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Saucy and sticky pork ribs sliced on a tray with barbecue sauce.

Oven Baked Pork Ribs with BBQ Sauce

Meaty pork back ribs in a homemade BBQ sauce are cooked low and slow in the oven. Fall offthe bone tender, saucy and sticky, these slow cooked ribs are a real game day crowd pleaser.

Course Main Course, pot luck
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 30 minutes
Servings 4
Author Rita Jakobschuk

Ingredients

Ribs

  • 2 kilograms pork back ribs 2 racks

Barbeque Sauce Base

  • 1 ½ cups chili sauce or tomato ketchup divided
  • ½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons dry mustard powder
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder optional
  • 1 cup onion minced very fine
  • 4 garlic cloves crushed

Optional Garnishes

  • Sliced red chili peppers
  • Sliced green onions

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Cut each rib rack in half and arrange them in a 10” x 13” deep rimmed baking pan.

  2. Make the barbecue sauce base. In a medium bowl whisk together 1 cup of the chili sauce (reserve remaining ½ cup chili sauce for finishing), brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustardpowder, salt, pepper, chili powder (optional), onion and garlic.

  3. Pour the sauce base over the ribs and turn them a couple of times to coat all sides. Arrange the ribs in one layer or slightly overlapping. Cover the dish tightly with foil wrap and cook ribs, undisturbed, for 2 ½ hours.

  4. Remove pan from oven and increase oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Remove foil paper and baste ribs with the sauce and drippings then rearrange them in the pan. Leave uncovered, return to the oven and cook for another 30 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken and the ribs caramelize.

  5. Transfer ribs to a board to rest and leave sauce in the baking pan. Skim off as much fat as possible from the sauce in the pan and discard fat. Then finish the barbecue sauce by adding the remaining ½ cup chili sauce to the sauce and whisking to combine until thickened.

  6. Slice the ribs in between the bones or in between every second or third bone, as desired. Brush a thick coat of barbeque sauce all over the sliced ribs. Transfer the remaining sauce to a jar or bowl. Sprinkle with chili peppers and green onions and serve with the remaining sauce for dipping.

Recipe Notes

  1. Ideally use pork back ribs (also known as baby back ribs) but pork side ribs work too.
  2. Chili sauce and ketchup are interchangeable in this recipe, I used Heinz chili sauce.
  3. If you prefer no spice level, then the chili powder and red chili peppers can be left out.
  4. Mince the onion and garlic really fine so it will disintegrate when cooked in the barbecue sauce.
  5. The BBQ sauce base can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
  6. Be sure and use a rimmed baking pan so it will hold all the sauce.
  7. Don’t rush the cooking time – these ribs are meant to be cooked low and slow.
  8. Skim off and discard as much fat as possible from the sauce once ribs are removed from the pan.
  9. Recipe can be doubled but I recommend cooking the ribs in two separate rimmed baking pans to ensure the ribs will evenly cook and caramelize.