Oven Barbecue Ribs slathered in the most delicious sticky barbecue sauce with a kick of garlic and optional heat!
Juicy melt-in-your-mouth oven baked Barbecue Ribs are fall-off-the-bone delicious! Double up on incredible flavour with an easy to make dry rub first, then coat them in a seasoned barbecue sauce mixture so addictive you won’t stop at one! Finger licking good ribs right here!
RIBS
These pork barbecue ribs are a no fail, hands down family favourite recipe. There is nothing better than letting your oven do all the work for you, while smelling the incredible BBQ pork aromas drifting all through the house. Sitting down to a plate of steaming hot sticky pork ribs is what’s happening this Father’s Day for many of our American readers! Get ready for the best ribs of your life!
You have all been loving our slow cooker ribs for a few years now, but many of you have asked how to make ribs in the oven. Are you ready?
RIBS IN THE OVEN
Oven, slow cooker or on the barbecue; pork ribs are so versatile they can be cooked either way. If you love soft, fall-off-the-bone ribs, then go for our slow cooker method. But, if you love juicy, tender and crispy ribs with caramelised edges, then this oven ribs method is for you!
HOW TO REMOVE THE MEMBRANE/SKIN OFF BABY BACK RIBS
This is a controversial and personal step when cooking ribs. I grew up eating ribs with the skin left on and only started removing them about 10 years ago — advice from a chef. Personally, I love the chewiness of the membrane when left on, BUT, I also love the ease of eating ribs with it removed.
Go with what YOU love!
- Turn ribs over with bone/rack-side facing up. Carefully slide a blunt knife under the membrane at one end of the rack.
- Lift to loosen the membrane off of the bone.
- Using a sheet of paper towel to hold onto the membrane, peel it off the back of the ribs.
- It should come off in one piece.
HOW TO COOK RIBS IN THE OVEN
The easiest barbecue ribs besides slow cooking!
- Prepare ribs as above, then pat them dry with a sheet of paper towel.
- Rub with our dry rub mixture (recipe below). I like to drizzle some olive oil over them for the best juicy, tender and crispy results.
- Arrange them on a lined baking tray. You can use foil or parchment paper.
- Bake for a couple of hours, then slather with our BBQ sauce mixture. Use a brush or spoon to spread it evenly over the tops.
- Broil (or grill) for an additional 2-5 minutes to get crispy, charred edges.
RIBS MARINADE
Our marinade is only made up FOUR ingredients!
- BBQ sauce — use a good quality bbq sauce for this recipe. You can use a smoky flavoured sauce or regular sauce. I prefer plain, regular bbq sauce.
- Garlic — you won’t be sorry adding a good kick of garlic to these ribs!
- Olive oil — a little oil in the sauce gives even crispier, caramelised results when mixed through the barbecue sauce.
- Worcestershire sauce — adds incredible flavour!
For those of you who love a little heat or spice in your life, you can add in Chili or Cayenne powder!
Love pork? Try these recipes!
Easy Honey Garlic Pork Chops
Crispy Pork Carnitas (Mexican Slow Cooked Pulled Pork)
Pork Roast With Crackle
Oven Barbecue Ribs
Ingredients
RIBS:
- 4 pounds (2 kg) baby back pork ribs
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili or Cayenne powder (optional)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
SAUCE:
- 2 cups (500ml) barbecue sauce
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 - 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper (optional for heat)
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Peel off tough membrane that covers the underside/bony side of the ribs. Place on a baking sheet or tray lined with foil (or parchment paper).
- Combine together garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, pepper, cumin and chili or Cayenne. Sprinkle seasoning over ribs and drizzle with oil. Rub the seasoning all over the ribs on both sides. Cover tray with foil and bake for 2 hours.
- During the last 5 minutes of cook time, mix together sauce ingredients.
- Remove ribs from the oven, remove foil and spread the tops of the ribs with the barbecue sauce mixture.
- Increase oven temperature to 460°F (240°C). Return ribs to the oven, uncovered, and bake for a further 10 minutes. Change oven settings to broil (or grill) on medium-high heat to lightly char and caramelise the edges (about 3 minutes).
- Rest for 10 minutes to allow the juices to recirculate back into the meat before slicing.
- Enjoy!
Will says
Cooking these right now, too many ribs for 1 pan so I hope that putting 2 pans in the oven at once (being layered) are ok.
Suzy says
I am not a very good cook but I made these and they were DELICIOUS!!!
Will 100% make them again and again. Even my kids loved them.
Great recipe and thanks for sharing 🙂
Magda says
I am about to try this baby ribs recipe and need some advice on the barbeque sauce. What sauce did you use as the base to later make it your own? I found many of them too sweet.
Thank you in advance for the brand / name recommendation.
Karina says
Hi Magda. I use Heinz or Masterfoods!
Jag says
Delicious! Fantastic! Thanks for the recipe!
Robert Jannicelli says
Doing the ribs this way a second time….BECAUSE THE FIRST TIME WAS A HUGE HIT!!!!
Mary Ann says
We had these delicious ribs today. Next time I will pull the membranes off. Thanks for the recipe!
Jan Seabaugh says
I am making these ribs as we speak. I am unclear about the foil. First you say to p0ut them on a parchment or foil lined pan etc and then “cover the pan with foil.” One of your guests asked the question and you replied “uncovered”. Just checking while it’s still early in the process. thanks!
Karina says
Hi Jan! They go in covered for the first 2 hours. Then uncover and spread with sauce, return to the oven and continue with step 6. I’m so sorry for the confusion! I hope I’m relying in time.
Jan says
Thanks! We just ate them and they were DELICIOUS!!!! I took off the foil after the first 30 min. Only because I wasn’t sure what to do. We finished them off on the grill. So yummy!!!!! My guess is that it could go either way—foil or no foil. Thanks for the recipe. Will definitely do again.
Karina says
I’m so glad Jan!
Monica says
You keep them covered to help with cooking ,the steam stays in so that they are nice and tender from cooking in their juice, you uncover the last 15 minutes of cooking and on higher heat so the steam can escape and the barbecue will stick to the meat.
Ashleigh says
Would you believe I made these for Christmas dinner with sides of roasted tomatoes/garlic and string beans with almond/lemon zest in brown butter. Was a HUGE hit – declared my family’s favorite ribs ever. Thank you!
Benjamin says
I just have a question doesn’t matter if the ribs are boneless or do they have to be born in for this recipe
Karina says
Hey Benjamin. You can use boneless if you wish! They won’t need as much time in the oven, possibly 1-1/2 hours. If you try them, please let me know how you go!
Kyle says
This was a question I had as well. Trying tonight with boneless country style pork ribs only 2 lb not 4. Lol. May wish I had 4 pounds by the time I get through
Lynn says
Just double checking – do you cover the ribs with aluminum foil in oven method or just place on aluminum foil ?
Karina says
Hello Lynn!
The best way that I have found is to just place the ribs on the aluminum. Thanks so much for giving this a try and for following along with me! xo
BRIAN HERBST says
Seriously the best ribs I’ve made in the oven. And great for when you’re short in time..
David Thompson says
Made these a few weeks ago and they were awesome! The recipe Is now in our E-Family cookbook. We will make this again without any changes.
keith says
I just made these ribs and they were slammin. The sauce was rediculous. Thanks for posting the recipe.
Cindy says
I made these for the first time ever and literally almost all 6lbs of ribs was pretty much gone! Definitely keeping this recipe in my rotation! Thank you!!
Sue says
Made these last night. Wow. I’ve been making ribs with the same recipe for years and it’s always been my go to, but now it’s gone to another level. They were awesome. We like spicy so my choice for barbecue sauce was a chipotle barbecue sauce. I also didn’t have a massive cleanup of dried on barbecue sauce. Another bonus!
Kirsten says
I just made these for dinner and my family loved them! The recipe was super easy, and the ribs were falling off the bone tender. My family doesn’t like ribs too saucy, so I just made half of the sauce , and that was plenty for my three and a half pounds of ribs. Thanks for the great recipe! I will definitely make these again.