No Need For A Fancy Grill Or Smoker, You Can Get Tender Ribs Anytime of Year With These Kitchen Tricks

Soft, tender slide off the bone ribs, honestly, there’s no substitution. Unless you have a grill or a smoker, making a batch of ribs seems like it’s out of the question, they’re just not possible to make, but they are, and you can make it without being a pitmaster. Getting delicious, saucy, and buttery-soft tasting ribs is easy as can be with simple steps that you can do any time of the year, no special equipment needed.

Gently cooking ribs in the low 200 degrees F range isn’t just for show, unlike prime cuts of meat that you can easily cook in no time, ribs have a lot of connective tissue with tons of collagen, which means when you just grill and quickly cook rib, you’ll get gristly, tough ribs, however, when you cook the ribs low and slow, the collagen turns into gelatin which dissolves, making ribs that are tender and moist. Smoking ribs also gives ribs a distinct taste and appearance with that classic pink smoke ring.

But smoking isn’t the only way to achieve tender ribs, as this two-step baking method will produce pull-apart ribs with a lacquered crust right in your oven.

You can use any style of ribs, the two most common types you’ll see are St Louis and baby back ribs. If you want your ribs to have a hefty shape choose St Louis ribs, for smaller, fall off the bone ribs, choose baby back ribs, but either way, the prepping for both is the same. The hardest thing about getting your ribs ready is removing the silver skin that lines the underside. Some butchers remove it, but if the butcher didn’t do that step for you, it’s an easy thing to do, just slide the knife between the silver skin and the rib to remove it, then use your fingers to peel off the rest.

On a foil-lined baking sheet, place a larger piece of foil and then place the ribs on top, seasoning the ribs with whatever seasoning you choose, then seal it up and bake at 300 degrees F for at least 2 to 3 hours (the time it takes depends on the type and amount of ribs you are baking). No peeking, the ribs will break down from the steam sealed inside the foil, opening it will lose all of that softening magic.

After a few hours, pull the ribs out to taste a bit of the meat to test for seasoning. You’re going to be putting sauce on the ribs, but seasoning the ribs each and every step really makes a difference. Set the ribs on top of a clean foil-lined pan and broil the meat, rotating so both sides are crispy, don’t burn it too much. Once slightly crispy, apply a thin layer of sauce to the ribs, return to the broiler, broiling it for a minute or so, repeat this process for a second time to really adhere the lacquered

This easy oven method is easy, if not better than smoked ribs. Sure, you may not get that classic smoke ring in the meat, but this method still produces soft, tender ribs with a sticky seared layer of barbecue sauce. Soft, crispy, and saucy, these ribs have the best contrasting textures!