Oven Cooked Ribs with Dry Rub

Ribs slow cooked in the oven with a delicious dry rub! Super easy, and easily altered to suit your tastes. :D

Nearly every time I ask my boyfriend what he wants for dinner he says ribs, fried chicken, or barbeque. Even when we don't have any meat at all in the house. It's also important to note that we do not own a grill! He's determined.

Last time we went grocery shopping, he really wanted to buy ribs, so I made up my mind to learn to cook them in the oven. I originally wanted to go the "sauce-the-hell-outta-them" route because I had read that was easier for beginners, but Tyler was jonesing for a dry rub. So I had to figure that out as well.

Needless to say, they turned out well and I can't wait to make them again!

Step 1: What you'll need:

• a rack of ribs (I used the "baby back" variety)
• a baking sheet
• cooling racks or other wire racks to keep the meat above the baking sheet
• spices for dry rub (recipe on next step!)
• an oven set to 300 F

Comments

[Mike SF]

These look delicious.

A couple pro tips would be to remove the silver skin membrane on the bone side of the ribs before applying the rub...use the Google for instructions. This membrane inhibits flavor penetration and gets caught in your teeth as well as being hard to digest.

There is a lot of debate in the BBQ world about dry vs wet smoking...basically whether or not you introduce steam and how much into the equation. While you're not smoking (BBQing) here I think the moisture question is still in play. I'm a proponent of moisture...if you have a gas oven you're getting some moisture from the combustion if you are electric you aren't. In any case you might consider adding a water tray for steam. As always experimentation will determine the right setup for you. I personally add water to the drip pan in my smoker to add moisture and prevent drip fires.

You might also consider an extended resting period (1 hour) wrapped in foil + a towel and or in an empty cooler (no ice) this will further break down the collagen in the rack and produce that fall off the bone texture that is the goal of traditional BBQ.

"You don’t win friends with salad.” — Homer Simpson

[jessyratfink]

Thanks for letting me know about the membrane! I browsed so many books and websites before starting, but none told me to remove it. I kept thinking something looked off... but I couldn't quite put my finger on it, ha. I guess most people are able to buy them properly prepared and don't go shopping for them in the middle of the night. ;)

I do thankfully have a gas oven! And I think I will try your suggestion to add a little water to the pan next time... anything to make them even better!

The resting wrapped in foil is a good idea, too. Thank you so much for all your tips. You've really helped a noob out. :D

[madenairy]

tried these when this ible first appeared - there awesome!, getting hold of the ribs was a bit of a challenge though - ribs in scotland tend to be smoked and stuck in soup to add flavour - i had cast around for other methods of cooking them but this is the first one i found where u cook them in the oven, great job jessy!

[HollyMann]

yum!

[timcoyne1]

Fried Squash is great but for a twist try fried dill pickles. Served of course with Ranch dressing. Prepare the same as the squash. The sour from the pickles and sweet salty from the Dry Rubbed Ribs will keep your tung dancing for weeks.

[cbuck2]

I used this recipe on 02/02/2013

[CatherineMcClarey]

You'd want to be careful not to let the excess rub touch the raw ribs if you want to save leftover rub for another use -- otherwise the cross-contamination from the raw meat germs could give someone food poisoning.

[jessyratfink]

This is true - I'll mention that I used a scoop to get it onto the ribs!

[edbright1959]

I use an old seasoning container to put the rub on the ribs, also I added some curry power.

[kjv34]

jessy, I had a taste for ribs on a rainy day and found this recipe when I did a google search. The ribs were absolutely delicious. The whole family enjoyed them. I put a water pan in the oven as well, and added liquid smoke to the rub, and basted with sauce and liquid smoke the last 30 minutes of cooking. I will DEFINITELY use this recipe again. Thank you so much for sharing this.

[jessyratfink]

Oh, that's wonderful to hear! So happy y'all liked them. :D

I keep wanting to try the liquid smoke, I bet it's amazing!

[crapsoup]

Helpful tip: if you put your ribs in a pot of water and leave them in the oven for an hour or so on a low heat (125-150)before you cook them, they will be super tender and slid right off the bone. you can also put veggies in the water to ad a bit of flavor.

[TheSupernaut]

I have to disagree. Boiling the ribs before cooking will simply make a "rib broth" sucking all of your flavor out of your ribs. All of your flavor will stay with the water you're going to pitch. Stick with steam.

[crapsoup]

I never had that problem. but I don't actually boil them either. That's why you use low heat. I learned this from a friend that cooks for a "fancy" restaurant, and it has always made me super tasty & super tender ribs.

[billbillt]

Very Good!!..As good as the grill, and less trouble...

[pphillips1]

Great Rib recipe. Look delicious.

You mentioned that you might drop the temp to 275 F.

Try this, it works great for me.

Spice up the ribs with your rub.
400 F for 20 minutes then 250 F
When you turn the oven down after the 20 minutes you can apply a little sauce.
then monitor every 45 minutes.

This also works great for beef short ribs. :-)

thanks for sharing

[jessyratfink]

That sounds great too! I am considering saucing them a little next time. Have to get the boyfriend's approval, though. ;)

[lizzyastro]

As part of a fund raising bbq we have just done racks of pork spare ribs with your dry rub recipe but started with the hot oven then cool oven as per pphillips1. We did the oven cooking in advance and reheated them in our smoker today with a baste of bbq sauce. The ribs had loads of compliments and there were none left over at the end. Taking off the membrane made a huge difference to the tenderness of the rib and the flavour penetration.

This is definitely how we will do our racks of ribs in the future. Thank you jessy!

[kathynv]

These look wonderful - I have to thank you for writing this Instructable. It's 11 pm, and my dear husband is asking about the huge rack of ribs that is sitting in the fridge. I've never cooked anything close to this, and he wants it to be "as good as my Mom's!"

I'm off to smoosh together a dry rub and to rub those ribs. Then it's back to the fridge for a long nap while I snooze. Once we've both had our beauty sleep, the ribs are headed to the oven for a long, slow bake, as you suggest.

I'll report back and let you know how it all turns out. Thanks again.

[farzadbayan]

Look so Delicious!!!

[Darcy777]

Thank your for creating this instructables.

[MEMJIM]

Great recipe you have here. If you'll remove the 'silverskin' from the backside before seasoning you'll have a much better outcome.

[maryliz]

How do you get the "silver skin "off? I pulled and tugged and gave up.

[jessyratfink]

I'll definitely do that next time! Thanks for letting me know!

[faceecaf123]

The best way to tell if ribs are done is to use the bend method. Pick up the ribs with tongs on one end and if they bend nicely in the middle with the meat on top of the bones breaking a bit but don't completely fall apart they are ready to serve. Also if you want some added smoke flavor you can put a little liquid smoke into your dry rub and add a bit of oil to make it a paste, you can really lay a thick layer of rub for flavor. And if you go with the dry rub method best to let the rub sit on the meat at least 12 hours in the fridge before throwing them in the oven, you'll lose some moisture and makes a much nicer crust.

[billbillt]

(removed by author or community request)

[jessyratfink]

Ha, thank you!

[Mackramer]

Consider taking the white membrane off the back of the ribs (if u didn't). Helps the meat fall off the bone after they are cooked. The rub sounds great! Thanks for sharing it.

[jessyratfink]

I'm happy everyone mentioned this! Everything I used as a reference didn't clue me in. Thank you!

[w2sqr]

Hey!

Thanks for the RUB recipe. I've always bought my rub from the store since
I didn't know what all was in it and/or how much :-)

Another GREAT recipe for ribs is:
Delicious BBQ: Fall Off the Bone Beef Ribs

Will

[jessyratfink]

No problem! And I'll have a look at the recipe! :)

[MsJaxFla]

Also, I love your Fried Yellow Squash and Zucchini as well. We are talking finger food heaven with these two recipes.

[jessyratfink]

I actually had to make them twice that week they were so good. :P I sometimes forget if I go without them for a while!

[MsJaxFla]

Great recipe and I like that you share practicle, useful, yummy ibles. Down to earth, smart, hard working gal you are.

[jessyratfink]

Awwwww, thank you lady! :D

[mikelite]

isn't that the sweetest comment ever left! The internet needs more of you, MsJaxFla,

[CatherineMcClarey]

Did you use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the ribs once they looked done? (I imagine they probably were after all that long cooking time, but one does want to be especially careful not to undercook pork/pork ribs.) Sorry I have such a bugaboo about food poisoning! (I've suffered through bouts of it a few times -- usually NOT due to my own cooking, at least -- and it was a miserable experience each time, so I've since become uber-cautious about food safety.)

[MsJaxFla]

You don't need a thermometer for this recipe...... sheesh. These ribs are not four of five pound chunks of pork roast..... thin, quick cooking.

[jesss]

I'm very conscious of not poisoning people too, but with 3 1/2 hours at 300F there's really absolutely no need to be thermometering anything.

[valhallas_end]

Those ribs look delicious! I need to try this ASAP - I love ribs, but really, really hate grilling them...
Kudos on the success!

[lafnbear]

Split the difference, val: prepare exactly as jessy says (pan & all) then cook in your grill. A covered grill works just like an oven.
However, this only works if you can do indirect cooking in your grill (heat one or two areas of the grill but have one area unheated; that's where you put the pan o' ribs). Your classic round charcoal grill can even work, as long as it's got a cover; start the charcoal as normal then push them all to one half of the grill when they're ready, and put the pan over the other half.

[valhallas_end]

Not a bad idea at all...we have a tri-burner propane grill we normally use which would be perfect for that. Now I definitely have to try this! Gratzie!