When you think of pork back ribs, you think of fall-off-the-bone smoked or grilled ribs. Even though BBQ season is over, you don’t have to miss out on this delicious crowd-pleasing recipe. We are sharing the best gluten-free oven-baked pork back rib recipe with you, which can be made year-round. In fact, they are so tender and juicy you’ll like these better than barbecue.
You might notice that in the picture for our gluten-free oven-baked pork back rib recipe, we paired it with some of our favourite seasonal sides: roasted squash with onions and apples, and our amazing risotto patties (made with leftover risotto.) Other sides that would pair well with the ribs are our twice-baked potato or our warm spinach salad.
This gluten-free oven-baked pork back rib recipe has the option of using barbecue sauce for a glaze at the end. Barbecue sauce is one of those condiments that people often do not realize can contain gluten. Therefore, you need to read the label and check to see if your barbecue sauce contains gluten. Most BBQ sauces have an allergen disclaimer, and they will let you know if there is wheat present or if they may contain wheat. However, you can also check out our list of terms for the other names of gluten to be able to read the labels better.
Additionally, check out our list of gluten-free barbecue sauces to help you narrow it down, as the BBQ sauce aisle can be overwhelming.
Best Gluten-Free Oven-Baked Pork Back Rib Recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp each of black pepper, granulated onion, and granulated garlic
- 2 racks of pork back ribs – 1 kg each
- 1/4 c of the gluten-free barbecue sauce of you’re choosing (optional)
- 2 tablespoons of water (optional)
Pro Tip: If you’re only making one rack of ribs, cut this amount of seasoning in half or multiply as needed to feed a crowd. This is a very forgiving recipe, so you can adjust it as needed.
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- To make the pork rub, mix the salt, black pepper, granulated onion, and granulated garlic in a small bowl. Stir to combine and set aside.
- Remove silver skin from the back of the ribs.
Pro Tip: The silver skin is a thin silvery membrane on the back of ribs (the bone side) that can make your meat very tough and chewy. If you have ever wondered why your ribs aren’t as tender, it is probably because you are not removing the silver skin.
Pro Tip: You can remove the silver skin by inserting the tip of a paring knife between the thin membrane and the bone. Pull your knife up to make a pocket and keep pulling until it loosens the skin across the width of the rack of ribs, then remove the knife. Grab the membrane (you can use a piece of paper towel for grip if needed), and pull it in the opposite direction, pulling it down the length of the rack. If it doesn’t come off in one piece or rips at any point, take your knife, find a bone (it’s easier to get between the bone and the membrane than it is the soft meat and membrane), and repeat the earlier step to loosen the membrane. Continue until all of the membrane is removed.
- Trim off any excess fat or sinew- if needed.
- Once the silver skin is removed, liberally season all sides of both racks of ribs. Start with the meat side, flip over to the underside (the exposed bone), and season the tops of the tips of the bone. Nowhere on your racks of ribs should be left unseasoned.
- Next, we want to create a foil and parchment paper packet for each rack of ribs. My ribs were very wide, so I used two pieces of foil that I slightly overlapped so they were wide enough. Cut the foil so it is slightly longer than the rack of ribs.
- Place a piece of parchment paper the same length as the foil over top of the foil. Lay one rack of ribs down. In general, I put the meat or top side flat down and the bone side up. Fold the parchment over the ribs, creating a packet, and then fold the foil over top of that. Crimp the edges of the foil as tightly as you can so the packet doesn’t open.
- Repeat all these steps for the second rack of ribs ( or as many as you are making)
- Place the packets on a rimmed cookie sheet, seal side up, in the preheated oven.
- Cook the ribs for one hour.
- Flip each packet of ribs over, so now the seal side is down. You’re not opening the package yet- just flipping it so now the bone side is down.
- Cook the ribs for another hour.
Pro Tip: If you want to make this a little bit quicker, you can raise the oven to about 375°F, then I would leave them for about 40-45 minutes for each cooking session.
Pro Tip: If the racks are smaller, you may want to cut the cooking time down by 15 minutes per cycle.
Pro tip: Even though pork is cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of 165°, ribs are the most tender once they’re over 185°. Ideally, you want them between about 185° and 200°.
- Now for the glaze. We’re gonna water down our barbecue sauce in a separate bowl. Mix your choice of gluten-free barbecue sauce with water. Add 1 tablespoon of water at a time so that you control your consistency.
Pro Tip: How much water you add to your barbecue sauce will be dependent on the consistency of the barbecue sauce you are using. If your barbecue sauce is very thick and you don’t want a thick glaze, you’re gonna add a little more water. If your barbecue sauce is thick and pourable, then you might not want to water it down at all. I use a medium consistency cause and like my glaze on the thinner side, because everybody can always add their own barbecue sauce afterwards if they want more. You can skip the glaze, but I think the glaze on them really does add to the experience of the ribs
- Remove the ribs from the oven, open the packets, and check their temperature with a meat thermometer. They’re probably going to be around 175° at this point.
- Fold the foil sides down to create a bed for each rack of ramps, keeping them on their parchment.
- Keep the ribs bone side up (meat side down).
- Brush the bone side of the ribs with the glaze be done with a silicone basting brush, and if you don’t have one, you can use a spoon.
- Place the ribs in the oven for an additional 10 minutes.
- Remove the ribs from the oven, flip the ribs meat side up, and glaze the meat side.
- Place the ribs back in for another 10 minutes.
- Even if you are skipping the glaze, you want to do the two 10-minute open cooking sessions
- Baking them in the now-open packet allows them to get just a slight bit of a crust or a bark on the outside. This is in contrast to cooking them sealed in the packets, which makes them juicy and moist. With this method, you are getting the best of both worlds.
- Pull them out of the oven, and take their temperature. Make sure they’re over 185, which I definitely should be by the time they’re done, they should be closer to or over. 200°F.
- Cut and serve.
Our gluten-free oven-baked pork back rib recipe is fabulous when you’re busy because even though you do have to check on the ribs about four times, most of the cooking time, they just need to be left in the oven. These ribs are good enough to put on any buffet, but they also make a great Sunday night dinner option. This gluten-free oven-baked pork back rib recipe is one you will be going to over and over again, and once you’ve had this gluten-free oven-baked pork back rib recipe, you won’t even want to make them on the barbecue anymore.
