Make this super easy Instant Pot char siu using pork ribs and finish cooking by broiling in the oven to get a nice brown color on the ribs or finish cooking on the stove. Your choice!
Place onion and garlic in a food processor and finely chop them. You can skip this if you use powdered onion and garlic. Mix this with the rest of the char siu sauce ingredients and transfer to a saucepan. Cook this over medium heat until sugar melted and the sauce is bubbly. Have a taste and adjust to your preference. It should be more at the sweet side. Remove from the heat
Pressure cook the ribs in Instant Pot:
Remove any excess fat from the ribs and remove the membrane located at the back
Pour in 1 cup of water into the inner pot of instant pot. Place a trivet in there and place the ribs in an upright position, circling around the inner pot, with the meat side facing out. Cover the lid and press "pressure cooker" and make sure it's on high pressure. Set timer to 30 minutes if using baby back ribs. If you really want it to fall-off-the-bone tender, 40 minutes will do. For spare ribs, set timer to 35 minutes and 45 minutes for fall-off-the-bone tender.Once the timer is done, wait 10 minutes and then release pressure
If you want to coat the sauce on the stove instead of using oven, set the cooking time to 30 minutes for baby back ribs and 35 minutes for sprare ribs. So the ribs won't fall off the bones as you stir them to coat with the sauce
Option 1: Broil in the oven:
Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, bone side down. Brush with half of the char siu sauce all over, saving the half for after broiling
Turn on the broiler to low. You can use high too, but I prefer low so it won't get charred too quickly. Let the ribs broil until the sauce is bubbling and have a nice brown but not burn. Remove from the oven and brush with the remaining sauce and serve
Option 2: Coat with the sauce on the stove:
Let the ribs rest for 10 minutes and then cut into individual ribs
Place onion and garlic in a food processor and finely chop them. You can skip this if you use powdered onion and garlic. Mix this with the rest of the char siu sauce ingredients in a large skillet or wok. Cook this over medium heat until sugar melted and the sauce is bubbly
Add the ribs to the sauce and gently stir to coat the sauce on the ribs. Let them cook for few minutes until the sauce starts to get sticky and reduced