Sticky Oven Baked Country Style Ribs
Sticky Oven Baked Country Style Ribs are tender, boneless ribs in the oven paired with a sweet, sticky barbecue sauce, making these baked country ribs the perfect pork ribs.
Country-Style Ribs In the Oven Recipe
If you’ve never committed to making country-style pork ribs, you’ve never really LIVED!
These oven baked boneless ribs are the perfect mix of tender pork and sweet and sticky BBQ sauce.
They are super meaty, have tons of marbling, and are great for the oven, grill, and smoker.
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I think baked country style ribs are the ultimate feed-a-crowd easily and on-the-cheap kind of food that we all seek for just about any gathering.
After all, what could be better than something EASY, AFFORDABLE, and FINGER-LICKIN’ YUMMY??
These are just your ticket!
Oh, and you’ll likely find them on sale around various summer holidays such as Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day when everybody is grilling and cooking.
So stock up!
Ingredients
- Country-style boneless pork ribs
Rib Rub
- Smoked paprika
- Black pepper
- Dark brown sugar
- Kosher salt
- Granulated garlic
- Granulated onion
- Ground cumin
- Chili powder
- Dry mustard
Sauce
- Your favorite BBQ sauce
- Honey or agave nectar
How to cook country style ribs in the oven
Make your rib rub then rub it into every nook and cranny of each country-style rib.
Place the ribs onto the foil-lined baking sheet.
Cover with foil.
Bake, covered, in a 250 degree F. oven for 1-2 hours….OR UNTIL FORK-TENDER.
The time you will bake them will depend on the size of the ribs you purchased.
Begin checking them for tenderness after about an hour using a fork.
Depending on the size of your ribs, it will take anywhere from 1-2 hours (probably closer to 2 hours) before the ribs get really fork-tender.
Fork-tender means that when you stick the fork into the meat and give a gentle twist, the meat begins to fall-apart is obviously tender.
This is exactly what you want!
Meanwhile, prepare your sauce by combining your favorite barbecue sauce with honey or agave nectar.
When the ribs are fork-tender, remove them from the oven.
If the meat doesn’t fall apart, or if you have trouble inserting the fork, this means the ribs need to cook longer at the low temperature, still covered with the foil.
Use your tongs to remove the fork-tender country-style ribs from the fats they are sitting in and place them onto a clean foil-lined baking sheet.
This is where another part of the MAGIC is going to happen – the STICKY RIBS get REAL.
Place the fork-tender ribs onto a clean, foil-lined baking sheet.
Because the ribs haven’t been sauced yet, they aren’t going to look very un-appetizing at this point.
Don’t be alarmed! Just proceed as directed below and HAVE FAITH!
Slather the ribs on all sides with the prepared sauce using your favorite silicone brush.
Return the slathered ribs to the oven (still at 250 degrees F) and bake for another 30 minutes or until the ribs are nice and sticky.
Feel free to brush the ribs with additional sauce during this time, if desired. Serve at once!
How long to cook country style ribs in the oven
Cook country style ribs for 1-2 hours in the oven at 250 degrees or until the ribs are falling apart when tested with a fork.
You can then return the ribs to the oven for 30 minutes to baste them with sauce to create the sticky feel we love with these ribs.
Do country style ribs get more tender the longer they cook?
Yes. The longer you cook baked country style ribs, the more tender they will get.
Do you wrap country style ribs in foil?
Yes, wrapping baked country style ribs in foil for the first 1-2 hours will keep the boneless ribs moist.
Where do country-style ribs come from?
Country-style ribs are typically cut from the blade end of the shoulder or simply from the shoulder.
The blade end country-style ribs are sometimes cut into smaller pieces, while the shoulder country-style ribs are usually big, thick strips.
Either way, you’ve got some seriously good meat to work with.
When I’m looking for boneless pork ribs at the grocery store, what will they look like?
I’m so glad you asked this question! Below is a photo of the package of country-style ribs that I purchased to make this recipe.
They are large strips of meat.
The term country style usually means there no-bones.
Other ways to enjoy
If you leave the ribs in big strips and cook them low and slow until fork-tender and fallin’ apart, you’ll have some delicious meals ahead.
Or, if you prefer to cut those strips of meat into small bite-size pieces and cook them more quickly, say in a cast iron skillet for pork tacos, you can totally do that.
Because country-style pork ribs have a lot of marbling (fat), they lend themselves to various cooking methods. Country-style pork ribs also make great kabobs!
Serve ribs with
Tortellini Pasta Salad – Tortellini pasta with corn, tomatoes, and basil, all dressed up in a light vinaigrette dressing. Quick and easy to make.
Savory Mediterranean Rice – An easy side dish that transforms everyday rice into Meditteranean style rice with a few on-hand pantry ingredients.
Saucy Cowboy Beans with Bacon and Beef – Hearty and filling, all simmered in a sweet and tangy bbq sauce.
Crunchy Corn Salad – A creamy-crunch salad that’s perfect for those hot months of summer.
More Meat Recipes to Enjoy
Country Style Ribs in the Air Fryer are meaty and flavorful pork ribs that cook up tender and juicy in less than 20 minutes in your air fryer.
- Oven-Braised Beef Short Ribs
- Instant Pot Beef Barbacoa
- 4 Easy Methods to Make Delicious Pulled Pork
- Country Style Asian BBQ Pork Ribs
Baked Country-Style Sticky Ribs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. country-style boneless pork ribs
Rib Rub
- 2 Tbs. smoked paprika
- 1 Tbs. black pepper
- 3 Tbs. dark brown sugar
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. granulated garlic
- 1 tsp. granulated onion
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. dry mustard
Sauce
- 1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
- 2 Tbs. honey or agave nectar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Fully cover a rimmed baking sheet (I use 13" x 18") with heavy-duty aluminum foil, taking care not to puncture any holes in the foil; set aside.
- Meanwhile, combine the rib rub ingredients together in a small bowl. Cover your work surface with a sheet of foil, then lay the ribs out and use your fingers to rub the prepared rib rub all over each rib on all sides. Combine the BBQ sauce and honey in a small bowl and set aside.
- Place the seasoned ribs in a single layer onto the foil-lined baking sheet; cover tightly with a second piece of foil. Place the seasoned ribs into the oven and bake for approx.1-2 hours, depending on the size of your ribs. The ribs should be very fork-tender before you remove them from the oven, so if you need to bake them a bit longer, it's totally fine.
- Remove the ribs from the oven. Carefully pull back the foil cover. You will see that there is a fair amount of fats/grease in the pan that has rendered as the ribs baked. Use tongs to carefully remove the ribs from the fats to a new foil-covered baking sheet.
- Using a silicone basting brush, gently baste the ribs with the prepared bbq sauce mixture, getting into all the nooks and crannies of each rib. Return the ribs to the oven for 30 minutes, basting on more sauce as desired, throughout that time. When the sauce on the ribs is nicely sticky, they're done!
- Serve ribs with additional sauce, on the side, as desired.
Nutrition
Country style ribs does not mean boneless! I buy bone in country style ribs allllll the time
The seasonings for the ribs really shown through and complimented the barbeque sauce glaze on top. Chef- the actual recipe calls for 1-2 hours of cooking the ribs covered, but in the narrative above it states 2-4 hours. Since you noted to cook until fork tender, I ended up cooking mine for 2 hours and it was perfect. May be the reason why SAB found the ribs dry because it was cooked too long??? Great recipe that I will be making again.
Hi Becky –
Thank you so much for this comment, and also for the 5 star rating – I so appreciate both. I reviewed the post and immediately saw what you were referring to in the text. I have edited that to be the same (1-2 hours) as what is stated in the recipe card. I’m betting you are correct – maybe the ribs that failed were cooked the 2-4 hours instead of 1-2 which makes me feel awful. I’m glad you kept an eye out and did the fork-tender test at 2 hours. My family loves this recipe so I was glad to hear that you had good results. Thanks so much for letting me know.
Sincerely,
Chef Alli
Followed the recipe exactly and these ribs were dry and no way near “fall off the bone.” We ended up giving 2 to the dog and pitching the rest.
Hi Blairsvillebabylady –
I’m so sorry that you had a bad experience with this recipe. I wish I knew what could have possibly gone wrong as I’ve had a huge positive response to this recipe from lots of other followers who loved the ribs. We make this recipe all the time and just adore it.
Sincerely,
Chef Alli