Beef Ribs in the Oven

Tender, fall off the bone beef ribs baked low and slow in the oven. These ribs will literally shred with a fork. Use plate short ribs (aka Dino ribs) or chuck short ribs for this recipe. They have more meat on them than back ribs.

4.71 from 17 votes

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Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 3 30

Total Time: 3 45

Servings: servings

Calories: 972kcal

Author: Dahn Boquist

Ingredients

Dry rub

1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon dried oregano

Ribs

4 to 5 pounds beef plate ribs aka Dino ribs or short ribs

Braising liquid

½ cup water
½ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Barbecue sauce

½ cup barbecue sauce homemade or store-bought

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients for the dry rub.
Coat the ribs all over in the rub. Place the ribs in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight. (The dry rub acts as a tenderizer as well as a flavor enhancer).
Preheat the oven to 275°F.
Combine the braising liquid and pour it into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish or a baking sheet with sides.
Place the beef ribs in the braising liquid and cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 3-1/2 to 4 hours or until tender (they will literally fall off the bone).
Remove the ribs from the oven and drain the braising liquid (discard the liquid or save it for soup stock). Turn the oven to broil.
Brush the ribs in the barbecue sauce. Broil, uncovered for 4 to 7 minutes until the sauce is thick, sticky, and caramelized. Watch the ribs closely while they are under the broiler as they can burn quickly.
Remove the ribs from the oven, tent with foil, and let them rest for 10 minutes.

Notes

Make sure you use a dish with sides that will hold in all the braising juices and fat that renders off the ribs. When our ribs finished cooking we had almost double the amount of liquid that we started with.
We are using large plate ribs in this recipe. They are also known as short plate ribs, short ribs, or Dino ribs. This recipe also works with chuck short ribs. If you use back ribs then you will need to reduce the cooking time by about 1 hour or more (depending on how thick the meat is on the ribs). Beef back ribs do not have nearly as much meat on them as short ribs.
You do not need to put the barbecue sauce on the ribs until the very end of cooking. If you put it on too soon it will get watery as the ribs steam and braise under the foil.
Increase the oven temperature in the last step when you baste the ribs with barbecue sauce. The high heat will thicken and caramelize the barbecue sauce. The ribs will already be cooked so you only need to baste them with sauce and let the sauce get thick and sticky under the broiler.
If you have thick ribs with more than 2 inches of meat on them, you may need to increase the cooking time by 30 to 45 minutes.
Plate ribs usually have a lot of fat marbled into the meat. They do best when they cook low and slow so the fat renders down and the meat gets tender.
If your ribs have a thick layer of fat, trim the fat to 1/4 inch thickness.

Nutrition