Deliciously sticky and moorish, these ribs are great for entertaining. Once you start, it’s hard to stop – make sure you provide plenty of nap- kins for your guests! The marinade for this recipe also goes great with chicken.
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Sticky Chinese Pork Spare Ribs
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total: 2 hours 40 minutes
Ribs, Slow Cooked
Asian, Chinese
Servings4 – 6
Tap or hover to scale
Deliciously sticky and moorish, these ribs are great for entertaining. Once you start, it’s hard to stop – make sure you provide plenty of nap- kins for your guests!
Ingredients
- 2 kg / 4 lbs meaty pork ribs , cut into single rib pieces
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp shao xing wine
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp brown sugar or honey
- 4 tbsp tomato sauce or ketchup
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp sambal oelek
- 6 cloves garlic , finely chopped
- 2 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
- 1 tsp salt
- Sesame seeds , coriander, shallots and red chilli to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Mix marinade ingredients together in a bowl or freezer bag. Add the ribs and marinate for at least an hour, or overnight if possible. You can freeze the marinaded meat if you wish.
- Before cooking, let the ribs come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 160C/320F.
- Pour the ribs and all the marinade into a baking dish large enough so the ribs are in a single layer, but not so large that they are too spread out.
- Add water up to about 1/3 of the way up the ribs. 6 Cover tightly with foil and place in oven to cook for approximately 1.5 hours.
- Take out of the oven, remove the foil and touch the ribs – they should be quite tender, but not falling off the bone. The marinade in the baking dish should still be quite watery.
- Turn the ribs over, then return the baking dish to the oven without the foil. After 20 minutes, take the ribs out – they should be nicely browned and starting to char. Turn the ribs, then spoon the marinade over, then return to the oven for another 10 to 20 minutes.
- The ribs are done when they are falling off the bone, sticky and glossy and the marinade has reduced down to a thick sauce coating the ribs.
- Rest for 5 minutes. Garnish with coriander, sesame seeds, julienned shallots and sliced fresh red chilli.
The flavour of these ribs is amazing. I didn’t cut my ribs into individual pieces I just cut a large rack in half, and it still worked very well.
My only tip is to be careful how much water you add, as you can always add more so it doesn’t dry out, but you cant take it away if there’s too much.
Last nights dinner – served with left over home made fried rice. I used the Coles pork short ribs/rasher type, cut the tiny little boney bits off and sliced into bite sized cubes. Spot on marinade and absolutely delicious. I too left out the water. Disposable foil tray sat inside a roasting pan…..No clean up apart from the plates and cutlery. Another Winner – Thanks
Cooked as directed and completely amazing
Thankyou Nagi
Can these be frozen??
Made twice. This is a perfect marinade and sauce. Absolutely delicious. Ribs melted in our mouths. Definitely omit the water. I seal the ribs with marinade in a foil “envelope” in the pan. The juices released break down the meat so it falls off the bones.
Nagi these are just soooo delish, everyone loves them so I have made them often
This recipe is over the top delish. The marinade is awesome. I marinated for 5-6 hrs. I used pork side ribs that were cut length wise to make riblets. Soooo good Nagi!
Thanks Nagie. My family rated this 5 stars without hesitation in spite of the fact my cook time was a bit off and the sauce wasn’t as thick as I would have liked. A really nice flavor and without the 5 spice dominating the recipe.
Would this work on pork ribs that have been sous vide? And just use the marinade as a sauce to pour over & heat them in before serving?
That have been ore cooked cooked using the sous vide method I mean. Just to clarify!
These ribs are absolutely delicious! I made them in the pressure cooker last night and it turned out just as delicious!
Wow! Family said they were restaurant quality. Used pressure cooker and air fryer.
S&P, garlic powder rubbed over raw ribs. Pressure cooked high 35 mins for 3 racks. Release steam. Reduced sauce on stovetop. Based cooked ribs coated generously with sauce and air fried for 6 min. The char was perfect. This sauce is fantastic and would work with any method of cooking. Definitely based liberally and ensure you have an environment to let the sauce get broiled, grilled, air fried, etc. for the flavors to bloom.
Thank you for this recipe!
Made this recipe tonight absolutely delicious. I omitted the water. Definitely making it again. Thanks Nagi
These ribs had so much flavor, really delicious. My sauce never really thickened so didn’t get sticky, when I make them again, I think I’ll leave the water out.
Thanks for that feedback Celia – I’m happy you liked them! N x
Full marks for the wonderful flavor of the marinade and why did I never think of cutting the ribs into individual pieces before cooking! Brilliant! It makes them much easier to sauce and serve. I had to boil the daylights out of the marinade to get to the sticky sauce stage for the finished ribs but I always have to do that and the result is well worth the time it takes. I plan to use this for all kinds of things.
Woo hoo!! I am happy you enjoyed them Anna!! N x
is it crucial to cut into single ribs first?
One of my favourite recipes and I now have friends who love it also. I told them where to find you.
We used your ‘line the tray with foil AND baking paper’ technique to save heaps of cleaning and scrubbing time at the end! Super-delicious recipe. I’ve always made Chinese 5 spice ribs by instinct (“a bit of this, some of that…”) but your measurements make it fail-proof – thank you so much Nagi!
Anything to reduce the giant pile of washing up that I always have!!! N x
Hi Nagi! I ordered the ribs but they sent pork belly by mistake. I’ve marinated them anyway coz I had already prepared the sauce. Can I still put them into the oven or u think i shud cook them on the stove?
Hi Nagi,
I’ve been thinking to cook pork spare ribs but I really didn’t know how to cook. I’ve found your recipe. I gave it a go today. It turned up so great. My son who is very picky with the food said this dish is mum’s top 5 favorite meals. We had with rice and fresh salad on side. We really enjoyed it. It will definitely becomes our regular meal. Thanks so much for sharing a great recipe. I will try your other recipes as well.
You’re so welcome AB Family, thanks so much for taking the time to comment! N x
Looks delicious. You mentioned trying with chicken. How would I cook chicken wings in this marinade – separately or following the instructions for ribs?
Hi Linda, you can use this method here for cooking wings in the same sauce https://www.recipetineats.com/sticky-chinese-chicken-wings/ 🙂 N x
Based on others’ review I didn’t add water. Just baked with marinade & the ribs were sumptuously glazed 😋