Country-style spare ribs are a fall-off-the-bone tender alternative to traditional ribs. They are cheap, easy to make, and SO good! This might just be your new favorite pork recipe!
One of my favorite meals growing up was country-style spare ribs with boiled or baked potatoes… falling only slightly behind my all-time favorite meal of beef roast with mashed potatoes and gravy. 😁
Not a huge surprise, I suppose, that all our children are big “meat and potatoes” people.
There’s something about these easy comfort foods that just draw us around the table, especially since we almost all spring for second helpings!
Why you’ll love country-style spare ribs.
For starters, country-style ribs are significantly less expensive than traditional ribs… and they offer a much higher “meat-to-bone” ratio.
They are also extremely tender and juicy (if you cook them correctly!)
And if you don’t enjoy being in the kitchen all day or if you simply don’t have the time, large cuts of meat are the way to go (in my opinion).
There’s no chopping and dicing, no sautéing or simmering, no 18-step recipe to follow.
Just shove the seasoned meat into the oven (or in a slow cooker) and let it cook all afternoon while you do whatever else you need to do.
Oh, and did I mention the meat tastes absolutely AMAZING? It literally falls off the bone — no knives needed.
Have I convinced you yet?
Ingredients for Country Style Spare Ribs
- 3-5 pounds Country Style Spare Ribs or Western Spare Ribs
- 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
- 1/4 c. white vinegar
- 1/4 c. soy sauce
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1/4 c. ketchup
- 1 Tbl. Dijon mustard (or whatever you have in the house)
- 1 Tbl. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp. minced onion
How to Make Country-Style Spare Ribs
1. Preheat oven to 300ºF
2. Mix flour, salt, and pepper in the bottom of a baking dish big enough to hold your meat.
3. Roll ribs in flour mixture until fully coated and place in baking dish.
4. In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix the remaining “wet” ingredients.
6. Pour sauce over pork, trying to cover as much of it as possible.
7. COVER, and bake in a preheated oven for 3.5 to 4 hours (or 6-7 hours on low in a slow cooker).
8. Enjoy the melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness of this easy pork recipe!
9. Refrigerate leftovers (if you have any) in a food storage container for up to a week.
FAQs for Country Style Spare Ribs
YES! I love making it in the slow cooker if I’ll be gone all day and need it to cook longer. Simply follow the instructions through step 7, except cook on low for 6-7 hours in the slow cooker.
Definity! You could simplify this recipe even more by pouring ready-made BBQ sauce over the pork. The meat will still be fall-of-the-bone tender, but the taste will be quite different. My family prefers the taste of my homemade sweet ‘n sour sauce, but any of your favorite BBQ or other sauces should work as well.
Yes it does, but we never have enough left over to freeze! It’s great as leftovers for a few days (store it in the fridge). However, if you want to freeze it for later, just make sure to freeze it with some of the extra sauce/juice so it doesn’t dry out when you reheat it.
Since the sauce doesn’t make good gravy, we usually stick with baked potatoes or boiled potatoes. You could also do pasta, rice, or quinoa as well. We usually serve it with a couple of different veggies, fruit, applesauce, and bread too! A salad would also be a great side for this meat.
Traditional spareribs (baby back ribs) are thin strips of meat separated by rib bones. Country-style ribs, however, are not actually ribs (go figure!) They are from the shoulder area and have much more meat.
Country-style ribs can be boneless, but I usually buy bone-in ribs as I think they cook up more tender.
Country Style Spare Ribs
Country-style spare ribs are a fall-off-the-bone tender alternative to traditional ribs. They are cheap, easy to make, and SO good! This might just be your new favorite way to eat pork.
Ingredients
- 3-5 pounds Country Style Spare Ribs
- 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground pepper
- 1/4 c. white vinegar
- 1/4 c. soy sauce
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1/4 c. ketchup
- 1 Tbl. Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbl. Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp. minced onion
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 300ºF
2. Mix flour, salt, and pepper in the bottom of a baking dish big enough to hold your meat.
3. Roll ribs in flour mixture until fully coated and place in baking dish.
4. In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix the remaining “wet” ingredients.
5. Pour sauce over pork, trying to cover as much of it as possible.
6. COVER, and bake in a preheated oven for 3½ to 4 hours (or 6-7 hours on low in a slow cooker).
7. Enjoy the melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness of this easy pork recipe!
8. Refrigerate leftovers (if you have any) in a food storage container for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1/2 cupAmount Per Serving Calories 551Total Fat 28gSaturated Fat 20gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 30gCholesterol 229mgSodium 566mgCarbohydrates 38gFiber 1gSugar 29gProtein 47g
Nutritional information is approximate and does not account for additional ingredients or added toppings.
What was one of your favorite childhood meals?
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Kimberley Carlisle says
I have been making these for years! Ever since you posted it on your blog the first time! We are huge fans of it and I love that I can cook it in the slow cooker all day. This is in my monthly rotation of recipes 🙂
Andrea says
yay — thrilled you have enjoyed this recipe for so many years! We have too 🙂
Erin says
This looks really good. I use my instant pot for most meals so I might try to adapt this recipe to that. Wondering if I need to add more liquid though. Thank you for all the wonderful recipes.
Andrea says
Hi Erin, sorry for the delay. I don’t have an instant pot and I’ve never cooked in on so I have no idea how to advise you on the liquid question. However, I will say that these are VERY juicy and liquidy when I take them out of the oven!
Liane says
Erin, unless you ask the butcher to cut these they will not fit in a standard 6 qt Instant Pot. We get our pork from ButcherBox and I order baby back ribs occasionally. They bend so they fit. This is my go-to recipe for them. It calls for a rub, which I make in bulk and keep in a pint jar, and it saves time. You still need to cook them first in the instant pot and then finish on grill or in oven. https://damndelicious.net/2018/07/22/easy-instant-pot-bbq-ribs/
Chris says
Those sound and look absolutely delicious. I never knew the different types of ribs, love them at restaurants but usually are not too tender at home. Now, I’ll have to try these.
Andrea says
Thanks Chris — like I said in the post, country-style ribs aren’t actually “rib” meat or bones. I’m not sure why they are called that… but they are… and they are delicious! In general, I’m not a fan of traditional baby back ribs, but I’ll eat these country-style “ribs” any time!
Sarah says
I tried this recipe using about 2# of chicken breasts. DELISH! I’ll definitely be keeping this one around.
I wanted to have chunks of chicken to add to the rice/veggies for Sweet N Sour Chicken, but the chicken was so tender, I couldn’t cut it. No problem, I just shredded the chicken and put it back in the slow cooker til we were ready to eat. It soaked up some of the liquid and was perfect. Made me think of shredded BBQ chicken with a SnS flavor 😉
Connie says
I was wondering if I could use a different form of pork for this recipe ? I buy quite a bit of pork when it is on sale like tenderloin and loins ?
Joy Eckstein says
Yes! It is good on other cuts 🙂 I wanted to try the sauce but don’t usually get ribs. Was still wonderful. I also wash, poke and wrap potatoes in foil then place them on top of the meat. The potatos come out so tender!
Andrea says
good to know — thanks Joy!
Liz says
This was so delicious!! My kiddos ate it up without any complaints…full belly + empty plate = successful dinner! Thank You!
Andrea says
yay! glad everyone liked it!
Tricia says
Hi Andrea!
I just want to say I really love your website and your children are adorable!
Thank you so much for all your recipes and tips!
I do have a question for you….what does Western Spare Ribs mean? Is that the same as Country Pork Ribs and are their any bones in the ribs?
Thank you so much for your time!
Tricia C.
Andrea says
Thanks Tricia!
“Western Spare Ribs” is just what is says on the package of meat I buy from the store — I’m guessing that Country Pork Ribs would be very similar if not exactly the same.
Our ribs do have bones — actually, here’s a link to an image that looks EXACTLY like the western ribs I buy. Hope that helps!
Tricia says
Thanks Andrea!!!
The link was very helpful!!! They look like Country Ribs. I will definitely be making this recipe. By the way…we love the Wet Burrito recipe!!!
Wishing You and Your Family Holiday Blessings!!!
Fondly,
Tricia Cucchiaro
Andrea says
ok good — glad it helped!
Also, those wet burritos are fabulous, aren’t they 🙂
allison says
so, I’ve had this on my list to try for ages. Finally did it tonight…but can’t figure out what happened. Followed the recipe exactly and it came out with TONS of liquid. The meat didn’t come out with that rich “carmelized” outing, but more swimming in flavored broth. Any hints??
Andrea says
That’s what is supposed to happen Allison! Since there is nothing to thicken the “broth” (like flour or cornstarch) it will stay as very liquidy broth. It’s not a like a gravy as you can see from the pictures of the meat on our plates, we don’t pour the sauce over top either. It’s just sort of the cooking liquid that gives it tons of flavor… did it still taste good?
If you want, you could remove the meat from the broth, transfer the broth to a sauce pan and then add some flour to thicken it up into a gravy.
allison says
I’m not looking for a gravy…your pictures look like there’s a nice brown coating of flavor on the outside. Mine came out NOT having that (they were completely submerged in the liquid). Mine looked like the meat had been boiled. Make sense? the outsides didn’t “brown.”
Andrea says
The only thing I can think of is that you’re slow cooker is smaller than the one I used so the liquid came up way over the meat for the entire cooking process. Otherwise I’m not sure. I used a very large oval slow cooker so the meat probably wasn’t covered as much. One idea you could try is to rub some “Kitchen Bouquet” over the meat before you put it in the slow cooker. That will at least give you your color 🙂
Nancy says
Trying this today! I started it in my crock-pot before I left for the office this morning. I’ve got a late work engagement but I’ll be eating it as soon as I arrive home (hubby has instructions to take it out as well as bake the potatoes!). Can’t wait to try it.
Living So Abundantly says
My absolute favorite meat in the slow cooker uses this recipe(although she puts it in a Dutch oven, I have always used my slow cooker for this): http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fayes-Pulled-Barbecue-Pork/Detail.aspx
This isn’t meat, but this is the best applesauce I’ve ever had. I’m from Michigan, and since you have access to those delicious McIntosh apples, I would recommend this recipe if you don’t have a favorite yet:
http://livingsoabundantly.blogspot.com/2011/10/homemade-applesauce-slow-cooker-style.html
JoAnn C. says
I cook so many dinners, desserts and sides in the slow cooker each week. If you wrap your potatoes in parchment paper or aluminum foil you can put them into the cooker with your main dish and all will be done at the same time. I do love liners, they make life so much easier.
Deni says
Hi Andrea, glad you’re back! Thanks for all of your great recipes, I have tried so many of them. I even have a meal planning notebook with them in it : ) Today, I put thawed boneless chicken breasts with a little water in the crockpot on high and just 4 hours later I could shred them with a fork! I leave the broth in and add a little barbeque sauce and will keep them warm til dinner. So easy and great for HOT days when I don’t want to use the oven.
Kimberley says
My favorite crock pot recipe is a chicken enchilada soup that I make. Slow cooks for 8 hrs…perfection!
Katie says
Looks delicious! One of my favorite meats to make in my slow cooker is Italian Chicken. It is one bag of frozen chicken breasts, a dry Italian dressing packet, and about a half a jar of pepperocinis (and a little water). Cook it for about 7-8 hours and then shred the chicken (it shreds very easy after cooking all day). You can eat it on dollar rolls. We are watching our carbs so sometimes we just put it in a pile with shredded cheese on top. I’ve even made “nachos” with it. Tortilla chips, chicken, cheese and salsa!
Thanks for all your great posts! I’m glad you’re back!
Patsy Dodgson says
Andrea, Where do you buy country ribs with the bones?
Patsy
Andrea says
Our grocery stores already have them — but keep in mind, they look NOTHING like regular ribs. They look more like a roast. The bones are big, again, nothing like actual “rib bones”.