Oven-baked St. Louis-style Ribs (4 Servings)
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 to 2½ pounds of St. Louis-style ribs
- Salt and black pepper
For the Barbecue sauce:
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- ¼ cup of finely diced onion
- ½ teaspoon of ground cumin
- ½ cup of ketchup
- 1 tablespoon of hot chili sauce
- 2 tablespoons of light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
- Salt and ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit (135C).
- Remove the thin membrane that covers the back of the rack if it is still attached to the ribs.
- Season the ribs on both sides generously with salt and pepper. Apply the spice rub on the ribs at this point if you’re using one. Place the ribs in a rimmed baking sheet or a large roasting pan, with the meat side facing up. (Cutting the ribs in half may be required in order to fit them well into the pan.)
- Use a piece of aluminum foil to cover the baking sheet or the pan tightly. Afterward, bake the ribs for 2 to 3 hours, or until the meat slips easily off the bones. After 2 hours, it’s important to check on the ribs to see how they’re doing. As soon as the meat gets cooked through and soft, the ribs are ready.
- Prepare the barbecue sauce while the ribs are baking. In a saucepan, heat up the olive oil over medium heat.
- Cook the onions in the heated oil for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the onions are tender and transparent. Keep cooking for another 30 seconds after adding the cumin.
- Mix the ketchup, brown sugar, hot chili sauce, and apple cider vinegar in a large mixing bowl. Cook the mixture for 2 minutes after stirring everything together. Set the pan aside while the ribs finish cooking.
- Take the ribs out of the oven, toss away the foil, and coat both sides of the ribs liberally with barbecue sauce.
- Optional step: Position an oven rack at the oven’s top. Preheat the broiler to high and cook the ribs for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the barbecue sauce caramelizes. (Keep an eye on the ribs during this broiling process to prevent the sauce from burning.
Notes
Recipe notes:
- The recipe calls for St. Louis style ribs, but other varieties of ribs (spareribs, country-style, and baby back ribs) would also work. Cooking time should be similar; however, we recommend checking on the ribs periodically to see how they are going.
- The cooking process or baking time should not change whether you double or triple the recipe described above. However, it’s possible that you’ll need two baking pans.
This recipe yields such tender, delicious, fall-off-the-bone ribs that your family will be talking about for a couple of days. It’s much better to cook these ribs low and slow in order to ensure tender results.
The great thing about this recipe is that even if you don’t follow the steps strictly, you can still be sure of tasty results. However, we advise you to follow the cooking instructions as much as you can.
If you would like to see more ideas for cooking st. Louis-style ribs in the oven, we recommend that you take a look at this video recipe.