Baked Spare Ribs Recipe, Low and Slow in the Oven

This baked spare ribs recipe needs an oven, some foil and a little patience. Peel off the membrane, coat the rack in a dry rub, wrap it tightly in foil and bake it at 275 degrees for about three hours, until the meat is tender. Then unwrap it, brush on barbecue sauce, and slide it under the broiler for a few minutes until the sauce bubbles and sticks.

The low oven and the foil do the job a smoker does over a long afternoon: they melt the fat and connective tissue between the bones slowly, without drying out the meat. The broiler at the end gives you the sticky, browned outside.

At a glance: serves 3 to 4. Prep 20 minutes, bake about 3 hours, broil 5 minutes, rest 10 minutes.

Asked where the pork comes from, Gray Shipley, who runs the farm, talked about the land pigs need:

“You don't see pigs in the far, in the mountains very much. And that's because pigs are hard on slopes, uh, because they root, because they dig, they need to be on flat ground because they'll cause erosion.”

Gray Shipley

He was talking about farming, not cooking, so take it as background rather than a tip. The kitchen lesson for spare ribs is plainer. They are fatty and full of connective tissue, and they reward low heat and time.

Ingredients

• 1 rack pork spare ribs, 3 to 4 pounds
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or apple juice
• 3/4 cup barbecue sauce

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 275 degrees with a rack in the middle. Line a rimmed sheet pan with foil, and tear off a sheet of heavy-duty foil about twice as long as the rack of ribs.
2. Pat the ribs dry and lay them bone side up. Slide a butter knife under the thin, shiny membrane at one end, lift a corner, grip it with a paper towel, and peel it off in one or two pieces. Trim off any loose flaps of meat or large pieces of hard fat.
3. Stir together the brown sugar, paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard and cayenne. Season the ribs all over, using more on the meaty side, and pat the rub in.
4. Set the ribs meat side up in the middle of the heavy-duty foil and sprinkle the vinegar or apple juice around them. Bring the long edges together over the top and fold them down tightly, leaving a little space above the meat, then crimp the ends closed. Set the packet on the sheet pan.
5. Bake for 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours, checking at 2 1/2, until the meat has pulled back from the ends of the bones and a toothpick slides between the bones with little resistance.
6. Carefully open the foil, away from your face, since the steam is very hot, and pour off the juices. Fold the foil back from the ribs. Heat the broiler, with an oven rack about 6 inches below it.
7. Brush the ribs with half the barbecue sauce and broil them, meat side up, for 3 to 5 minutes, until the sauce bubbles and browns at the edges. Watch closely, since a sugary sauce burns fast. Brush on more sauce and broil for 1 to 2 minutes more if you like.
8. Rest the ribs for 10 minutes, then cut between the bones and serve with the remaining sauce.

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Spare ribs vs baby back ribs

Spare ribs come from the lower part of the rib cage, along the belly. The bones are longer and flatter, there is more meat between them, and there is more fat and connective tissue, which means more flavor and a longer cook. Baby back ribs come from the top of the rib cage, next to the loin. They are shorter, curved and leaner, and they cook faster, usually in about 2 to 2 1/2 hours at this temperature. A St. Louis rack is a spare rib rack with the strip of chewy rib tips trimmed off, leaving a neat rectangle. All three work with this method; only the time changes.

How long to bake spare ribs at 275

About three hours for a 3- to 4-pound rack, but ribs vary, so go by feel rather than the clock. They are ready when the meat has shrunk back from the bone ends by about 1/4 to 1/2 inch and the rack bends easily when you lift one end with tongs. If you check with a thermometer between the bones, tender spare ribs usually read about 195 to 203 degrees F. A small rack can be ready at 2 1/2 hours; a large one can take closer to 4.

Why wrap the ribs in foil?

Foil holds in the steam, so the ribs braise gently in their own juices and the splash of vinegar. That is what makes them tender in an oven in about three hours without drying out. The sauce goes on only at the end, because barbecue sauce is full of sugar and would burn over three hours. If you like a firmer, chewier rib, open the foil for the last 30 minutes of baking so the outside dries and darkens before you sauce it.

Making them ahead

For a cookout, bake the ribs in their foil a day ahead, cool them, and refrigerate them in the packet. To serve, reheat the closed packet at 300 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes, until the ribs reach 165 degrees F, then sauce and broil them as written.

Food safety

USDA FSIS lists 145 degrees F, followed by a rest of at least 3 minutes, as the safe minimum internal temperature for whole cuts of pork. Spare ribs pass that figure long before they are tender, so the doneness test here is texture, with a thermometer to confirm. Refrigerate leftovers promptly and reheat them to 165 degrees F. See the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.