Name: Sticky Glazed Pork Ribs Three Ways
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 185 min
Total time: 205 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Pan-Asian
Ingredients: 3 racks baby back pork ribs, about 2 lb each; 3 tbsp light brown sugar; 1 tbsp kosher salt; 2 tsp chinese five-spice powder; 2 tsp garlic powder; 2/3 cup hoisin sauce; 1/3 cup honey; 3 tbsp soy sauce; 2 tbsp rice vinegar; 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce; 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated; 4 green onions, thinly sliced; 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds; 1/3 cup roasted salted peanuts, crushed; 1/3 cup store-bought fried shallots

Sticky Glazed Pork Ribs Three Ways

4.9 from 357 home cooks Free

Three racks of baby backs, rubbed with five-spice and brown sugar, bake low and slow under foil, then get painted with a hoisin-honey glaze and blasted under the broiler. Each rack wears its own crunchy topping: scallion and sesame, crushed peanuts, or crisp fried shallots. A feast built for a crowd with plenty of napkins.

Prep

20 min

Cook

3 hr 5 min

Total

3 hr 25 min

Serves

Level

Medium

Cuisine

Pan-Asian

Method

Step 1: Heat the oven to 275F. Flip the racks bone side up, slide a butter knife under the thin membrane at one end, grip it with a paper towel, and pull it off.
Step 2: Mix the brown sugar, salt, five-spice and garlic powder, and rub it over both sides of the ribs. Wrap each rack tightly in heavy-duty foil and set them on two sheet pans.
Step 3: Bake 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the meat has shrunk back from the ends of the bones by about 1/2 inch and a rack sags deeply when lifted from the center with tongs.
Step 4: While the ribs bake, simmer the hoisin, honey, soy sauce, vinegar, chili garlic sauce and ginger in a small saucepan for 5 minutes, until slightly thickened.
Step 5: Unwrap the ribs, pour the drippings into the glaze, and simmer 3 to 4 minutes more to reduce. Line the sheet pans with fresh foil and lay the ribs meat side up.
Step 6: Heat the broiler with a rack about 6 inches from the element. Brush the ribs thickly with glaze and broil 3 to 4 minutes, until bubbling and dark in spots. Brush again and broil 2 minutes more.
Step 7: Cut the racks between the bones or leave them whole on parchment. Scatter green onions and sesame on one rack, peanuts on the second and fried shallots on the third, and serve the extra glaze on the side.

Kitchen note

Wrapping the ribs in foil traps steam that melts the connective tissue without drying the surface, and the glaze goes on only at the end so the sugar caramelizes instead of burning during the long bake.