You know…I’m not really sure where I originally found this recipe…but it’s DELICIOUS! As a person who lived in Kansas City for 10 years, I’m INCREDIBLY picky selective about my ribs. Since traditional KC BBQ sauce is out of the picture, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to try these when I made them for the first time. I tried them and I love them! They don’t have any sweetness to them at all (/cries), but they have a kind of spicy bite to them that lets me overlook the lack of sugary-goodness.
I decided to make them for day two of this Whole30. Good choice! To be perfectly honest, tonight was Isak’s tumbling class, so I didn’t have time to make the zucchini fritters that I wanted to make with the ribs. I had one bag of frozen sweet potato fries left (the only bad ingredient on the list is canola oil), so I tossed them in the oven and we had those instead of the zucchini fritters. All in all, day two went great. I’m a little sluggish, but I don’t know if that’s from the food or if that’s from the 90-minute trip with Isak to the zoo this morning…30 minutes of which, I was carrying his 28 pounds on my shoulders. I can definitely say that the zoo trip is what prompted me to purchase a Groupon for a 90-minute massage!
So back to the missing BBQ sauce…what are your favorite recipes for paleo-friendly BBQ sauce? Bonus points if it’s also Whole30, but I can wait until the end of these 30 days to try it if not. Let me know–I’m dying without my KC BBQ sauce!
Oven-Baked Pork Ribs
Serves 2-4
4 pounds pork ribs
1 Tbsp sea salt
1 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp cayenne
1.– Preheat oven to 250
2.– Combine all spices and mix together
3.–Rub both sides of ribs and put on foil-lined baking sheet, rib-side down
4.– Bake ribs for 2 hours 45 minutes. Broil for 5-10 minutes at the end to brown the meat side
The Keto Foodie 
It sounds and looks absolutely wonderful! I am going to make this the next time ribs go on sale Thank you for sharing!
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You’re welcome! They turn out soooo tender and juicy!
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Is the listed cooking time for back or spare ribs? I’ve tried this recipe with back ribs before (it came out wonderfully) and am looking to try it with spare ribs.
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I used back ribs for this. I have made it with spare ribs before and i want to say it was just a slightly shorter cook time. I looked up a general tefipe for bakes spare ribs and used the timing from that with this same recipe hehe!
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What does “rib side down” mean? The ribs are curve side up like a rainbow or curve side down like a smile?
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Oh sorry LOL! Curve side up so the meat is on top and the bone is on bottom 🙂
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On day 24 of my whole30, and I’ve been wanting ribs so badly! Thanks for this spice rub recipe. Going to try it out!
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Hope you love it as much as I do!
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Hello,
Thank you for this recipe, it’s so good! We had country pork ribs and they were delicious. The rub is excellent and I’m so glad to find one that has no sugar. I grated some fresh horseradish to go along which I thought was excellent.
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Happy to have found your blog. I have PCOS and have been following a paleo diet for a few years now, too. I am doing the whole30 right now, as well, to break those sugar cravings after the holidays. Looking forward to trying this and checking out more of your recipes!
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I’m glad they look good to you! Yeah, I have been having too many sweets lately and need to kick the habit again LOL!
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Wow. Made this last night for my family and we all loved it! Smoky, spicy, yummy. I chose this recipe (on Pinterest) because there are so few out there with no sugar added. Doing the 21-day Sugar Detox diet and these were perfect.
Thank you!
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You’re welcome, and good luck! I’m doing a similar primal and keto thing for awhile (I’m 16 days in) and I know how hard it is to find recipes without sugar! (Or anything in the grocery store, for that matter). I’ve lost 14 pounds so far 🙂 Good luck with yours! Look around on my blog for more stuff without sugar.
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I have used this recipe, my ribs were delicious…I’m making ribs again today using this recipe, but this time I’m adding bbq sauce toward the end
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You asked about a BBQ sauce recipe… well I do a no sugar bbq sauce that’s still pretty sweet. Its cooked down pineapple chunks and apple juice with tomato paste and some seasonings. It does push the limits of what’s whole30 because your basically using the fruit juice and concentrating it by cooking for more sweetness. Anyway add a bit of cider vinegar and I like a half cup of coffee (since I don’t add molasses to this version) push it through a mesh to get it smoother. I talk about it on my forgingelitehealth.com have a great day…
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Sounds good! I’ll have to try it when I come out of keto 🙂
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I made these for supper tonight. This is day 30 on my Whole 30 journey. The ribs were very delicious. They will be made again and again.
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The BBQ sauce recipe in the first whole 30 book, “It Starts with Food”, is awesome and totally whole 30 compliant.
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I don’t do many BBQ sauces anymore because they’re all too carby for me being in keto, but that is one of my favorite sauce recipes!
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Does this recipe work for St Louis style pork ribs?
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I’ve made them with STL style before and it worked fine 🙂 I can remember if I altered the time or not.
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Would these work in the crock pot?
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Not sure, I wouldn’t try them in a crock because crocks steam your food
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Do you recommend covering the ribs while baking?
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I don’t cover mine, but you can if you want 🙂 Just remember to uncover them at the end to crisp them up.
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Thanks
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250 degrees or 350? I don’t think I’ve ever baked something at 250, so I just want to make sure that’s not a typo?
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250 🙂
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Looks so good! What if the ribs are boneless? Would the cook process be the same?
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Honestly, I’m not sure. It seems like they probably would cook shorter, but you may end up with a different moisture level with them being boneless 🙂 I would put a baking dish in the oven on the rack below them, and add some water to it (like 2 C or so). Just enough to keep moisture in the oven while they’re cooking 🙂
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I’m wondering if you could baste them with a little organic pure apple juice during the cooking to keep moist and add a little sweetness?
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Yes, you could, but then they would no longer be Whole30 compliant 🙂 But if that’s not an issue for you, you could do that.
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I seal mine in foil while they bake and they come out really juicy – make sure to pat dry before broiling them to get nice color and crust. 🙂
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Hmmm. I understood that you can cook with natural juice on whole30…just not drink a glass of juice. Maybe just a mist to avoid going overboard as the book says but it might give you that flavor you were looking for. Check out pages 14 and 71 of the Whole30 book. I’m certainly not trying to argue, just asking your opinion since you have much more experience than I do being from KC. Your recipe sounds delicious and I’m trying it tonight (first without the juice 😋)
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Ohhhh that makes sense! I honestly haven’t read the book since the first edition first came out, so I may have read it wrong at that point. It would make sense though, especially if you aren’t using something like a gallon of it LOL!
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Sounds awesome! Making this tonight. Thanks 🙂
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I just wanted you to know that this spice rub is AWESOME on everything! This recipe literally changed my cooking at home world. I now eat all my ribs like this and I don’t miss the sauce! Seriously, even my external family is using this spice mix. We make it in big batches and put that shit on everything. We’ve been loving this recipe for 5 years!! Thanks so much. You rock!
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Thank you – I’m so excited to hear that! We do the same thing – it’s amazing how versatile it is. I’ve even mixed it into cream cheese with some shredded cheddar, then stuffed jalapenos with it and wrapped them in bacon. Soooo delicious!
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