These tender fall-off-the-bone pork ribs are generously coated with a tangy and spicy Indian spice rub. Bake them in the oven low and slow and then slather them with a sweet and sticky tamarind sauce!
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These ribs are so delicious and are made in the oven low and slow. Pair these ribs with Indian masala corn on the cob and a watermelon chaat mocktail for the perfect Indian-inspired BBQ.
Ribs to purchase
For this recipe, you want to purchase pork baby back ribs, spare ribs, or St. Louis style ribs. They are all similar cuts that come from between the shoulder and back leg. However, spare ribs and St. Louis style ribs are from the belly portion, so they contain more fat and less meat than baby back ribs that are from the top portion of the rib cage.
Dry rub ingredients
The spice rub is so tangy, sweet, and spicy on its own that if you don't like saucy ribs you can eat these ribs with just these seasonings. Let's get into the ingredients that make up the spice rub:
- Fennel seeds are ground into a powder for the spice rub and add a sweet, herbal, and licorice-y taste to the ribs.
- Sugar in the spice rub helps with caramelizing and getting a sweet taste to balance the heat.
- Chaat masala is a lip-smacking spice blend that has warm aromatics like cumin, coriander, mango powder, and black salt all mixed together to add a tangy, sweet, and earthy flavor to the ribs.
- Kala namak (Black salt) is a sulfuric-smelling ingredient that adds a tanginess and sourness to the spice rub that makes it pop!
- Kashmiri chili powder adds heat to the spice rub. I prefer Kashmiri chili powder for its smoky and subtle heat; however, if you are going to substitute another type of chili powder, add ½ the amount. You can always add more but you can't subtract as easily.
- Fine sea salt is so important to help season the fatty cuts of meat and make all of the flavors pronounced in this dish.
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Buy Now → Tamarind date sauce
The tamarind and date sauce that is used as a glaze for these ribs is the tangy, sweet, and sour sauce commonly used to flavor Indian chaats. I typically prefer to make a large batch using my homemade tamarind date sauce recipe or you can get the store-bought variety at your local Indian store. Just make sure that both the words tamarind and date are in the labeling when you purchase it from the store, as you don't want a sauce that only has the tamarind without the sweetness from the dates.
Buy Now → Tips for cooking ribs in the oven
- Pat ribs dry before adding dry rub! Removing excess moisture from the ribs is going to allow the spices to stick onto the ribs more evenly.
- Tear off the white membrane located on the back of the ribs. The membrane or film that is on the back of the ribs is tough even after cooking, so it's best to remove it for fall-off-the-bone ribs.
- Allow the ribs to dry brine in the spice blend overnight. You can get away with adding the spices an hour before the you are ready to cook the ribs, but the longer you allow the spices to sit on the ribs, the better that they will be seasoned throughout.
- Tightly wrap the ribs in foil, making sure the seam side of the foil and the meaty side of the ribs is facing up. Tightly wrapping the ribs ensures that the juices that render from the meat don't have a chance to leak out.
- Heat the oven to a low 325F to cook the ribs slowly. The slower you cook the ribs, the more time they have to get tender and fall off the bone! If you increase the cook temperature too much, the meat will cook through faster than the fat has time to render and the pork has time to soften.
- Brush on tamarind-date sauce and use the oven's broil setting to help get the sauce to stick and char on the ribs.
FAQ
This ribs recipe cooks the ribs at 325F for 2.5 hours. However, you can set the temperature even lower to 275F and cook the ribs for even longer to get a fall-off-the-bone tender texture.
Yes! Tightly wrap the ribs in foil to ensure that they cook evenly and seal in the juices.
Yes. Slow cook the ribs in the oven for 2.5 hours as directed in the recipe but finish the ribs directly on the grill once you coat the ribs with tamarind date sauce to get the char marks.
Yes. You can bake the ribs 1-2 days in advance. However, brush the tamarind date sauce on the ribs before you are ready to serve and broil on low or until the ribs are warmed through!
For this recipe, source pork baby back ribs, St. Louis style ribs, or spare ribs. Baby back ribs have more meat but are less fatty compared to the other two cuts.
Related Recipes
Looking for other recipes that pair perfectly with these ribs? Try these:
Indian Style Pork Ribs with Tamarind Date Sauce
Product Reccs
Ingredients
- 3 - 3 ½ lbs pork ribs (baby back, spare ribs, or St. Louis style)
- 1 ½ teaspoons fennel seeds
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons chaat masala
- 1 teaspoon kala namak (black salt)
- 1 ½ teaspoons Kashmiri chili powder
- 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- ⅔ cup homemade or store-bought tamarind date sauce (Note 1) plus more to serve
Instructions
- Prep 3 - 3 ½ lbs pork ribs (baby back, spare ribs, or St. Louis style) by removing them from the package and onto a cutting board. Pat ribs dry with paper towels.
- Flip the ribs to the backside where there will be a white membrane. Use a knife to help get underneath the membrane. Then use your hands to get a grip of the membrane and slowly pull the membrane off. The membrane is tough even after cooking, so it's best to remove it from the ribs.
Make spice rub
- Use a spice grinder or mortar and pestle to grind 1 ½ teaspoons fennel seeds into a fine powder.
- Mix the fennel powder with 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons chaat masala, 1 teaspoon kala namak (black salt), 1 ½ teaspoons Kashmiri chili powder, and 2 teaspoons fine sea salt.
Add dry rub to ribs
- Use one hand as the hand that touches the meat and the other to sprinkle on the spice blend. Using the spice rub hand, sprinkle the dry spice on both sides of the ribs.
- Grab a sheet tray big enough to hold the ribs.
- Tear off a large piece of aluminum foil so it can completely cover the underside and fold over to the top of the ribs. Place the foil on the sheet tray followed by the ribs. Tightly wrap the ribs, using more foil as needed to create a closed pouch. Keep the meaty side of the ribs facing up.
- Place the ribs on a sheet tray in the fridge for at least 1 hour; it is best to let the rub work its magic overnight.
Bake the ribs
- Heat the oven to 325F.
- Place the sheet tray with ribs (meat side facing up) on the middle rack of the oven for ~2.5 hours. Poke a thermometer into the foil and check the temperature of the meat; it should be ~190F and the meat should be falling off the bone.
- Carefully remove ribs from the oven and allow the foil to cool enough to touch. Hover ribs over a small bowl and cut a small slit in the side foil to allow the juices and fat to fall into the bowl.
- Open up the foil and brush ⅔ cup homemade or store-bought tamarind date sauce on both sides of the ribs. You may have excess sauce and you can leave that on the side for dipping.
- Place the ribs back in the oven on the top rack with the meat side up, turn the broiler on high, and let char for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce gets a deep brown color. Keep a close eye on the ribs to ensure that they don’t burn.
- Serve with extra tamarind date sauce on the side.
Notes and Tips
- (Note 1) - You can easily make homemade tamarind date sauce using my recipe or you can get the store-bought version from the Indian grocery store.
- You can alternatively slow cook the ribs in the oven until they are tender and bring them out to the grill for the last bit of charring!
- If you don't have Kashmiri chili powder, substitute with ½ the amount of a regular chili powder as Kashmiri chili powder contains less heat than other varieties. You can always add more chili but not take away!
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