If you want JUICY (see that drip?!! whoa!), melt in your mouth, so tender that they fall off the bone, Best Barbecued Root Beer Ribs, then you have just come to the right place!!

Ribs are one of our all-time favorites, (*of which I now have 11 recipes on this blog for you to try!), but I don’t cook them on the grill yet!), boil them (god forbid!), nor do I toss them into the crock pot. Nope.

My slow-roasted oven method for ribs just plain works the best for us. They take half the time this way as compared to a crock pot method, (which don’t turn out as tender and juicy), you don’t lose all the flavor into the water when boiling them, and you can make these any time of year versus grilling them for hours on end using up half of your tank of propane or charcoal supply for the year.

Someday I will try slow-grilling them, or maybe in the smoker….but I’ll still have to do a rack this way for the hubs as he doesn’t care for grilled ones at all. No probs. We all like things like we like them, right?

For this method, just prep them by removing the sinew (silver skin) from the back (*see here), coat them heavily with the dry rub on both sides, add a little root beer into the foil pouch underneath and on top, seal, and just let them do their magic in the oven!

(*DO NOT skip the step of removing that yucky stuff of the back. The sinew is really gross, and not permeable. Which means that the seasoning can’t even get through it. So, always, always, remove it. It’s easy to do.)

While they bake, whip up the sauce and simmer it until as thick as you like, about 5 – 7 minutes is all. Then when the ribs are done baking, coat them with sauce, give them a quick trip back to the oven, and that’s all there is to it!

And you are just a couple hours away from the best damn barbecued root beer ribs you’ve ever had the ultimate pleasure of tasting!

And, (yes, there’s another bonus to these!!), by using foil on the baking sheet, and foil to wrap them, the cleanup is a BREEZE. Like…NONE. Who doesn’t love THAT? 🙂

Lip-smackin’, finger-lickin’, plate swipin’, chin drippin’ heavenly goodness!!!

A hunk-a hunk-a pork love!!!!!!  OH yea. Look at that CHUNK that fell off!!

Come to mama, baby!!!

I say PFFFFT!!!! to “rib snobs” who say that they MUST be semi-tough, and semi-dry, and you should have to literally tug and pull the meat away from the bone with your teeth, gnawing at them and never even getting all that delicious meat stuck to the bones. What’s so terrible about meat that falls cleanly off the bone, is juicy as hell, so tender it literally almost melts in your mouth, and are slow-roasted in the oven, right?

I would lose in a rib competition, but these are winners in our house! Just to be clear, nothing against grilling ribs, especially competitors who live to grill them and go by what the “rib rules” are! I just don’t think that it’s the only way they can be, and knock the rest of us!

I do hope you enjoy! These truly are wonderful!!

Yield: 4 - 6 servings

Best Barbecued Root Beer Ribs

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Ingredients

• 1 (approx. 3 1/2 lb.) rack pork baby back ribs, remove sinew (silverskin) from back
• 1 large sheet foil, sprayed

Dry Rub:

• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. sweet smoked paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp. hickory smoked salt
• 1 tsp. dried parsley
• 1 tsp.dried tarragon
• 1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. ground anise seed powder
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. instant espresso powder
• 1/2 cup good root beer, (*regular, not diet)

For Barbecue Sauce:

• 1 cup sweet thick barbecue sauce such as Sweet Baby Ray's
• 1/2 cup root beer
• 1 Tbl. dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cajun seasoning such as Slap Ya Mama
• 1/4 tsp. instant espresso powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground anise seed powder
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 Tbl. butter, salted or unsalted (add last when done)

Instructions

For Ribs:

Rinse ribs if needed and pat dry. Remove sinew from back. Place meaty side-up onto a large piece of heavy duty foil that has been sprayed in the center the size of the ribs.

In small bowl mix together the Dry Rub ingredients until very well mixed. Dump half of it onto the ribs and pat on evenly. Turn ribs over to bone side-up, and coat bone side with rub well, too. Bring up sides and ends, pour in half (1/4 cup) of the root beer into foil pouch lifting ribs up so it gets underneath. Drizzle rest (1/4 cup) over top of ribs, then roll down sides of foil to just touch ribs, then roll up ends to seal. Be careful not to tear foil! Place foil-wrapped rack of ribs onto foil-lined large baking sheet. Let marinate for several hours or overnight, or just bake now.

Place into preheated 300º F oven and bake for 2½ hours. (Make sauce while ribs are baking).

When done, remove from oven. Remove ribs carefully from foil onto another foil-lined baking sheet bone side-up. I do this with large grilling spatulas for ease. Turn oven up to 350º.

While oven temp is rising, coat bone side with half of the sauce. When oven is done preheating, pop back in and bake for 3-5 minutes until just bubbling.

Remove from oven, turn ribs over, coat meaty side with rest of sauce, pop back into oven and bake again until just bubbly, another few minutes. Watch so that they don't burn!

Cut into pieces and let rest a few minutes before serving as sauce will be very hot.

For Sauce:

In medium saucepan, add all sauce ingredients except butter, stir well to mix. Heat over medium-low heat until simmering. Simmer for about 5 - 8 minutes, stirring, until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted. Cover and set aside.