Oven-Baked BBQ Pork Ribs by @LeslieKarst

 

I adore pork ribs, but sometimes it seems like an awful lot of work to fire up the barbecue, especially if you’re cooking for only two people. So I’ve come up with a version of oven-baked ribs that are pretty darn close to their barbecued cousins, with far less fuss and muss. The secret is to add a bit of liquid smoke to your BBQ sauce, which approximates the aroma and flavor of an actual hardwood barbecue, and then to finish the ribs under the broiler.

 

Oven-Baked BBQ Ribs

(serves 2-3 people)

Ingredients

1 rack baby back ribs (about 2 lbs.)

1 teaspoon granulated garlic (or powder)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon chile power (or more, if you like)

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ cup barbecue sauce (not pictured)

¼ teaspoon liquid smoke (not pictured)

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 225°F.

Pat dry the ribs, then rub on both sides with all the dry seasonings. 

 

Wrap ribs tightly in aluminum foil and bake in a large roasting pan for 2 hours. 

 

Let sit on the counter, still covered in foil, until cool. (The ribs may be prepared to this point up to a day ahead, but take them out of the fridge and let them come up to room temperature before finishing them in the broiler.)

Open up the foil so the ribs are completely exposed (but still on the foil, as this will aid with clean-up).

 

Mix the liquid smoke with the barbecue sauce and brush about 2 tablespoons of it onto the top of the ribs. (If the ribs are sitting in a lot of juice, feel free to mix this with the BBQ sauce before basting.)

 

Turn broiler on “high,” and place the ribs under the broiler. Once they start to brown—which will take only a couple minutes; do watch them!—take out the pan, flip the ribs, and baste the other side with 2 more tablespoons of sauce. Continue to broil until this side starts to brown.

 

Take the pan out of the oven and cut the rack apart into separate ribs, then baste with the remaining sauce. (See photo at top.)

I served my ribs with sautéed zucchini and tomatoes and roasted potatoes. Yumsville!

 

🍃  🐖  🌱

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst learned early, during family dinner conversations, the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients for a mystery story. Putting this early education to good use, she now writes the Lefty Award-nominated Sally Solari Mysteries, a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California.

An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Leslie also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i.

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THE FRAGRANCE OF DEATH, coming Aug. 2, 2022, 

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Praise for Leslie's most recent Sally Solari mystery, the Lefty Award-nominated MURDER FROM SCRATCH:

“Karst seasons her writing with an accurate insider’s view of restaurant operation, as well as a tenderness in the way she treats family, death and Sally’s reactions to Evelyn’s blindness.”

Ellery Queen Magazine (featured pick)

All five Sally Solari Mysteries are available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.

 

Dying for a Taste, A Measure of Murder, and Murder from Scratch are also available as AUDIOBOOKS from Audible!