We love these easy oven-baked baby back ribs, as the result is flavorful, fall-off-the-bone meat every time. This is a great recipe for special occasions in the spring and summer months.
The Baby Back Rib Ingredients
This recipe calls for 2 racks of baby back ribs. If you shop at the butcher counter, you can ask them to remove the membrane on the backside of the ribs or remove it yourself if you buy pre-packaged.
A note on baby back ribs: Baby back ribs are pork ribs that are cut from near the top of the backbone, so they are smaller than spareribs. Spareribs are the longer ribs cut from lower down on the backbone of the pig.
To make the rub for these ribs, you will need yellow mustard, dark brown sugar, smoked paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, ground black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, smoked sea salt, kosher salt, and your favorite barbecue sauce.
How to Make These Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs
This process, with preparing, marinating, baking and then grilling will take about 3 hours. So, you will want to start this earlier in the day if you are planning to make them for a dinner meal that day of.
The Baby Back Rib Rub
Preheat your oven to 275°.
If your ribs have the thin, translucent silvery membrane on the back side of the rib (the underside of the curve), you will want first to remove this. If not removed, this membrane will not break down in the cooking process, and the ribs may turn out rubbery and hard to chew.
Carefully cut the membrane away from the ribs, then grab it directly with your hand and pull it from the ribs. It should pull away from the meat in one long piece. Sometimes it can be hard to get a grip on the membrane so if needed, use a paper towel to grip the membrane and pull it away from the meat.
Prepare two large baking sheets by lining them with foil. Then, place one rib rack on each pan, meat side up.
Next, mix all dry spices in a small bowl, with a fork, ensuring they are combined evenly.
Using a basting brush, coat the top side of each rack with about 2 tablespoons of mustard. To be honest, I don’t really measure the yellow mustard. I just squeeze some out of the bottle and brush it over the ribs until they have a mustard coating. The mustard will give the ribs flavor, but also the vinegar quality of the mustard helps to break down the meat while it’s cooking, allowing the dry rub to seep into the meat.
After the mustard is brushed over the ribs, sprinkle 1/4 of the prepared spice rub on the top of each rack and spread it evenly over the meat. Flip the racks over and repeat the mustard basting and dry rub process on the underside of the rib racks.
Baking the Ribs
Now, cover your ribs with foil completely. Wrap the foil around the ribs on one side, folding in the ends tightly to do this.
Then flip the ribs over and them cover again with another piece of foil, folding the ends. Completely sealing these will keep the moisture in and won’t allow them to dry out during the cooking process.
Place the foil-wrapped ribs onto the baking sheets. Bake for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, turn off the oven and let the ribs rest in the oven for another 30 minutes.
Once the end of the baking phase is near, preheat your grill to 350°.
Grilling the Ribs
Next, using a basting brush (like this one on Amazon), baste one side of the ribs with your favorite barbecue sauce and transfer the ribs, sauce side down, onto the grill. Then baste the opposite side with sauce. Grill 5 minutes per side until the barbecue sauce has caramelized on the meat.
Tips and Serving Suggestions for the Easy Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs
Kid tip – If they aren’t into sauces, cut a rib off after the baking stage and before grilling them. Cut the meat off the bone and into small pieces for younger kids or leave on the bone for older kids.
- Try serving this Texas Style Queso or Fresh and Easy Guacamole while your ribs bake.
- These ribs pair well with roasted corn on the cob, Grilled Corn, Tomato, and Basil Salad. or this Cucumber Medley Salad with Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette.
- For a fun summary side dish, try serving these fall-off-the-bone ribs with Lemon Basil Orzo with Sun-dried Tomatoes.
Easy Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs
- Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 - 8 1x
Description
We love these easy oven-baked baby back ribs, as the result is flavorful, fall-off-the-bone meat every time
Ingredients
- 2 racks baby back ribs
- yellow mustard (about 8T)
- 2 T dark brown sugar
- 1 T smoked paprika
- 1 T chili powder
- 1 T garlic powder
- 1 T onion powder
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp white pepper
- OPTIONAL – 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp smoked sea salt
- 1 T kosher salt
- one bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce
Instructions
**This process, with preparing, baking, and grilling will take about 2 hours and 45 minutes. So, you will want to start this earlier in the day if you are planning to make them for a dinner meal that day of.
The Baby Back Rib Rub
- Preheat your oven to 275°.
- If your ribs have the thin, translucent silvery membrane on the back side of the rib (the underside of the curve), you will want first to remove this. If not removed, this membrane will not break down in the cooking process, and the ribs may turn out rubbery and hard to chew.
- Carefully cut the membrane away from the ribs, then grab it directly with your hand and pull it from the ribs. It should pull away from the meat in one long piece. Sometimes it can be hard to get a grip on the membrane so if needed, use a paper towel to grip the membrane and pull it away from the meat.
- Prepare two large baking sheets by lining them with foil. Then, place one rib rack on each pan, meat side up.
- Next, mix all dry spices in a small bowl, with a fork, ensuring they are combined evenly.
- Using a basting brush, coat the top side of each rack with about 2 tablespoons of mustard. To be honest, I don’t really measure the yellow mustard. I just squeeze some out of the bottle and brush it over the ribs until they have a mustard coating. The mustard will give the ribs flavor, but also the vinegar quality of the mustard helps to break down the meat while it’s cooking, allowing the dry rub to seep into the meat.
- After the mustard is brushed over the ribs, sprinkle 1/4 of the prepared spice rub on the top of each rack and spread it evenly over the meat. Flip the racks over and repeat the mustard basting and dry rub process on the underside of the rib racks.
Baking the Ribs
- Now, cover your ribs with foil completely. I usually wrap the foil around the ribs on one side, folding in the ends tightly to do this. Then flip the ribs over and them cover again with another piece of foil, folding the ends. Completely sealing these will keep the moisture in and won’t allow them to dry out during the cooking process.
- Place the foil-wrapped ribs onto the baking sheets. Bake for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, turn off the oven and let the ribs rest in the oven for another 30 minutes.
- Once the end of the baking phase is near, preheat your grill to 350°
Grilling the Ribs
- Next, baste one side of the ribs with your favorite barbecue sauce and transfer the ribs, sauce side down, onto the grill.
- Then baste the opposite side with sauce.
- Grill 5 minutes per side until the barbecue sauce has caramelized on the meat.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 2 hours 30 min
