Sink your teeth into these tender, juicy, oven roasted country style pork ribs and you won’t believe you can make such a delicious recipe so easily. With just a few simple ingredients, you can have restaurant quality country style ribs, without all the hassle of smokers, grills, or any special equipment at all. Your oven is the only thing you need!
These succulent country style ribs will cook low and slow in the oven for about 3 hours. When done, get ready to feast on the most tender and delicious pork you’ve ever enjoyed.
What are Pork Country Style Ribs?
Country style ribs are not actually ribs at all. I know I know… bummer, right? Not all all. Country style ribs are actually cuts of pork from the shoulder/butt area of the pork, which is the exact same meat used in pulled pork. Yay! The meat is cut in such a way that it resembles ribs. Most cuts are boneless but some do have the y-shaped bone that you find in a shoulder/butt roast. Either way, the meat is well marbled, so tender, and absolutely mouthwatering.
Country style ribs are usually sold in packages of about 8 “ribs”, totaling 2-3lbs. Of course, depending on the particular store, the packaging can vary. Also make sure the meat is well marbled. Some country style pork ribs are cut from the loin area and tend to be very lean. These ribs are not as good and tend to be very dry.
The standard packages of 2-3lbs are perfect for a hearty family meal. If cooking for more than 4, look for larger packages of more than 3 lbs. As a general rule, 2 standard sized country style ribs are the prefect serving size for 1 person.
What Do I Need to Make This Recipe?
You won’t need any special equipment to make these country style ribs. They cook right in the oven in a baking dish. A 13″ x 9″ glass baking dish is perfect for 2-3 lbs. of ribs. I like to line it with aluminum foil to make cleanup easier. You’ll also need foil to cover the dish while they roast in the oven.
Ingredients
Naturally we’ll need 2-3lbs. of country style pork ribs. Make sure is says butt/shoulder ribs and not loin ribs.
We’ll make an awesome pork rub with some real basic ingredients:
- brown sugar
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- ground mustard
- smoked paprika
- cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper
And finally, we’ll brush some of our favorite BBQ sauce onto the ribs for the final 30 minutes of cooking. This will give the sauce a chance to caramelize and stick to the ribs.
Preparation
Start by mixing all the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Then we simple coat all the meat with the rub. I’ve found the best way to do this is to use a large, gallon-sized zip-top bag. Add the ribs, seasoning, seal the bag and shake, shake, shake. Massage that seasoning into all the ribs for about a minute and you’re good to go.
Line a glass or oven safe baking dish (13″ x 9″ is the perfect size) with aluminum foil and place the seasoned ribs in the dish, spaced apart as best possible. Make sure the fattier side of the ribs are on top. This allows that moisture from the fat to drip down through the rib, making it as juicy as possible. Cover the dish tightly with foil.
Bake Low and Slow
Place the covered dish into a preheated oven at 325°(F) for 2.5 hours. After the 2.5 hours, the ribs should be very tender and they’re actually ready to serve as-is. Plate them and pour a little of the juices on top. You will not believe how mouthwatering they are!
There is an optional step… add some BBQ sauce and place under the boiler for a few minutes.
With this optional step, remove the ribs from the baking dish in which they cooked and transfer to a shallow, foil lined baking sheet. Brush each rib with BBQ sauce of your choice.
With the oven set to “broil”, place the sauced ribs (now on the baking sheet), under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until the sauce starts to caramelize to your liking.
Ready to Serve
No need to wait, your country style ribs are now ready to serve. The best way to serve is to place them on a plate or platter and let everyone serve themselves. They can be quite large so usually one or two will be plenty. Be sure to keep some of those juices from the dish on reserve. Pour a little over each rib for extra amazing flavor.
The brussels sprouts you see in the picture are our Best Damn Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts. They’re the perfect accompaniment for this dish and also very easy to make. I’m also a HUGE fan of macaroni and cheese with BBQ dishes and our Best Damn Instant Pot Mac and Cheese is an excellent choice for a side-dish. And of course, BBQ pork can be topped with, or served with some delicious homemade country coleslaw. The cool crunch is perfect to go along with the tender pork.
PrintRecipe
Best Damn Oven Roasted Country Style Ribs
- Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
Description
Mouthwatering, tender and juicy country style pork ribs are seasoned to perfection and roast right in your oven. No special equipment needed.
Ingredients
- 2.5–3lbs. country style pork ribs (shoulder/butt ribs)
- 3 tbs brown sugar
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground mustard
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup BBQ sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°(F) and line a 13″ x 9″ baking dish with aluminum foil.
- Mix all dry ingredients and apply to the ribs. You can do this in a large, gallon-sized zip-top bag.
- Place the seasoned ribs, spaced apart, in the baking dish and cover tightly with foil.
- Place in the oven at 325°(F) on middle rack for 2.5 hours.
- After 2.5 hours, the country ribs should be fall apart tender. You can serve as is with some of the juices from the pan or continue to the next, optional step.
- Optional: Set oven to “broil”. Remove country ribs from dish to a foil lined baking sheet (so it will fit under the broiler). Brush all the ribs liberally with your favorite BBQ sauce and place under broiler, uncovered, for about 5 minutes or until BBQ sauce starts to caramelize. Remove from oven and they’re ready to serve!
Notes
This recipe has been updated July 2023. The step of brushing the ribs with BBQ sauce and returning to oven for additional 30 minutes has been removed. Instead, follow the optional step 6 for adding BBQ sauce.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 180 min
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Susan says
Best damn ribs hands down!
Chuck S says
My ribs were tender and had good taste. Next time, I will reduce the cayenne by at least half
Lauren Schwefel says
Made this tonight and it was great! Meat was tender and falling apart so easily! Great
Brian E says
I made this with beef country-style short ribs rather than pork. I otherwise followed the recipe exactly . . . . with outstanding results. The meat was so melt-in-your-mouth tender and the flavor was so good. My family loved it. I definitely recommend this recipe and I will absolutely make this again!
Ginny says
Made these The other night they were tender and juicy best that I’ve ever made Will make this recipe again
Kristin says
These ribs were amazing! I let them soak up the dry seasoning rub for 6 hours before baked them. They were so flavorful, juicy and tender! Thanks for adding a new recipe to our line up!
Penelope D. McClenny says
Wow!!!! We always buy these to throw on the grill, but we all agreed we will only bake after we enjoyed this recipe last night! The rub was delicious. I added the night before and let marinate. Broiling at the end was the perfect finishing touch. Can’t wait to cook again soon and wow friends. Perfect recipe!
MARY N BOYD says
I made these tonight for dinner along with potato salad for the side. Everyone raved about the country style ribs. Thank you, I will try the Salmon next.
Dave says
Hello. So, unfortunately, the same exact thing happened to me as Helen. I believe mine were actual country style ribs. The only difference is that after 2.5 hours, they were super tender, just burnt to the pan. I ate what I could. lol As I absolutely love the rub, I’m going to move to the crockpot & see if that will keep the fluids from evaporating. If you have any suggestions on an oil or other buffer to go in to prevent burning, I’ll give it a shot. Thanks 4 the rub.
Helen says
Well, the flavor was great with that rub, but for some reason the ribs were totally overcooked, despite the fact that I followed the recipe to a “T” (except that I only had 1.5 pounds of ribs, but I don’t think that should have made a difference). There was also zero liquid to pour out of the pan — it had all burnt onto the aluminum foil, so I don’t really know what the problem was — maybe what they sell here is a different kind of country style ribs?
RecipeTeacher says
Hey Helen i’m really sorry this didn’t work out for you! I too wonder if possibly the cut you had wasn’t true country style ribs. If you see the package of country ribs in the picture on the post, you’ll see they have really nice marbling as their from the shoulder/butt as country style ribs should be. Perhaps you has sliced pork loin that they called country ribs? Were they very lean?
Helen says
Thanks for the quick response! You could be right about them not being traditional country style ribs; I don’t think they looked like the picture as they didn’t have all the marbled fat and in fact were pretty lean. It’s become hard to find them around here, so when I saw some at a big Walmart, I was really happy and scooped them up. In any case, I’ll keep an eye out for better (and authentic) ribs and maybe try this recipe again because it was just what I was looking for to use with this cut of meat.
Helen says
I managed to find some ribs that were more marbled than the first ones I wrote you about, as you suggested, and again followed the recipe exactly. I even checked after an hour to make sure there was liquid in the pan, which there was (a lot), but it was all gone when they came out of the oven an hour and a half later, and the ribs were once again pretty dry, making them almost inedible for me, although my husband ate his, but commenting that they seemed over-cooked. Perhaps the solution for the kind of country style ribs I can buy here is to cook them for significantly less time?
Dee says
O would try 300 degree for 2 hours and see how that works.
Kate says
Oh my…I’ve NEVER had such delicious rids that were juicy and that I could chew..haha! Love this recipe and will definitely do it again. So far we’ve had 3 meals with what we cooked and just warming them up and still delish!! Thanks!!