I’ve been saving these bad boys in my freezer for the past couple months, waiting for the right moment to savor them. The time is now, since I’m needing to clear out my freezer for all my homemade freezer meals I’ll be concocting, for when the baby arrives and I won’t be able to spend time cooking meals, let alone brush my teeth.
As Chris was smacking his lips together enjoying every juicy meaty rib, I told him to enjoy it while it lasts, since we’ll probably be dining on Kraft Mac n Cheese with cut up hot dogs and frozen peas in the next few years.
I combined and adapted a couple different recipes together, since I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted in a rib recipe that I could make in my oven, without a smoker or grill. These were surprisingly smoky and flavorful and you wouldn’t believe that your oven could create these ribs. I know that good BBQ joints take pride in the fact that they use wood chips, smoking their ribs for endless hours and use special secret rubs and sauces that you could never recreate at home. But just try making these at home yourself and tell me this isn’t better than most ribs you’ve had at restaurants.
The price isn’t bad either. I bought this rack on sale for $4.50 at the grocery store. That surely beats the $18.99+ we would’ve spent out at a restaurant.
Dry Rub Oven Baked Pork Ribs (12 ribs)
Dry Rub Ingredients:
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2 Tbsp paprika
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1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
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1 Tbsp brown sugar
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1 tsp. salt*
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1/2 tsp. celery seed
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2 tsp. Cajun seasoning (I used Salamida’s Cajun Blend)
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2 cloves minced garlic
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1/2 tsp. dry mustard (I used Dynasty Chinese Mustard)
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1/2 tsp. cumin
*If your Cajun seasoning has salt, I would omit using the extra salt listed in the ingredients.
Other Ingredients:
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1 rack pork ribs (12 ribs)
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1 Tbsp honey
Directions:
1) Mix dry rub ingredients together in a bowl. Message rub into the ribs, cover and refrigerate for 6 hours, or overnight.
2) Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Cut rack in half and seal each half in aluminum foil, meaty side down, and make sure the seal is facing upward so the juices don’t leak out. Place rib packets on a rack (I used a cookie rack) on top of a baking sheet. Bake for 4 hours.
3) Take ribs out, and carefully pour the juices from the aluminum packets into a saucepan. Discard the foil and place the ribs on the cookie rack, meaty side up. Preheat the oven to broil on high. Reduce the sauce on high until it becomes syrupy, add 1 Tbsp. honey. Brush this sauce on top of the ribs and broil in oven for 2-4 minutes (watch carefully!) until sauce is caramelized and bubbling. Take out of oven immediately and serve.
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Mix dry rub ingredients together in a bowl.
Massage rub into the ribs, cover and refrigerate for 6 hours, or overnight.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Cut rack in half and seal each half in aluminum foil, meaty side down, and make sure the seal is facing upward so the juices don’t leak out. Place rib packets on a rack (I used a cookie rack) on top of a baking sheet. Bake for 4 hours.
Take ribs out, and carefully pour the juices from the aluminum packets into a saucepan. Discard the foil and place the ribs on the cookie rack, meaty side up.
Preheat the oven to broil on high. Reduce the sauce on high heat until it becomes syrupy, then add 1 Tbsp. honey.
If you don’t have honey, brown sugar is a good substitute too.
Brush this sauce on top of the ribs and broil in oven for 2-4 minutes (watch carefully!) until sauce is caramelized and bubbling.
You will want to watch the ribs carefully when they broil. It only takes a short time for them to start burning. I usually leave the oven door slightly ajar so I can be prepared to take them out as fast as possible.
I served mine with a Korean potato salad (with carrots, potatoes and apples, mmmm) and a side salad with lemon & olive oil dressing.
My husband would LOVE these! He does have a birthday coming up very soon…
In several places of your blog you tell your readers to feel free to suggest recipes for you to test… I would REALLY love some recipes that I can freeze. But you gotta act quick! I only have 2 weeks left!!! ;-)
Sheila – I’ll post my list tomorrow, the majority of the recipes I have already made on previous posts so that’ll definitely help.
I’m always game for a new rib recipe and this looks perfect! Because of that lip smacking picture, I gotta try them!
Oh man this looks delicious! Your pictures are gorgeous! Everything here looks so yummy!
I’ve recently launched my own blog, I’d love for you to check it out and tell me what you think :) Thanks!
http://www.prettygoodfood.com
Made these today/tonight. They were amazing and delicious. LOVE all the pictures. I was looking for a rib recipe that didn’t involve the use of a bbq, and stumbled upon yours, which suited my needs perfectly. Can’t wait to see what other stuff you have on your blog. :)
Jillian – I’m glad you enjoyed them. I’m still surprised myself that we can make good ribs without a smoker/grill :)
Awesome! My kids loved them and so did I! Thanks for the easy yet awesome recipe! ;-)
Soupbelly, I live in England and so am not big on BBQ food, I tried this recipe and all I can say is WOW, so tender and what a flavour.Thank you.
[...] the slow cooker “lazy” version. Since we finally had some time to kill, I found this recipe and tried my best to “paleoize” it. I had some pineapple juice leftover from one we [...]
I tried the recipe today and my family loved it thanks so much.
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Thank you for the recipe. I was baking my ribs upside down (meat side up) and discarding the drippings, etc. While tasty, they were never quite right. Making these for a Hurricane Irene party tonight!
I came across your recipe in a google search, and am so happy I did!!!! I made them yesterday, and I can’t wait to go get some more to make! Thanks for the recipe!
I’m going to try this tomorrow, hope that I can make it successfully. By the way, can I supersede the celery seed with parsley flakes? Thanks.
Frans – Sure you can if that’s what you like. Good luck and I hope you enjoy the ribs!
I stopped making ribs because all the recipes I tried were not ‘it’. Some say to boil the ribs first, some say just oven-bake them, I even tried ‘crock pot’ style and that didn’t do it. It was never restaurant perfect.
So anyway, this one is restaurant perfect. The dry rub seems to have been the missing piece for me, plus wrapping them in foil and slow-cooking them for 4 hours.
Usually when I want to cook something, I just google it, find a recipe that seems decent, and make it. That’s how I stumbled onto your site. Anyway, I left the window tab open, and my wife, who is a photographer, commented that your recipes are probably awesome because you know how to photograph your food very well. Then we noticed your website design is ‘just right’, even your banner at the top with the apples is really nice. Your writing style is great, etc., so all of the above clued us in to the fact that you know what you’re doing when it comes to suggesting recipes.
My days of just grabbing random recipes from google’s first page results have come to an end. I’m no longer a careless bum; I’m now a classy chef with a humble teacher. :)
^^ Stephanie, who has a wife??
It’s actually Stephen, but sometimes I use Stephanie online because, everywhere we go, whenever someone looks at my ID card, or passport, or reads my name off a computer, 95% of the time they read, “Stephanie.”
“Your name is Stephanie?” (I have a beard.)
I would like to try these ribs but I do not have overnight or 6 hours to marinate, nor do I have 4 hours to cook. Any suggestions for last minute modifications?
Date january 17, time is 2305hr, location Surabaya,Indonesia, thought “I know what I am making for dinner tomorrow, looks to good I will probably dream about it tonight thanks!”
Thank you for posting this recipe, and especially thank you for including step by step photographs. The photos removed some of the anxiety that comes with following a recipe for the first time by showing me what things should look like through the process. This is very helpful and much appreciated. I followed your recipe and the ribs are delicious – my husband is still licking his fingers. I am glad I found your site!