These BBQ ribs are easy oven baked specimens of pork rib amazingness with a spicy chile dry rub and a tangy barbecue sauce. Just as slow cooked and tender and irresistible as if they’d come off the smoker. Here’s how to make them.
Behold, an oven method for BBQ ribs that’s slow and easy and perhaps the most magnificent reason ever to take the barbecue indoors. The chile rub and tangy barbecue sauce amplify the perfect technique that yields knee-wobbling tenderness.–Renee Schettler Rossi
☞ Contents
BBQ Ribs
Ingredients
For the ribs
- 9 pounds pork spareribs or baby back ribs (about 3 slabs), membranes removed* (see * Note)
For the dry rub
- 1 1/2 ounces (about 1/3 cup) New Mexico red chile powder
- 3 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
For the spicy tangy sauce
Directions
Ready the ribs
- Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with heavy-duty aluminum foil.
- Pat the ribs dry. If desired, remove and discard the silverskin (that's the tough, silvery membrane on the underside of the ribs), using a sharp knifepoint to cut into the skin and a paper towel to grab the skin and remove. Place the ribs on the baking sheets.
Make the dry rub
- In a small bowl, combine all of the rub ingredients. Using your fingertips, massage the rub into the ribs, coating both sides evenly. Bake the ribs, uncovered, for 2 hours.
Make the spicy tangy sauce
- While the ribs are in the oven, combine all of the sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken slightly. Remove from the heat.
☞TESTER TIP: This barbecue sauce falls defiantly in the tangy camp. If you're a sweet barbecue sauce sorta guy or gal, adding a little extra sugar oughta do the trick.
Cook the ribs
- After the ribs have cooked for 2 hours, brush the ribs with some of the sauce. Wrap the ribs tightly in the aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour more, or until the meat is tender and the bones come away from the meat with a mere tug.
- If you like, after the ribs are finished in the oven, grill them for a couple of minutes over medium-high heat to crisp the edges before serving.
- Unwrap and serve the ribs at once with the remaining sauce—if there is any—on the side.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
I’ve spent quite a bit of time searching for the perfect way to make barbeque ribs in my kitchen, and I believe this oven method for preparing ribs solves my problem.
The hands-on time for this BBQ ribs recipe was MAYBE 15 minutes. The overall time was about 3 1/2 hours. The sauce did NOT thicken (I believe it was never intended to thicken). Although the sauce isn’t like a thick store-bought sauce, my baby back ribs were nicely caramelized when I removed them from the foil. The ribs were tender and beautiful. The rub was very good. The sauce—well, sauce flavors are subjective. I prefer a sweeter, richer sauce with a deeper tone, whereas this sauce, although good, was VERY tangy. I cannot stress enough, though, that, this oven method is utter perfection and I’m certain to use it from this point forward!
When ribs are this good, you don’t even need to make side dishes. This was true tonight when these ribs kept disappearing.
I’ve always made baby back ribs, but when I went to my butcher and asked for 9 pounds of pork ribs, he suggested spare ribs and explained that slow cooking this higher-fat rib slowly renders the fat to produce tender, juicy perfection. (I didn’t realize until I got home that a little over 10 pounds of ribs was only 2 slabs, as the spare ribs are much wider than baby back ribs.)
The rub comes together in just a few minutes and is plenty to cover the slabs in a thick layer. About 90 minutes into baking the ribs, I made the sauce. When given the option of honey or brown sugar, I used honey. The sauce also only takes a few minutes to put together. It seemed very watery at first, but after cooking for 15 minutes thickened up quite a bit. When I took the ribs out of the oven after the first 2 hours, they already looked dark and wonderful. I slathered about half the sauce on the ribs, wrapped them tightly, and put them back in the oven. Because my slabs were larger than the recipe called for, I needed to cook my ribs 90 minutes longer than the recipe states.
The final product was a perfect blend of tangy with just a little heat—not too sweet and not too hot. Truly the perfect blend of flavors. It’s the easiest rib recipe I’ve ever made and has the best flavor, too. I will definitely make this again and again!
These BBQ ribs and sauce are very good prepared this way. The flavors come together very well and the sauce has a nice bit of kick to it but nothing too harsh. Although almost any ribs would turn out well, I feel this method is more aimed towards meatier baby back ribs. (I used spare ribs, and although they came off the bone nicely, they did seem a bit dry.)
I finished some of the ribs on the grill with some of the sauce. This isn’t necessary, of course, but it does caramelize the sauce a little and adds a nice finish to the ribs. There wasn’t a lot of sauce left after brushing and basting the ribs, but if you’re careful, you can have around 1/2 cup or so to set on the table.
Originally published August 16, 2020
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If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Mmmmmm….yum. This looks totally amazing. I’m just staring at the screen looking at how delicious they look.
Right, Roshani?! We find ourselves doing that, too. It’s okay. We understand. It just means your inner knowing is telling you that you need to make them soon.
One of the things that could make the finished product a little better would be to unwrap 10 mins before the end and broil them to make the BBQ sauce all crispy and caramelized.
Lovely, Sol. Thanks so much for the suggestion. Love it!
As my Ronnie Reagan era kitchen is hotter than Hades in the summer – do you think these could be cooked on a gas grill set real low?
I do, Sam. Leave Reagan in the kitchen and step outside. I would cook them indirectly until beautifully tender.
This sauce sounds wonderful. What a great blend of flavors.
Totally agree with you, Vicki.