There’s something about the flavor of grilled meat that makes our primal instincts kick in. Fire and meat equals wonderful flavors. With summer cooking and grilling ahead, certain dishes capture the essence and enjoyment of summer. Oven baby back ribs, coated with a caramelized Chinese-inspired barbecue sauce, is one of them. Best served with plenty of napkins.
With smoky flavor and a finger-licking barbecue sauce, pork ribs are an irresistible summer dinner. By adapting my mom’s recipe, starting ribs in the oven and finishing them on the grill, you can have delicious, easy to prepare baby back ribs in under an hour and a half.
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Not Traditional But it Works!
For folks in some parts of the country barbecue is practically a religion. Doing ribs anyway but “low and slow” on a smoker would be unthinkable. I don’t have a smoker (yet) to do the traditional slow-cooked style and often not the hours it may take, but my adapted recipe tastes terrific in a relatively short time frame.
No matter if you have a big oven and grill or a small oven and grill on an apartment balcony, you can make tasty ribs.
Citrus, Lemon, Onion and Spices
My mom started her pork spareribs in an electric skillet. She covered them with thinly sliced onion and lemon and finished them on the grill. For my version, I prefer leaner, baby back ribs and season them with kosher salt, smoked black pepper and granulated garlic. I top the ribs with orange, lemon and onion slices and squeeze on any extra juice.
Wrap the Ribs and Bake
Wrapped in a heavy foil packet and placed on a sheet tray, the ribs bake for about an hour. They come out tender and juicy, ready to be finished on the grill, slathered in barbecue sauce.
As a note, when you unwrap the ribs from the foil there will be delicious juices accumulated. Pour them into a cup and save them in case you need to thin the barbecue sauce.
Barbecue Sauce: Bottled or Homemade
You can use your favorite bottled or homemade barbecue sauce. Most bottled sauces are very high in sugar and salt so I usually make my own.
My rib sauce is based on Chinese Hoisin sauce, adding orange juice, garlic, ginger, smoked spices, espresso powder and spirits – either dark rum, Bourbon or whiskey. If you don't do spirits, just skip it. No espresso powder? Skip it too. It's still delicious.
Smoked spices are available at many grocery store, and online at specialty spice shops and Amazon. They add to the smoky flavor. If you don’t have smoked spices use the regular version of the spices.
Grill Finish and Enjoy
After baking in the oven, finish your ribs on a hot grill over low heat for about 20-25 minutes. Turn your rib racks about every 5-7 minutes, brushing with barbecue sauce. You want a good coating of sauce to caramelize on the ribs. Remove from the grill, slice and enjoy.
Slicing tip - it's easier to slice them on the back side where you can see the ribs.
No Grill? Here's How to Finish in the Oven
If you don't have a grill, you can still finish these in the oven using your broiler. Set the oven rack 1-2 levels below the top so the ribs and sauce don't burn. Get the broiler hot and brush the ribs with sauce. Use a pastry brush. Keep and eye on them and do this a few times until you get a nice coating of sauce.
How Many Ribs to Buy
On quantity, I buy ¾ - 1 pound per person of baby back ribs. It will depend on the size of the appetite and what you are serving along side. And be sure to offer plenty of napkins. These really are finger-licking good.
📖 Recipe
Oven Baby Back Ribs
Ingredients
Ribs
- 3-4 pounds baby back ribs
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 large onion sliced thin
- 1-2 large oranges sliced thin
- 1-2 lemons sliced thin
Hoisin Barbecue Sauce (or use your favorite bottled)
- 1 cup Hoisin sauce: homemade or bottled for homemade Hoisin see my recipe
- ¾ cup orange juice fresh squeezed
- 2 large garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2-3 teaspoons ginger puree or finely zested fresh ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoons espresso powder
- ½ cup bourbon, whiskey, dark rum, or cognac OPTIONAL
- â…“ cup ketchup
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon smoked black pepper or regular black pepper
Instructions
Prep the Ribs
- Remove baby back ribs from the refrigerator about 45 minute ahead of baking time come to room temperature (really just getting the chill off). If not already done, remove the silverskin (tendon) from the underside of the rib rack. Lift an edge of the silverskin with a table knife, then pull the piece with a piece of paper towel. It will come off either in 1 long piece or a few pieces. Pre–heat oven to 350 degrees.
- On a half-sheet (13” x 18”) size rimmed baking sheet, place a large piece of heavy duty foil. Place rib racks in a single layer. Two racks will fit on one half sheet baking pan. Sprinkle ribs liberally with salt, garlic, and pepper. Top ribs with the onion slices, lemon and orange slices. Squeeze any extra orange pieces over the ribs. With more heavy-duty foil, enclose the ribs in a foil packet.
- Place the ribs in a 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes. When ribs are done, open the foil packet carefully, releasing the steam away from you. Drain the juices into a container and reserve if needed to thin sauce. If not, discard.
Make the Hoisin Barbecue Sauce (or skip and use bottled)
- While the ribs are baking, make the sauce or use your favorite bottled barbecue sauce. Combine Hoisin, orange juice, garlic, ginger, espresso, spirits, ketchup and spices in a small saucepan. Simmer on low heat until combined and a bit reduced, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
To Finish the Ribs
- Brush ribs with sauce on the top side (rounded side). Place ribs on a hot grill turned down to low and allow to cook for 20-25 minutes, turning occasionally with brushing with additional sauce until the ribs are thickly coated with caramelized sauce. Remove ribs from the grill, slice between the bones, serve with extra sauce on the side. For easier slicing, turn the ribs over and slice from the under side where you can see the ribs.
Sawyer says
I made these tonight and they were a HUGE success... my first time I've ever made ribs, and I'll use this recipe forever. They were gone in a blink of an eye. I didn't use baby back ribs because the store didn't have them, but I used regular back ribs. These clearly took longer to cook but I took them out after 60 minutes after some color came into the meat and put them on the grill, which made them perfect. The flavor was amazing and it was incredibly tender and juicy. Thanks so much for this awesome recipe!
CestKoi says
I made those ribs last night for my brother's family and they were a success! Thank you for sharing this recipe
Sally says
I'm so glad they were a hit. Thanks for sharing. I love to hear that!
OlegT says
Sally you said to put it in the over for 50-60 minutes, My questions is will I be able to leave it in for lets say hour and a half for more tender ribs or that’s perfect the way you have it. I don’t have much experience in cooking ribs
Thank you,
Sally says
Hi Oleg. If you are cooking baby back ribs, the hour should be plenty. I don't think another 30 minutes would give you much in terms of additional tenderness. Please let me know how they come out. And thanks for the comment.
Vicki Bensinger says
These sound delicious and look so pretty with the sliced oranges. I do something similar but not with the oranges. I'll have to try that.
Razorblogger says
I think the pictures look awesome. The sauce sounds amazing. I think letting the meat get to room temperature "is asking for trouble", i think keeping meat at a cool temperature. Beneficial to keeping away bacteria that will turn your dish. Check out my tasty baby backs with Kansas Style BBQ sauce. They were a crowd pleaser.
Sally says
Dear Razorblogger. I'm glad you commented so I can clarify something for everyone about meat temperatures. Allowing meat to sit out for 45 minutes is completely safe. What you are doing is allowing the meat to get the chill off. It will roast better and you'll get better results. It's not really coming to room temperature. No fears about food safety. I'm Food Safe Certified and am very careful about such things. Now if you let it sit out for several hours, there could be issues.
The temperature danger zone is 41 degrees to 135 degrees. When food is in that range for more than four hours pathogens can grow to high enough levels to cause illness. Thanks again for the comment. Good chance to help everyone learn. Here is a link to more info on food safety. http://www.foodsafety.gov/.
Ang says
I came across your blog on a friends FB page, and the sight of these ribs have me salivating as I type. I would love to make these for my Moms Birthday coming up:)