Quick & Easy Baby Back Ribs Recipe

Craving ribs, but don't have three hours or a bbq grill on hand?  Try this quick and easy recipe for baby back ribs, and you'll be chowing down in no time!

You don't have to sacrifice tenderness, juiciness, or rich, complex flavors just because you don't have a smoker, grill, or hours to spend slow-roasting these ribs.  By kicking up the heat and using both a dry rub and a sauce, you can have all the impact of slow cooked ribs with half the effort in half the time.

Step 1: Ingredients

This recipe and cooking time is for one 1 pound slab of baby back ribs.  Cooking time may vary for other varieties of ribs!  Of course you should make your own rub and sauce, but using something pre-packaged is part of what makes this so quick and easy.  Adding liquid smoke to the sauce (or finding one with it) will add that smoky quality you'll be missing from not cooking in the great outdoors.  

For this recipe you'll need:

• 1lb ribs
• dry rub
• bbq sauce

I personally prefer Salt Lick Original Dry Rub which is cayenne pepper based.  
To make your own, combine 2 parts salt to one part ground black pepper, and one part cayenne. 

A bbq sauce with tomatoes in it is going to burn, and I like the charred quality this gives the recipe.  If you do not, avoid using any tomato-based bbq sauce!  My current personal fave is 1849 BBQ sauce, which pushes me to the limit of the heat I can take.   
It combines tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, brown sugar, water, molasses, liquid smoke, garlic, onion, lemon juice, salt, and chili pepper.   I think the amount of chili pepper is what's key to the initial smack of heat you get when you dig into these ribs.

Step 2: Rub

Preheat your oven to 400F(200C).

Rinse and pat dry your ribs.  Get them as close to room temp as you can before cooking.

Rub both sides of the ribs with the dry rub.  You can also substitute simple salt and pepper if you'd prefer!

Lay ribs fat-side up on a sheet of aluminum foil and seal shut.

Bake for one hour.

Step 3: Sauce

After one hour, remove the ribs from the oven.

Open the foil, and sauce both sides of the ribs.

Leave the foil open and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Brush with the sauce one last time before serving if you like!  

Now how easy was that!!

Comments

[Sawdust Patty]

Sounds fantastic! But I must be adding wrong. Step 2 says to bake for one hour apply sauce and return to the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes. Where did the other hour and 45 minutes go?

[scoochmaroo]

That's right! The other hour and forty five disappear! This recipe takes half the time of traditional three-hour recipes!

[jcsartwell]

Directly in the oven after wrapping? Or also placed on a pan?

[ChrisB304]

this was so good last night! I did the first part right on the oven rack then moved the open foil onto a baking sheet for the final 15. when you open them after the first hour the juices are amazing and mix nicely to immediately warm the bbq sauce so no need to pre-warm.

I had one longer full rack and cut it in half and did two packages, which allowed for different rub/sauce combos. Of course I doofed and got the hot rub with the mild sauce... anyway the little one left more for us. :p next time!

[Sick_Nixon]

Hi, I just felt obligated to write here, your receipe was incredible. there was a ridiculous deal for an outrageous amount of ribs at the grocery, so I was gonna go for it but then remembered I had never cooked ribs before. All I knew is that it had to cook for a few hours (which I didn't have). So I googled how to cook ribs fast and there was your instructable , second result I think. I bought me some dry rub and B.B.Q. sauce.......... and voila!!!! your receipe was so simple. and it worked out great . I didn't think I'd get a result THAT close to grilling. so anyways. thank you and great receipe/instructable.

[scoochmaroo]

That's so awesome! Thank you for sharing your experience, you totally made my day!

[surfdork]

What an amazing recipie, big thanks!
Baby backack ribs can be a steal, I paid $2.99lb at Costco today and will feast tonight.
Where did the 3 hours come from? IMHO dreamberry's comment should be moved down or edited. I almost did not try this due to the 3 hour comment. Heck in 3 hours I'll be watching bad TV after filling myself with ribs.

[mlalves1989]

I've made this recipe a bunch of times my son always requests it. I only now just noticed the the picture is an uncut slab of ribs. I've been cutting them up individually before putting it in the oven. It's time consuming....so I CAN put it in as a whole and it still be the same time?

[dpalace93]

What an awesome recipe! so simple and it turned out awesome! So tender! Definitely a go to for ribs!

[AnthonyT124]

Making the ribs now with the info on google lets see how it works and tastes

[karpolu]

Can this recipe be used with spare ribs?

[djack2112]

You bet! After using this on baby-backs initially, I moved on to other ribs, just to see how they would fair with this quick/fast method. You won't be disappointed.

[Traceee]

Don't forget to remove the membrane off the ribs, (thin skin like layer on the bone side) Use a knife to lift part of the membrane up on one end, then use a paper towel to grab the membrane because it's slippery. Pull it back and peel off, usually comes off in two tries. This allows the meat to absorb the rub for better flavor. Enjoy!

[Suzy531]

The ABSOLUTE best rib recipe ever! So easy, especially for anyone who might be nervous about cooking something scary like ribs. Thank you!

[NathanG76]

Spot on. Top notch quick ribs recipe. Was a little skeptical on the times initially, but have to say it was very nice and tender with a good flavour.

[KellyH123]

I make them this way all of the time and they are delicious and so much faster. Love this recipe!

[jimkata2000]

Hi, my wife asked me to cook the ribs since she was working late. Never made ribs, or much of anything that wasn't pre-prepared, and found this recipe. Like how it was shorter (1 hour 20 min) vs 3hrs of of others and it worked great. The ribs were tender and tasty. Wife was impressed, which is always a good thing, so thank you so much for posting.

[sgarland4]

This was the best thing I have ever cooked. Thank you!

[sgarland4]

This was the best thing I have ever cooked. Thank you!

[SuzieQ1]

Making this as I type it. Was down to my last bit of foil but managed to wrap and seal it. It's 30 minutes into the first hour bake and smells amazing. I didn't have rub, so I did the 2:1:1 combo you suggested. Can't wait to sauce them in 30 mins.