Easy Baked Baby Back Ribs in Your Oven are baby back ribs you do not need to cook on a grill. They are fantastic, fall apart ribs that melt in your mouth. You can do everything in your oven.
Some people feel you need a grill to get amazing baby back ribs and I disagree. My family loves these and I bake these all the time in my oven. Follow the few tricks below in the instructions and you will have the most amazing Easy Baked Baby Back Ribs in Your Oven.
How to Make Easy Baked Baby Back Ribs in Your Oven
1. Purchase baby back ribs. I like to buy the three pack from Costco. These ribs take about five hours from beginning to end. If I am going to make these, I want to make enough to feed everyone and have left overs. My family loves these ribs and asks me to make them all the time.
2. Place the ribs on a large cookie sheet. Covering it with heavy duty tin foil will catch all the grease. This makes clean up a breeze. I like to place a rack inside the tin foil lined cookie sheet and then place my ribs on top.
A full rack of ribs might hang over the edge a little bit, but they will shrink as they bake. Just push the extra meat back on the cookies sheet. Place all three ribs on the rack. They will overlap a little, but they will shrink as they cook.
Salt and Pepper makes a great foundation for any set of ribs.
3. Salt and Pepper the ribs well on both sides. Many people like to put a rub on their ribs, but I guess I am a purist. I have tried lots of different rub recipes and I always come back to just salt and pepper. You can place a rub on the ribs and they will turn out well, too. Brush the ribs with mustard or something like that so the rub has something to stick to when you apply it to the ribs.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°. Rip off a large piece of heavy duty tin foil that will completely cover the top of the ribs and fold over the edges of the cookie sheet. It is very important that the ribs are completely air tight. Pour 2 cups of water in the bottom of the pan. The steam from the water will provide the perfect temperature and moisture to make the best ribs you have ever eaten.
5. Another reason why I like to place the ribs on an a rack is to keep them out of the water. Once the water has been poured in the bottom of the pan, cover the the entire pan with the piece of tin foil. Wrap around the edges of the bottom of the pan.
6. Bake for two hours at 350° and then turn the heat down to 275° for the last two hours. The ribs will create a lot of liquid, in addition to the two cups you put in the bottom of the pan at the beginning of the bake.
Cooking the ribs long and slow is the secret!
7. After the four hours of cooking is over, carefully pick the pan up and take it to the sink and drain the water and grease. I am never graceful when I do this. I always seems to spill some liquid on the floor, no matter how careful I am. So be warned, you will probably spill some. Let me know if you didn’t spill any liquid so I can bow down and tell you how wonderful you are.
8. At this point, turn up the heat in the oven back to 350°. Then cut each full baby back rib into four pieces, each containing about three ribs. I take out the rack and throw away the tin foil. Then I place eight sets, you can crowd all 12 sets, of ribs back on the cookie sheet, meat side up. Heavily pour on your favorite BBQ sauce. Sweet Baby Ray’s is the one I like to use. Brush or spread the sauce to cover the whole piece. Then bake for another 1/2 hour.
Baste both sides of the ribs with BBQ sauce and cook a little longer.
9. Flip the pieces over so the rib side is up and cover with BBQ sauce. Cook for another half hour. Then turn back over to the meat side.
10. For crispy ribs, pour on more BBQ sauce and then turn the heat to broil. Broil the ribs until the sauce starts to bubble and you see a few spots that start to crisp up. Now you are ready to serve Easy Baked Baby Back Ribs in your Oven.
If you like saucy ribs and not crispy ones, bump up the heat to 350°, pour on more BBQ sauce and cook for another 15 minutes.
10. Several sides that would go really well with the Easy Baked Baby Back Ribs in Your Oven are Mashed Potato Pancakes with Ham and Cheese, Mac and Cheese, Can’t Put My Fork Down Mashed Potatoes, Easy One Pan Baked Beans, Best Potato Salad, and Roasted Acorn Squash.
Let me know on Instagram or Facebook if you make this. Post a picture and tag me @dinasdiner.
Easy Baked Baby Back Ribs in your Oven
Equipment
- 1 Cookie Sheet with rack that fits inside
- 1 Large piece of Heavy Duty Tin Foil
Ingredients
- 3 pack Baby Back Ribs, can be purchased at Costco
- 40 oz. Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce
- 3 tsp. Salt
- 3 tsp. Pepper
- 2 Cups Water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Line a cookie sheet with heavy tin foil.
- Place a rack inside the cookie sheet.
- Drain bag of ribs.
- Place three racks of ribs on the rack.
- Salt and Pepper both sides of the ribs.
- Place ribs with bone side down.
- Cut off a piece of heavy tin foil that will cover all the ribs and seal around the bottom of the pan.
- Place tin foil on half of the pan, then place the cookie sheet in the oven and pour the water into the open side of the cookie sheet.
- Cover the other half of the cookie sheet and make sure it is completely covered with tin foil folded over the bottom of pan. You want the ribs airtight.
- Cook for 2 hours and then reduce the heat to 275° and cook for another 2 hours.
- After baking for four hours, drain the liquid from the bottom of the pan. Be very careful not to spill the liquid when carrying it to the sink.
- Take off the tin foil and throw it away. Cut each rack into four pieces, about three ribs per piece. Place these back on the cookie sheet and spread each piece heavily with BBQ sauce.
- Put the cookie sheet back in the oven at 350° and bake for a half an hour.
- Turn all the pieces over so the bone side is up and cover with BBQ sauce. Cook for another half an hour.
- Turn all pieces meat side up and add more BBQ sauce. Turn the heat to broil and watch carefully for the next 5 – 10 minutes as BBQ sauce begins to bubble and crisp up.
- If you want saucy and not crispy edges, cook at 350° for another 15 minutes. Serve with a variety of sides.
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