by HollyRibs in the oven are easy to make and come out perfectly tender every single time. These barbecue ribs have been dubbed the “best ribs ever” by my friends and family every time I make them.
I start by cooking seasoned baby back ribs in the oven at a low temperature and then flash grill them with either salt & pepper or my fave quick barbecue sauce below. We serve these with corn on the cob and of course Classic Coleslaw and Crock Pot Baked Beans! Once you try this method, it’ll become your go-to!
Perfectly tender finger-lickin’ ribs are actually pretty easy to make! You can whip up a batch of these delicious barbecue ribs, no matter the weather, because no barbecue is actually required! This recipe has been perfected over the years from my Mom (who is literally the best cook on the entire planet!).
I cook these oven ribs often because they are definitely a family favorite! We make them two ways, I love mine all sticky with barbecue sauce… and my husband likes his with salt and pepper! You can do both ways at the same time!
Before grilling, we always cook our ribs slowly to make them tender… often people BOIL their ribs. Boiling ribs will make all their succulent flavor seep out into the water making them flavorless! Try this method below and you will NEVER go back to boiled ribs again!
How to Cook Ribs in the Oven
Baby Back (or Pork Back Ribs) are the best choice, they cook to tender perfection. Although the cost is slightly more, this is one place I feel is worth it. In this recipe, the ribs are roasted low and slow to get the most melt in your mouth tender meat.
- Peel the thin silvery skin off the back before cooking
- Rinse your ribs in cold water and dab dry. (They often have small bone shards).
- Add your rib rub and massage into the meat.
- Place meat down and cover with garlic and onion.
- Seal and bake at a low temperature until tender.
- Grill or broil to finish.
After roasting, if they are not tender, they need MORE time. After a couple of hours, I pull a little piece off to test. If it’s not melt in your mouth tender, add another 20-30 minutes. If they are ready ahead of time, you can turn the oven off and let them sit for up to 1 hour if you don’t open the oven.
How Long to Cook Ribs in the Oven
My preferred method is a low temperature for a longer period of time. I most often cook baby back ribs in the oven at 275°F for about 2-2.5 hours.
- 275°F – 2 hours to 2 1/2 hours
- 300°F – 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours
- 350°F – 1 1/4 hours to 1/1/2 hours
If you’re looking to cook ribs quickly, Instant Pot Ribs are a great option. They come out tender and delicious and cook in about 25 minutes!
Sides to serve with ribs:
- Crock Pot Corn on the Cob – Easy!
- Homemade Mac and Cheese Casserole – BEST EVER!
- Old Fashioned Bean Salad
- Slow Cooker Baked Beans
- Creamy Apple Slaw Recipe – Fresh and crisp!
Barbecue Ribs in the Oven
Ingredients
Ribs
- 3 lbs baby back ribs 2 slabs
- 2 onions sliced
- 4 cloves garlic sliced
Rib Rub
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
BBQ Rib Sauce
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup chili sauce
- 1/2 cup your favorite BBQ Sauce
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Instructions
Preheat oven to 275°F. Mix together Rib Rub ingredients.
Remove the white membrane from the back side of the ribs (the side with less meat). It should pull off easily. Rinse ribs under cold water and blot dry with paper towels
Massage Rib Rub into ribs. Place ribs on a foil lined tray and cover with sliced onion and garlic. Cover & seal with another piece of foil
Bake ribs for 2 hours. Carefully open the corner of the sealed foil and make sure they are tender. If not, bake another 20 minutes and check again.
- Meanwhile, combine Rib BBQ Sauce ingredients together.
Remove ribs and discard juices, onions & garlic. Brush ribs with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper or brush generously with BBQ sauce.
Grill or broil over medium high heat 5-10 minutes.
Recipe Notes
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
REPIN THIS RIBS RECIPE HERE!
Worked out great.never cooked ribs before in oven.they were the best ribs I’ve tasted everyone loved them including myself.I used sweet baby Ray honey sauce
I am thrilled that the ribs were a hit with everyone! I bet this would be really great with Sweet Baby Ray’s Onion BBQ sauce too!
Can you bake these in the oven with BBQ sauce covering them in the foil?
thanks
I’ve only tried the recipe as written Patricia. The sauce may not stick well to the ribs, so I’d suggest adding it as directed. Enjoy!
Could not have worked out better….or easier!. I can’t wait to try out the fruits of your labor!. I only wish I could post a picture. You’d be very proud.
So happy to hear that Paul! We are definitely proud!
If I’m only making 2 slabs of ribs, would I hv to adjust the cooking time?
Cook time should remain the same.
This recipe finally got my picky 11 year old to eat ribs!! Thank you doesn’t even start to cover how grateful i am for the recipe! We just used a BBQ sauce that he recently tried at a store event and liked, and they were amazing. It rained today until early afternoon, so we didn’t have time to smoke outside. Bravo!!
So happy to hear that Andrea!
I’ve cooked these ribs a few times for my family and my wife is obsessed! Amazing recipe. I believe one key note is needed to be made, is that it’s crucial that when you wrap the ribs not to break the foil wrap. Gotta keep all the juices saved in there for fall off the bone goodness. A couple times a small pin hole let all the juices out and the ribs were hard on the bone. So even if you have to waste some foil and rewrap its way better than having some under par ribs later.
I am so glad you enjoyed the ribs Brett! Thanks for sharing your tip about the foil!
Are you saying to cook the ribs with the meat side down?
Place them down on the pan, they are meat side up since you are covering them in onions and garlic. Sorry for any confusion John.
Thanks for clearing that up. I was a bit confused myself since I always do meat side up.
Just made the ribs today for our 4th of JFK July celebration. Useless to say that the whole family loved it. I could not count the houlalas , wows of the kids. Thank you for sharing your recipe . Will do it again very soon since it is summer. I served it with some black eyed peas and garlic bread
Mmmm! That sounds so delicious Marie! So glad everyone loved them.
The best oven barbecued ribs recipe. The only difference is we just used to Cattlemen’s BBQ sauce.
So glad you loved them Raychell!
Before reading your preparation. I already started my ribs. Wow, we are doing it the same way. As a chef I have done ribs several different ways and I like yours the best!
Thanks James! So happy to hear this method works well for you.
Can the ribs be oven roasted the day before, left in the foil, kept in fridge, then bbq sauce put on and grilled the next day for 10-15 minutes?
I haven’t tried it that way but I’m certain it would be fine. You’ll want to make sure the grill is low enough that the ribs heat through before they char too much.
Love the recipes.
Thanks Alice!
Thanks
LOVE THE RECIPES AND THAT YOU CAN PRINT THEM. SOME THAT I HAVE WANTED FROM OTHER SITES ARE SO COMPLICATED WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO GET THE COMPLETE RECIPE AND WHEN YOU DO GET IT , THEY WONT ALLOW YOU TO PRINT IT,LEAVING YOU TO SHARE ( I AM SURE THAT MY FRIENDS ON FB , ARE TIRED OF MY SHARING) OR SIT AND COPY IT. THANKS
I am so glad you have enjoyed the recipes! Thanks so much for your kind words!
Great Reccipe
Thanks Largwin!
I would love to get an awesome cold crab salad easy to make plz.
Hi Rose, We don’t have a cold crab salad but we do have some delicious seafood salads that may interest you! Shrimp Salad, Avocado Salmon Salad, or a Classic Tuna Salad.
LOOKS GOOO
Thanks Paula! Enjoy!
Can I use gourmet spare ribs instead?
I have only made this as written Monica, but I think you could!
Hooooooly crap! These ribs were to die for! I absolutely loved the rub recipe! I ended up using sweet baby rays bbq sauce on them in the end and it went beautifully with the rub! Thank you so much for the amazing recipe. They fell off the bone right into my mouth!!!
So glad you loved them Wes! Sweet Baby Ray’s is my go-to as well. So glad they turned out!
AMAZING ribs!!! Even my awesome cook husband said, best ribs ever! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
I am so glad your family enjoyed the ribs Cheryl!
you have my vote for rinsing the ribs (any store cut meat is bound to have bone shards) and my undying love for removing the membrane and telling folks not to boil (people who boil ribs are a pox on humanity). while baby backs aren’t my preference (i like spare ribs and love the tips, it’s a chicago/mississippi thing), they’re good when done right. having said that, i always rub my ribs the night before. i also never cook ribs in the oven over 250, especially baby backs since they have less fat than spare ribs. 300 and above and you’re looking at rib jerky at the end. i’m also not a fan of enclosing the ribs in foil, which steams the meat rather than baking it. bake them on a baking sheet lined with foil and finish them by brushing with bbq sauce for the last 20 minutes.
ribs are easy to make but also easy to mess up. low and slow with no shortcuts will always give you the tasty ribs you want.
I made this twice in one week, my family loved it so much that they
Requested it again. I follow the recipe, when it came to the rub and it said to add the Heinz chili sauce, I didn’t have any so I actually made my own and add it to the rub. It was awesome. The meat was as it said nice and tender and delicious
Happy to hear how much your family loved the ribs Carmen!
It came out wonderful!! Kids loved the flavor and it was so easy to make. Definitely going to save this.
Thank you for sharing: )
Hi Greg, I am so glad you loved them!
I would love to be able to post my before and after pics!! Loved this recipe
So glad you loved it Abril, I wish I had a way for you to upload photos too!
Tried recipe today and my husband was ecstatic! Said they were the best ribs he’s tried. I followed your recipe to the t and the meat came right off the bone when eating! Thank you so much!
I’m so glad you loved these ribs Mayra! We love them too.
I could not get the silvery stuff of the back of the ribs. Tried everything. I made them anyway and they were outrageous.
I’m so glad you loved them!
These ribs were excellent and so tender and I got rave reviews. So thank you.
I am unable to eat barbecue sauce now so I cooked as directed and then in the last half hour I removed the foil and let the ribs crisp up and brown. I serve warm barbecue sauce on the side for others for dipping. The onions and garlic were delectable and everyone was fighting over them, do not discard!
Thank you for a great recipe!
I’m so glad you loved this recipe, my husband always goes for the salt and pepper (no bbq sauce) ribs too!
If it is diabetes related, there is a great sugar free bbq sauce with only 2gs of carbs per 2tbsp serving. G.c.hughs i believe.
I believe your ribs taste fabulous. I tried this with buffalo ribs. I ran a little short on time to do it in the oven at 275, so I did have to up the temp and lower the time which likely wasn’t good. However, my most difficult thing to understand was “Peel the thin silvery skin off the back before cooking”. I couldn’t. Unless I would have sawn away at it with a knife. Is there something I don’t know about the difference between the ribs you are cooking and buffalo ribs?
I haven’t made buffalo ribs so I can’t say for sure but pork back ribs often have a thin membrane on the back that I prefer to remove. Once you get ahold of it, it’s easy to peel off.
If I may, if you bought the ribs from somewhere they may have already removed the membrane.
Hi! Is this recipe spicy at all? I have a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old so what I cook cannot be spicy at all . Thanks!
While my family doesn’t find this recipe spicy, you can leave out any seasonings and ingredients that your kids find spicy. Enjoy Hailey!
Does this recipe work well with Kurobuta pork ribs? And where you using a convection or conventional oven?
I have only tried this recipe as written. I would think any ribs will work. Let us know if you try Kurobuta ribs Chris! I baked in a conventional oven.
I followed this recipe and my ribs were far from fall off the bone after 2.5 hours at 275 and I have a brand new oven. It ended taking 5 hours at 275 to get the ribs tender. That’s double what this recipe calls for, so allow time. My dinner was to be ready at 530 and wasn’t until 800! They were great and the rub was good too, but it took a lot longer to cook than this recipe states.
Wow, that’s a very long time to cook ribs! I’ve made this recipe countless times and haven’t had that problem. Did you use pork back ribs?
I have never made ribs in my life. I made them with this recipe and they were AMAZING!! Thank you for sharing your recipe. I will definitely be making these again.
I’m so glad you loved them as much as we do Erin!
First time cooking ribs in the oven… 5 STARS!
So glad you loved it Chase! Thank you for visiting Spend With Pennies!
OH Goodness …So funny my mom has made them that way for every and A day.. There so GOOD!!
I hope everyone Enjoy them :)
I love this recipe and I have ribs in the freezer so they are going to be cooked tomorrow — looks delicious and easy. I will make a side of boiled potatoes and some broccoli and dinner will be done. Thank you for sharing
My stomach was complaining the whole time reading this! Ribs are a tradition in our family, maybe I’ll have to take them on with this recipe!