This is how to cook St. Louis-Style Ribs so that they are for tender and flavorful, fall-off-the-bone meat. Cook them the same day or in advance!
These amazing St. Louis ribs start with a flavorful dry rub and get finished with your favorite barbecue sauce. They’re best when slowly baked in the oven to tender perfection. But first, let’s make sure we’re talking about the same cut of meat. So, what exactly are St. Louis Ribs, and what do you do with them?
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
![Cooked St Louis ribs with BBQ sauce piled up on a white plate.](https://cookthestory.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/St-Louis-Ribs-DSC_3816-portrait-1200x1800-1-660x990.jpg)
What Are St. Louis Ribs?
In the store, you will see pork ribs that are labeled as Baby Back Ribs, Country-Style Ribs, St. Louis Ribs, Spare Ribs, and Country-Style Ribs. The recipe below is for St. Louis Ribs, not the other kinds. If you have the other kinds, here’s what you do:
Baby back ribs have more meat on them, and tend to be a leaner meat, similar to pork loin meat. This is how to cook Baby back ribs in the air fryer, and here in the oven.
Country-style ribs are different and involve a mixture of lean mean and juicier dark pork meat. If you have Country-style ribs, cook them like this.
So then, what are St. Louis Ribs and Spare Ribs? They’re actually almost the same thing as each other. These cuts come from the belly and they are fattier and have way more flavor. These are my preference for juicy, flavorful ribs! The difference between them is that the St. Louis ribs have been trimmed of the sternum, cartilage, and rib tips. The spare ribs have not been trimmed.
If you have St. Louis Ribs, you’re very lucky because they’re pretty much ready to cook, no need to do any prep. If you have Spare Ribs, you will need to trim them to get the St. Louis Ribs from them.
Do I Need To Trim St. Louis Ribs?
St. Louis ribs are already trimmed, unlike spare ribs. So if you buy ribs called St. Louis, then you can just jump right into cooking the rib recipe below.
The photo below shows a cut of spare ribs above St. Louis ribs, so that you can see the top length of the spare ribs that gets trimmed away to create St. Louis ribs.
![Raw sparerib above raw st. louis rib.](https://cookthestory.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Sparerib-versus-St-Lousi-Rib-uncut-DSC_3790-landscape-1200x1800-1-660x440.jpg)
If you bought spare ribs, I’ll be posting soon on how to trim them and how to use the resulting rib tips. Because after you trim those spare ribs, you will have yummy rib tips to cook up as well. You can see in the photo below that the spare ribs have been cut into two long pieces. The top piece is the section that you would cut into small rib tips. The bottom section is the St. Louis Ribs.
![Sparerib cut into st. louis rib and rib tips](https://cookthestory.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Sparerib-cut-into-st-lousi-and-rib-tipsDSC_3794-landscape-1200x1800-1-660x440.jpg)
In summary, if you bought Spare Ribs, you will need to trim them. If you bought St. Louis Ribs, you can jump right into cooking. I find it best to cook the ribs all in one piece, the full rack attached and not cut. Then you’ll cut them after they’re cooked into either individual ribs, half racks, or however you’d like.
How To Bake St. Louis Ribs
First, get your oven pre-heated. We want to cook these ribs slowly, so we’re cooking them at 300°F.
Mix up your rib rub seasonings and use on all sides of the ribs. The mixture in the recipe below is sweet and smoky, with brown sugar, smoked paprika, mustard powder, garlic and onion powders, and of course, salt and pepper.
Next, we’re going to use two layers of aluminum foil to wrap up the ribs to seal in their juices. Set the foil-wrapped rack of ribs on a baking sheet. You’ll want to start with the meatier side of the ribs down. In other words, if the ribs each form a subtle C shape, you want the open part to be up and the rounded part down. That rounded part has more meat on it and you want that meat to be in any juices that comes out of the meat.
Bake for an hour and a half wrapped in the foil. Then, you’ll open up that foil packet fully and let the ribs get more direct heat. Continue baking at the same temperature for another hour and a half.
Finishing The Ribs – 3 Options
Once the ribs are cooked, transfer them to a cutting board and cut them into single rib portions, or half racks, or whatever you’d like. Then brush them all over with BBQ sauce. Whether you’re eating them right away or pulling them from the fridge a couple days after baking, you’ll want to get a little bit of a char on them. There’s three methods to do this – grill, broiler, or air fryer.
Grilling the Ribs: If you’ve got the grill going for other dishes like corn on the cob or grilled chicken, it makes sense to finish them on the grill. Grill the St. Louis ribs over medium heat for about four minutes on each side, just until the sauce is darkening in spots.
Broiling the Ribs: If you’d like to finish them in the oven, use the broiler. Set the ribs on a broiler pan about 6 inches from the heating element. Broil till dark spots start to appear, about 4-5 minutes, and then flip and broil for another few minutes.
Air-Frying the Ribs: For the air fryer, they don’t need to be in a single layer, so don’t worry if your air fryer is on the smaller side. Air fry the cooked ribs at 400°F for about 6 minutes, then open the fryer and rearrange them a bit. Continue to cook a few more minutes until they are heated through and have some dark spots.
What Kind Of BBQ Sauce?
You are welcome to use your favorite kind of homemade or store-bought barbecue sauce for these delicious ribs. I’m partial to this homemade smoky BBQ sauce recipe.
How much sauce you use is kind of a personal choice. I don’t like mine very saucy so 3/4 cup for all sides of a full rack of ribs is plenty for me. If you like them saucier, you can add more!
Can I Cook Ribs In Advance?
Absolutely! You can do the three-hour bake time and then let them cool down and store them in the refrigerator for up to three days before eating. Just store them in an air-tight container or large zip-top bag.
Then, when you’re ready to enjoy the delicious St. Louis ribs, complete the recipe by saucing them up, charring them on the grill, under the oven broiler, or in the air fryer. This will also heat the ribs back through which is why we save this step until we’re ready to eat.
More Amazing Rib Recipes
I’m a little bit famous for my delicious pork recipes, so definitely be sure to check all those out here. And below, I’m linking to a few of my favorite pork rib and beef rib recipes for you too.
- Grilled Beef Ribs Recipe
- How to Cook Flanken-Style Ribs
- Instant Pot Ribs
- Instant Pot Short Ribs
- Beef Short Ribs
Podcast Episode: Making St. Louis Ribs
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make these ribs, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print![Cooked St Louis ribs with BBQ sauce piled up on a white plate.](https://cookthestory.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/St-Louis-Ribs-DSC_3821-square-1200-150x150.jpg)
St. Louis Ribs Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours 10 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Oven-bake St. Louis Ribs with this easy recipe that slowly cooks them for tender and flavorful meat. Cook same day or in advance!
Ingredients
- 1 rack of St. Louis ribs (approx. 3 lbs.)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
- 1 and 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. mustard powder
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 3/4 cup BBQ sauce*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, smoked paprika, salt, garlic powder, mustard powder, onion powder, and pepper to make the dry rub. Apply rub all over both sides of the rack of ribs.
- Wrap the rack in 2 layers of foil to get a good seal. Put wrapped rack of ribs meatier-side-down on a large baking sheet. Bake for 1.5 hours.
- After baking for 1.5 hours wrapped in foil, open the foil up fully, pulling it away from the ribs to better expose them to the heat. Bake for another 1.5 hours.
- Transfer ribs to a cutting board. Discard foil and any liquid from the pan.
- Cut ribs into single rib portions. Proceed with the recipe immediately, or transfer cut ribs to a container and put in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- When ready to eat the ribs, brush them on all sides with the BBQ sauce. Then, get a bit of char on them using one of the following three methods. Note that if your ribs are cold from the fridge, this will heat them through as well.
- On the grill: Preheat a grill for direct cooking over medium heat. Arrange the cooked, sauced ribs on the grill in a single layer and cook covered or uncovered until there are some dark spots on the underside of the ribs, 4-5 minutes. Flip and continue to cook on the other side until ribs are fully heated through and dark spots appear on the underside, another 3-4 minutes.
- Under the broiler: Arrange the cooked, sauced ribs on a broiler pan. Set the pan so that the ribs are about 6 inches from the broiler elements. Broil until dark spots appear on top, 4-5 minutes. Flip ribs over and continue to cook until dark spots appear on the tops and ribs are heated through, another 4-5 minutes.
- In the Air fryer: Arrange the cooked, sauced ribs in the air fryer (it’s fine if they’re piled up a bit). Air fry at 400°F for 6 minutes. Open air fryer and move ribs around. Continue to cook until ribs are heated through and have dark spots in many places, about 3-4 more minutes.
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Notes
*If you like super saucy ribs, you’ll want to use extra BBQ sauce.
![St. Louis Ribs](https://cookthestory.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/St-Louis-Ribs-DSC_3816-portrait-1200x1800-1.jpg)
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