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You’re going to be so addicted to these tender oven-baked honey butter ribs! They have the most incredible flavor and everyone will be asking you to bring them to every party!
My friend shoved a piece of these honey butter ribs in my face when I walked into her house to pick up Winston.
“Taste this.”
Her house already smelled incredible so I knew these ribs would be phenomenal.
I think my eyes bulged out of their sockets when I finally had a taste.
These were the most tender and flavorful ribs I had ever tasted.
I mean, honey, butter, and brown sugar. It can’t taste that bad with that combination.
How do you cook ribs to make them tender and fall off the bone?
Low and slow. That’s the only way!
Cooking it on a low oven temperature ensures all the meaty fibers break down and you’re left with an extremely tender and fall off the bone meat.
You have to have patience when cooking ribs. It can’t be something you whip together in an hour.
So definitely make sure you have time to make this before you start.
Baby back ribs or St. Louis ribs? What’s the difference?
To be honest, I don’t know the difference. I think baby back ribs are leaner and more tender.
They both taste good to me though, haha
I believe I made these with baby back ribs. Whole Foods had a crazy sale for Prime members a while back and I had to take advantage.
Tips for success with making honey butter ribs
Don’t peek!
Be patient!
Let it do its thing.
Seriously.
That’s like when you’re cooking a roast in a dutch oven or slow cooker.
The less you open it up, the more tender it will be.
When you open up something that has been cooking for a while, you let out all the heat and it has to heat up again and it dries it out.
It also just lets out all the liquid to evaporate.
Just let it be and let it cook. It’s super tempting, but you know it’ll all be worth it in the end.
What ingredients you’ll need for these oven-baked honey butter ribs
- A rack of baby back ribs
- Honey
- Butter
- Brown sugar
- Your favorite spice rub
Can I make these in the slow cooker?
Theoretically, they would work because it’s kind of the same thing but I haven’t actually done it myself so I don’t know timing.
I’d assume maybe 6-8 hours on low?
Don’t take my word for it.
I would certainly try it if you want to, though.
What do these taste like?
Well, they’re sweet and salty.
But they’re also nutty from the butter that kind of browns with cooking.
The sugars caramelize and it’s also a bit spicy but not like super spicy.
It’s just a back of the throat heat and warms you up but not like blowing fire out of your mouth spicy.
If you like recipes for ribs, you may like these too:
- Beer-BQ Baby Back Ribs for Two
- Hoisin-Glazed Spare Ribs
- Honey Garlic Baby Back Ribs
- Honey Chipotle Ribs
Make sure to pin this image below to save the recipe to make later!
Tender Oven-Baked Honey Butter Ribs
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 racks (2 rack) baby back ribs, about 5 pounds
For the honey butter sauce
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
For the spice rub
- 1 ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground mustard
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250 °F (121 °C) and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, preferably double-lined. Additionally, have two-four large pieces of aluminum foil, the length of the racks of ribs, set aside.
- In a bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the honey butter sauce. Set aside.
- Prepare the ribs by removing the silver skin from the back of the ribs.
- If your rack of ribs are large, you can cut them in half. Place the ribs, skin-side up (meaty side down on the foil), on the prepared pieces of foil.
- Evenly distribute and pour 3/4 of the honey butter sauce between the racks of ribs and rubbing it in with your hands on both sides. It’s okay if it drips down the side onto the aluminum foil. You’re going to fold them up and make them into pouches anyway.
- Once the ribs are rubbed, fold up all sides of the aluminum foil to basically make a package with your ribs then place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Place into the oven for 4 hours. During this time, DO NOT open the pouches to peek. Just let them cook.
- In the meantime, whisk together ingredients for spice rub and set aside.
- Once time is up, remove the baking sheet from the oven then turn the oven to 400 °F (204 °C).
- Carefully open the rib pouches and brush the ribs with the remainder of the honey butter sauce and drippings and sprinkle the spice rub on top.
- Place back into the oven to bake for an additional 7-10 minutes; just until the outside crusts and browns a little.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving!
I am so happy I found your recipe!! I was looking for something different, because I always default to BBQ ribs & I was wanting something with a less heavier sauce & this recipe was delicious! Tossing it back in the oven that second time, at 400 added such a nice crisp to the ribs. The meat fell right off the bone, as usual & the sauce was easy to make & even better when tasting!
thank you for the review! i’m so glad you found this recipe too and enjoyed it!
I meant can this rub be used on beef ribs
yes, definitely
Can you se this rub on beef ribs
Ribs turned out great, wanted something different than typical ribs with BBQ sauce. But the s
auce…I don’t know if mine turned out the way it was supposed to, but melted butter with brown sugar and honey? Sounds delicious but mine did not turn into one cohesive sauce. All of the brown sugar was at the bottom, and just plain melted butter floating on top. Did I do something wrong? I tried heating it in the pan for longer and the sugar caramelized and turned into like BBQ candy 😂. Some guidance please!
hi Marina, it’s not supposed to be a cohesive sauce. what you explained is what is expected. and yes, heating up the sugar like that will definitely just turn it into hardened sugar! ha
Ok, but not amazing…meh
Hi I’m going to use boneless pork ribs. How long would I cook them in the slow cooker and would I still need to foil them in the slow cooker? Thanks
probably 3-4 hours on high would work if they’re boneless. no you shouldn’t need to foil them but if it will help with clean up, i would suggest it.