How to Barbecue Ribs in the Oven
Cooking the perfect ribs is an arguable culinary task, subjective to each cook's tastes in barbecue sauce down to to the right spices and oven temperatures. The main objective is to cook ribs that are tender and juicy in the oven; the rest can be tweaked until you have the taste you want. Slow-cooking at a lower temperature will achieve the most tender results, though it can be done in a shorter time and still be delicious. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Baby back pork ribs
- Paper towel
- Spices
- Foil
- Half sheet pan or large cookie sheet
- Barbecue sauce
- Cooking brush
Instructions
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1
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F for slow-cooking or 325 F for a faster version. Because ovens vary, you may need to adjust the temperature.
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2
Rinse the pork baby back ribs under cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
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3
Add spices to the meat. Good spices to choose from are garlic powder, salt and pepper, a pork rub, seasoning salt and brown sugar. Use a combination of those or whatever your favorites are. A light rub of brown sugar will add an underlying sweet flavor cooked into the meat before the barbecue sauce is added. Rub the meat with fresh pressed garlic cloves if you prefer for a more intense flavor than garlic powder.
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4
Wrap the meat in foil securely, but not tightly. Wrapping the meat keeps the moisture in, helping to tenderize it as it cooks. Set the wrapped meat on the sheet pan and put it in the oven on the center rack.
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5
Bake the ribs at 250 F for about two hours, checking on occasion for desired tenderness and temperature. The U.S. Agriculture Department states the minimum safe temperature for pork ribs and steaks is 145 F. When the ribs reach about 140 F, you may want to begin the last step.
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Remove the ribs from the oven and raise the temperature to 400 F, or broil for the last step of cooking.
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Undo the foil wrap and pour the barbecue sauce of your choice over the top of the ribs. Use a cooking brush to brush the ribs thoroughly with the sauce. Retain a portion of the sauce for another coat.
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Set the ribs on the foil and the sheet pan back into the oven. Check the ribs after about 15 minutes and brush on more barbecue sauce. Return them to the oven for a remaining 15 minutes. Though the internal temperature can be 145 F, the finished temperature of 155 F produces a tender rib with a very slight pink in the center.
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References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
