Oven-Braised Country-Style Pork Ribs

By
Danilo Alfaro
Danlio Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
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Updated on 07/11/21
Pork Ribs
Westend61/Getty Images
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 4 hrs 10 mins
Total: 4 hrs 25 mins
Servings: 4 to 6 servings

There are a few different cuts of pork that go by the name of country style ribs, but in general, country style ribs are long, thick, meaty strips of pork from either the shoulder end of the pork loin, or the sirloin end, which is toward the rear.

The ribs in this recipe basically braise in their own juices. Other than some barbecue sauce and a chopped onion, you won't need to add any liquid to them.

As for barbecue sauce, you can use your favorite store-bought one or you can make the sauce yourself.

You can save the juices that cook out of the ribs to use for preparing other dishes by straining it through cheesecloth to filter out any seasoning particles. Then just peel off the layer of fat that will harden on the top and use the flavorful liquid below in soup or sauce.

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds bone-in country style pork ribs (or 2 1/2 pounds boneless)

  • 1 medium onion

  • 3/4 cup barbecue sauce, divided

  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder

  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar

  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika

  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Preheat oven to 250 F. Combine garlic powder, brown sugar, salt, pepper, cayenne, onion powder, cumin, paprika, and chili in a bowl and stir until completely blended.

  3. Place ribs on a large baking sheet. Dry well and sprinkle dry rub on them, turning ribs around to get them evenly coated. Rub mixture into meat.

  4. Line a large baking dish with heavy-duty foil.

  5. Peel and roughly chop onion and add chunks to foil-lined dish.

  6. Arrange seasoned ribs on top of chopped onion in baking dish. Cover tightly with another piece of foil and transfer to oven. Let ribs cook for two hours without opening oven.

  7. After two hours, remove dish and drain off any liquid that has collected in the dish. You'll want to keep this liquid, so pour it into a large heatproof bowl.

  8. Pour 1/2 cup of the barbecue sauce over ribs and use a barbecue brush to spread sauce evenly on all sides of the ribs. Recover dish tightly with foil and return it to oven for another 2 hours.

  9. Remove dish from oven and increase oven temperature to 350 F.

  10. Remove foil covering and drain off any more liquid into same bowl as before. Brush remaining barbecue sauce onto ribs so that they're evenly coated.

  11. Don't cover the dish this time. Transfer ribs to oven for 10 minutes, just enough time for sauce to caramelize slightly without drying out ribs.

  12. Meanwhile, pour liquid you set aside through a strainer lined with cheesecloth to filter out particles of spice rub and any other little bits. Cover and refrigerate liquid overnight.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
901 Calories
56g Fat
20g Carbs
81g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6
Amount per serving
Calories 901
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 56g 72%
Saturated Fat 20g 100%
Cholesterol 290mg 97%
Sodium 793mg 34%
Total Carbohydrate 20g 7%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Total Sugars 14g
Protein 81g
Vitamin C 1mg 6%
Calcium 63mg 5%
Iron 3mg 19%
Potassium 1486mg 32%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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