The Perfect Rainy Day Dinner of Sweet and Spicy Oven Baked Ribs

There’s nothing like some sticky, gooey, crusty, delicious rack of ribs to nosh on. Nothing says summer more than a heaping plate of ribs with some corn and coleslaw on the side. These days, when summer seems to be a little slow in the making, I have a back pocket recipe that I love to pull out this time of year.

I’ve got my own proprietary approach to ribs. It was kind of born out of necessity. I needed to come up with a way to cook a rack that mimicked the outdoor, slow and sticky method of grilling, but didn’t require me standing over a hot, smoking BBQ for an hour or two while I had a million other things to do.

These ribs scream of summer BBQ and outdoor finger licking eats, but only I know that it is actually all cooked right in the oven! This is a year round recipe, but these days when it’s cold and rainy and the summer weather hasn’t decided to cooperate, it’s a good way to get everyone in the BBQ mood. For all of you that don’t have access to a BBQ, that don’t have an outdoor space (hello condo dwellers), that don’t feel like BBQ’ing, that just can’t get into the BBQ thing (fire is not one of your friends) and for those days where the weather just sucks, this is the recipe for you!

It’s actually a ridiculously easy recipe. You could actually get the kids in on this one – they can get their hands dirty on purpose and feel like they were the ones to cook up the meal. The secret is in the rub and in the low and slow cooking method. The rub is the perfect blend of sweet, spicy, smoky and tasty. You need to be generous with the rub blend and pack it on so the ribs develop a crusty coating while they are cooking. Time is the other factor in this recipe. You need to let the ribs cook slowly on low-ish heat until the meat is almost falling off the bone. Put those two things together and you have the perfect recipe for amazing, smoky char-tasting ribs.

Sweet and Spicy Oven Baked Ribs

Ingredients

½ tsp sweet smoky paprika

½ tsp dried ground cumin

½ tsp dried ground oregano

½ tsp dried ground rosemary

½ tsp pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

2 racks of ribs

2 tbsp honey (optional)

Instructions:

1. Combine ingredients to make a rub.

2. Season ribs generously and coat evenly with the rub.

3. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 ½ - 2 hrs (depends on how thick your ribs are cut) or until ribs are cooked through, sticky and almost falling off the bone.

4. Sprinkle with salt and a little drizzle of honey.

5. Serve immediately.