Baby Back Ribs With Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce Recipe

Nothing says summertime quite like barbecue, and perhaps the most quintessential item to find on the smoky iron grates is a large rack of juicy baby back ribs. While giant sets of impressively-sauced meaty bones on the grill are a sight to behold, most of the magic begins in the kitchen. Preparing particularly delicious, juicy, and flavorful ribs is a labor of love, requiring hours of unattended cooking in an oven or smoker before they get a quick sear on the grill. Chefs call this the 3-2-1 method, used for large cuts of meat like ribs that benefit from the slow fat-rendering process.

This recipe, written with developer Michelle McGlinn, walks us through each hour of cooking baby back ribs with honey mustard BBQ sauce, starting with a low-and-slow dry-rubbed bake and ending with a BBQ-slathered sear on a grill or in a cast-iron pan. The result is a tangy, mildly spicy, ever-so-slightly sweet set of ribs that are perfect for grilling rain or shine, so you can enjoy the smoky taste of ribs all year round.

Before anything else, grab two racks of ribs. While buying the ribs, check if the ribs have been prepped with the membrane removed or if you'll need to plan an extra few minutes to prep the ribs yourself. With the ribs bought, the remaining ingredients are simple — so much so that you may already have most of them in your pantry already. Grab salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, and ground mustard; then grab brown sugar, canola (or vegetable) oil, honey, apple cider vinegar, some water, and a bottle of hot mustard to finish the BBQ sauce. The mustard will drive the flavor, so choose a mustard brand and type you love, making sure not to choose one that's already sweet (or if you do, leave the honey out of the BBQ sauce).

Preheat the oven to 250 F.

Pat the ribs completely dry and place them on a foil-lined sheet tray.

Combine the spices in a bowl.

Rub the ribs with spices on either side, reserving 3 tablespoons for the barbecue sauce.

Bake, uncovered, for 3 hours.

In the meantime, make the barbecue sauce. Combine the mustard, sugar, and spice mixture in a large bowl.

While whisking, add the oil slowly.

Stir in the honey and vinegar, then add water 1 tablespoon at a time until you've reached your desired consistency.

When the ribs are done, reserve ¼ cup of honey mustard sauce for serving, then brush the ribs with half of the remaining honey mustard sauce.

Tightly wrap each rack with foil and bake for 1 hour.

Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium heat.

Once hot, add the ribs and sear to char slightly on either side, brushing with the remaining barbecue sauce.

Let the ribs rest for 5 minutes, then slice between each bone and serve with the reserved barbecue sauce.

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Before planning how many ribs each person will get, first determine what type of rib you are buying and working with. This recipe works for both baby back and spare ribs, but it is useful to know which ribs you are working with and whether or not to buy 1 or 2 racks. Baby back ribs are named for their small size and placement on the back of the pig, which causes a lean and meaty style of rib that tapers into smaller pieces towards the back of the rack. Spare ribs, on the other hand, are long and fatty, meaning 1 rack may serve more people than the same amount of baby backs.

If making baby back ribs as the recipe suggests, plan to serve 4 to 5 ribs per person, equating to about 20 ribs (or 2 racks) total. Baby backs are often sold packaged in sets of 2, and around the grill-centric holidays, you can find them on sale for a better price. If swapping for spare ribs, plan for 2 to 3 ribs per person — in other words, just 1 rack will work, but you may need to increase the initial bake time to ensure perfect tenderness.

Ribs are quintessential to summer barbecuing because their flavor is enhanced when cooked over the flames of the grill. After cooking the ribs low and slow in the oven, you'll notice that, while done, they will be a relatively unpleasant color of brownish-gray. This is simply because high heat is what causes deep browning, and without a sear, the pork will simply maintain the color of plain cooked meat. If you don't have a grill, you can leave the ribs as-is, but for a better color and a little extra flavor, there are a number of ways you can finish the ribs over high heat.

The first and easiest method for browning your ribs is using the broiler. Remove the foil-wrapped ribs from the oven and adjust the rack a few notches higher, just under the broiler, while turning the broiler to high heat. Unwrap the ribs and place them in the oven underneath the broiler, keeping a close eye on them so they don't burn. Flip the ribs and quickly broil the other side, then remove and serve them. Another method you can use is a simple cast iron sear — to do this, carve the ribs into 4 or 5 bone sections and sear, working in batches, on a cast iron skillet over medium heat.

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