Sweet and Smoky BBQ Ribs
For National BBQ Day I am making BBQ pork ribs, along with a homemade dry rub AND BBQ sauce! I don’t know where you are, but I’m in Arizona where it’s HOT! At 111 degrees, I plan to stay inside and cook in the air conditioning. The heat will not stop me from celebrating July 4th with some delicious BBQ made from my own kitchen.
Oven BBQ
Not only is it blazing hot outside, but we live in an apartment complex with only a few grills. They are out of propane 75% of the time, so I decided to make some oven-baked ribs instead. The meat falls off the bone and does not skimp on flavor.
Sweet and Smoky
I started with a Sweet and Smoky BBQ Rub, see recipe below. A day before cooking I removed the silver skin from the ribs and rubbed them with seasoning to marinade. The recipe for the BBQ rub makes 2 cups because I love to have it on hand. Feel free to halve the recipe if you don’t want so much leftover.
BBQ Rub and Sauce
For this recipe I created my own Sweet and Smoky BBQ Rub, which happens to be delicious on any meat. I also made chicken breast with this rub and it was amazing! The recipe makes 2 cups of rub because I love to have extra around for sauces and seasonings.
Sweet and Smoky BBQ Rub is one of the ingredients used in the Sweet and Smoky BBQ Sauce recipe. Are you starting to see the pattern here? Using the rub in the BBQ sauce enhances the sweet and smokey flavors in the ribs. It also helps to keep the flavor profile the same throughout the entire dish.
Baking the Ribs
When making these ribs, you can use whichever BBQ seasoning and sauce you’d like. But of course I like to my make everything on my own! These ribs marinated in the rub for 24 hours before I baked them. I wrapped them tightly in foil and put them on a baking sheet. They baked for 3 hours and 15 minutes in a 300-degree oven. Once they were done baking, I glazed them with the BBQ sauce. They went back into the oven and broiled for 3-5 minutes until the sauce was bubbling.
Once done, I tried cutting the ribs, but they were so tender that they just fell right off the bone. I love fall off the bone meat because it is tender and so easy to eat. Cooking ribs low and slow is the key to making them tender. Cooking them in the oven is a great way to stay out of the heat. Plus you get the amazing smell in the house while they are cooking.
You can find the recipes for the rub and sauce below, or in these links:
I made these ribs to go on the side of my one-pot macaroni and cheese, and tangy Dutch Oven Collard Greens. What are your favorite BBQ sides?
Looking for more BBQ recipes? Check out:
Sweet and Smoky BBQ Ribs
Equipment
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Sweet and Smoky BBQ Rub or other BBQ seasoning
- 1 rack spare ribs
- 1/4 cup Sweet and Smoky BBQ Sauce or your favorite BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Remove silver skin from the back of the ribs using a knife or paper towels. It comes off easy when you grab the corner with a paper towel and pull.
- Rub ½ a cup of Sweet and Smoky BBQ rub, or other BBQ seasoning, on both sides of the ribs and let marinade for up to 24 hours.
- Preheat oven to 300° F.
- Wrap ribs tightly in foil and ensure they are sealed. Place on a sheet pan and bake for 3 hours and 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and remove foil from ribs. Glaze ribs with ¼ cup of Sweet and Smoky BBQ Sauce, or your favorite BBQ Sauce.
- Return ribs to oven and broil for 3-5 minutes.
- Enjoy with your favorite BBQ sides and sauce!
Sweet and Smoky BBQ Rub
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 1/4 cup paprika
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp mustard powder
- 1 tsp cumin
Instructions
- Combine all spices and stir or shake well. Use as a dry rub or a seasoning for sauces.
Sweet and Smoky BBQ Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 yellow onion thinly sliced
- 1 ½ cups ketchup
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/4 cup Sweet and Smoky BBQ Rub, or other BBQ seasoning
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp prepared mustard
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Over medium-low heat and add sliced onions and a pinch of salt to a saucepan. Let the onions start to sweat.
- Add Sweet and Smoky BBQ Rub or BBQ seasoning to the onions and stir until all onions are coated in seasoning.
- Add remaining ingredients to the saucepan. Stir well to combine and turn the heat up to medium to bring mixture to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to low and stir. Cover and cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid mixture sticking to bottom of pan.
- Remove from heat let cool for 15 minutes. Enjoy over your favorite BBQ.
