How to Cook Great Ribs in the Oven Cooking Lessons from The Kitchn

Bake the ribs at 300°F for 2 1/2 - 3 hours for spare ribs or 1 1/2 - 2 hours for baby back ribs.

Who says you need a grill to cook good ribs? The lack of outdoor space for a grill at my apartment led me to pass up a good many recipes for barbecued ribs over the years. Now I'll be making up for lost time — I do believe I've finally cracked the code to making perfectly tender and mouth-watering barbecued ribs in the oven.

This is one of those recipes that you almost have to try in order to believe. Rib meat is fairly tough, and it needs a long time to break down and become tender. The oven is actually an ideal environment for this kind of slow and steady cooking. Lifting the ribs above the baking sheet on a rack also lets the heat circulate on all sides. After a few hours, the meat is nearly falling off the bone and you'll be licking your fingers in no time.

Go ahead and adapt this oven-roasting technique to any recipe for barbecued ribs that you take a fancy to. I love them simply brushed with mustard and sprinkled with a favorite spice rub. When I'm feeling fancy, I'll make my own barbecue sauce and brush that on in the last half hour of cooking.

One thing that you don't get with this method is the smokey barbecue flavor. Sad, but true. To capture a bit of that delicious flavor, add some extra smoked paprika to your spice rub or mix some liquid smoke into the mustard before brushing it on.

How to Cook Ribs in the Oven

Makes 6 to 8 servings

What You Need

Ingredients

4-5 pounds spare ribs or baby back ribs
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons liquid smoke (optional)
1 cup Dry Spice Rub
1 cup Barbecue Sauce

Equipment

Baking sheet
Aluminum foil
Cooling rack
Pastry Brush
Knife

Instructions

1. Prepare the Baking Sheet: Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set the cooling rack on top. Lay the ribs on top of the rack in a single layer. This arrangement allows for heat circulations on all sides of the ribs.

2. Season the Ribs: Mix the mustard and the liquid smoke, if using, and brush the ribs on both sides. Sprinkle the ribs with the dry rub and pat gently to make sure the rub adheres to the rib meat. Note: This step can be done the day ahead for a deeper flavor. Wrap the seasoned ribs in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

3. Broil the Ribs: Heat the broiler and place an oven rack a few inches below the heating element. Make sure the meaty side of the ribs is facing up. Broil the ribs for about 5 minutes, until the sugar in the dry rub is bubbling and the ribs are evenly browned.

4. Cook the Ribs: Set the oven to 300°F. Move the ribs to an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Roast for 2 1/2 to 3 hours for spare ribs or 1 1/2 to 2 hours for baby back ribs. Halfway through cooking, cover the ribs with aluminum foil to protect them from drying out.

5. Brush with Barbecue Sauce: About 30 minutes before the end of cooking, brush the ribs with barbecue sauce, re-cover with foil, and finish cooking.

6. Finish and Serve the Ribs: The ribs are done when a knife slides easily into the thickest part of the rib meat. Let them rest, covered, for about ten minutes, and then cut between the bones to separate the individual ribs. Serve immediately with extra barbecue sauce for dipping.

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(Images: Emma Christensen)

Comments (18)

I don't doubt that you can make good ribs from your oven using this method but there is another technique I use that I find works exceptionally well (and produces ridiculously tender ribs).

Cover your ribs with your dry rub, then wrap first with plastic-wrap, then with tinfoil. Let them sit for up to 24 hours. Then, place the foil-wrapped ribs directly in the oven on a sheet-tray. The plastic-wrap does not melt and holds in all of the moisture in the ribs. After cooking at a low temp for a couple of hours, remove the foil and plastic, cover in your favorite BBQ sauce and place under your broiler for a few minutes.

A few deviations from the article recipe:

(1) Prior to placing in the oven, remove the membrane from the back side of the ribs. Also, consider trimming the ribs down to St. Louis (if spares) as the brisket bone and extra sections are full of cartilage.

(2) Put apple juice, turbinado sugar, and honey or maple syrup into the foil pouch step. Put the ribs meat side down into the mix.

(3) Remove the ribs from the foil for the last 30-45 minutes of cooking to allow the outside to dry/firm up a bit.

(4) Look for an internal temperature of ~185 F in the thickest rib before removing from the oven.

(5) Let rest for at least 15 minutes.

(6) Enjoy, rinse, repeat!

Alton Brown's Who Loves Ya Baby Back? ribs are the only way I do my ribs in the oven.

Instead of the broiler for browning, consider my trick - brown over charcoal, then wrap in foil and bake at 200 degrees for about 2 hours. Then unwrap, and sauce, then finish at 400 degrees in the oven unwrapped. I use crumpled foil as a rack for this, so I don't have to clean a rack.

My father makes the best ribs stove top/ oven. He boils them first and then loads them in the oven. I don't know the whole process but they are just as good as the grill.

Keep the membrane! It's all about the challenge for me. I hate "fall off the bone" ribs.

Also, it's nice to sear the ribs on a bbq first to keep the juices in and then bake them.

A great dry-rub recipe:
Dry-Rub Barbecue Side Ribs

* 1/2 tbsp (30 mL) cumin seed
* 2 tbsp (30 mL) coriander seed
* 1/2 stick cinnamon
* 1 tbsp (15 mL) dried oregano
* 1/4 cup (60 mL) paprika (hot , sweet or smoked)
* 2 tbsp (30 mL) sea salt
* 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
* 2 x racks 2 full racks pork side ribs (about 6 lbs/2.5 kg)

I bbq'd ribs all summer. I much prefer baking as they don't get too dry.

I do 350 and I don't do times as I check on them. I would say 20 min on each side.

I second the Alton Brown method. So tasty.

I've never cooked ribs any other way except in the oven. I start out by setting the oven temp. to 400. I remove the membrane from the ribs, then I wrap them in tinfoil. I put the wrapped ribs directly in the oven on the rack. I lower the temp to 350 and cook them for 2 1/2 hours. After cooking, I open up the ribs, brush them with BBQ sauce and return to the oven for 20 minutes. I usually make 3 racks at a time.

Since I live in an appartement, and have no space or access to a BBQ at my place, I make mine in a slowcooker. I brown the ribs in the oven then cover them in BBQ sauce, dump them in the slowcooker for 6 hours, take them out, slather on more BBQ sauce and then crisp them in the oven for a bit.

Tedious, but restaurant style ribs, everytime.

I just might give this recipe a try next.

When I want falling-off-the-bone ribs I just toss seasoned ribs in the crockpot with my own sauce. Keeping this handy thoough for the next time my grilling sessions is rained out. Sounds delicious. .

This sounds wonderful. I never thought about using mustard...will have to try that. I also prefer to make my ribs in the oven. Slow cooking makes them so nice and moist. I usually cook them in a 275 degree oven for 4 to 5 hours but sometimes at 300 for 3 hours. I just rub the ribs with my favorite dry rub and sprinkle some extra on top, cover loosely with foil and place in oven on a baking sheet meaty side up. No need to turn.

I prefer my ribs with just the dry rub but will serve dipping sauce on the side for those that like them wet.

My favorite dry rub:
2 Tablespoons each of:
Salt
ground cumin
freshly ground black pepper
Chili powder
4 Tablespoons each of:
Sugar
Paprika
Mix all ingredients well.

They are outstanding. I prefer these to grilled outside, honestly.

I third the Alton Brown method. I made ribs that way for years before I had a grill, and I still make them that way now. I made some flavor changes to his original, but the braise in the oven still makes them killer--just enough chew that they don't totally fall off the bone. My family has started saying to me "Don't tell your Uncle Dave, but I like your ribs better." No higher praise could be given.

The key to any great ribs is low and slow, be that in the oven, a crockpot or on the grill. But there's something special about ribs that started off in the oven (300 for 2-2.5 hours), and is then finished on a charcoal grill. Definite.y worth the time.

Another fan of the Alton Brown method, though I've tweaked his recipe from "I'm Just Here For the Food." I use the rub he suggests, but use pomegranate juice or pomegranate-cherry juice as the braising liquid. When the ribs are cooked, the braising liquid and drippings are combined with ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and Sriracha to make the sauce. But I will admit that if I had a smoker, I'd give the ribs an hour in there before moving them to the oven for the braise.

HAHA, also a fan of Alton Brown's ribs! Made them last night for the first time and got RAVES and RAVES from the two men I was cooking for. Will definitely be making them again!

I cook my marinated ribs wrapped in foil for about an hour at 400. Then I unwrap them, coat them with sauce and broil. I'll usually do 2-3 layers of sauce for a total of 20-30 minutes broiling time, depending on the oven. They could always be finished on the grill, too. They turn out perfectly tender every time and I get rave reviews.

To add to my earlier comment about Alton Brown's ribs, I adapted his recipe using apple cider, which gives the ribs a great flavor. I find the braising liquid ends up with too much fat in it to be useful as a sauce (even reduced), so I use my own to finish them under the broiler or on the grill.