Craving something that’s as comforting as it is easy?
Get ready to fall in love with Country Style Ribs. These tender ribs are oven-baked until buttery tender with savory spices, and smothered in a rich and tangy barbecue sauce!
Whether you’re serving it up for a laid-back family dinner or showcasing it at your next barbecue, it’s a showstopper for sure!
What are Country Style Ribs?
- This dish brings together the comfort of home-cooking and the savory flavors of barbecue.
- Country style pork ribs come from the shoulder area of the pig making them super tender and budget friendly.
- The recipe produces generous servings, ensuring there’s plenty to go around (or save for later)!
Ingredients and Variations
Country Style Ribs – Country style pork ribs are packed with flavor. They contain a mixture of light and dark meat meaning that they have lots of flavor. You can find them boneless or bone-in, either will work in this recipe.
Rib Rub – This rub recipe is the perfect combination of sweet, salty, and savory! Feel free to switch out the brown sugar for maple syrup or honey, if you like. Add your own favorite herbs and spices like onion powder and garlic powder.
BBQ Sauce – Use your favorite BBQ sauce, my favorite pre-made sauce is Sweet Baby Ray’s but to take it to the next level, mix half and half with Heinz chili sauce. If you have enough time, make homemade BBQ sauce for even better flavor!
How to Cook Country-Style Ribs
- Pat ribs dry and coat with rib rub.
- Cover and bake ribs in a foil-lined pan as per the recipe below, or until they start to get tender.
- Remove the ribs from the oven and brush liberally with BBQ sauce.
- Cook another hour uncovered until the meat is fork tender.
What to Serve with Country Style Ribs
Tips for Tender Country Style Ribs
- Add sliced onions to the pan on top of the ribs for extra flavor.
- If you check the ribs and they aren’t tender, cook them a little longer. Ribs need more time if they’re tough.
- Cook country-style pork ribs very low and slow to break down the connective tissues and make tender ribs.
How to Store Leftovers
Keep leftover country-style ribs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Reheat them in the microwave or add chunks to a soup, stir fry, or make BBQ sandwiches for workdays! Freeze ribs in zippered bags for up to one month.
Delicious Rib Recipes
Did your family love these BBQ Country Style Ribs? If so, please leave a comment and rating below!
BBQ Country Style Ribs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 pounds country style ribs
- 1 ½-2 cups barbecue sauce
Rib Rub
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes crushed
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil.
- In a small bowl whisk together chili powder, brown sugar, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, salt, red pepper flakes, and black pepper.
- Place the ribs on the prepared pan and rub all sides with the rub mixture. Cover tightly with foil. Cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Open the foil and check the ribs with a fork, they should be slightly tender. If they are still tough, cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven and drain some of the juices if your ribs have a lot of juice. Generously brush the ribs with barbecue sauce.
- Place the pan back into the oven and cook uncovered for an additional 45 to 60 minutes or until the ribs are very tender.
- If desired, turn your oven on to broil and broil the ribs for 3 to 4 minutes or until lightly charred.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner, Main Course
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How about the instant pot? Directions?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Sandy. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
can you air fry country style ribs
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Steve, but that should work just fine! You will want to ensure they are cooked to 145 F.
The meat was tough. Cooked as directed and added on a hour and that didn’t help.
I’m sorry to hear that, Debbie! Did you cook them at 250°F? If ribs are cooked at too high of a temperature it can cause them to become tough. Or if your ribs were significantly thicker they may have just needed additional time to fully cook. Hopefully, that helps!
I followed this recipe to the t and these ribs were so tough. Not sure what went wrong. But I followed this recipe exactly
The most common reason for tough ribs is that they are undercooked. I would continue to cook them for a little longer until they are fork-tender. Hope that helps!
After saucing do you re-cover when returning to the oven?
Hi Rick, in Step 4 we remove the ribs from the oven and baste with bbq sauce. Then return to the oven to cook for 45 mins to 1 hour uncovered until fork tender.
Great flavor, but the ribs were not tender.
If your ribs were not tender Sue, they needed to bake longer. I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the flavor.
Made this for my birthday dinner since it rained and grilling was out of the question. Glad I found it! I will be making it more when the need for ribs hits and the weather doesn’t allow it since I don’t have a covered porch. Moist and juicy, a hit with the whole family.
Nearly inedible. I have made oven ribs before and they turned out better. These were not tender at all. I do not think that a 250 degree cook temp is sufficient, or they need to be cooked longer. I cooked them for a full 3 hours and they were fully defrosted when I started. Would not make again. Will likely not look for recipes here again.
If the ribs were not tender, they definitely needed to cook longer. We’ve made this recipe many many times, and 250F has always worked perfectly for us. Your ribs may have been meatier, requiring a longer cook time.
There is such a variance in the quality of meat it makes all the difference in the world
I use a digital thermometer. The temp is a better indicator than the time in the oven. Just like smoking ribs, sometimes it takes 3 hours somtimes it takes 4. A long cook time at low temps will make for tender ribs and as they say in the smoking realm, “Low and slow.”
Are you using bone in or boneless. ?Guessing bake time is only thing that changes
These do have bones in them but boneless should work fine in this recipe.
Superb. The flavors were excellent and the cooking instructions were right on, though I probably overcooked mine by about 15 minutes. They were still sooo good.
Turned out great. Just added some garlic powder to the rub and liquid smoke to the sauce.
Recipes please!
Welcome Joan! To receive emails with new recipes, you can click here to sign up to receive emails. Look forward to sending you recipes!
Terrible amount of grease liquid from cooking in pan prior to applying BBQ Sause..used a turkey baster to suck all of liquid from pan B4 .. was that wrong?
There is nothing wrong, these ribs are a fatty cut and depending on the ribs, you can definitely end up with a lot of grease in the pan. Removing it with a baster is the perfect solution!
Do you cut and separate into individual ribs before or after cooking or do you cook in one piece as a roast?
The ribs I purchase are cut into pieces as shown in the photo on the pan before cooking. I hope that helps.
So good (and easy)! Haven’t had great luck with other BBQ country rib recipes, but this one was perfect! I think the low and slow really does the trick. Will definitely make again!
Will this also work with beef country style ribs…that’s what mine are labeled as. & would the cook time be the same?
The country-style ribs I used were pork however I do think the beef ribs will work in this recipe. Cook them for the initial 1 1/2 to 2 hours check them to see if they are starting to become tender (this can vary based on how thick they’re cut). If they are, proceed with the recipe as written. If they aren’t tender you can add a bit of time before uncovering them.
Followed recipe exactly and these were absolutely fabulous!! Used Trader Joe’s BBQ sauce and boneless ribs. Served with broccoli slaw & cornbread.
I have never prepared county style ribs that came out so juicy, moist & flavorful. Definitely my go to recipe.
So happy to hear that Glenn!