Home-style Oven Baked Baby Back Ribs

These oven-baked pork ribs are sure to be a house staple in your home. They are plain to make without the hassle of the grill. You get all the flavor and fall-off-the-bone goodness without the major grill clean-up.

You will love these ribs in the oven, rain or shine.

If you’re anything like us, you love ribs but absolutely hate the scorched-on mess they make on the grill. Then having to clean the whole thing when they’re done.

If you feel the same way, then this is the recipe for you! These soft made-in-the-oven ribs are a great alternative to the grill. Plus they can be made year round and regardless of the weather.

Plain ingredients and plain steps produce the tenderest, moistest, fall-off-the-bone ribs the whole family will enjoy. You won’t believe these came from your oven. Cleaning up couldn’t be easier.

Soaking a pan in the sink is a whole lot easier than scraping and scrubbing a grill.

Why you will love these Oven Baby Back Ribs

• They’re straightforward to cook with straightforward to find ingredients.
• This foolproof oven method always produces moist and soft results. No risk of dried out ribs.
• They are family friendly! Everyone will love these oven baked pork ribs. You can even get the little ones to help make them. You don’t have the risk of dangerous flare ups from the outdoor grill flame.

Oven Baked Ribs Recipe Ingredients

This oven baked ribs recipe is quite plain. Which is why we love it so much. You need a couple plain ingredients: pork ribs, plain seasonings, and your favorite BBQ sauce.

Ribs (obviously)

• Baby back pork ribs – cleaned of membrane and silver skin from the back of the ribs. This is an important step. By cleaning the ribs of the membrane and connective tissue, it removes the barrier between the dry rub seasoning and the meat itself.
  
  You’ll want to use this method with both baby back ribs and spare ribs.
  
  Check out this article and video from Jake’s Famous Foods For how to clean your ribs.
  
  You don’t have to use baby backs, this recipe also works for spare ribs. Spare ribs are generally larger and have a bit more rib meat to them.

From-scratch Spice Rub

• Garlic powder – If you only have garlic salt in your pantry, decrease the amount of kosher salt used
• Smoked paprika
• Coarse kosher salt
• Onion powder
• Ground black pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• Neutral oil like avocado or olive oil

Sauce

• Barbecue sauce – feel free to use your favorite brand of BBQ sauce. Our favorite is Sweet Baby Ray.
• Minced fresh garlic
• Worcestershire sauce
• Coarse kosher salt

Substitutions for Oven Baby Back Ribs

• Swap the individual dry rub ingredients for your favorite dry rub mix or blend, even if it’s store-bought.
• For the Worcestershire sauce – avoid this if you are allergic to fish. You can sub some low-sodium soy sauce or use a vegan Worcestershire sauce instead.
• Feel free to use a from-scratch barbecue sauce in this if it’s your favorite.
• For even more spice, you can add chili powder to the dry rub.
• As a binder, you can swap the neutral oil for mustard. You could even add dry mustard to the rub for even more of the mustard flavor.
• You can make the rub sweeter by adding a little bit of brown sugar to it.
• You can add in a little bit of liquid smoke if you feel like you might miss out on the smoky flavor from the grill.

How to Cook Baby Back Ribs in the Oven

This truly is an straightforward recipe. The full instructions for the step-by-step process are in the recipe card.

Here we’ve broken the steps down into particular steps and segments to help give you a house favorite ribs.

How to Season Ribs

Seasoning the ribs with a mixture of spices is important. You want your ribs to have a lot of flavor. But you don’t want to depend entirely on your BBQ sauce to deliver it.

1. Place the cleaned ribs on a foil-lined baking sheet.
2. To a small mixing bowl, add garlic powder, paprika, salt, onion powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Mix to combine.
3. Take the avocado oil and coat both sides of the ribs.
4. Sprinkle the seasoning mixture over both sides of the ribs. Rub it in so that all surfaces of the ribs are covered in the rub seasoning. Be sure to leave them meat side up.

What Temp to Cook Ribs in Oven

We like to start our ribs at 350°F with a foil cover. Then increase the heat to 450° when we remove the foil and add the barbecue sauce.

How long to cook Pork Ribs in Oven

Bake these ribs for under 1 hour and 45 minutes. Then be sure to let them rest for 15 minutes after removing them from the oven.

The rest time is important to keep their juiciness and tenderness.

Helpful Equipment

Baking sheet

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Foil

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Glass mixing bowls

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Measuring cups

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Measuring spoons

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Basting brush

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Tips for Pork Ribs in Oven

• Be sure to use a neutral oil as the binder for the dry rub. This helps to avoid conflicting flavors between the seasoning, sauce, and binder.
• It’s important to make sure that foil is tight (tight) when you put it in the oven. This traps that heat and steam in for soft ribs.
• Be sure you allow at least 15 minutes of resting time after cooking ribs. This is to make sure they don’t lose that juiciness. So many people often overlook this step of allowing meat to rest after it’s removed from the heat. It’s a important part of the process to ensure a house favorite results.
• For a larger rack of ribs (4lbs), you’ll want to increase the initial cooking time to 2 hours. Then remove the foil and increase the heat.

Recipe FAQs

How to Serve Oven Baby Back Ribs

Let the ribs rest for at least 15 minutes after removing them from the oven. Then serve them as a main with one of your favorite side dishes.

• Southern Mashed Potatoes
• Crispy Potato Wedges
• Smoked Baked Beans
• Smoked Mac and Cheese
• Old Fashioned Potato Salad
• Southern Cornbread

How to keep Oven Baked Baby Back Ribs

Leftover ribs can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. Allow them to cool completely before wrapping in plastic wrap or storing in a well-sealed, airtight container.

To freeze leftover ribs, allow them to cool completely. Wrap them well in aluminum foil so they’re sealed tightly and completely.

Place this in a freezer safe bag or airtight container. Sealed properly, frozen ribs will be good for up to 3 months.

Thaw them in the refrigerator completely before reheating them in the oven at 300°F until warmed through.

Prep 10 minutesCook 2 hoursMakes 8

Ingredients

Ribs

• 2.5 lbs baby back pork ribs
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp avocado or olive oil

Sauce

• 1 cup barbecue sauce
• 2 tbsp garlic minced
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp coarse kosher salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Start by preparing the ribs. Flip the ribs over and remove the membrane and silver skin from the back.
3. Place the ribs on a foil -lined baking sheet .
4. To a small mixing bowl, add garlic powder, paprika, salt, onion powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Mix to combine.
5. Take the avocado oil and coat both sides of the ribs.
6. Sprinkle the seasoning mixture over both sides and rub it in so that all surfaces of the ribs are covered in the rub seasoning.
7. Cover the ribs tightly with foil and place them in the oven.
8. Bake for 90 minutes and remove them from the oven, but leave them covered in foil .
9. Increase the oven temperature to 450°F.
10. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix together the sauce ingredients making sure they are thoroughly combined.
11. Remove the foil from the ribs and brush the sauce on the top of the ribs, fully coating them.
12. Place the uncovered ribs back in the oven for 12 minutes.
13. Remove them from the oven and let them rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Notes

• Use a neutral oil as the binder for the rub to avoid conflicting flavors between the binder, seasoning, and sauce.
• It’s important to make sure that foil is tight when you put it in the oven to trap that heat in for soft ribs
• Be sure you allow resting time after cooking to make sure they don’t lose all of that juiciness
• For a larger rack of ribs (4 lbs), you’ll want to increase the cooking time to 2 hours.