No grill??? No worries! These Oven Baked Barbecue Pork Ribs are about as good as they come; tender, juicy meat slow cooked in the oven and then broiled to perfection.
For the past few months, Ben has been watching seasons of The Walking Dead on Netflix. From what I gather, the premise of the show is about zombies taking over the world. I’m sure there is much more to this mind numbing plot, but it seems to me that this is the gist of it.
I hate the show.
I have never actually watched it, but I absolutely hate it. I’ll be sitting here blogging away and I can hear moaning and groaning and growling and oozie goozie gutsy sounds coming from the next room. It’s utterly disgusting.
And then my mind wanders and I start envisioning these horrifying zombies tearing away at human flesh. Gross, right?! Who thinks up these shows??? I can’t even handle it.
As if one zombie show isn’t bad enough, recently I saw some preview for a new series featuring Drew Barrymore where she is a suburbia house wife turned zombie. It’s supposed to be a comedy about this family adapting to their mom having sudden cravings for raw meat and human flesh.
What is this world coming to??? In what universe is that even remotely funny?! Again, I can’t even handle it; makes me want to hurl.
But then I buy three racks of pork ribs, rub them in mounds of seasoning, slow cook them for a few hours, smother them in barbecue sauce, broil those babies, pull them apart bone by bone and savagely dig in. That’s when I start to think, “Maybe there’s a little zombie in all of us because DANG this meat is good!”
So if you are not completely disgusted by my random story intro to making these Oven Baked Barbecue Pork Ribs and you are still here reading this post, these ribs are hands down one of the best I have ever tried.
The only reason I can’t actually claim THE BEST is because nobody makes ribs quite like my Papa did. He would season them, slow cook them in the oven, and then finish them off on the grill. No fail, every time they were magnificent. I’m talking finger licking good. Sometimes so good that when you started licking your fingers, you had to remind yourself not to bite right into them. I’m not full zombie over here.
I never took the initiative to get my Papa’s recipe before he passed away, so I’ve just kind of adapted other recipes to what I think he may have done. One thing I do know for sure is that he used Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce. He introduced us to that sauce almost 20 years ago and I’ve never found a sauce I like better.
But besides having the sauce down pat, I’ve had to do a bit of web/food blogger research to figure out the best way of cooking ribs. And I’ll tell you one thing, Recipe Girl really knows how to cook her ribs. I’ve basically adapted her recipe for oven baked ribs by adding my own seasonings. But really, she deserves most of the credit for the cooking technique. She also shows a great tutorial on how to remove the membrane from the back of the rack to make them more tender. It’s an essential step.
One thing I love about my seasoning choice is the addition of liquid smoke. It gives such a glorious aroma to the ribs as they are baking, and it adds a hint of smokiness to the ribs while cooking. I also love adding brown sugar because I am all about slightly sweet meats. Dark brown sugar really adds another layer of flavor to the ribs.
Lastly, my favorite part of the ribs is the saucy layer on top. I add barbecue sauce to the fleshy side of the ribs after they are done slow cooking, and then I broil them for a few minutes. The barbecue sauce begins to caramelize and creates this sweet and sticky coating on top. I just want to lick it ALL!!! Turn your head and I probably would.
There you have it folks; perfect ribs in the oven. Invite all your neighbors, friends, and family and have a party because these ribs are here to impress…and plus, when you buy three racks of ribs you need lots of people to help you eat them. They won’t complain.
Have you mastered cooking ribs?
- 2 racks of pork ribs
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ¾ teaspoon pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup favorite barbecue sauce
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees if baking right away. Otherwise, prepare meat and let marinate in fridge for 2-4 hours.
- To prepare meat, remove from package and pat dry with a paper towel. Remove thin layer of membrane on the back side of the ribs where the bones are (clickable link for explanation in body of post).
- In a small bowl, combine salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, chili powder, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Stir to mix evenly.
- Drizzle 1 teaspoon of liquid smoke over each rack of ribs. Divide spice mix between both racks and rub all over ribs, front and back. Divide brown sugar between both racks and rub all over ribs.
- Lay out two long sheets of heavy duty foil and place a rack on each sheet, bone side down. Place another layer of foil over the top of each rack of ribs. Tightly roll the edges closed so that your ribs are completely covered by the foil. Place the ribs side by side on a large baking sheet with a lip on all sides.
- Place ribs in fridge to marinate for 2-4 hours or cook in oven at 275 degrees for 3-3½ hours until meat is tender and pulls away from the bone easily.
- Remove racks from foil and discard drippings. Place racks on baking sheet, fleshy side up, and spread ¼ cup or more (depending on preference) of barbecue sauce over tops of each rack of ribs. Broil in the oven for 3-5 minutes or until sauce becomes sticky and caramelized.
- Remove ribs from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
