I don’t ever let weather or the cold stop me from cooking and enjoying ribs throughout the year. Ribs are a big family favorite of our’s- my kids will never say no to a yummy, sloppy mess of goodness. And seriously, you won’t even miss the grill with this recipe. I almost never cook ribs on the grill anymore because cooking them in the oven produces crazy tender rib meat. Also, it is so incredibly easy to cook ribs in the oven. Season them, pop them in the oven and forget about them. There’s no worrying about them burning, no having to check on them. The only down-side is that it will make your house smell painfully delicious.
So let’s get started. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and rip off 6 sheets of foil that are longer than your rib racks (you’ll use 3 foil sheets per rack). Lay your ribs out on your countertop or a cutting board, bone-side up.
Tip: You may or may not know that there is a membrane that runs along the back bones of a rack of ribs. If you remove this membrane before cooking, you’re ribs will be extremely tender. The membrane can be tricky to remove. It’s a white-ish, slippery strip that runs about the entire length of the rack. I often have to use a knife to (very lightly) slice along the length of one of the bones and use a paper towel to grip it and pull it off. Sometimes it comes off easily and in one piece, sometimes it’s a total pain in the ass. Just try and get as much of it pulled off as you can.
Take your 3 pieces of foil and lay them out so that are overlapping slightly. Lightly spray the foil with cooking spray and place the rack right in the middle of the middle piece.
Now let’s season these bad boys! My favorite seasoning is super simple and delicious. I use salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. You probably already have all of those in your pantry! I simply sprinkle each spice up and down the rack and pat it down so really sticks to the meat. Use a good amount of seasoning, it will really give the ribs a lot of flavor.
Flip the rack over and repeat.
Now let’s crumple up the foil to make a steaming pocket for the ribs. Did you hear that? A rib steaming pocket…. Mmmmm. This is what your pocket should look like 👇🏻
Repeat the seasoning and packing of the second rack. Cook the ribs in the middle of the oven for 3 1/2 to 4 hours until the ribs are super tender. Remove the ribs from the oven and turn up the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees. Let the ribs cool for about 5 minutes and then carefully open the foil packets. This is what they’ll look like 👇🏻
You can tell just by looking at them how tender they’re going to be, the meat is literally falling off the bones.
Now slather on some of your favorite bbq sauce starting on the bone-side of the ribs. I use Sweet Baby Ray’s Original BBQ Sauce, but use whatever you like. Then carefully flip the ribs out onto the foil-lined baking sheet (dispose of the foil pocket) and slather some sauce onto the meat-side of the ribs.
Cook the ribs in the oven for 10-15 minutes. You just want to heat them back up and let the sauce cook onto the ribs for a little bit. After about 15 minutes, turn your broiler to high and broil the ribs for about 5 minutes until the sauce is carmelized and slightly charred. Be careful not to burn! DO NOT WALK AWAY! There’s quite a bit of sugar in bbq sauce and the ribs will go from caramelized to burnt really quickly!
Cut the ribs into whatever portion sizes you’d like; I listed 2 racks as 4-6 servings, but I’d totally understand if you want to try to conquer a full rack on your own like my husband does. 😂 The rib meat will literally fall right off the bone, but I don’t mind because that just means that the ribs are crazy tender.
Confession: I had to use an incredibly sharp knife to get this clean of a cut. 😂😉
Enjoy!
| Prep Time | 10 Minutes |
| Cook Time | 4 1/2 Hours |
| Servings |
4-6 Servings
|
- 2 Full Slabs Baby Back Ribs
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Onion Powder
- Garlic Powder
- Bbq Sauce whatever you like
- Aluminum Foil
Ingredients
|
|
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking pan with foil. Tear off 6 sheets of foil that are longer than your ribs.
- On a cutting board, flip your ribs over so the bone side is up. Remove the membrane on the back of the ribs. See notes above for tips.
- Season each side of the ribs with the salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Use a pretty generous amount- I use sprinkle up and down the ribs (2 passes) with each spice. Pat the seasoning into the ribs.
- Lay out 3 pieces of foil on the counter, slightly overlapping one another. Lightly spray the foil with cooking spray and place a rack of ribs (bone side up) on the center piece of foil and scrunch the foil up making a foil pocket for the ribs. Repeat with other rack.
- Place rib foil packets both onto the foil-lined baking sheet. Bake in the center of the oven for 3 1/2 to 4 hours until the ribs are very tender. Remove from oven.
- Leg ribs cool for 5 minutes. Carefully open packets. Brush the bone-side of the ribs with bbq sauce and then carefully flip the ribs out onto the foil-lined baking sheet (meat side up) and dispose of the foil pockets.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush the meat side of the rib racks with a generous amount of sauce and then bake in the oven (meat side up) for 10-15 minutes.
- Turn the broiler onto high and broil the ribs until the bbq sauce carmelizes. Careful not to let it burn. Remove from oven. Serve with more bbq sauce, if desired. Enjoy!
Welcome to Cupcakes and Sarcasm! My name is Maggie and I am the creator of C & S. I am a wife and mom of two beautiful kiddos. I grew up in Columbus, Ohio and now live in Northeast Ohio with my family. I have been cooking and baking since I was a kid. I decided in 2017 that I wanted to share my passion (and recipes) with all of you! On this site, you’ll find easy and delicious recipes- both savory and sweet. I’ll also sprinkle in some stories of parenting and our adventures along the way.