Easy Oven Baked BBQ Babyback Ribs
We like this simple way to cook BBQ Style Babyback ribs in an oven.
As much as we love ribs cooked on a smoker, this method is more user friendly for those without a smoker and all the expertise required to use one.
Once your ribs are cooked you can finish them on a hot grill by giving them a 1 minute char to help caramelize the BBQ sauce and add smoky flavor, giving them that professional BBQ joint look!
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PREPARATION
Professional Tip: Have our butchers peel off the membrane on the underside of the ribs so that they pull apart easily once cooked.
Pat the ribs dry and season liberally on the meat side with either our Butchers Alley St. Louis Style BBQ Rib Rub or our Good Sh*t seasoning rub. Both of these contain a good balance of spices and sweetness that are perfect for ribs. Season liberally so ribs are well coated.
No need to pat the seasoning into the meat, let it absorb slowly.
Place ribs in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours up to 24 hours. Cover loosely with foil or plastic wrap.
COOKING THE RIBS
While the oven is preheating, remove ribs from the refrigerator, uncover and leave at room temperature.
Preheat a conventional oven to 325 degrees. If using a convection oven preheat to 300 degrees (a convection oven has fans in it that distribute the heat).
You will need a baking pan that has low sides that can accommodate a drip pan rack.
Add enough water to the baking pan to fill about ⅓ of the way up the sides.
Place the drip pan rack into the baking pan.
Place ribs meat side up on the rack and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
Place in the oven and cook for 2.5 hours. Careful not to spill water from the pan.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and carefully remove the foil.
Liberally brush the ribs with bbq sauce. We are using our Tangy Mustard BBQ Sauce in this recipe to change it up from traditional tomato based BBQ sauce.
Raise the temperature of your oven to 400 degrees or medium broil.
Place ribs back in the oven so that the BBQ sauce can caramelize a bit. Maybe 7-10 minutes or so.
Alternatively the ribs can be quickly grilled BBQ sauce side down to give some nice grill marks and add some smoky flavor. Grill should be medium high temperature.
NOTES:
So what are “Babyback” Ribs? Basically these are cut from the top portion of the pork rib and are more tender, meatier and less fatty than the lower half which are known as St. Louis ribs. Babyback ribs also are distinguished by being more curved in shape than St. Louis style ribs.
Our pork is locally sourced Yorkshire breed pork from Frederick, Maryland. All of our pork is certified humane and fed an all vegetable diet. We bring in our pork from the farm to our store within 48 hours.
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