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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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Would like to cook them in the crockpot, suggestions?
So sorry, Donna! We didn’t test this recipe in the Crockpot so we don’t have any tips or suggestions for that method.
Truly delicious and so easy to make. Very moist and tender meat. This is a foolproof recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it! 😊
Awesome! I used Mrs. Dash rather than create a rub, but they came out perfectly.
So glad you enjoyed them, Mike! 😊
Simple and the best ribs I’ve ever had.
So glad to hear! Thanks for sharing, Burton. 😊
Meat fell right off he bone outstanding
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Is there a way to make these and avoid using foil? I am extremely concerned about aluminum seeping into the food in a heated oven due to alzheimer’s and other poisoning concerns. Thanks, Bob
We didn’t test this with other equipment so I can’t make any definitive recommendations. The foil insulates the ribs so they don’t dry out, and also keeps the ribs from being directly exposed to the heating element so they don’t burn. That’s crucial with such a long cook time.
Instead of a baking sheet and foil, you might be able to use a glass baking dish with a lid or a dutch oven with a lid. In theory, they would accomplish the same goals, but they would likely change the cook time and could potentially give you different results.
Just wrap it in parchment paper first. I never let foil touch food when cooking. Always a layer of parchment paper between the meat and foil.
Use butcher paper also called peach paper nothing to do with peach it’s only the color.
You should do some research, it’s been categorically proven there’s no link between aluminum and alzheimer’s, it’s a scare tactic used to sell alternative products to gullible people.
No offense, but maybe you should read this recent .gov article in full before telling people Aluminium exposure has been proven safe.
By the way Sam,
A M A Z I N G ribs!!!! Thank you, it’s a keeper!!!!
Perfect.
So glad you enjoyed them, Anna! 😊
How do I adjust the cooking time if I only have 1.84lbs of ribs? And do u cut the ribs before u cook them into individual ribs? Or leave them in the intact slab? Last, after I wrap the sheet pan with foil, do the ribs go on the sheet pan and then I wrap the sheet pan with foil OVER them, or do I wrap the ribs in a foil packets and place them on the sheet pan? Thanks so much! Excited to try making thos recipe. Have never HAD a beef rib!
Hi, Julia! We actually just added a process video that should help answer your questions about cutting the ribs and wrapping them in foil! That video’s in the recipe card above, right below the Notes section.
Hi, I am trying to play the video but there is no link. I’ve tried on 2 web browsers and removed any blocks. Can you send the link please.
Hi, Kate! There’s actually no external link to the video – it plays right in the recipe card, above the nutrition information! You might try an incognito browser if you haven’t already. I’m watching it play right now, so I’m not sure why it might not be working in your browser unless you have an ad blocker installed?
Another consideration might be – are you one of our 40 Aprons Premium members? If so, ads are blocked for you when you’re logged into your account. The way we had to set that feature up meant videos are being treated as “ads”, so the videos don’t show for logged-in members. If you try an incognito browser, that should take care of the issue.
I’ve made this recipe a few times now and it works perfectly for my needs!
So glad you love this recipe! Thanks for sharing, Deborah! 😊
There’s nothing like cooking beef back ribs until they fall off the bone, hands down and I’m a begginer (rookie) if you will.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for sharing, Edmund!