Best Baked Beef Back Ribs

I'm not usually much of a rib person. Sue can kick my butt when it comes to flavoring and cooking ribs BUT, I'm pretty sure I may have her beat this time. 

You guys these ribs are uh-maze-ing. So much flavor your taste buds won't know what to do with themselves. I decided to bake them in the oven because I don't have a BBQ but they would be fabulous on the BBQ too. I used beef ribs as they happened to be on sale this week but next time I'm trying pork ribs. 

This was one of those throw-together-what-is-lying-around-and-hope-for-the-best recipes that exceeded all expectations. Definitely going in the "make again" pile. It takes a little time to make because of the basting but there is no effort involved at all. Give them a try, let us know what you think!

Best Baked Beef Back Ribs

Ingredients

Spice Rub

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp salt

Marinade

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp liquid smoke

1 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp Thai sweet chili sauce

Ribs

1 rack of beef back ribs

cooking spray

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 F. Line a cookie sheet with tinfoil and set aside. 

In a small bowl, stir together the spice rub ingredients. 

Place the ribs, bone side up, on the prepared cookie sheet (so you are looking at the underneath side) and sprinkle with a little of the spice rub. Rub the meat to get it to stick. Flip the ribs over. Lightly spray the top of the ribs with cooking spray. Sprinkle the remaining spice rub over the ribs, massaging the spices into the ribs. 

Leave ribs, bone side down, on the cookie sheet. Place in 250 oven and bake for one hour.

While ribs are baking - whisk together the marinade ingredients and divide into 3 bowls, set aside.

After an hour, remove the ribs from the oven and, using a basting brush, baste the ribs with the marinade from one of the bowls - be sure to use all the marinade from one bowl. 

Place ribs back in the oven and bake another hour. 

After an hour, baste with the marinade from another bowl. 

Bake another hour. 

Baste again with the marinade from the last bowl. Cook at 250 for one more hour. 

Finally, turn heat down to 200 and continue cooking 1 more hour.  (To recap: bake one hour with just spices, marinade hourly/cook for 3 more hours, end with 1 hour at the lower heat for a total of 5 hours of cooking time.)

Remove to a cutting board to let stand for 2 or 3 minutes.

Slice into individual ribs and serve.

We had ours with asparagus and mashed potatoes with gravy but they would be fabulous with just about anything!

A few notes - remember to remove the membrane from the back of the rack of ribs before putting the spice rub on. Removing the membrane makes the ribs easier to cut and to eat. 

Remember to wash the basting brush in between basting the ribs. 

There is very little prep involved in this recipe, you just have to be prepared to invest some time into the basting every hour. Low and slow is the way to go for tender ribs with a caramelized exterior.