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The Best, Juiciest Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs (Easy, Too!)
By Alexandra Stafford
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Last Updated: 03/03/2026
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This amazing baby back ribs recipe takes five minutes to prepare, but what emerges from the oven — a juice-filled package of falling-off-the-bone baby back ribs, perfectly crisped on the exterior — tastes like a day’s worth of toiling over a coal-filled BBQ pit. Sweet. Smokey. Salty. Delicious. These might just be the best ribs you ever make!
This recipe hails from my cousin’s wife, a proud Southerner who knows her barbecue. They truly are the best ribs I’ve ever tasted.
What’s more, the recipe takes five minutes to prepare. Yes, five minutes. But after a long, slow roast, what emerges from the oven — a juice-filled package of falling-off-the-bone baby back ribs, perfectly crisped on the exterior — tastes like a day’s worth of toiling over a coal-filled BBQ pit.
Sweet. Smokey. Salty. Delicious. If these aren’t the best ribs you’ve ever prepared, they’ll be damn close. If you’re looking for a crowd-pleasing recipe, this is it. Serve it with this buttermilk cornbread and a simple salad.
PS: Favorite Roast Chicken and Pan-Seared New York Strip with Balsamic-Caper Sauce
How to Make Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs, Step by Step
First, gather your ingredients: salt, pepper, brown sugar, and smoked paprika.
Rip two pieces of heavy-duty aluminum foil large enough to enclose the ribs, and lay them on top of one another. Set one rack of ribs on top. Season with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Spread the brown sugar over the top, and spread it over the rack, packing it down. Enclose the foil tightly. Repeat with any other rib racks.
Transfer the foil-closed racks to a sheet pan. Place in the oven at 275ºF for 2.5 hours. Remove the pan from the oven and do not open the foil for one more hour.
If you wish, run the ribs under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes before serving.
The Best, Juiciest Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs (Easy, Too!)
- Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 rack 1x
Description
This amazing baby back ribs recipe takes five minutes to prepare, but what emerges from the oven — a juice-filled package of falling-off-the-bone baby back ribs, perfectly crisped on the exterior — tastes like a day’s worth of toiling over a coal-filled BBQ pit. Sweet. Smokey. Salty. Delicious. These might just be the best ribs you ever make!
Ingredients
- 1 rack of baby back ribs
- kosher salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
- smoked paprika (if you can find it) or paprika
- 1 cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 275ºF.
- Rinse off the ribs and pat dry. Liberally coat the ribs with the kosher salt, pepper and the paprika. Pack on the cup of brown sugar.
- Lay out two sheets of foil slightly overlapping. Place ribs on top and close foil on all sides. Repeat two more times so that the ribs are covered in three good layers of foil. Place ribs on a sheet tray and place in the oven for 2½ hours. Note: When placing the ribs on the tray, try to place them meaty side down. It’s not critical but it makes for a crisper exterior.
- Remove tray from the oven. Let sit for one hour. Do not open the pouch during this hour.
- When ready to serve, reheat the ribs in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350ºF (this is assuming the ribs have not been refrigerated) or open the pouch, baste the ribs with the juices and place them under the broiler for five minutes.
- Serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3.5 hours
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American/BBQ
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
148 Comments on “The Best, Juiciest Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs (Easy, Too!)”
Thanks for this! I have ribs thawed in the fridge ( a stocking the pantry gift from my inlaws), and didn’t know how to cook them other than in the crockpot. This sounds delicious and easy! We’re having them tonight!
It all sounds droolworthy and quick and easy to get to the table.
i wouldn’t say this often, but some things are worth a sacrifice of morals! this entire post is mouth-watering, alexandra. i’d quickly become neanderthal-like and gnaw the meat off these bones ’til the cows come home!
I know we have pork at our farmer’s market here in Santa Monica, I’ll have to check it out. I hardly ever buy meat, but this looks great, so I’ll have to see. Also, thanks for the cornbread recipe. I usually just make the normal kind, but I have always wanted to make a good buttermilk recipe and haven’t been able to find one. Great!
I would try the Whole Foods in Tustin. The place is massive so you might have better luck. That being said, the recipe sounds delicious. My dad usually makes the ribs but he only smokes them. No sticky, sweet, falling off the bone ribs unless I make them.
Ribs always make me nervous, but this does look very easy. And the cornbread looks amazing!
Those ribs look delectable and I am a vegetarian for thirty plus years! Trader Joe’s doesn’t look so good to me anymore. They are owned by Aldi’s chain of German supermarkets. I have seen many in the poorest neighborhoods of this coast. (I am a Seattlite but I am living on the Eastern Seaboard.) Once you have seen what passes for food at one of these grocery stores, you will stop believing that Trader Joe’s is anything a profit making machine with a well researched target market-us! (To their credit; hey do pay their employees better than most; and provide health insurance.) My sweatheart is a carnivore. I’ll try the ribs. Maybe you can find another grocery store? I have.
I make my ribs just like that! Isn’t it the best? That corn bread looks wonderful, I love the cheese and buttermilk.
Those look amazing! Our neck of the woods has a lot of small, extensively reared pig farms, specialising in the rare and endangered breeds, so I must get me some pork and try these out!
Wow! Those ribs look amazing! I’d love to feature the recipe on my site http://www.canigettherecipe.com with full links and credits to your site if you are keen! Please let me know.
All the best,
Cari
I love your method of cooking ribs. We probably have great pork here in Texas. Somehow, I’ve never bothered to research. There is no time like the present.
Sooo much faster than mine, which involves (gulp) simmering a barbecue sauce for 45 minutes, hehe. Looks beautiful. Ribs and cornbread are my idea of heaven on earth!!
I love the pictures on your website. Over the past few posts, I noticed a common item in these pictures….your salt cellar. I love it! Can I inquire as to where you got such a wonderful knick knack??
If my boyfriend saw these ribs he would get ccccrazy! He LOVES ribs and these look amazing. He’s been nagging me for quite some time to get some but see I’m not such a huge fan of ribs. Seeing these though… oh I’m working up a serious appetite for them!
Magda
Made these ribs last night and they were a HUGE hit! Bought my ribs at Whole Foods. I was nervous because I’ve never made ribs before, but the recipe couldn’t be easier. The only change I made was adding some bbq sauce to the ribs before I reheated them.
I just had amazing ribs for dinner but I’ve never actually made them before. Easy is good! I should try this…
Last time I tried ribs they were so dry and almost rubbery. I can’t believe how easy you make it look! I’m hoping that your recipe turns out much better than mine. I think a lot of my issue was the meat…Gonna try again though! I love me some ribs!
-Sylvia
OH. MY. GOD. These ribs truly are the best ever — incredibly tender and perfectly seasoned! Even my verrrrry picky 15 year old loved them! Ah… family harmony thru pork!
Thanks Alexandra, for inspiring me to cook again. The ribs were, are amazing…making them for the second time tonight…
Made the cornbread tonight, to serve with the ribs I had saved from the night before. Had a hard time picking the cheese, but went with Gruyere, because it was expensive and I was making my ex pay for the groceries (he enjoyed the dinner, too). Best cornbread I have ever tasted, and can’t wait to make it again, trying different cheeses.
Here in Boise, Idaho I can get sustainably grown pork at the Boise Co-op and at Meats Royale. We have used this recipe a few times and each time it is delectable. We have learned to prepare extras because everyone loves them so much. Thanks!
I made these ribs for my hunny tonight …he LOVED them! Thanks for the great recipe..I’ll make them this way everytime now..I used to cook them in the crockpot..this was waaaay better! So easy and and so yummy…Thanks again!
I made these ribs for my hunny tonight …he LOVED them! Thanks for the great recipe..I’ll make them this way everytime now..I used to cook them in the crockpot..this was waaaay better! So easy and and so yummy…Thanks again!
Okay, I made the peasant bread the other day and loved it, so last night I decided to try the ribs as my contribution to a family cookout. Huge hit. My mom, who doesn’t even like pork, loved them. Today I decided I HAD to try the cornbread because well, the other two recipes were so successful, and who can argue with that? I had tried a couple of cornbread recipes but none were keeper recipes… Until now. This is hands down the best cornbread I’ve ever had, and my fiance loves it too! I can’t wait to raid your recipe page a little further and see what gems I find!
Stephanie — SO happy to hear this! The ribs are kind of a miracle, right? So easy and delicious? And I am so glad you like that cornbread recipe. I find it is always well received. Thanks so much for writing in. Have a wonderful holiday season!
I made these tonight and followed all the directions. I had to cook the ribs another hour or so as well as add more brown sugar the last hour. I’m not sure where I went wrong…They ended up pretty good, although not that flavorful. Made the cornbread too and it was delicious!
Deed — so sorry to hear this! That is no fun. I’m glad to hear about the cornbread, but I am so sorry the ribs gave you trouble and then only ended up tasting blah. A couple of questions, and I’m sorry if they sound silly: did you use baby back ribs vs spare ribs or country style? And Did you use one cup sugar per rack of ribs? And did you decide to cook the ribs for an hour more after they had rested for the hour or was it after they had cooked for 2.5 hrs? Let me know, and in the meantime I will keep thinking. Oh, also, dies your oven temperature tend to be accurate? Sometimes at the lower settings (my oven is really old and unreliable) I find the temperature of my oven thermometer doesn’t match the dial setting. Just a thought.
The corn bread was so good.We added corn off 2 ears,2 hot peppers,and a can of chopped green chiles.That sweet corn just set it off.Thanks !!!!!! will make again and again.
Hi! Y want to try these recipie, but I don’t know if I could sustitute the cornmeal with cornfluor. Any ideas?
Jessica — hi! I don’t know how to advise because I have only used corn flour once — just recently, actually — in a different corn bread recipe, an attempt to make a gluten-free cast-iron loaf for a friend, and it didn’t turn out very well. It was super dry, but I have to admit that I did over cook it. That said, you’d still be using regular flour, right? If that is the case, I don’t think you have to worry about the bread being dry, and again, the dryness of my bread may have just been the overcooking. Hope that helps! Have you used corn flour in other recipes? I saw a muffin in the latest Macrina Bakery cookbook that calls for it. I’m dying to try it again.
Did you use coarse cornmeal or fine cornmeal in this recipe?
Nene, so sorry for this late response! It has been a crazy few weeks. I suggest fine or medium — medium will add a bit more crunch.
Will this work with boneless baby back ribs?
Cristy, I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s worth a shot. I have a feeling they might be done after 1 or 1.5 hours. I would take a peek after 1.5 hours. Just poke the meat with a fork/knife to see if it is tender enough. And then, if you feel like briefly broiling them to crisp up the surface, go for it. I actually skip this broiling step now — they are so good as is after the 2.5/3 hours of cooking.
I want to try the cornbread but I’m not entirely sure what you mean with “T”. What unit is this? How much is it in gram or spoons or cups? (Hope my English isn’t too bad. I’m german…)
Hi Chrissie!
T equals tablespoon or three teaspoons and is a volume measurment, so while I can’t give you a gram equivalent, it is just under 15 ml. Hope that helps! Let me know if there is anything else.