To-die-for Pork Ribs recipe with fall apart meat slathered in a sticky homemade barbecue sauce! These oven Pork Ribs are rubbed with a spice mix, slow cooked until fall-apart-tender then basted generously with the tangy, sweet sauce. Can’t-stop-eating it, finger-licking’ good!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Pork Ribs recipe
If you nibble daintily at a rib, holding it delicately between 2 fingers, and wipe your fingers clean with linen napkins, you and I will probably never be friends.
If you grab them with your hands, devour with gusto, get sauce all over your mouth, smearing up towards your cheekbones, then drop the bones sucked dry of every fibre of meat and sauce so they clatter dramatically on your plate, then noisily suck each and every one of your fingers clean of all that sticky barbecue sauce….
….if that’s you, then you are my kind of people.
And welcome to the pork ribs of your dreams!
These oven baked pork ribs recipe are:
super easy
the meat is tender
ribs are infused with flavour from a rub AND braising the ribs in apple cider;
finished with a simple but incredibly tasty homemade barbecue sauce.
These Oven Pork Ribs are fall apart tender and slathered with an incredible homemade barbecue sauce!
How to make Oven Pork Ribs
Here’s how I make pork ribs in the oven. There’s a few key things here:
Rub for the pork ribs – to add flavour;
Liquid for cooking – this is a key step for this pork ribs recipe! It creates a steamy situation while the ribs slow cook in the oven to keep them nice and juicy. My liquid of choice is alcoholic apple cider (also known as hard apple cider) because as with many things, alcohol adds extra layers of flavour. But there’s loads of other options: beer, apple juice, broth or even water;
Homemade barbecue sauce – Ribs are a bit of an occasion around these parts so using store bought Barbecue Sauce doesn’t even cross my mind. It’s also one of those sauces that’s astonishingly simple to make at home and really is that much better than store bought because it tastes pure and real and doesn’t have that slight artificial edge of store bought. Try it once and you’ll be converted for life!
Baste, bake, baste, bake! The more you baste-bake, the better your sticky barbecue sauce coating on the ribs.
Type of ribs to use
Oven Pork Ribs are ideal for Baby Back and St Louis Style Pork Ribs. It will also work for Pork Spareribs but the oven cook time should be reduced by 20 minutes (as they are less meaty).
🇦🇺In Australia, we do not (yet!) distinguish between various cuts of pork ribs (most are a Baby Back / St Louis style hybrid or they are very skimpy Spare Ribs). There’s also a great deal of inconsistency with how pork ribs are cut between butchers and the big grocery chains (Costco, Aldi, Woolies, Coles).
Just look for meaty pork ribs that are nice an fatty. Avoid the ribs that are cut so close to the bone on both sides there’s barely any meat – miserable eating experience plus it’s criminal to pay for 70% bone!
What you need for Oven Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce
And here’s what you need. Nothing unique here, except perhaps the molasses in the barbecue sauce.
I can’t remember where I first saw it, but I added it to my barbecue sauce once then I never looked back. It adds colour and intensity of flavour that can’t be replicated! Truly worth using if you can get your hands on it. If not, don’t fret – substitute with golden syrup or use dark brown sugar instead of normal brown sugar. Similar result!
Barbecue Sauce for Pork Ribs
The barbecue sauce in this recipe is used for both glazing and serving. It is literally a plonk and simmer job. Low maintenance and effortless, and really tastes of pure flavour compared to store bought (says she who has done side-by-side taste testing!).
It will look like we’re making a LOT, with the recipe calling for 1 1/2 cups of ketchup. But trust me when I say you want to have more rather than too little. There’s nothing worse than being stingy when glazing the ribs – you want to slather generously with abundance without worrying about saving some for serving!
(PS And if you’re a sticky BBQ Sauce lover, try this BBQ Brisket and BBQ Beef Ribs next…)
What to serve with Pork Ribs
In the spirit of a Southern barbecue feast, serve up your sticky oven pork ribs with a side of Macaroni Salad and corn on the cob (try the most amazing GRILLED Buttered Corn!).
Other favourites include:
Potato Salad – Classic creamy Potato Salad or for lighter options, no-mayo Lemon Potato Salad and Red Potato Salad with Charred Corn and Bacon
Corn Bread or Corn Bread Muffins (or try these Cheese Muffins)
And for something fresh, try this Tomato, Corn and Avocado Salad or a cooling German Cucumber Salad.
This is a forgiving pork ribs recipe – and it’s loaded with plenty of flavour!
As long as you get nice juicy, fatty ribs (which they typically are), it will be pretty hard to stuff this recipe up! Ribs are a tough cut of meat so they’re made for slow cooking until it’s nice and tender.
It’s quite forgiving with the cook time, unlike some other types of proteins like poultry. So even if you cook it 30 minutes too long, it will still be juicy and delicious.
There is simply no way to look elegant eating pork ribs. Just accept you will have very sticky fingers, sauce smeared on your face and a huge goofy grin! -Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
More rib recipes
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Oven Pork Ribs with Barbecue Sauce
Ingredients
Barbecue Rub for Ribs:
- 2.5 tsp paprika powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder (sub with onion powder)
- 1.5 tsp onion powder (sub with garlic powder)
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper (omit for not spicy)
- 1.5 tsp dried thyme
- 1.5 tsp dried oregano
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
Ribs
- 2 – 2.5kg / 4 – 5lb pork ribs (2 racks)
- 3/4 cup sweet alcoholic apple cider (hard cider) , or apple juice (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Homemade Barbecue Sauce
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (Note 3)
- 1 1/2 cups tomato ketchup (or Aussie tomato sauce)
- 1/2 cup water (or use remaining apple cider!)
- 1 1/2 tbsp molasses , orginal (not blackstrap, Note 4)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp mustard powder
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Tabasco or cayenne pepper (optional, for spiciness)
Instructions
- Combine the Rub ingredients and rub onto both sides of the ribs (most on meaty side). Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes (or overnight).
- Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F (all oven types).
- Place ribs on a tray in a single layer. Pour apple cider underneath the ribs, cover with foil then bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until the meat is pretty tender (Note 5).
- Remove from oven, turn up to 180°C/350°F. Remove foil, drizzle with olive oil, then return ribs to oven for 15 minutes or until rub becomes nice and crusty.
- Line a new tray with foil then baking / parchment paper (you'll thank me later).
- Remove ribs from oven, transfer to lined tray. Pour any juices from tray over the ribs.
- Flip ribs so the bonier side is up. Slather with Barbecue Sauce, then bake 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven, then turn ribs over so the meaty side is up. Slather with Barbecue Sauce, bake 5 minutes. Repeat 2 or 3 more times until you've got a thick glaze on the ribs.
- Cut ribs into individual or multiple rib portions and serve with remaining Barbcue Sauce!
Barbecue Sauce
- Place all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes or until thickened.
- Adjust to taste: sweetness with brown sugar / honey, salt and sour with vinegar. Use for glazing ribs and as a sauce for serving.
Recipe Notes:
- Follow recipe to end of Step 4 (ie 2nd baked uncovered to make Rub crusty)
- Brush bony side of ribs with sauce, then cook on BBQ indirect heat on high (bony side up) with lid down for 5 minutes.
- Flip so meaty side is up, baste, cook with lid down for 5 minutes. Repeat 3 times until you have a nice caramelised glaze!
Nutrition Information:
Pork ribs recipe originally published January 2016. Updated August 2019 with new photos, improved recipe, brand new video and new Life of Dozer section added!
Life of Dozer
He doesn’t need a 4 leaf clover for luck. He was BORN lucky….. at least, from the moment he became MINE!! #spoiltbrat #wantfornothing #PrinceDozer
excellent recipe. thank you madame 🙂
I’ve got a few rib recipes but this is at the top of the list. You rock, Nagi! 🇨🇦
The absolute best BBQ pork ribs recipe! Simple, fail proof and gets me compliments every time I make them! Thanks Nagi! xx (sometimes when I am rushed for time, I use Bxxx’s Eye BBQ sauce to glaze and it works well together!)
I love this recipe and have been cooking it often. Just a note, I am doing keto, so didn’t use the sugar or molasses, and hubby cooke on the Weber kettle indirect, as per Nagi’s tips, and it so fantastic! Doesn’t need all those sugars to make a great meal. Just saying. Xx
Wow! I cooked these and they were spectacular. Lots of ingredients but really easy to make. This will be a regular meal in our house now. I love that this dish is in your cookbook as well. Thanks for the recipe 😊
Wow, that was good. I did spill the juice on the oven and let the smoke alarm go off but this was SOOO worth it. Thank you!
Hi Nagi, have you changed this recipe. I could remember wrapping the ribs in the foil with the cider.
I don’t know what to do cause my sauce ended up being really liquidy, any tips?
mine are in the oven right now and smelling wonderful.
Sharon The recipe does say to wrap w alfoil at the the apple cider step.
I only wiish I had some creamed corn to make your cornbread – next time!
Love this recipe. One of my staples.
Tip: if using golden syrup, a few drops of Parisian Essence will give the brown hue. Good for many roasts, too.
My husband (who usually prefers meat barbecued and smoked} said that these were possibly the best ribs he’s ever eaten. I marinated them for 48 hours in a ziplock bag in the fridge which may have helped get the big thumbs up. Yum!
I been looking everywhere for this again I made once was a hit then couldn’t find again the only thing I changed was a family thing instead of molasses I used grape jelly this is the best recipe out there
This recipe is epic! I make ribs many ways, and have eaten them many places, and these were the best I have ever had 😋. The sauce is amazing!
American here, made it for our Fourth of July holiday. Awesome! Aussie ribs to celebrate our Independence Day! Great recipe!
Made this and absolutely everybody loved it, so we did pulled pork with the bbq sauce and now everybody wants the sauce recipe. I never liked bbq pork, but your sauce I just love and will use eternally! You are the best.
Made this for the family tonight, it was spectacular! Slightly too soft for the sensitive palate in the family so well ease up on the chilli for her next time but it was a hit. Saves me having to buy take out ribs which are soooo expensive. Thank you!!
The BBQ sauce was also a huge hit, have been requested to make that again too 😋
Absolutely delicious! Will be making again. Thanks you
Oh my word Nagi, you are a legend! We have used MANY of your recipes and all of them are simply BRILLIANT! After making these ribs at home, I will probably never order in again, this is simply superior, and so rewarding to make at home. Thank you for your hard work and for bringing beautiful, affordable dishes to our home. Greetings from Stellenbosch, South Africa!
OMG Nagi! We’ve been using your recipes for a long time and this one is another hit! And that sauce! It elevated the ribs even more!
And to think, I just slow cooked it for 6 hours, finished in the oven and only used water! It was still amazing!
Hands down, the best ribs I’ve ever eaten, yet alone made. Thanks you so much.
Absolutely fabulous, 100% of the time. Thank you for this!