Tender, juicy, Fall-Off-The-Bone Ribs In The Oven will leave you licking your fingers and have your family begging for more.
It’s getting chilly where I live, and today, I’m dreaming about eating a quintessential summer food: a plate of tender, juicy ribs, slathered in barbecue sauce and falling off the bone. A generous portion of sticky, perfectly cooked ribs can be a spiritual experience, and the last plate of ribs I enjoyed was precisely that. I’m still thinking about it months later.
Ribs can be tricky, though. I’m not the only person who ended up with an unpleasantly tough rack of ribs the first few tries, right? They’re a mysterious beast, and there are tons of different methods for cooking them. Do you wrap them tightly in foil or cook them unwrapped for part of the time? Sauce on or off? Do you add a pan of water to the oven or grill to keep the moisture content stable?
While you can lean into the complexity of the many cooking tricks and methods out there, why not keep it simple? You can get a glorious rack of fall-off-the-bone ribs using my simple oven recipe. It won’t even take all day! (But it will take up to three hours.) The easy salt-and-pepper seasoning on the meat can be adjusted to your taste—if you want a bunch of herbs and spices on your ribs, go for it!—but it’s great without any tweaks. My homemade barbecue sauce recipe is tangy and sweet, and you can slather it onto your ribs knowing it doesn’t have all the extra filler ingredients and corn syrups that store-bought varieties have.
Perfecting your rib-roasting techniques
Here are the most important things I learned in my long and arduous journey toward a perfect rack of ribs.
- Remove the membrane: This is a small (and annoying) step that you might be tempted to skip, but don’t. Your ribs will be so much more tender without the membrane! To remove it, make a small slice into the last bone. Then, using a paper towel for grip, gently pull back the membrane.
- Let it rest: Don’t be tempted to cut into the ribs right away. Let the meat sit on the baking sheet, covered with foil, for 10 minutes. Those juices need time to redistribute, and the residual heat isn’t done cooking your ribs.
- Try caramelizing the barbecue sauce on the ribs: If you like your ribs nice and sticky, brush on some of the barbecue sauce for the last 30–60 minutes of cooking time. After you add the sauce, make sure you cover the ribs with foil again.
How will I know the ribs are done?
From a safety perspective, the ribs are done once they hit an internal temperature of 145°F. But if you want them to fall off the bone, you need to cook them until they reach 190-200°F.
How do I store leftovers?
Let the ribs cool completely, then store them in an airtight container or wrap them in tinfoil. You can keep them in the fridge for up to 4 days. To freeze them, first wrap them in foil, then put them in a freezer-safe bag with the air squeezed out. With this amount of protection, the ribs should last in the freezer for up to 3 months. To enjoy them once more, let them thaw in the fridge overnight, then reheat in the oven.
Serving suggestions
These tender ribs go with every traditional barbecue side out there: potato salad, baked beans, and whatever else your heart wants. For something different, try these Sweet Potato Fries. Serve with or without the sweet marshmallow dip included in this recipe. Or, you could whip up a batch of The Best Greek Salad Recipe (Really!) for a healthy spin. A BLT Pasta Salad is definitely a barbecue-worthy side dish, and you shouldn’t skip the bread, so make Jenny’s Cornbread before the ribs finish up!
Fall-Off-The-Bone Ribs In The Oven
Ingredients
- 1 pound baby-back pork ribs
- Salt and black pepper to taste, to season the pork ribs
- ½ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- ½ tablespoon sriracha sauce
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 275°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Carefully remove the thin membrane from the back of the ribs. Season both sides of the ribs with salt and black pepper.
- Place the ribs on the prepared baking sheet and cover with aluminum foil. You can also wrap the ribs tightly in the aluminum foil and then place them on the baking sheet. Bake the pork ribs for 2-3 hours until the meat falls off the bones.
- While the ribs are baking, make the barbecue sauce. Combine all remaining ingredients in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- Remove the ribs from the oven and let them rest in the foil for about 10 minutes. Remove the foil, then generously brush both sides of the ribs with the homemade barbecue sauce. Serve the baked pork ribs with additional barbecue sauce.
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