Deliciously sticky and moorish, these ribs are great for entertaining. Once you start, it’s hard to stop – make sure you provide plenty of nap- kins for your guests! The marinade for this recipe also goes great with chicken.
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Sticky Chinese Pork Spare Ribs
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 2 hrs 30 mins
Total: 2 hrs 40 mins
Ribs, Slow Cooked
Asian, Chinese
Servings4 - 6
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Deliciously sticky and moorish, these ribs are great for entertaining. Once you start, it’s hard to stop - make sure you provide plenty of nap- kins for your guests!
Ingredients
- 2 kg / 4 lbs meaty pork ribs , cut into single rib pieces
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp shao xing wine
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp brown sugar or honey
- 4 tbsp tomato sauce or ketchup
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp sambal oelek
- 6 cloves garlic , finely chopped
- 2 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
- 1 tsp salt
- Sesame seeds , coriander, shallots and red chilli to garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Mix marinade ingredients together in a bowl or freezer bag. Add the ribs and marinate for at least an hour, or overnight if possible. You can freeze the marinaded meat if you wish.
- Before cooking, let the ribs come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 160C/320F.
- Pour the ribs and all the marinade into a baking dish large enough so the ribs are in a single layer, but not so large that they are too spread out.
- Add water up to about 1/3 of the way up the ribs. 6 Cover tightly with foil and place in oven to cook for approximately 1.5 hours.
- Take out of the oven, remove the foil and touch the ribs – they should be quite tender, but not falling off the bone. The marinade in the baking dish should still be quite watery.
- Turn the ribs over, then return the baking dish to the oven without the foil. After 20 minutes, take the ribs out – they should be nicely browned and starting to char. Turn the ribs, then spoon the marinade over, then return to the oven for another 10 to 20 minutes.
- The ribs are done when they are falling off the bone, sticky and glossy and the marinade has reduced down to a thick sauce coating the ribs.
- Rest for 5 minutes. Garnish with coriander, sesame seeds, julienned shallots and sliced fresh red chilli.
The flavours of these ribs were so delicious!! The sauce didn’t quite thicken so the ribs weren’t quite sticky, but they were so tasty we didn’t even mind. Served with your delicious veggie stir-fry. You’re making me a superstar in the kitchen 🤗 thank you
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Priscilla! N x
Best rib recipe and I’ve tried a few!
That’s awesome, thanks so much Glynis! N x
I’m making this right now for the third time, it is that delicious!! Such a perfectly balanced marinade, and the flavour of those ribs is amazing, thankyou so much for the recipe!
Hi nagi I’ve got spare ribs but they are cut into cubes off the bone will this recipe still work ?
Hi Sue, the recipe will work but the cook time will be different depending on the size of the pieces. N x
Hi Nagi can this be done in the slow cooker?
Not this one sorry! N x
Too late I tried and failed miserably ! The pork didn’t even cook after nearly 8 hours! I will make the exact way you say next time
Made the Sticky pork ribs last night, They were juicy, saucy and just the right amount of spice. To team it up I also made your sesame noodles as the accompanying dish, they were also delicious… Brilliant….
Wahoo, that’s great Jan! N x
Five stars!! So delish. Made it twice and love it. Thanks for sharing!
You’re so welcome Aster, I’m so glad you love it! N x
These ribs are delicious! I doubled the marinade and made Sticky Chinese Chicken wings at the same time served with Veggie Fried Rice. Great #stayathome covid 19 meal- my teens said it was better than the takeout!
YUM!! Sounds great Penelope
They turned out great mind you I haven’t tried your original. In short what I did was follow your sauces recipe. I then used half to coat around 6 pounds of ribs. I then vac sealed them and sousvide them for 8 hours at 165f. I then dried them off and broiled until slightly crisp I then cooked the other half of your sauce and sauced them and put the under the broiler again until caramelized. I have a pic I’ll try to post to you Facebook page…the flavours went completely through the ribs.
Sounds absolutely wonderful Chuck!!
They were the hit at the CNY party
Have you ever tried these as sousvide? I will make these this weekend as sousvide I think they will be great. Any tips would be appreciated though.
Hi Chuck, No I havent – love to know how they turn out though, keep me updated!
They turned out great mind you I haven’t tried your original. In short what I did was follow your sauces recipe. I then used half to coat around 6 pounds of ribs. I then vac sealed them and sousvide them for 8 hours at 165f. I then dried them off and broiled until slightly crisp I then cooked the other half of your sauce and sauced them and put the under the broiler again until caramelized. I have a pic I’ll try to post to you Facebook page…the flavours went completely through the ribs.
Hi Nagi! Im a huge fan! Im allergic to soy and hoisin sauce has it! Can i leave it out or is there a sub?
Hi Joy, Just add another tbls of oyster and sugar in place of the hoisin – N x
Hi, Nagi. I have made about 30 of your recipes and I am a big fan. I tried this rib recipe and I found that it produced a lot of liquid. With all that liquid, the ribs were tender but I wasn’t able to produce the “stickiness”. Should I have cooked it on a rack? Maybe I put in too much water? Any suggestions? I’m not ready to give up on this recipe. The marinade is amazing!
Hi Ann, if the ribs produced too much liquid, you can always remove it from the oven and reduce on the stove, then proceed to baste the ribs – N x
I can find the ingredient “shao xing wine. Is there something else I can substitute? Thank you for your help.
Hi Valerie, dry sherry would also work here too – N x
My family don’t like spicy food, so I was wondering if I can leave out the sambal oelek or should I substitute with something else. Thank you.
Just leave it out Valerie, you’ll love it!
It’s for dinner tonight and it just came out of the oven! I’d leave you a picture here, but you don’t allow uploads and I’m not on IG……Smells good! Might have to sneak a taste before dinner!
Oh!!! I hope you love it T!
They were a hit! We demolished the plate and there were two left for lunch the next day.
I might have to confess to adding extra sambal… 🙂
I have just tucked these in and put them to marinate in the fridge overnight (made some subs to suit my lockdown-pantry) and I am SO EXCITED that these are in my near future! Thanks in advance Nagi 😊
Hi Nagi This recipe for Sticky Pork Ribs sounds delicious and I am looking forward to making it next weekend. I am wondering if it would work in my slow cooker. What do you think if I use the slow cooker from instructions 2-6 then finish the ribs off in the pre heated conventional oven from note 7 onward.?
I am so glad I found your website. I have used several of your recipes now and they have all been easy to follow and delicious results..
Hi Barbara, that should work fine! I hope you love them – N x
hi Nagi, I made this now. Did not use oven but just a covered, heavy pot on my stove top (I have never tried cooking something Chinese in an oven) turned out to be great. I added some star anise to make it taste more Chinese. Looking forward to try more of your recipes 😄 p.s please give Dozer a big hug from me! it’s because of him that I keep on loking at your site he he!
That sounds great Annabelle, I’m so glad you liked it! Typical Dozer, always getting more attention than my recipes 😉
Nagi, I don’t know how I only just discovered your blog/ site in the past couple of months, but I LOVE it! Such good photos and directions and always tastes good. If it’s on your site I can trust it will be good. So thanks, I look forward to trying these 🙂
Hello Nagi,
I make your barbecue ribs braised in cider quite a lot but complete that stage in the pressure cooker before finishing in the oven as per your instructions.
Is it possible that you might do a similar one for chinese spare ribs whereby I could do the first main stage in the pressure cooker…..pretty please Nagi!!!
Susan.x
Hi Susan! Remind me if you don’t see one in the coming months and I can add notes to this recipe! N xx
These ribs are amazing. My husband says they’re the best he’s ever had. Easy recipe and look really impressive with the sesame seeds, coriander and shallots sprinkled over the top.
I love hearing that Sharon!! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it! N x