Chef notes
On Christmas Eve growing up, my cousin, her family and my grandmother would come over. We’d all sit around the living room and open up gifts from each other one by one, starting with the youngest. It would take forever, but we all loved it! We wouldn’t have a formal dinner, but instead, we'd eat heavy appetizers throughout the night. I always remembered my mom making these ribs. They’re sweet, salty, so delicious and easy for a crowd. Calvin isn’t one for meat all that much but even he likes them, and Ollie and Rusty eat them right off the bone!
It’s not a hard-and-fast type of recipe, so my measurements are estimates. You can literally buy as many ribs as you need — just adjust the sugar/soy sauce for the amount you have.
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Ingredients
- 1 rack pork baby back ribs or country ribs
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder, or to taste
- 1 cup white sugar (about a cup)
- 1/4-1/2 cup soy sauce (we use gluten-free)
Preparation
1.Preheat oven to 350 F.
2.Season ribs generously with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
3.In a bowl, mix sugar with soy sauce. You want the consistency to be like wet sand so adjust amounts as needed.
4.Spoon the “wet sand” all over the ribs so they’re coated thoroughly. (You might need to make another batch of the sugar/soy sauce combo if they’re not coated enough.)
5.Cover with foil and bake for about an hour, flipping the ribs once or twice throughout the cooking.
6.Once the ribs seem about cooked through (they’ll start to pull away from the bone), remove the foil and continue to bake until the sauce thickens a bit and becomes more syrupy. Serve as an appetizer on their own. It pairs really great with rice and a fresh coleslaw for dinner!
