A few days ago, I went to to a local meat market (Rocky Plains) with my dad and picked up some all natural, free range, and grass fed pork! I bought some baby back ribs and I was secretly terrified because I have never cooked bone-in ribs before and I very much wanted them to taste amazing…and they DID! Yay!
These Melt in Your Mouth Amazing Baby Back Ribs that truly fall off the bone, definitely live up to their name! It sounds like a lot of work, but honestly, this was one of the easiest holiday (Easter) meals that I’ve made in a long time. Make these baby back ribs for dinner. As soon as you can. I promise you will not be disappointed.
(Update note from 2017: I honestly can’t remember where I got this recipe when we first made them. It definitely wasn’t our own, not back when we were still learning to cook! But we’ve made these ribs for so many people by this point and they’re always a hit. Always.)
Melt in Your Mouth Amazing Baby Back Ribs
Yield 6 to 8 servings
These ribs are more than worth the wait!
Ingredients
Dry rub:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoon onion powder
- 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
- 1/2 tablespoon cayenne
- 1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground sage
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1 tablespoon cumin
Ribs:
- 4 to 5 pounds pork baby back ribs
- 1/2 cup bourbon
- Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce (Not even sponsored, we just love this stuff!)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 275F.
- In a medium bowl, combine the dry rub ingredients and mix them together well.
- Remove the membrane from the underside of the ribs and generously rub them with the dry rub until they're evenly coated on all sides.
- Wrap the ribs in foil and allow them to marinate in the refrigerator for at least four hours, but overnight is best.
- Heat your grill to medium-high heat and grill each rack of ribs to char the meat for a little flavor, but also to sear in the juices, so about 5 minutes.
- Pour the bourbon into the bottom of a large roasting pan and place the ribs on a roasting rack in a roasting pan. Cover it tightly with foil and bake the ribs for about 4 hours.
- Carefully remove the ribs from the roasting pan, unwrap the foil, and coat the ribs with your favorite barbecue sauce.
- Place them back on the roasting pan uncovered, and bake them for an additional 20 to 30 minutes to caramelize the barbecue sauce.
- Slice the rack of ribs into individual ribs or chunks of two or three. Serve them hot with extra barbecue sauce!