbrush them?
I don’t normally clean it, but you can if you prefer.
Do you empty water out of between pressure cooking and the frying???!
Good question, I did not empty it in between.
Yes pour the water out between pressure cooking and air crisping.
I don’t empty it out. works perfectly. I cook the next batch of ribs using the same liquid.
How do you fit a full rack? Are you stacking them or standing them up right?
I cut mine and then stand them up.
It is just two of so, I only cook a half rack. Do I cut the recipe in half?
Yes I would cut the amount of sauce in 1/2.
Can the ribs be frozen or should I thaw them first?
I typically defrost first, but I do believe you can do them frozen too. Just be sure that they reach the correct internal temperature.
Probably but how would you trim th and take skin off bone side?
Followed this receipt, excellent. I used apple juice instead of water.
That’s a great idea, I bet it’s great for flavor too!
Very easy, and very good. I soaked my ribs in some Jim Beam Honey Whisky for an hour prior to pressure cooking. I added half a cup of Stella Artois Cider as the liquid for the pressure cooking. Using the pressure cooking then the air crisp method they were so good.
Sounds amazing I’m going to try that tonight thanks for the extra flavor
Followed your recipe exactly and ribs were the best I’ve ever made! Is it possible to cook 2 rib racks in an 8qt Foodi, maybe without the AC basket? How would it change the cook time? I look forward to trying more of your recipes.
Yes, you could do it just depends on how much will fit. If you don’t use the basket, I’d use the wire rack, mainly to keep them off the bottom so they don’t burn. I’d start with the same cook time and then add more time onto the air crisp if needed.
I always do 2 racks, I follow this recipe,but I like fall off bones so 45 minutes for 6.2 lb ribs, standing them on side,, bone side in and lay in ⅗ circle, then 2nd one inside the first, it’salways perfect. . Then when I do that many I broil on cookie sheet in oven. If one rack I use Foodi Broil or air crisp (8qt)
What did you season them with before cooking them?
Most of the time I don’t season them before because I like just the flavor from the sauce but when I do, I like Head Country Seasoning and Kansas City Seasoning. I use the mixes so for instance with Head Country, they have an original seasoning that’s great.
I seasoned with the allrecipes rib rub pretty basic but good. I did drain mine and did not sauce it twice in fear of it being too soggy. Though if I do it again I may do one or both it was good the outside was a little dry (not in a bad way) on the outside. Nothing a little bbq sauce cant help out.
Do you think this would work with boneless wings? Any changes I would have to make?! Sorry I’m terrible with meat because I’m a vegetarian, but my husband is an only meat eater
You could do boneless wings. Typically with chicken cook time is normally about 15-20 minutes. I’d check them at 10 minutes, then again at 15 minutes. They need to be at least 165 degrees internal temperature to be fully cooked.
Can you use beer as your liquid
I haven’t tried that before but I bet you could.
I use root beer!!
5 stars, I used the dry rub/braising liquid from Good Eats and this was the perfect way to modify that for the foodi. They were fall off the bone tender with little crispy bits from the air crisper. I will definitely make this again!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them. They have become my favorite even more than smoking them on our smoker. That rub sounds great too!
This is great! They turned out just right. I can’t wait to experiment with above comments like cider and beer. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed them! We had them today too. 🙂
Try ribs cooked in the foodi with Root Bear, SOOOO GOOD!
That’s a great idea!
If by any chance you see this soon (because I’m getting ready to start cooking now), did you use the pressure cooker with Root Beer? We usually do this method with our crock pot, but a friend is borrowing that at the moment, and I was worried about carbonated beverage with the pressure cooker. thanks!
I’ve never used it with root beer – I have seen root beer added in though, but personally I haven’t tried it.
I made these last night and they were amazing! Thank you for your Ninja recipes.
Yay! So glad to hear that!
I made these tonight and man they were greasy. Any suggestions?
I haven’t had any issues with ours being too greasy, did you use baby back? Those are typically the leanest other than that, you could try increasing the time too and see if that helps as well.
I will definitely be trying this. I plan to put some liquid smoke in with the water.
Yes, you can.
I’m new to this Ninja Foodi thing. This site is awesome!
When you make a recipe like this one, where you pressure cook first and then air crisp/fry, do you remove the liquid before you air dry or do you keep it in the pot even during the air frying step?
I keep everything in the pot for this one and just switch the lids.
I’m getting a Ninja Foodie Grill for my 85 birthday next week. Are these recipes for that one or another Ninja cooker???
I’m so confused.
These are for the Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker, but you can make many of them in the Ninja Foodi Grill, because it has different options.
How would you do these in the foodie grill? I have a large rack of ribs so would like to do half in foodie pressure pot and half in the grill. Thanks for your great recipes.
I’ve only done the country style in the grill at this point, but I’m planning to do baby back soon – here are the country ribs https://www.mommyhatescooking.com/ninja-foodi-grilled-ribs.
Here is a good video on the baby back ribs in the grill – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpN5b69ySIo
Going to make tonight
Hello! We are making this on our brand new Foodi tonight! When we set it to Pressure on high for 35 minutes, it went into preheating mode. Are we supposed to preheat without the ingredients?
Once you lock the lid in place for pressure cooking it’s going to preheat for a while, it will be building the pressure inside, then once pressure is built, it’s going to start the clock for 35 minutes. It takes a bit for pressure to build first.
YOUR recipe sounds terrific! However you don’t say how many pounds the rack of ribs weighs. I have a small rack of baby back ribs and don’t want to over cook them. Thank you!
I used about a 12 inch, 2 pound baby back rack of ribs for this recipe.
I tried this recipe. I substitute broth with Vernon’s ginger ale, added liquid smoke and reduced the air crisp time to 10 minutes. They were delicious. Will definitely use this recipe again.
I did not put bbq sauce on while pressure cooking…last time most of it went into apple juice so, going to wait for air crisp part and dowse them up then.
OMG.. just made the ribs for dinner. Amazing!!! I did put new apple juice in the ninja after pressure cooking. I’m in an apartment with extremely sensitive fire alarms. The liquid at the bottom stops the unit from smoking during the air frying.
I made ribs in the oven all the time and this has cut the time into 1/3 and love how crispy the ribs get also how much of the fat gets melted and tossed during both the pressure cooking and air frying. Thank you!!!
Yay! So happy to hear that, I love making them like this!
My ribs are in the ninja right now but I accidentally put a whole cup of water and is that gonna be OK
My guess is that it should be fine. 🙂
I used this recipe last night in my new 8qt Ninja Foodi as a starting off point. I did do some modifying of the recipe and will use my results to adjust my next batch. The rack of baby back ribs I used was close to 4lbs. I seasoned with my favorite dry seasoning and did not apply BBQ sauce until I was ready to air-fry. The ribs fit nicely into the fryer basket after I followed the directions of removing the membrane & cutting the ribs into equal sections. I used 1 cup of Root Beer instead of water. I followed the directions for the pressure cooking but reduced the amount of air-frying time to 10 minutes. They were very good. The meat did fall off the bones. I believe that next time I would reduce the pressure cooking time to 30 minutes. Its very hard to find good recipes which DO NOT overcook the food, and most people will modify them to suit their own preferences. This is a very very good recipe and I highly recommend it.
That sounds like great modifications and delicious!
OMG – awesome ribs – This is the 2nd time making ribs, but 1st time using this recipe. I kept to the recipe for the 1st part. Putting the BBQ sauce on prior to the Pressure Cook stage – I had never done it this way before – but it really helped to get the flavor into the ribs. The rib meat was already falling off the bone at this point, but not the “crispy” bbq that i wanted. So i added one extra min to the air fry – wrong – I should have kept to the recipe or even back off to air fry for 13 min instead of the 15 (i did 16). They were blackened – but tasted FANTASTIC. Thank you so much!!! Love your recipies.
They get crispy super quick!! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I love making them like this and that they fall off the bone.
Any suggestions for making ribs in the ninja foodi without sauce and just a dry rub?
I haven’t done them without the sauce, I’d likely lower the cook time and check on them and then add some cooking oil spray to them if you air crisp. It may take some trial to get the right times.
I just made these tonight! We always smoke our ribs with Alton Brown’s pulled pork rub, never sauce, it’s not necessary! So I tried it here and added some liquid smoke to the ribs. It worked very well! Next time, I will coat them in the liquid smoke and some salt (I had forgotten that we use a brine) and let them sit for about thirty minutes before adding the rub and continuing with the recipe. I was able to squeeze two racks into tho foodi!
Thanks for the great recipe ❤
Outstanding recipe. These ribs were better than my smoker, my grill, and the last purchase from the local rib shack.
Made them today OUTSTANDING! They actually fell off the bone. So tender but they carmelized on top for just a touch of texture. Thank you for that recipe
Absolutely delicious. I used 1/2 cup sugar-free barbecue sauce instead to make these keto friendly.
Looks like a nice dish, but you realize that the barbecue sauce you recommended as well as the homemade sauce will kick you right out of keto? This recipe should not be in a section labeled keto! But as far as a high sugar/carb recipe goes, it looks great,.
Sorry for the confusion, you’d need to use a low sugar/sugar free sauce. I use this one – https://www.headcountry.com/product/sugarfree/
Is there a difference between air crisper basket and what came with my foodie the cook and crisp plate?
The basket should be shaped like a little basket. https://www.ninjakitchen.com/parts/0/all/2602/foodi-cook-and-crisp-basket-for-65-qt-unit/
Can you use a dry rub and bbq sauce to finish the ribs or would it be to much seasoning’s?
Can you use a dry rub and bbq sauce to finish the ribs or would it be to much seasoning’s?
I meant a dry rub to pressure cook with than finish them off with bbq
That would prob work just make sure you have liquid in the bottom of the pressure cooker.
Awesome thanks I’ll use the liquid broth that I marinade them with on the bottom can’t wait to try these tonight
i I tried the Ninja recipe and they were dried out and over cooked. I hope to do better with your method
Just made these and they were amazing. Only thing I added was about 2 heaping tbs of my newest food obsession, South Carolina smoky chipotle mustard. We made short work of that rack of ribs!
I’ve made this at least a dozen times and it is pure genius? I’ve tried the others with ten spices and herbs but this recipe is easier and better tasting.
Many thanks!!!!!
This is the easiest, most delicious recipe I’ve found. My only diversion was to add several tablespoons of smoked chipotle mustard to my BBQ sauce, which gives a bit of Carolina twang. Air crisping gives it just the right amount of crunchy tenderness. I’ve made this 2-3 times.
We live full time trading the country. We also love our food cooked over a real fire. I’ve done this with spare ribs and it was perfect! I dry rub them with whatever I’ve got on hand then pressure cook for 30 to 40 min and finish off on the fire. Delish!
It’s traveling. In our RV. Not trading.
Third time making these well worth the effort
This is my new go to method! Your cooking times were right on and every bite was tender and not dry. I put dry rub on for 24 hours. Instead of water I used orange soda. Pressure cooked without the sauce. Then after pressure cooking I coated with dry rub and then used bbq sauce and air fried 15 minutes.
Thank you
Can you make this with a rib rub instead of the bbq sauce?
I haven’t tried it with the rub, but possibly, you’d just want to be sure it doesn’t dry out.
These ribs turned out great. Sooo easy
So my ninja foodi only comes with one basket. So with this recipe do I pressure cook first or air fry???
I pressure cook them first then air fry, I use the same basket for both.
Can you use beef ribs?…would the same cooking times apply?
Yes you can, I’d check on them and just be sure they are to your desired doneness but they should cook similarly.
I used only the thick end from three racks. This is the part that always seems to need more time.
Not all the fat was rendered. Next time I do the thick end of the rack I’ll go with 45 minutes. I’m sure 35 minutes is fine for the thinner part of the rack.
I wondered if 15 minutes would burn the sauce, but no. I’m sure a couple more minutes would be fine. I used Bone Suckin’ Sauce and Korean BBQ sauce, divided between the ribs. That worked out fine.
The only bad part of this recipe is cleaning the pot. Ribs on a foiled sheet pan are easy cleanup, but take much longer.
Just fabulous! I make my own sauce different every time and absolutely love your recipe!
Do we have to cut into 4 equal parts twice?
Step 2 and 4.
It’s just to fit, so cut them so they fit your machine.
Not a fan. I found these to be overcooked both in the pressure cooker and crisper. They literally fell apart and were dry. I also think having a rub would have made them tastier. The one plus I will give it, super easy recipe
These ribs are the greatest and so much easier than messing with big oven or outdoor grill and so much easier to clean up afterward. We use Guinness Extra Stout beer, the whole bottle (only 11.2 ounces). We pressure cook first and then add a ton of BBQ sauce and use the air fryer mode. In fact we are having them again today. There is no better way to have spare ribs.
Love how these turn out every time. Tender and delicious. Thank you
Thank you so much. This recipe is fail safe and wonderful.
Awesome! We have enjoyed this recipe a couple of times.
So easy to make and delicious!!!