Baby Back Ribs With Sweet and Sour Glaze
- Total Time
- 2½ hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 1large rack baby back pork ribs (3 to 3½ pounds)
- 1½teaspoons coarse kosher salt
- 1teaspoon onion powder
- ½teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4garlic cloves, crushed but left whole
- ¾cup Concord grape jelly
- 2tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1tablespoon soy sauce
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
1003 calories; 60 grams fat; 21 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 25 grams monounsaturated fat; 10 grams polyunsaturated fat; 43 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 29 grams sugars; 71 grams protein; 1032 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Position an oven rack 6 inches from the broiler and another rack on the bottom of the oven. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. If you’d like to remove the membrane from the bony underside of the ribs, use a small knife to release one corner of the thin membrane, then pull off the rest with your hands and discard.
- Step 2
In a small bowl, stir together the salt, onion powder and black pepper. Season the ribs on both sides with the spice mixture. Wrap the ribs tightly in aluminum foil as if wrapping a present, place on a sheet pan flesh-side down and bake on the bottom rack until the meat is tender and pulls away easily from the bones, 2 to 2½ hours.
- Step 3
Remove the ribs from the oven, then heat the broiler. Unwrap the ribs and, reserving the foil with its juices, transfer the ribs to the sheet pan flesh-side up. Carefully tip the juices from the foil into a large skillet. Stir in the garlic, jelly, vinegar and soy sauce, and bring to a simmer over medium-high. Cook, whisking occasionally, until the glaze is syrupy and reduced by about half, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Step 4
Brush or spoon half of the glaze, including the garlic cloves, over the ribs. Place back in the oven and broil until charred in spots, 1 to 3 minutes. (Don’t step away!)
- Step 5
Place the ribs on a cutting board and spoon over the rest of the glaze. Cut between the bones into individual riblets and transfer to a large platter to serve.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
David
Highly recommend removing the membrane - doing so makes the ribs even more tender. Use a paper towel to grab the membrane when pulling, otherwise it will slip out of your hands.
SusanB
Maybe since there are so many questions and suggestions regarding the membrane, the Times might make a short video demonstrating a/the successful method of accomplishing that particular task. It sounds like readers/home cooks would be quite appreciative. I would.
Gary
When removing the membrane on the back, I find it helpful to use just a regular rounded tip table knife. Starting somewhere in the middle of the rack, work the rounded tip on top of a bone but underneath the membrane. Work it all the way across the bone. Then gently lift up and you should start to raise the membrane off the rack. It will tear at some point but then, using paper towels to get a grip, gently pull back the membrane away from the ribs.
gwen kaplan
Love that the pork is seasoned with kosher salt.
Eric
I erred in over-cooking the ribs, but allowing for that they were still delicious. Next time I will take care not to over-cook, and will double the sauce. It's great to be able to make interesting ribs in the oven in winter.
George
Larry, I am a surgeon and actually it IS a serous membrane, although butchers may refer to it as "skin." It is called the pleura, and it lines the thorax of humans and other mammals. It consists of two layers, one surrounds the ribs and other one the lungs. Removing it allows more flavor to permeate the meat between the bones.
Larry
1. David's tip is correct except that he is referring to what butcher refer to as the skin on the underside of a slab -- not a membrane. Also, if the slab is very cold, the skin is easier to peel off. Sometimes I put the slab in the freezer for a few minutes to accomplish this. 2. Here are a couple of optional but well-proven flavor enhancements. ---- Sprinkle liquid smoke onto the ribs after they are cooked. ---- Include a half-teaspoon of garlic powder in the glaze mix.
Marsh
I have a fantastic recipe that uses blackberry preserves. Highly recommend. Really, any sweet, fruity preserve, jam or jelly works with ribs.
Ellen
I recommend spooning the sauce over the ribs AFTER you’ve cut them. That way you get the sauce on all the cut sides too.
Lona
I always slow roasted a recipe like this at 250°F for two hours. No aluminum foil wrapping needed. Then finished in a 400°F oven with glaze.
Robert B.
Don’t use a sharp knife to remove the membrane. Slide a butter knife under the membrane and pull up until it disconnects. Then use a paper towel to pull the membrane off.
Lee/
In the summer (it's bloody cold today in Toronto -17 C) I do the final step (after cooking in the oven) on the BBQ - just watch for burning, it doesn't take long. What I like about this 2 step technique is that you can do the oven part ahead of time (even day before). Then just a few minutes on the grill or under the broiler and voila!
Janet
Better yet ask the butcher to remove the membrane. Not easy sometimes, even with the paper towel
DT
Haven't tried this yet, but it seems like it would really benefit by adding ginger and/or garlic and/or star anise to the glaze.
Claire
You could just use any lidded pan that the ribs fit in. The point, I believe, is that they are steaming in their own liquid so as long as they are sealed a pan or dutch oven should work just fine. I often use a big cast iron skillet with a lid for things like this.
C S
This was really good. Even my kids who claim to not like “sweet meat” devoured these. I didn’t have grape jelly so I used some peach preserves that we don’t eat (too sweet). Used 1/2 c of preserves and kept the soy sauce and vinegar amounts as written in the recipe. We had only 2.75 pounds of ribs but every single one was eaten up. Great recipe, simple and straightforward. So far have been liking Eric Kim’s elevated basic recipes. The lemon pepper wings is another fave.
Linda Christian-Herot
Followed the recipe and my ribs were falling off the bone after 2 hrs and 15 min. The initial rub was good enough that even before the glaze the meat tasted good. I would like to explore other jelly besides grape although that was still pretty good.
Bob Manley
My favorite ribs recipe to date.
Christine VB
Very good and very easy. My husband loved it. I made it exactly as written except I didn’t have any rice vinegar so I used wine vinegar. My only quibble is that I found it to be too salty, so if I make this again I might add just 3/4 teaspoon of salt to the rub.
RIBSrGooood
Love NYTC for real but yall need a significant adjustment to time/temp. It’s all about slow and low. 275 for 2 hours. Confirm internal rib temp is at least 160. Return to oven, turn off heat, let sit at least 30 mins. Sauce sounds tasty but I do mine with dry rub only, uncovered, meat side down. It’s nice to have a little sweet in there somewhere, either sauce or dry rub. I use “rub with love” brand Smokey bbq flavor that has brown sugar as a key ingredient. Happy ribbing!!
Elissa Franke
Can anyone suggest another type of jelly other than grape, which is perfect ,but we don’t have it where i live in Tuscany! I guess all of grapes go into the Chianti wine ! I want to make this recipe for my friends here! Grazie! We have blackberry or blueberry and maybe currant
Susan Morin
I have made this 3 different times using 3 different types of jelly. Blueberry, boysenberry, and grape. They are all great. I do the recipe as stated except for removing the membrane and cutting a slice in between each rib before cooking the first time. Also, as others have suggested, I cut each rib off the bone before doing the second step to ensure the glaze gets all over the meat. Simple and delicious recipe.
Elissa Franke
Thank you, you just answered my question about an alternative to grape jelly which I cannot find here in Toscana . We do have blueberry and blackberry!
Kelly
Recipe is delicious as is. My go to rib recipe for 3 years!
Ali
The glaze tastes like grape candy that grew up. Easiest ribs I've ever made and super tasty. Will definitely make again.
May need nly 15 min
Made pretty much according to directions and it turned out really well. After reading the comments I did substitute apricot preserves for grape jelly as we like that better. Didn’t have rice vinegar so used cider vinegar instead.
alex
use only 2/3 of the jam
Michelle
I had to trust the process. As I'm making the sauce with grape jelly I found myself thinking this looks disgusting and it's going to be sickly sweet. Once it is reduced down and is paired with the seasoning on the ribs it works perfectly. I was pleasantly surprised and glad i followed through with the written instructions.
susan
Could be just the recipe to finish up the homemade cranberry sauce, rather than grape jelly, from Thanksgiving!
Tim Cole
This is a wonderful alternative to barbecued ribs, but I find the sauce to be cloyingly sweet - just like Americans want it, of course. Besides, you can't get grape jelly anywhere but in the US. For my European guests, I have experimented with various kinds of jelly and achieved the best result with cranberries. I also substitute the soja sauce for Indonesian Katjab Manis. And finally, I don't crush the garlic and throw it away later, but mince it together with a small onion in a blender.
telesthetic
I've tried lots of ribs recipes, and this is the best bang per buck: very little work for a big taste. I guess you can get better at a dedicated ribs joint when the smoke the meat etc. but for at home ribs that are easy and tasty, this is now my only preparation method. We love meat, and this is yum yum good.
Private notes are only visible to you.
Advertisement
