How to cook pre-cooked ribs in air fryer

Cooking pre-cooked store-bought ribs of any kind in an air fryer isn't really that difficult, simply follow the oven cooking instructions then reduce the time by a quarter.

How you would cook ribs in an air fryer would first require you to carefully wrap them all up in a single loose foil parcel. Air fry at a quarter of the oven time in total, while remembering to add the BBQ sauce where instructed to. With ribs wrapped in foil, you can air fry French fries alongside the ribs.

What I would consider to be pre-cooked ribs, including spare ribs and mini ribs for example, are the kind you buy in a box, out of the frozen or refrigerator area of the store.

Box of ribs will contain a vacuum pack of ribs covered in a rub with a gelatin-like texture, with possibly an additional pack of BBQ sauce - recommended to pour over the ribs with 5 or so minutes to go before the end of cooking the ribs.

I would also consider pre-cooked ribs, to be ribs cooked previously by you, but with the intention to reheat ribs in the air fryer, which is possible by air frying for 20-30 minutes at a low heat, of approximately 300f, or what is 150c, and of course wrapped in foil.

While I cooked my pre-cooked ribs in my air fryer at the producers recommended time and temperature, please refer to your own manufacturer's recommendations.

You will then need to air fry pre-cooked ribs with a quarter or so off the oven-recommended time, to bring you in line with how I go about cooking any ribs in an air fryer of mine.

The ribs I air fried in this step-by-step guide gave me a set time of 25 minutes - plus an additional 5 minutes - for cooking the BBQ sauce, so 30 minutes in total. I didn't air fry a quarter off this time, but I did air fry for 5 minutes less.

What that led to is air frying the ribs for 25 minutes in total, with added sauce included.

I air fried at a temperature of 350f [200c] as instructed to be sure not to cook at a high heat, as all ribs are best cooked at a low temperature for an extended time.

Like conventional oven instructions, it always begins with wrapping up ribs in a loose aluminium foil parcel, to prevent the pork and sauce drying out as it cooks. And then it ends by adding a sachet of BBQ sauce over the ribs for the final minutes.

The foil will serve to catch the pork juices while allowing you to preserve the important BBQ sauce you may be required to pour over the ribs near the end.

Step 1: Wrap ribs in loose parcel

It really isn't that that difficult to wrap any size ribs in a loose but well structured foil parcel, and while its important to keep the parcel loose to allow air flow; do wrap the parcel in a way the juices absolutely cannot spill out of the ends of the wrap or in the fold.

• Step 1: Decanter all your ribs onto the one side of a long sheet of aluminium foil, ready to be loosely wrapped/rolled into a loose parcel
• Step 2: Gently break apart your ribs which are usually stuck together because of the sticky, dried sauce applied to the ribs when they were originally cooked

• Step 3: Begin to wrap the foil over the ribs in two or three layers, while keeping in mind you don't want juices or the BBQ sauce to spill while they cook in the air fryer - and with that, you will want to fold in both ends on the first full wrap
• Step 4: Finally, you'll be left with what will be a loosely wrapped but secure foil wrap, with the idea to keep the end of the foil tucked beneath the parcel to stop it unravelling, which can dry out the ribs - and potentially burn on the heating element

Step 2: Cook at quarter off oven time, with identical temp

We are now going to air fry these small port ribs for a total of 25 minutes - which will include the additional time needed to add and cook the BBQ sauce - which will be poured over the ribs 5 minutes before the end.

Cook your particular ribs at the temperature as instructed on the box, and in my case it states 180c - which is approximately 350c - as I want to keep the temperature low to avoid overdoing the pork ribs.

• Step 1: As you normally would, take a look at the side of your pork rib box to find the cooking instructions, which will be for the oven, and occasionally the microwave. I am going to cook for a full 25 minutes this time - which is 5 minutes less than the recommended oven cooking instructions - at 350f, or 180c
• Step 2: About 5-6 minutes into air frying the ribs, consider gently opening the foil parcel to inspect the ribs; what you're looking for is any potential leaks, as we don't want the juices to be wasted. Which will result in juices drying out if released into the air fryer basket

• Step 3: Half way through the full 25 minutes of cooking time - which is about 12-13 minutes in on this occasion - open the foil parcel again because this time you will want to move the ribs about to encourage even cooking
• Step 4: Carefully place your re-wrapped foil parcel in your air fry and continue to air fry until its time to remove for one last time, to add the BBQ sauce

Step 3: Add extras for remaining time

While its certainly at lot easier to cook pre-cooked ribs in an air fryer only, with nothing else to get in the way, this time I did make up a meal of ribs and French fries.

Admittedly, this isn't going to work for all of you because your air fryer basket may not be large enough, but it can work out if you can somehow make a little space. For me, I am able to just about push my rib parcel to one side, along with a portion of fries on the other side.

I know this isn't the best way to cook French fries in an air fryer, but I do want both ribs and fries cooked at the same time, and with that there's nothing better than air fried fries.

Do follow the oven cooking instructions of your particular French fries packaging carefully, with usually a quarter of less time needed when air frying.

How to time the ribs and French fries to cook at the same time will be on a individual basis, but do add fries next to the rib parcel with up to 14-16 minutes to go with the total rib cooking time.

You might not be in the mood for fries but that's just fine as you can cook fresh or reheat any kind of BBQ food in an air fryer, along side your ribs to make up a tasty meal.

Top tip: Air fry your fresh or frozen French fries in the air fryer prior to air frying your pre-cooked ribs - then reheat the fries in the final 5-6 minutes of air frying the ribs.

Step 4: Open parcel, add BBQ sauce 5 minutes to go

According to my oven instructions on the pork rib box - and if this applies to you at this point or another time - you will now carefully unwrap the hot foil, and proceed to add the cold BBQ sauce over the ribs, where your continue to air fry for the final 4-5 minutes.

• Step 1: Remove the air fryer basket and carefully unfold the now very hot foil to reveal the near cooked ribs
• Step 2: Cut open the BBQ sauce sachet with scissors, and proceed to pour all of the sauce on top of the port ribs. Squeeze the packet to be sure all of the sauce is used, because there's usually not a lot of it

• Step 3: Ribs will now look good enough to eat but remember the BBQ sauce is cold, and needs the 4-5 minutes of additional time to cook
• Step 4: Re-cover your foil parcel as best as you can - it will be hard to produce a nice parcel at this time in cooking - and proceed to air fry for the final 5 minutes or so

Step 5: Ready to serve

How I served cooked ribs on this occasion is with a small portion of French fries, which are useful for mopping up the delicious BBQ sauce and port fat.

With the ribs taking 25 minutes to cook and the fries only 15 minutes, I added the fries along side the rib parcel in the air fryer at the 10 minute mark, so I can serve together both ribs and fries as a meal.

I would suggest you salt your fries while they're still sitting in the air fryer, because if you salt them along with the ribs, then you'll risk over seasoning the ribs - and believe me when I say BBQ sauce is sweet enough.

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