Low and slow oven-baked ribs with a special sauce to die for.
Some simple, melt off the bone ribs, baked right in the oven. Sure, there’s no denying the deliciousness of ribs slow-cooked in a smoker or finished on the grill – but we work with what we have right?
So feel free to alter this recipe to your liking and cook the ribs however you like. Because the real secret is in the sauce.
The recipe starts with your basic dry rub – a nice balance of savory and sweet. You have your onion and garlic powders, smoked paprika, along with some salt and black pepper, balanced with brown sugar and hints of clove and cinnamon to spice things up.
But like I said, it’s the sauce that shines through. This triple berry chipotle sauce is hard to describe. It’s almost like a chutney but utilizes some classic BBQ flavors. Seriously, when I first tried it I felt like JT in Planet Terror finally cracking the secret to a perfect sauce.
Inspired by the cherry chipotle sauce I used for a pork roast, the sauce creates a sweet and slightly sour explosion of flavor. The triple part of the berries includes blueberries, blackberries, and sweet dark cherries – all blended in with some brown sugar, honey, and smokey chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Add in some apple cider vinegar for a nice tangy kick, and you’ve got a complex mix of delicious decadence. I might even experiment using this sauce recipe for other meats in the future.
The best part is the recipe yields way more than you’ll need for rubbing your ribs down with, so there will plenty to set aside and dip the ribs in when they’re done. The only note on this recipe is that you might want to strain the sauce after it’s done to get out any pesky blackberry seeds, which can be kind of off-putting when eating your ribs. Oh, and one last thing. As is, the sauce is pretty mild heat-wise, with only a slightly smoky kick at the end, with lots of sweet tangy flavor upfront. If you find yourself needing more heat, just add in more chipotles and adobo sauce when mixing the ingredients together to kick things up a notch.
Time You Need
- Prep: ~25 minutes
- Cooking: ~3.5 hours
- Yields: 1 rack of ribs
What You Need
- ~3 pounds of baby back ribs
- Aluminum Foil
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Rub:
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp clove
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- Sauce:
- 5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 diced chipotle pepper (in adobo sauce)
- 2 tbsp adobo sauce
- 2 1/2 cups of frozen black cherry, blackberry, & blueberry blend
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp honey
- ½ cup of water
What You Do
- Preheat to 275.
- Start preparing the ribs by removing the membrane (this will make sure the meat is fall off the bone tender. Here’s a nice guide that helped my first time making ribs.
- In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for the rub together.
- Then line a baking sheet with a foil, and place your rib rack on it. Generously apply the rub and olive oil to the entire rack.
- Next, place the rib rack meat side down on the foil, and wrap the foil completely around the ribs, creating a nice tight little tomb of foil to lock everything inside.
- Bake ribs in the oven for about 3- 3.5 hours, or until thoroughly cooked and tender.
- While ribs cook, feel free to make the sauce and set aside in the fridge.
- At around the 3 hours mark, remove ribs from the oven and check for doneness. If done, drain any excess fat/juices. Flip the ribs and generously coat the meat side with 1 cup of the sauce.
- Then return ribs to the oven and broil on high for about 3-5 minutes, until sauce begins to caramelize. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- Slice into individual serving sizes and serve alongside more sauce.
- For the sauce:
- For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a blender or food processer, and blend until smooth.
- Then heat in a small saucepan over a low simmer, while constantly stirring. After 5-7 minutes, remove from heat and let cool. Then keep in keep refrigerated until ready to use.