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These beef back ribs are insanely juicy and flavorful! Baked in the oven until fall-off-the-bone tender, this foolproof recipe yields perfectly cooked ribs every time. Finish these oven baked beef back ribs with a slathering of your favorite barbecue sauce and enjoy!
What Makes This Recipe So Good
- The oven takes all of the guesswork out of cooking this particularly tricky cut of meat! Simply season your beef back ribs, wrap them in foil, and transfer them to the oven. Leave them to cook low and slow, before returning to perfectly tender and juicy ribs – YUM!
- You can serve them however you’d like! The quick and easy homemade dry rub included in the recipe is insanely delicious on its own. However, if you’re like me and crave even more flavor, finish your ribs off with your favorite barbecue sauce. These beef back ribs are incredibly tasty no matter which way you serve them!
- They’re a total crowd pleaser! Everyone will go crazy for this intensely flavorful recipe. I especially love throwing this recipe together for dinner guests and watch as they go crazy over this dish!
Key Ingredients
Beef Back Ribs – Beef back ribs are the meat remaining after the butcher removes the ribeye roast off the bones. These ribs are known for being particularly lean since they don’t contain much meat. Though you’ll still find a decent amount of beef that when properly cooked is juicy and delicious! You can make this recipe using either a full rack of beef back ribs, or sliced ribs. I used sliced ribs since an entire rack is sometimes hard to come by.
Smoked Paprika – Since we’re cooking these ribs in the oven, the smoked paprika emulates that delightful smokey flavor as if you’d cooked them on the grill. If you don’t have smoked paprika, I highly recommend you pick some up. However, you can definitely use regular paprika instead!
Chef’s Tips
- Resist the urge to remove the ribs from the oven before at least the 3 hour mark. By baking them wrapped in foil, the meat soaks in as much flavor as possible. If you check on them too early, you risk releasing too much steam, and therefore flavor, from the beef back ribs.
- These ribs are best enjoyed immediately after cooking! However, you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To reheat, transfer the ribs to a baking sheet, cover them with aluminum foil, and bake at 350° Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes or until warm throughout.
- Do not attempt to increase the temperature of your oven. Four hours seems like a long time, but trust me, it is so worth it! Cooking these beef back ribs low and slow encourages the collagen in the meat to slowly break down, creating super tender beef.
Other Barbecue Recipes You’ll Love
- Instant Pot Country Style Ribs
- Sous Vide Ribs
- Keto BBQ Sauce
- BBQ Jackfruit Sandwiches
- Chick-Fil-A Coleslaw
- Cauliflower Potato Salad
Beef Back Ribs in the Oven
Equipment
- baking sheet
- 2 large sheets Aluminum Foil
- Cutting board
- small mixing bowl
- small whisk or mixing sopon
Ingredients
For the Dry Rub
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
For the Ribs
- 4 pounds beef back ribs
- ½ cup BBQ sauce see Notes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275° Fahrenheit. Line baking sheet with sheet of aluminum foil and set aside. Place 4 pounds beef back ribs on cutting board.
- Add 2 teaspoons smoked paprika, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper to small mixing bowl. Mix until ingredients are well blended, then cover ribs with dry rub on all sides.
- Place seasoned ribs on foil-lined baking sheet, bone-side up. Cover ribs with second sheet of foil and wrap edges of foil sheets tightly to seal foil around ribs. Note: see video below if unsure how to cover ribs.
- Place baking sheet in oven and bake ribs bone-side up for 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, remove ribs from oven. Unwrap ribs and discard aluminum foil. Drain any remaining fat from baking sheet, then return ribs to baking sheet with bone side facing down.
- Brush ½ cup BBQ sauce on ribs, coating ribs thoroughly on all sides.
- Set broiler to High. Place baking sheet approximately 6 inches below broiler and broil 3 to 5 minutes, or until skin of ribs is crispy and caramelized.
- Carefully remove baking sheet from oven. Divide ribs into preferred portions and serve warm with desired sides.
Video
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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This recipe turned out fabulous! Printing and putting in my recipe book. It is diffidently a keeper.
Thank you so much, Deb! I’m so happy you enjoyed the ribs so much and I appreciate you sharing your feedback with us!
Easy, delicious and falling off the bone. I used back back pork ribs.
Happy to hear that, Geri! Thank you for sharing ♥
my beef ribs are all connected (rack not individual). Should I separate them before cooking or can I cook them this way and then separate?
You should be fine to cook them as one rack!
I don’t understand the part about the foil. I’ve read the comments and your explanation, and it doesn’t seem to jive with the recipe. Do you WRAP the ribs in foil or not? Like, literally wrap the ribs in foil? A pic would help immensely at this point.
Hi! So sorry for any confusion. Let’s see if we can clear it up!
So, the point of the foil is to create a sort of packet that encases the ribs. The foil packet covers the ribs to keep them from burning, but it also locks in steam to cook the ribs all the way through without them drying out. You could technically do this with just one really large sheet of foil, but we found it was easiest to use two separate sheets.
Essentially you’re going to sandwich the ribs all together, bone-side up and not overlapping each other, between the two sheets of foil.
So what you’ll do is – spread one sheet of foil out to cover the baking sheet, then place the ribs bone-side up on top of that sheet of foil. That’s what we show in the picture for step 3 of the recipe card.
Take a second sheet of aluminum foil that’s the same size as the first sheet. Place your second sheet of foil on top of the ribs, covering them completely. Then, wrap/roll/fold/crimp the edges of the foil sheets together in order to close up the foil packet on all sides, fully wrapping the ribs in foil.
Leave the foil-wrapped ribs on the baking sheet and put the baking sheet in the oven. Bake the ribs just like that for 4 hours. After they’ve baked for 4 hours, take them out of the oven and carefully unwrap the aluminum foil. You can throw the foil away at this point, and you’ll want to drain off any fat left on the baking sheet.
Flip the ribs over, brush them with barbecue sauce, and put them under the broiler (on the baking sheet but with no foil at all) for 3-5 minutes. They should be ready to enjoy at that point!
Let me know if that breakdown did or didn’t help!
Easy and delicious
Thank you so much, Ted! So happy you enjoyed these ribs.
Bought a whole rack of beef back ribs and used this recipe. They came out great and is very easy
So happy you enjoyed this recipe, Paul! Thank you so much for your review!
Easy step by step instructions made my first time making beef ribs absolutely perfect A small portion and followed the instructions exactly totally awesome Thank you so much
So glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve impressed my boyfriend with this awesome recipe!! Little does he know how simple it was 😋
That’s awesome! Glad y’all enjoyed it. 🙂
Cooking these tomorrow. Perfect explanation and photos so I know what to expect.
Hope you enjoyed them!
The instructions say – Wrap ribs in two sheets on aluminum foil and place on a large baking sheet, bone side facing up………….Is it wrap the ribs with aluminum foil or place them on two sheets of aluminum foil because the picture shows them just placed on the foil, not wrapped.
Wrap ribs in two sheets on aluminum foil and place on a large baking sheet, bone side facing up, and then bake for 4 hours.
Hi Same question. Do you cover the ribs with foil when baking or uncovered? Thanks.
So sorry for any confusion! The picture shows what we mean by “bone-side up”, but you should wrap the ribs in foil to bake, then broil them uncovered. We’ve updated the instructions to make it more clear!
Made these for Father’s Day – was nervous to ruin the day with a new recipe but they made the meal!! So delicious and easy! Everyone loved them!
So happy you all enjoyed them, Melissa! Happy Father’s Day!
I made these back ribs for supper last night and WOW, Fall off the bone goodness and I will make them again for sure.THANKS for this wonderful recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂