Sweet & Spicy Baby Back Ribs

I finally took some time off of work and I’m spending it prepping for Thanksgiving and testing out some new recipes. One of which is for a recipe challenge with Serious Foodie using some of their spice rubs and sauces. I’ve been making a ton of soup lately, and with Thanksgiving coming up, I knew I didn’t want poultry so wanted to put these spices and sauces to use in something we haven’t had in a while…RIBS!

When shopping for our Thanksgiving meal, I grabbed a rack of baby back ribs and knew immediately the spice rub and sauce I would use on these. I use my tried and true oven baked rib method and instead of making my own spice blend, I used the Serious Foodie Asian Fusion Sweet/Spicy Rub which has ginger, coriander, cardamom, garlic, and more) mixed with a little extra brown sugar for the dry rub then basted them a few times with the Vietnamese Sweet Chili Hot Sauce. These two products going extremely well together -the flavors play off of each other well creating a delicious and flavorful end product. Using pre-packaged items is a great way to save time in the kitchen and I highly recommend giving these a try. They are all natural and gluten free! The spice rubs and sauces I was sent are also soy free and vegan (these would be great on some crispy tofu!).

A little bit about Serious Foodie if you aren’t already familiar with them. They started off as a food & travel blog which now shares the flavors of their travels with people like you and me. You can find these delicious products on their website, on Amazon, and in over 1,000 stores nation wide. While the items I was sent were focused on the flavors of Asian cuisines, they also offer a variety of flavor profiles in both spice blends and sauces. Using spice blends and sauces is a great way for you to introduce new flavors into your meals and taste buds. I’m also a sucker for a do-good company! Serious Foodie gives back by supporting various organizations such as No Kid Hungry, FreeSet and The Rotary Foundation Microloan project.

Now back to those ribs… I’ve been making ribs this way for years and each and every time they come out tender and full of flavor.

Print Recipe

Sweet & Spicy Baby Back Ribs

Tender and flavorful oven baked ribs

Course: Main Course

Keyword: Baby Back Ribs, Pork, Ribs, Serious Foodie

Servings: 4

Author: Jenny S. Passione, MS, RD, CC

Equipment

Rimmed Baking Sheet
Wire Cooling Rack
Aluminum Foil
Chef's Knife

Ingredients

2 Lb Baby Back Ribs
3 Tbs Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Serious Foodie Asian Fusion Sweet/Spicy Rub*
3/4 Cup Serious Foodie Vietnamese Sweet Chili Hot Sauce

Instructions

Flip baby back ribs over so meat side is facing down and carefully remove the silver skin. While this isn't 100% necessary, you'll thank yourself in the end for doing this. The shiny white membrane attached to the rib bones can be chewy and tough when cooked. The silver skin should come off easily simply by pulling it off, however if you are having a difficult time simply take a sharp pairing knife and pierce the membrane and slide your knife under it to help you get it lifted and removed. Pat ribs dry with a paper towel.
Line your rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and place metal cooling rack on top. Place ribs on top of the rack (use more than one pan if you needed to ensure adequate air circulation).
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and spice rub blend and season both sides of the rib rack evenly. Pat down gently so all the rub sticks to the ribs. Cover the ribs in plastic wrap and let the rest for at least 1 hour. You can also do this step a day in advance (method I prefer).
Set oven racks as follows: one in the middle of the oven and one about 1-2 notches below the broiler. Set oven to broil (high) - once the oven has come to temp, place ribs under broiler and broil for 5-7 minutes until a slight crust beings to form. Be careful not to burn the spice blend.
After the crust has formed, switch the oven to 300° and move the baking sheet to the middle rack and let cook for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, baste the ribs with 1/3 of the sauce, cover with foil and cook for an additional 45 minutes. Remove ribs and foil, baste with an additional 1/3 of the sauce, recover and return to the oven for an additional 30 minutes. Remove the ribs and foil again, baste the ribs with remaining 1/3 of sauce, turn oven back to broil and broil ribs for another 3-5 minutes or until sauce starts to bubble and create a nice sticky glaze over them. Be sure to watch carefully as to not burn them.
Ribs are done when you can easily slide a knife into the thickest part of the meat. You are looking for tender ribs that fall off the bone so while they are done at 145°, you really want that internal temp to be closer to about 180°.
Let the ribs rest for 10-15 minutes.
Cut ribs in between bones and serve with extra sauce.