Fall Off the Bone Oven-Baked Ribs

Happy Snow Day, local friends! The kids were scheduled to go back to school today after a long winter break and many were betting that rising Covid rates would derail that plan. But lo and behold, good ole Mother Nature stepped in. I will take that any day of the week!

While I didn’t make these delicious fall of the bone Oven-Baked Ribs on a snow day, they’d be perfect for one. I was in the meat department of our local supermarket and found myself standing next to the butcher. “Are these any good?” I asked, holding up a package of pork loin ribs. “Those are baby backs and they are my biggest seller. Biggest seller all year round.” Biggest seller all year round? And I was fairly certain I’d never made them? How could that be? Well, that–and the fact that Kyle was coming home for his winter break–was enough to convince me to put a package in my cart until the butcher said, “You’re going to want two.” So I found myself leaving the store with two racks of baby back ribs, a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce (“stick with the original”) and some simple cooking instructions from the butcher.

The next night I made ribs and while I am not running out to enter any Pitmaster Competitions (although I think that maybe I could win) I will say that Oven-Baked Ribs are the biggest no-fuss, bang-for-the-buck you can put on your dinner table. With about 5 minutes of prep (a little longer if you can figure out if your ribs have that membrane that they suggest removing–I dont think mine did and it didn’t seem to matter) and about 4 hours of hands-off oven time, you’ve got yourself a winner.

As a matter of fact, the ribs were such a non-recipe that I didn’t think to photograph them until the next morning. Yes, we did have leftovers, mostly because Gary had hockey that night and only ate a few while standing over the sink before heading out the door. And once again, sorry for the lame photo but you know what ribs look like, right? So if you, like me, have been intimidated by the idea of making ribs I want to encourage you to give this “non-recipe” a try. Serve with Bob Evans mashed potatoes or macaroni & cheese and a vegetable and you will be a hero. Enjoy!

Oven-Baked Ribs

Fall Off the Bone Oven-Baked Ribs

Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 2 packages pork loin or baby back ribs the ribs should be about 4"-long
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce I used Sweet Baby Ray's; you could also make your own

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 275F. Set the rack to the middle position.
  • Unpackage your ribs and if you can detect a thin membrane on the underside of the rib rack, remove it by sliding a knife underneath and pulling. Sometimes the membrane has been removed in advance (you can ask the butcher). It's also okay to leave it.
  • Season the ribs generously with salt and pepper. Place them side by side on a baking pan and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
  • Put in the oven and bake for 3-4 hours. I tested at 3 1/2 but putting a small knife between two bones and seeing if the meat easily came apart. It did and I still decided to leave it cooking for about 30 minutes more.
  • When cooked to your liking, remove pan from the oven, discard foil and brush your barbecue sauce all over the tops of the ribs. Slather it on.
  • Carefully, move the oven rack up to the top position and set the broiler to high. Put the uncovered pan of ribs in to broil for about 3-4 minutes. Don't walk away! Check your ribs and remove the pan when the sauce is caramelized.
  • Cut ribs into sections and serve with lots of napkins. The meat will literally fall off the bones.