Maple BBQ Baby Back Ribs Recipe

Try saying that title ten times fast! 🙂 Our Saturday was jam-packed so when Sunday came around, it was time to slooooow down. It was a slow, lazy morning with a touch of sleeping in–we so needed that. When we finally got around to starting our day I whipped up our traditional pancake breakfast–man…we love that tasty tradition. I don’t know where Liz got the energy, but after breakfast she started clearing out the walk-in closet and organizing things, she did some laundry, and even took my mom out to buy some flowers for our garden. She didn’t get to the planting, though, before the thunderstorm rolled in. I’m a little tired just writing about everything she did ;-). On the other end of the activity spectrum – much like my lazy take-it-easy mood, I chose something for dinner that I could “slow” cook. Baby back ribs… Mmmm!

We have another recipe on the blog for bbq back ribs. We did some gameday back ribs around Superbowl 50 with our Jack Daniel’s BBQ Sauce. Let me tell you, if you haven’t had a chance to try that sauce yet… give it a shot… no regrets!

My first thought was to do the same rib recipe, but I was in the mood to change things up a bit. Since my parents are still visiting with us, and I know how much my dad loves some good ribs, I thought I’d try something new. I used a similar base for the rib sauce, but I added some special touches to change up the flavour. Maple syrup, because we’re Canadian eh? And beer, because… uh… because (our favourite is Steam Whistle!). The other change was in the rib cooking process. This time around, I cooked with liquid (yes beer) to create more steam and lock in all the flavour.

These baby back ribs were less smokey than our previous back rib recipe, but these were equally delicious. I also think this steaming process made the ribs more tender than the last ones. As far as the rib sauce goes… Jack Daniels sauce or Maple Sauce? I’m still on the fence, I think I might like them equally. Is that making a decision? I can’t play favourites with my rib sauce. Try them out and let us know what you think! By the way, BBQ sauce only takes about 20 minutes to make and you’ll likely have most of the ingredients at home already… so why buy sauce when you can make your own at home? Experiment with flavours–you might be pleasantly surprised.

Choose a day to slow things down, heat up the grill, and always eat well, friends!

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Maple BBQ Baby Back Ribs Recipe

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

2 hours 45 mins

Total time

3 hours 5 mins

 

This maple bbq baby back ribs recipe is a sweet, tangy and has a touch of heat. It's perfect for game day or a BBQ with family and friends.

Author: Nelson Cardoso

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: North American

Serves: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• For Cooking the Ribs
• 5.7 lbs or 2.6 kg (roughly). This was three large back ribs.
• 1 bottle of beer
• 1½ tbsp course sea salt
• 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 
  
• For the BBQ Sauce:
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1½ cups ketchup
• ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
• ⅓ cup beer
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• ½ tsp hot sauce (feel free to increase this if you like a little extra kick)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 ºF.
2. Remove the silver skin or membrane from the bone side of the ribs (see a great tutorial here). This is an important step to make sure your ribs are nice and tender.
3. Sprinkle the course sea salt, ground black pepper and garlic powder evenly over both sides of the ribs.
4. Place the rack inside a large roasting pan to keep the ribs from sitting on the bottom.
5. Place the ribs, bone down on the rack, inside the roasting pan.
6. Pour one bottle of beer into the bottom of the pan. The ribs should not be sitting in the beer. You want to steam them, not boil
7. Cover the pan with a few layers of aluminum foil, tightly fitted around the pan and slightly tented to avoid touching the ribs..It's important not to leave any air gaps. This will help the steaming process and ensure the ribs are tender.
8. Place the pan in the oven on the middle rack and cook for 2 hours, 45 minutes.
9. While the ribs are cooking, make the bbq sauce.
10. In a small pot, saute the minced garlic in the olive oil on medium high, until slightly browned.
11. With the heat still at medium high, add all the remaining ingredients and mix well.
12. Once the mixture starts to bubble, reduce the heat to medium.
13. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes, occasionally giving it a quick stir. Caution, the sauce might splatter a bit at this point.
14. Take the pot off the stove and set aside to cool.
15. About 20 minutes before the ribs are out, preheat the BBQ to about 450 ºF.
16. After the cooking time is complete, remove the pan from the oven. Carefully lift one edge of the aluminum foil, being very careful not to burn yourself with the escaping steam.
17. Once the steam has escaped, remove all the aluminum foil.
18. Note: The ribs are cooked through, the next step is for caramelizing the rib sauce and setting grill marks on the ribs for that wonderful BBQ char flavour.
19. Move the ribs onto the BBQ/Grill, meat side down.
20. Brush a generous portion of rib sauce on the bone side of the ribs... make sure to get all the nooks and crannies and sides.
21. Flip the ribs over and brush rib sauce on the meat side, until completely covered.
22. Close the BBQ lid and let cook for about 2 minutes.
23. Open the lid, flip the ribs over and baste the bone side again. Close the lid and cook for 3 minutes.
24. Once again, open the lid and flip the ribs over (meat side up). The meat should have a nice char.
25. Brush the meat side one last time with a generous serving of sauce and transfer the ribs to a serving dish. Cover with aluminum foil.
26. Let the ribs rest for about 10 minutes and serve.
27. Roll up your sleeves and enjoy!

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Nelson Cardoso