The Absolute Best Baby Back Ribs Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat a gas grill for high heat, or arrange charcoal briquettes on one side of the barbeque. Lightly oil the grate.
• In a small jar, combine cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, and pepper. Close the lid, and shake to mix.
• Trim the membrane sheath from the back of each rack. Run a small, sharp knife between the membrane and each rib, and snip off the membrane as much as possible. Sprinkle as much of the rub onto both sides of the ribs as desired. To prevent the ribs from becoming too dark and spicy, do not thoroughly rub the spices into the ribs. Store the unused portion of the spice mix for future use.
• Place aluminum foil on lower rack to capture drippings and prevent flare-ups. Lay the ribs on the top rack of the grill (away from the coals, if you're using briquettes). Reduce gas heat to low, close lid, and leave undisturbed for 1 hour. Do not lift the lid at all.
• Brush ribs with barbecue sauce, and grill an additional 5 minutes. Serve ribs as whole rack, or cut between each rib bone and pile individually on a platter.

Steps:

• If necessary, remove thin membrane from ribs and discard. Combine broth, soy sauce, 1/2 cup sugar, vinegar, olive oil and garlic. Place ribs in a shallow baking dish; pour two-thirds of the marinade over ribs. Turn to coat; refrigerate overnight, turning occasionally. Cover and refrigerate remaining marinade., Drain ribs, discarding marinade. Combine remaining sugar, salt and seasonings; rub over both sides of ribs., Grill ribs, covered, on an oiled rack over indirect medium heat for 30 minutes on each side., Baste with reserved marinade, or, if desired, barbecue sauce. Move ribs to direct medium heat and cook until pork is tender, turning and basting occasionally, 20-40 minutes longer.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
• Mix ancho chile powder, white sugar, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, cumin, dry mustard, cayenne pepper, and chipotle pepper in a small bowl until combined.
• Place ribs meat-side down on aluminum foil. Prick back of rib rack several times with a knife.
• Generously apply coating of dry rub to all sides of rib rack.
• With rib rack meat-side down, fold foil around it to create a tight seal. Transfer to sheet pan.
• Bake in preheated oven until tender and cooked through, about 2 hours. Remove and cool 15 minutes.
• Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Open foil, drain and discard any accumulated juices and fat. Brush barbeque sauce on all sides of rack.
• Place rack meat-side up and return to oven, leaving foil open. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and brush another layer of barbeque sauce on meat-side only. Repeat baking and brushing with sauce 4 more times, for a total of 50 minutes baking time.
• Cut rack into individual rib segments and serve with more barbeque sauce.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, chipotle chile powder, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, seafood seasoning and black pepper.
• Place each slab of ribs on a piece of aluminum foil large enough to fold over and seal, then place on a baking sheet. Do not seal the ribs in the foil yet (see Cook's Note). Generously sprinkle the dry rub on both sides of the ribs. Place in the refrigerator, meat-side down and uncovered, for at least 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• In a small bowl, combine the apple cider, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, Worcestershire and minced garlic. Pour half the liquid over each slab and tightly seal each in the aluminum foil, crimping the edges to make a packet.
• Transfer the foil packets and baking sheet to the oven and bake until the meat is tender and starts to pull away from the bones, about 2 hours.
• Remove the sheet pan from the oven. Carefully open the aluminum packets and pour the braising liquid into a small saucepan. Bring the liquid to a simmer over medium heat until it becomes a thick and syrupy glaze, about 4 minutes.
• While the braising liquid reduces, line a baking sheet with foil and gently transfer the ribs to it. Position a rack on the top level of the oven and preheat the broiler.
• Using a pastry brush, generously brush the ribs with about half the glaze. Place the ribs under the broiler for about 1 minute. Brush with the remaining glaze and return to the broiled until charred in spots, about 1 minute more. Slice each rack between the bones into 2-rib portions and serve.

Steps:

• Make one recipe of Rib Sauce (above) and set aside.
• Pre-cook ribs by EITHER Baking (preferred method) OR Parboiling.
• MAKE-AHEAD TIP: After pre-cooking (baking or parboiling) ribs, they may be vacuum sealed and frozen for up to 3 months OR glazed with Rib Sauce and refrigerated or given their final baking immediately.
• ** BAKING RIBS (preferred method): Cut rack of ribs in half. Place 1 1/2 pounds ribs in each of two 9x13-inch casserole dishes.
• Add 1/4 cup vinegar to each casserole. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Drain all liquid.
• ** PAR-BOILING RIBS: Cut rack of ribs in half. Fill large pot with water; heat to boiling. Add all ribs to boiling water (should be enough to just cover top of ribs).
• Simmer ribs about 45 minutes until just tender but meat is not falling off the bones. Remove ribs from boiling water. Rinse and drain.
• **** RIBS (Final Baking): Cut ribs in sections. In two 9x13-inch glass casserole, place ribs in SINGLE layer in casserole.
• Pour about 1/3 of Rib Sauce over one dish of ribs to glaze them.
• Repeat with second half of ribs, using another 1/3 of sauce or enough of the remaining sauce to glaze all the ribs.
• MAKE-AHEAD TIP: At this point you can cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 48 hours.
• If frozen, thaw before baking.
• Place UNCOVERED ribs in preheated 350 degree oven.
• Bake for 45-60 minutes until most of sauce has been absorbed by the ribs and meat is "melt-in-your-mouth" tender.
• If you have any remaining sauce, serve it with the ribs, along with plenty of napkins.
• These are finger-licking good and messy to eat-- but is there any other way to eat ribs?.
• *** RIB SAUCE: Mix cornstarch and water together to make a slurry Set aside.
• Mix remaining dry ingredients together.
• Place in saucepan.
• Mix remaining wet ingredients together.
• Pour half of wet ingredients into dry ingredients, stirring to mix well.
• Add remaining half of wet ingredients, stir to mix well, and simmer mixture, uncovered, for about 10-20 minutes to thicken sauce a bit.
• While mixture is gently boiling, pour in slurry while stirring.
• Return mixture to a slow boil and cook until sauce thickens a little.
• Sauce should be thick enough to cling to ribs, yet pourable.
• Cool sauce and store in air-tight glass or plastic container.
• Refrigerated it keeps indefinitely.

Steps:

• Mix all ingredients except ribs and BBQ Sauce.
• Cut rib racks into 3 or 4 rib segments.
• Store ribs in marinade in refridgerator for 3 days.
• Drain and discard marinade.
• Place ribs in a steamer basket in a large covered pot with approx 1 in of water.
• Bring pot to a boil then lower to simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
• Remove ribs from pot and coat with BBQ Sauce.
• (The water left over in the pot makes a great stock for soups.) Place coated ribs on a cookie sheet sprayed with Pam.
• Bake at 300 for 15 mins.