We are huge BBQ snobs and I’m proud to say: my dad went absolutely feral over these ribs. His favorite BBQ item is far and away ribs so I was quite nervous to try my hand at ribs in his presence and after a few bites of these glorious Maple Brown Sugar Ribs, he empathetically stated that I have to put this recipe on The Rose Table “immediately.” So here we are! Trust me when I say: these ribs are incredible. I’m Texan after all. I know great ribs!
You’ll want about 3.5 hours for these ribs. I cooked them low and slow in the oven for two hours with mustard and an awesome Texas BBQ rub, then I added butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup and wrapped them up snug for another hour in the oven before throwing them on the grill with BBQ sauce to finish them. The result was absolutely divine. We were swooning!
You need the internal temperature of the ribs to be over 195 degrees because that’s when the meat is super tender. Shoot for a final temp of about 200. I pulled the ribs from the oven at about 187 and finished them on the grill and they truly could not have been better.
Serve with my easy crockpot mac ‘n’ cheese or potato salad, grilled corn, and fruit salad.
Note: I’ve written this up for a single rack of ribs, which serves three people, but of course it’s easy to double, triple, or quadruple.
Maple Brown Sugar Ribs
1 rack natural pork ribs (2 pounds)
1/2 Tbsp yellow mustard
Paprika-based BBQ rub
2 spoonfuls brown sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup smokey BBQ sauce (I used Stubb’s)
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the membrane on the back of the ribs by sliding your knife under it and peeling it back (or ask your butcher to do this!)
- Rub mustard directly onto the meat side of the ribs. Set the ribs on a baking sheet or in a 9×13″ dish. Generously season the meat-side of the ribs with your favorite BBQ rub, totally covering it. See the photos for reference. Loosely cover the pan with foil. Bake at 275 for two hours.
- Grab a new sheet of aluminum foil and put three pats of butter, a spoonful of brown sugar, and some maple syrup directly on the foil. Pull the ribs out of the oven and set meat-side down on the maple brown sugar mixture. Add a bit more butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup to the underside of the ribs.
- Cover tightly with foil (careful! they’re hot!) and bake at 275 for another 45-60 minutes. Check the temperature with an instant-read thermometer. They should be at about 185-190 at this point.
- Preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Remove ribs from the oven, remove from foil packet, and toss ribs meat-side down on direct heat with the lid closed for about five minutes.
- Flip and liberally slather your favorite smokey mesquite BBQ sauce on top. Close the lid and grill for another 10-15 minutes or until an instant read thermometer shows a temperature of about 200 degrees. When you pick up one end of the ribs, it should have enough bend that the other half of the ribs stay on the grill.
- Let rest for five minutes, then slice between the bones and enjoy!
Love it? Pin it!
Happy grilling,
Don’t forget to follow/like The Rose Table on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Sign up for The Rose Table’s emails here. Shop The Rose Table here. Follow my blog with Bloglovin.