These dutch oven pork ribs are flavor blasted to the max with a tangy, zesty, Thai style BBQ sauce. Simply cook them low and slow for an epic feast that will have everyone begging for seconds.
Table of Contents: Dutch Oven Pork Ribs
Table of contents
Make sure to keep scrolling past the recipe card for a deep dive into this dutch oven pork spare ribs recipe.
Dutch Oven Pork Ribs Recipe
Dutch Oven Pork Ribs
These dutch oven pork ribs are flavor blasted to the max with a tangy, zesty, Thai style BBQ sauce. Cook em’ low and slow for an epic meal!
4
servings25
minutes4
hoursIngredients
- Ribs
1 Rack Pork Spare Ribs – 3-4lbs
1.5 Tbsp White Pepper
1.5 Tbsp Garlic Powder
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar or Palm Sugar
3 Cinnamon Sticks
2 Star Anise
2-3 Kaffir Lime Leaves (optional)
1 cup water
- BBQ Sauce/Marinade
1/2 cup Tamarind Concentrate
1/4 cup Oyster Sauce
1/4 cup Lime Juice
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar or Palm Sugar
1 Tbsp Red Pepper Chili Flakes
- Garnish
Cilantro – stemmed
Peanuts – crushed
Directions
- Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs. To do this, slide a knife under the membrane at one end of the rack and gently lift it away. Cut your ribs into 2-3 rib sections. Season the ribs on both sides with salt, white pepper, garlic powder, and palm sugar/brown sugar. Place the seasoned ribs in a large dutch oven.
- In a small to medium mixing bowl, whisk together the lime juice, oyster sauce, tamarind concentrate, red pepper flakes, and brown sugar. Pour half of the sauce over the ribs, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to overnight. Reserve the other half of the sauce for glazing and extra table side dipping.
- Preheat the oven to 275F. Toss a couple cinnamon sticks, star anise, a couple kaffir lime leaves, and a cup of water in with your dutch oven pork ribs and cook for 3 hours.
- Once your dutch oven pork ribs are to your desired tenderness, take them out and transfer them to a baking sheet. Turn your broiler on and baste the ribs with the reserved sauce. Return them to the oven, on the top shelf, and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes. The edges should be slightly charred and the sauce caramelized.
- Serve over a bed of jasmine rice, or on their own. Garnish with cilantro, sea salt, and any of the extra tamarind sauce. Enjoy!
WTF are “Thai-Style” Dutch Oven Ribs?
Don’t overthink it Susan, “Dutch oven ribs” refer to ribs that are cooked in a Dutch oven, which is a heavy, thick-walled cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid. Cooking ribs in a dutch oven low and slow cooking, braising, or roasting, result in fall off the bone tender pork ribs.
When we talk about the BBQ sauce being “Thai style”, we are referring to preparing it using traditional Thai spices, ingredients, and flavor profiles. Thai cuisine is known for its vibrant and aromatic flavors, which are balance of sweet, salty, spicy, and sour tastes.
We use white peppercorns, garlic, and palm sugar for the rub. Additionally, our marinade and BBQ sauce for these dutch oven pork ribs uses common Thai ingredients like tamarind, oyster sauce, kaffir lime leaves, and chili peppers.
These are some seriously tasty dutch oven pork ribs y/all, so hold onto your butts and keep scrolling for the recipe.
Dutch Oven Ribs Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need for our country ribs recipe! Gab em and get to rib’n!
- Ribs: Pork Spare ribs work well here, cooking them low and slow in the dutch oven renders the fatty cut of ribs. Baby Back, or St. Louis ribs would also work great, just shorten the cooking time.
- Spice Rub: It might be overkill, but we like to do a spice rub in addition to a marinade for these dutch oven pork ribs. We use a combination of White pepper, Garlic Powder, and Palm Sugar or Brown Sugar.
- Tamarind Concentrate: This is the base of our marinade as well as our BBQ sauce. You should be able to find it at any asian supermarket or form the Bezos store, here.
- Oyster Sauce: While this is a Chinese ingredient, its very common in Thai cooking and the salty sweet black sauce helps build flavor in our BBQ sauce.
- Lime Juice: Zesty bright lime juice ties the BBQ sauce together perfectly. Fresh squeezed is preferred.
- Aromatics: We like to toss a couple kaffir lime leaves, cinnamon sticks, and star anise in with the ribs while they are cooking. They adds a nice aromatic flavor.
- Cilantro: Used as a final garnish on these dutch oven pork ribs.
- Peanuts: Totally optional here, I love em, my wife not so much.
- Rice (optional): We like to eat these ribs over a bed of jasmine rice, or pull all the meat off the bones and mix everything together for a fun pulled pork rice bowl.
Baby Back, Spare Ribs, or St. Louis Style?
The choice between these ribs ultimately comes down to your personal taste and cooking preferences. If you prefer leaner, more tender ribs with a milder flavor, baby back ribs are a good choice. They take less time to cook as they are smaller, and they don’t have as much fat and connective tissue to deal with.
If you want something meatier and don’t mind a fattier pork flavor, spare ribs are great, it’s what we use for this dutch oven pork ribs recipe. St. Louis-style ribs are a good compromise between the two, offering a more consistent presentation while still offering a good amount of meat and fatty flavor.
I won’t lie, we usually just go with what’s on sale. But it’s good to know the difference because the leaner baby back ribs don’t require as long of a cooking time.
How to Make Dutch Oven Ribs
Follow these step by step instructions to make this dutch oven pork ribs recipe.
Step 1: Prepare the Ribs
Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs. To do this, slide a knife under the membrane at one end of the rack and gently lift it away. Cut your ribs into 2-3 rib sections.
Season the ribs on both sides with salt, white pepper, garlic powder, and palm sugar/brown sugar. Place the seasoned ribs in a large dutch oven.
Step 2: Marinate Ribs
In a small to medium mixing bowl, whisk together the lime juice, oyster sauce, tamarind concentrate, red pepper flakes, and brown sugar. Pour half of the sauce over the ribs, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to overnight. Reserve the other half of the sauce for glazing and extra table side dipping.
Step 3: Cook the Ribs
Preheat the oven to 275F. Toss a couple cinnamon sticks, star anise, a couple kaffir lime leaves, and a cup of water in with your dutch oven pork ribs and cook for 3 hours.
Step 4: Glaze & Broil
Once your dutch oven pork ribs are to your desired tenderness, take them out and transfer them to a baking sheet. Turn your broiler on and baste the ribs with the reserved sauce.
Return them to the oven, on the top shelf, and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes. The edges should be slightly charred and the sauce caramelized.
Step 5: Garnish & Serve
Serve over a bed of jasmine rice, or on their own. Garnish with cilantro, sea salt, and any of the extra tamarind sauce. Enjoy!
Make it a Rib & Rice Bowl
A unique feature of spare ribs is the presence of rib tips, often including cartilage and connective tissue, which some enjoy for added texture and flavor, and some find off putting. I’m talking about my wife here, shes not a fan of biting into cartilage, which is understandable.
To work around this we’ll pick apart the ribs, removing only the juicy pork and avoiding any cartilage or fatty connective tissue. Then we toss the pulled pork and make mix it into the rice for a fun pork fried rice esc rib bowl.
What to Serve with Dutch Oven Pork Ribs
Pull out all the stops and serve these ribs along with a feast of side dishes, to create a delicious memorable event. Classic BBQ sides like coleslaw, potato salad, or cornbread, never go out of style. Plus they provide a nice balance of textures and flavors.
For a healthier option, slap together a crisp garden salad with an oil and vinegar. Steamed vegetables might not be popular with the kiddos, but they make a great side dish to serve with ribs.
And don’t forget about the pork baked beans, macaroni and cheese, and Hawaiian rolls for a full on fat boy party.
Leftover Dutch Oven Pork Ribs
This dutch oven pork ribs recipe feeds 3-4 hungry people. But cooking them for yourself and having leftovers, is a great option. Just toss your leftover ribs in an air tight container and throw them in the fridge.
They’ll keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. Just reheat them in the microwave or oven.
Dutch Oven Pork Ribs FAQ’s
All types of ribs cook well with this dutch oven method. Try it with baby back ribs, spare ribs, or St. Louis-style ribs, or even beef ribs. For this recipe, we use pork spare ribs.
We add a cup of water to our dutch oven when cooking pork spare ribs to help them not dry out in the long low and cook.
Ribs are done when they are fork-tender and the meat easily pulls away from the bone. You can also use a meat thermometer to ensure the internal temperature reaches a safe level, around 145°F.
More Recipes
If you liked this recipe, give one of these other pork recipes a shot and let us know what you think!
Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin w/ Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce
Boneless Country Style Ribs Recipe (Finger Lick’n Good)
Sous Vide Pork Shoulder – the Perfect Pulled Pork
Crispy Jalapeño & Pineapple Honey Glazed Ham – HOT DAMN!
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