The Trick To Reducing Oven Time For Ribs

If there's one thing that certain regions fight over, it's who has the best BBQ, especially when it comes to ribs. In Kansas City, for instance, hickory wood is used for smoking, while the meat is flavored with either a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce or a dry rub with brown sugar, paprika, and loads of other spices. Memphis-style ribs, on the other hand, utilize hickory or fruitwood, as well as thin BBQ sauces for "wet" ribs and a well-balanced seasoning mix for "dry" ribs, per Webstaurant Store.

Ribs are certainly not shy about highlighting such flavors, but the method of cooking is just as important. As D'Arcy's Meat Market notes, grilling, smoking, boiling, braising, and roasting (or a combination of these methods) all yield succulent ribs. But today, we're going to shift the focus to oven-baked ribs.

To make those BBQ pitmasters proud, Inspired Taste suggests removing the membrane from the ribs, seasoning them well, then baking the ribs using a low 'n slow method. But before placing the ribs in the oven, be sure to follow this important step to speed up the cooking process.

The benefits of wrapping ribs in foil are endless. For starters, Tuscon explains that the use of aluminum foil is akin to braising ribs, which makes them ultra-tender. After baking, you could also finish the ribs on the grill (while wrapped in foil with BBQ sauce), which will allow the sauce to really sink into the meat without over-caramelizing (aka, burning) it. BBQ Host adds to this by stating that heat and moisture can't escape from the foil-wrapped ribs, which reduces the cooking time.

Per Southern Living, you're only looking at about 98 minutes total, which breaks down into the following: Thirty minutes in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, then an additional hour in the oven with braising liquid added to the foil packets (be sure to wrap them back up), then about eight minutes under the broiler with sauce brushed over the ribs. The above steps are for one rack of ribs, wrapped meat-side down in heavy-duty aluminum foil.

You don't need to eat out at a restaurant or fly down south to enjoy tender and well-seasoned ribs. Just use your oven and some aluminum foil to cut down on the overall cooking time.