Slow-Baked BBQ Short Ribs
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BBQ short ribs make an easy dinner that pleases kids and adults alike.
For easy, family-pleasing comfort food, you can’t beat meltingly tender short ribs in a sweet and tangy barbecue sauce. Inspired by Sunny Anderson’s BBQ short ribs, this simple recipe requires just 15 minutes of hands-on prep, and then the oven does the rest. Unlike many roast or stew recipes, it’s not necessary to sear the meat first. Instead, you season the meat with salt and pepper and slather them with a quick homemade BBQ sauce – a mixture of ketchup, brown sugar, cider vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and seasoning. Then you put the dish in the oven to bake for 3 hours, go about your day, and let deliciousness ensue. Serve with mashed potatoes or cornbread and a roasted vegetable.
Table of Contents
What You’ll Need To Make Slow-Baked BBQ Short Ribs
Count on about one pound of boneless short ribs per person. I know it seems like a lot but they shrink significantly while cooking, and people tend to eat generous portions. If you can only find bone-in short ribs, they will work but may take a bit longer to cook.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by cutting the short ribs in half and seasoning them with salt and pepper. Place them in a 9×13-inch baking dish.
Next, make the homemade BBQ sauce by combining the ketchup, dark brown sugar, cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard and spices in a small bowl.
Whisk to combine.
Slather about 2/3 of the sauce all over the meat, and reserve the rest for the finished dish.
Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake at 300°F for about 2-1/2 hours.
Remove the foil, pour off some of the cooking liquid and cook for 30 minutes more, or until the meat is tender and browned.
Transfer the meat to a platter, leaving the cooking liquid behind, and slather with the reserved BBQ sauce.
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Video Tutorial
Slow-Baked BBQ Short Ribs
BBQ short ribs make an easy dinner that pleases kids and adults alike.
Ingredients
For the Ribs
- 4 pounds boneless beef short ribs, cut into 4-inch long pieces
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
For the BBQ Sauce
- 1 cup ketchup
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1½ tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1½ tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1½ teaspoons chili powder
- ¾ teaspoons garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F.
- Season the ribs all over with salt and pepper, then arrange in a 9x13-inch baking dish (it will be a tight squeeze).
- Combine all of the ingredients for the BBQ sauce in a small bowl and stir until smooth.
- Pour ⅓ of the sauce (about ½ cup) over the ribs. Using tongs, flip the ribs over and spoon another ⅓ of the sauce over top. Reserve the remaining BBQ sauce to spoon over the cooked ribs. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and roast for 2½ hours. Remove the foil and, if the cooking liquid is covering the meat, use a large spoon or ladle to remove some of the liquid so that the tops are exposed. (Note: the meat will look unappetizing at this stage; don't worry, it will look much better once it's done!) Cook for 30 minutes more, uncovered, until the meat is tender and browned. Cut off any excess fat that remains around the short ribs. Transfer the short ribs to a serving platter. Discard the cooking liquid, as it will be very greasy. Slather the reserved BBQ sauce over the short ribs and serve.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The ribs can be frozen for up to 3 months. Reheat them tightly covered with foil in a 300°F oven until heated through.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 1,320
- Fat: 87g
- Saturated fat: 37g
- Carbohydrates: 59g
- Sugar: 54g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 80g
- Sodium: 2327mg
- Cholesterol: 331mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Is it okay to use bone in short ribs?
Sure Michele, bone-in will work fine.
Hello! I want to make these a day ahead. I plan to drain the cooking liquid off and cover with BBQ sauce as I read in another question/answer. My question is – do you think they would reheat nicely in a crockpot instead of the oven? Or do you feel like they really need an extra sizzle from the oven heat when rewarming?
I’m taking this to a friend’s house for Christmas, and I know we need the oven for other things we are making.
Thanks so much! Looks fabulous!
Hi Lorraine, I do think they need that extra time in the oven to brown — it adds flavor and also makes them look much more appetizing. But I think you could make them entirely ahead and then just reheat them in the crockpot. They are pretty hard to overcook :).
Hi, I’m making these boneless short ribs the day before so should I leave them in their cooking liquid overnight and reheat in the liquid or transfer to clean plate and refrigerate overnight then reheat using remaining bbq sauce? I’ll rate after trying it tomorrow.
Hi Michelle, you can leave them in sauce. They should be delicious the second day!
The short rib recipe sounds wonderful and I plan to make it for friends on Sunday. The instructions say to cut the ribs in half, but I’m not exactly sure what that means – make them thinner?
Will review the recipe after I have made it.
Thanks for many good recipes
Hi Peggy, I cut them in half so that they’re not as long (not thinner). Hope that clarifies!
Thanks, Jenn. Made the short ribs for guests on Sunday and, when I offered the leftovers to my husband on Monday, he said “they’re so good, we can have them every night.” And that’s from someone who rarely eats beef. Everyone loved them and they truly are “easy.” Served them with maple-glazed roasted butternut squash and Parmesan roasted cauliflower, so everything was done in the oven – thanks again for great recipes.
Sorry I forgot to select 5 stars which they deserve. *****
These short ribs come out delicious! I am mouth watering just thinking about them. They are so tender and YUMMY!!!
I accidentally bought light brown sugar. It’s in the oven now so I never tasted it yet. What difference will it make?
It will be perfectly fine, Felicia. No worries!
This is the second time that I have used this recipe and it was just as good as the first time even though I had bone in short ribs this time. I didn’t change a thing and they came out tasty and tender. The bones literally fell away from the meat while they were cooking. Thanks again for your foolproof recipes Jennifer!
Wow! Such a great change of pace! I got the ribs from Whole Foods, on sale! Three hours did the trick for tenderness….I then put the ribs in a clean pan, and once they were room temp, refrigerated them. An hour before serving, I will pop them in the oven while I roast the carrots, and cook and mash the potatoes…done and done!!!
I snuck a taste, and the sauce is soo worth making…try this one, its worth the calories!!!
I’ve made this dish 3 times already. It’s such a great make ahead dish and heats up easily in the oven especially when you’re having guests over and don’t want to fuss with the meal preparation and cleanup. My guests have commented on how good and flavorful it is. It’s a pretty forgiving dish so you can actually play with the flavors quite a bit. My tips for this dish are 1) If you’d like to save some time, buy your favorite bbq sauce instead of making it, I like a little asian flavor in it so I used bbq korean sauce with it or some hoisin bbq sauce 2) It’s a really nice dish to make ahead because the flavor gets better after a day or so 3) Try buying a nice cut of boneless short ribs, I bought mine at a few places but found that the one at Costco was best, either way they were all still perfectly delicious.