Cooking Ribs in the Oven: Temps and Method
Readers of this blog know that we love ribs. In fact, ribs are the favorite BBQ of many of the blogging team. We can’t get enough of them, whether baby back or spare, dry-rubbed, doused in shiny-red sweet sauce, or Asian flavored and sticky. But we realize that not every reader of this blog has access to a smoker. So today we’re bringing you a method and recipe, based on one from Chili Pepper Madness, for ribs cooked in your home oven.
Are oven-cooked ribs good?
Yes! Though ribs cooked in a smoker are a special treat, ribs are still ribs, and if you cook them properly they are going to be as tender, juicy, and succulent as any cooked in the smoker. The biggest difference is the lack of flavor from the smoke. We combat that by using some smoked paprika—you could also use some liquid smoke, if you like—and it gets us … about halfway there. There’s just something about the way the gases created by fire interact with the meat, changing proteins and creating a smoke ring—not to mention the flavor of cherry, oak, or apple smoke—that isn’t duplicated in the home oven.
That being said, the ribs that we made this way were good. What they lack in flavor they make up for in texture. And since a raw rack of ribs costs far less than a cooked slab at a BBQ joint, cooking them in the oven is a fantastic way to slake your craving without breaking your bank.
Why cook ribs in the oven instead of the smoker?
If smoked ribs are better than oven-cooked ribs, even just a little bit, why not use a smoker instead? Well, not everyone has a smoker. Not everyone can have one! Just because you live in an apartment without a balcony doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have the joy of perfectly cooked ribs at home.
And though you can certainly cook on the smoker in winter, not everyone wants to! Winter BBQ is fine in Oklahoma—heck, even most winters in Utah—but we don’t blame anyone in Duluth for not wanting to dig a path to their rig for dinner. If you don’t feel like it, just cook them in your oven!
We want ribs now
But there’s another reason: speed. Cooking ribs in the smoker usually takes 4–6 hours because we want smoky flavor. For optimal smoke flavor in our ribs, we usually cook them at 225 or 250°F (107 or 121°C) for the first few hours, at least until we wrap them. That’s a slow-cooking temperature. But in an oven, where we’re not putting any smoke on anything, we can crank the heat up a bit and get to our goal—juicy, tender ribs—much more quickly. How much more quickly? The ribs in these photos went into the oven, cooked, had a nice little photo shoot, and were all eaten within 4 hours.
Let’s take a look at how that happens.
Oven-cooked ribs temperatures
The process of cooking ribs in the oven is the same as in the smoker, but the temperatures are a little different. We preheated our oven to 300°F (149°C) before putting our seasoned slabs in to cook. (We didn’t use an air probe because we’ve already used Square DOT® to verify our oven’s calibration.) As we said above, higher heat speeds us toward the range where the stall should occur. We set the high-temp alarms on both our Smoke channels for 160°F (71°C) and started the cook. (We chose Smoke for this cook because we are cooking in the house so we don’t necessarily need the range of Smoke X®, but we still wanted to monitor both racks of ribs.) In about 2 hours, our alarms had sounded. We checked the surface for bark formation, found it suitable (though notably much lighter in color, due to the lack of smoke), and wrapped the ribs in foil.
Yes, we crutched them. Just because we’re in an oven doesn’t mean we won’t have evaporative cooling as we move our ribs through the stall, so, for speed’s sake, we wrapped.
We left the oven at 300°F (149°C) and cooked until the ribs reached 200°F (93°C). We then verified the temperature and tenderness with Thermapen ONE, unwrapped them, glazed them with something sweet and spicy, and cooked for another 10-20 minutes to re-dry the surface of the ribs and make them sticky with the sauce.
That last segment of cooking time is another place where oven ribs have an advantage. If you have a convection oven, use that feature during the last part of the cook for sure. it will dry the surface and increase the stickiness even faster.
Don’t let equipment stand in the way of you eating ribs!
If you can’t smoke, or just want some ribs soon, you need to try these out. You can play with the rub and the sauce all you want, just like with smoked ribs, and you could follow most of our recipes for ribs on this blog, making modifications for the oven. But whatever you do to season them, make them soon! With our temp tips it’s hard to go wrong, and with the accuracy and info provided by Smoke, it’s almost a sure thing they will turn out perfectly the first time and every time. Happy cooking!
Oven-cooked ribs recipe
Description
Oven-cooked ribs with honey-sriracha sauce, adapted from a recipe on ChiliPepperMadness.com.
Ingredients
- 2 racks of St. Louis-style ribs, membrane removed
- 2 Tbsp cayenne pepper (less for less heat)
- 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 Tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- ~2 Tbsp kosher salt (adjust to taste)
- Black pepper to taste
For the sauce:
- 1/4 C sriracha sauce
- 1/4 C honey
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
Or use a rub and sauce of your choice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300°F (149°C)
- Combine the dry ingredients for the rub and apply it to both surfaces of both racks of ribs.
- Place the racks of ribs on a sheet pan and insert a 2.5″ Needle Probe into each rack in the thickest part, between the bones.
- Set the high-temp alarm on your Smoke for 160°F (71°C). Place the rib pan in the oven and cook.
- When the alarm sounds, check that a bark has formed by scratching the ribs and seeing whether the seasoning comes off easily or not. If it does, let them cook for another 15–30 minutes. If not, proceed to wrap.
- Remove the probes and wrap each rack of ribs in foil. Re-insert the probes through the foil and continue to cook, now with the high-temp alarms set for 200°F (93°C).
- While the ribs cook, combine the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring them to a boil. Simmer for 2–3 minutes and remove from heat.
- When the alarms sound again, use your Thermapen ONE to poke through the foil, verify that there are no lower temperatures, and check the tenderness. You want to feel almost no resistance in the meat itself.
- Unwrap the ribs and put them back on the sheet pan.
- Use a silicone brush to brush the sauce all over the meaty side (which should be up). Return to the oven for 10–20 more minutes. Engage your oven’s convection setting if it has one.
- Remove the ribs from the oven, cut them up, and serve!
I have been cooking ribs in the oven for many years. I use a generous rub, wrap them in foil, add a bid of fluid to each pack and bake at 250 degrees for 2 to 2.5 hours depending on size/weight. I finish on the grill to get a nice light char on them and usually add a bit of bbq sauce at finish.
I’d love to have at least a ball park estimate for how long each stage will take. It’s hard to make a meal plan without that information.
Plan on 4 hours, roughly.
more of a question/thought….for someone who is new to the joy of cooking ribs…they may not know to remove the silver skin…so a suggestion to include that in every recipe note.??
I’m usually way too lazy to take extra steps and tend to do my oven ribs from start to finish in foil. they disappear too quickly to worry about that sticky crunch. ;-). but maybe I’ll try it next time.
thanks!
Removing the membrane is important, yes! I understand cooking only in foil the whole time…fast! But try it unwrapped for a while nest time for more texture.
THANK YOU for the wonderful article, “Cooking Ribs in the Oven”!! The instructions and accompanying graphics are clear and enticing! You’ve anticipated concerns that I had and pointed out that these ribs won’t be perfect mid-Texas smoked ribs, but that they are GOOD and can fulfill the needs for ribs (especially in New England in midwinter)
Question: Have you tried including a vented packet of wood chips (moistened) when you wrap the ribs? Perhaps multiple packets of very small chips?
Again, Thank You!
I have not tried it, but I’d putt he vented chips in before the wrap, so that the smoke can get to the meat. If you have good ventilation, I say go for it!
It would have been better if you had given some times to expect the ribs to reach the various temperatures. That way I could have estimated how long before desired serving time I needed to start cooking in the oven.
Following the recipe, first attempt was a bust. To say the ribs were not tender, would be an understatement. They were good size st. Louis ribs and reached their final thermal destination in 3 hours. They were tough to say the least. Made modifications on my second attempt, with great results. Started the cook at 275 degrees up until the first thermal milestone of 160 degrees, then continued the cook at 225 degrees to my thermal destination of 207 degrees. This resulted in tender ribs, still with some “bite” to them. Total cook time 4 hours 15 minutes, including setting the sauce. More time is needed in the published recipe.
Thanks for sharing the recipe, as it shows that you can make great ribs in the oven, minus the smoke. I think next time I will up the amount of smoked paprika in my rub, to see if I can better achieve ribs like in my smoker.
I’m sorry your first batch didn’t turn out! As with all BBQ, it is a game of improvisation. your second batch sounds like it turned out just right.
This comment helped me because the same thing happened to me
Rich, did you wrap them with foil after the 160 mark?
Clarification: I get ribs to 225 when in foil and then they drop rapidly when unwrapped. Do i bring them back up to 225 when I put them back unwrapped? If not, when do I pull out?
You don’t need to get back up to the peak temp, you just want to sort of “set” the bark again so that the seasoning is’t sloughing off in your fingers.
Martin, I have a comment on removing the membrane on rib racks: I quit doing this (not fun) chore years ago when the folks at ATK said they don’t do it. I score the membrane side of my racks well on the diagonal with the tip of my boning knife before applying my rub. Our ribs always come out just as we want them texture-wise, whether smoked, oven-cooked, or even crock-potted. As ATK suggested, we think the ribs maintain shape and stability by not removing that membrane…just a thought.
I love it! ATK is such a great source for mythbusting like that.