St Louis Style Ribs Recipe (Oven Baked )
Learn how to make the perfect St. Louis Style Ribs. Oven Baked St Louis Style Ribs Recipe – made in the oven, covered in bbq sauce, these ribs are so tender, sticky and delicious! Grilling option available in the recipe notes.
These Oven Baked St Louis Style Ribs are one of my favorite family dinners.
They are so easy to make, too!
Why are they called St Louis Style Ribs?
The name St. Louis Ribs comes from the cut of the meat, not the seasoning or sauce used.
These ribs are baked in the oven, but they are perfect for a summer meal.
And of course you can make these oven baked St Louis style ribs for Memorial Day Weekend, at the same time you do all the grilling.
What are St. Louis Ribs?
St. Louis-style spare ribs are cut in a particular way with the sternum bone, cartilage and rib tips removed so that a well-formed, rectangular-shaped rack is created for presentation.
This cut of ribs originated with numerous meat-packing plants located in the region in the mid 20th century and put into the policy by a diehard fan of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. St. Louis style ribs are often a class entry in barbecue competitions.”
How to prepare Ribs for cooking?
- Step 1: Remove from the packaging and rinse with water. Pat dry with paper towels.
- Step 2: Remove the membrane on the bottom of the ribs.
- Step 3: Apply the dry rub. You can leave it on for 15 minutes to up to a few hours or start cooking the ribs.
- Step 4: Preheat oven to 350F. Place rack in the middle. Wrap ribs in aluminum foil. Place ribs on a baking sheet and bake for 2 hours, or a little less, until tender.
- Step 5: Remove ribs from foil and generously brush with barbecue sauce. Return to the oven and bake for 20-25 more minutes, until sauce has warmed up and turned darker. Cut into individual ribs. Serve.
How to cook St Louis Cut Ribs?
- These St Louis Ribs are baked at 350F in the oven, wrapped in foil and there is no way they can overcook, get dry or burn.
- You first make the ribs in the oven, seasoned and wrapped in foil, until they are almost done, but not fall off the bone.
- Then you baste them with barbecue sauce (homemade or store bought ), and bake for 30 minutes longer.
- Yes, that’s right, I bake them at 350F, which is relatively high temperature, compared to other recipes. It works just fine.
- I first rub the ribs with a mix of spices, wrap them in foil and bake them for 2 hours in the oven.
- After that, I brush them with a generous amount of barbecue sauce and bake them for another 15-20 minutes, unwrapped.
When is the best time to make ribs?
This recipe is perfect for any time of the year, because it requires minimal effort and tastes amazing!
I usually use store-bought barbecue sauce and this time I used Heinz The Carolina Vinegar Style Tangy Sauce has been a favorite in my house this year!
But really, any barbecue sauce would work!
And it is perfect for these oven baked St Louis style ribs.
Why buy these instead of Baby Back Ribs?
You may be curious, why did I choose St Louis Cut ribs, over baby back.
I always cook St Louis Style Ribs at home and order Baby Back when I’m at a restaurant.
They have more fat and are a lot more flavorful.
And St Louis Style are less expensive to purchase than Baby Back. St Louis Style ribs also require longer cooking time, since they are bigger.
Can these ribs be cooked on the grill?
Some people like to cook ribs in the oven and then finish them on the grill.
I personally rarely do so, because it makes a mess.
If you’d like to finish cooking your ribs on the grill, after you add the barbecue sauce on them, cook for 20-25 minutes on the grill, on low heat, flipping once.
Update!!!
I’ve received numerous comments and you guys seem to love this recipe.
I’ve received a lot of questions on how to make these St. Louis ribs on the grill.
I personally prefer making them in the oven, because they take around an hour and a half of cooking on the grill at temperature between 350F – 400F (not higher!) and this is a lot of time for me to spend around the grill, plus it takes a lot of gas (not cheap!).
If you’d like to cook these St. Louis Style Ribs on the grill, follow these steps:
- Rub ribs with the seasoning
- Preheat grill to 350F. Wrap ribs in aluminum foil and grill for 60 minutes.
- Unwrap the ribs, brush with barbecue sauce, wrap and grill for 15 more minutes. Unwrap again, brush with sauce again and wrap in the foil . Cook for 15-25 more minutes until tender.
Can St Louis Style Ribs be smoked?
Yes, absolutely! Check this Smoked Ribs Recipe that I posted in September of 2018. They are so good!
Sides to serve with ribs
Oven Baked St Louis Style Ribs
Ingredients
- 3-4 pounds St Louis Ribs
- 1 cup (or more if needed) Barbecue sauce of your choice
- For the spice rub:
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
Instructions
-
Combine all ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl. Rub both sides of the ribs with it. Let ribs absorb the spices for at least 15 minutes.
-
Preheat oven to 350F. Place rack in the middle.
Wrap ribs in aluminum foil. Place ribs on a baking sheet and bake for 2 hours, or a little less, until tender.
-
Remove ribs from foil and generously brush with barbecue sauce. Return to the oven and bake for 20-25 more minutes, until sauce has warmed up and turned darker.
Cut into individual ribs. Serve.
Recipe Notes
- Rub ribs with the seasoning
- Preheat grill to 350F. Wrap ribs in aluminum foil and grill for 60 minutes.
- Unwrap the ribs, brush with barbecue sauce, wrap and grill for 15 more minutes. Unwrap again, brush with sauce again and wrap in the foil . Cook for 15-25 more minutes until tender.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 788, Fat: 41g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 251mg, Sodium: 3568mg, Potassium: 1367mg, Carbohydrates: 33g, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 24g, Protein: 67g, Vitamin A: 1955%, Vitamin C: 0.4%, Calcium: 119%, Iron: 4.5% 
Made these again tonight for a backyard socially distanced dinner with our daughter and her man. She’s not much of a meat eater but enjoyed 2 and her guy had 6 – he loved them. For me it’s simple – this is the only way I will ever to ribs. Thanks so much!
Delicious!!! This was my first time making ribs and the flavor was absolutely delicious. Thanks Mira!
Amazing!!!! Best ribs I’ve ever made. Absolutely falling off the bone.
I’m so glad you liked them!!!
Delicious recipe! I’ve made this twice now and it is absolutely fantastic. (I did substitute date syrup for the sugar and that has worked out well.) It seems like one could use this for baby back ribs, but I’m wondering how that would affect the cooking times.
Hi Jonathan, yes, this will work for baby back ribs. For sure the cooking time should be reduced (I’d say with 1/3). I usually bake Baby Back ribs in the oven for 1.5 hours at 350 F (in foil), then uncover from the foil and bake for 15-20 more minutes.
I made this today. I didn’t have garlic powder or cayenne pepper, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. They were freaking awesome, fall off the bone tender and delicious.
Excellent recipe. Ribs turned out tender, flavorful, juicy, and crispy on the outside. Even hubby liked them, and he’s a grill hard-liner!
I made it and it was so delicious! I also shared the recipe with my friends. Thank you!
the Ribs came out fantastic! I didn’t put any bbq sauce on and cooked them on the bbq grill! Delicious!
Just finished making these, absolutely fantastic recipe, highly recommend people to try this!
Just made these today.. So easy to make.. This as my first time making them but My family loves them
This was my first time making them as well and they came out excellent! I increased temp to 400 for 10 minutes because I like them a little more crispy. Delicious!!
These are hands down the best ribs we’ve ever eaten. The instructions are banged on! Thanks so much for sharing we are eating them all.
I have a 1.31lb rack of St. Louis ribs, would the baking time be the same?
Thanks!
Yes, the same baking time.
Your rub recipe was awesome on our St Louis Ribs. The only thing I changed was I did a slow roast and baked them at 250 degrees. 4 1/2 lbs St Louis ribs, I cut the membrane off the back and cut the slab into 4 sections, used your rub recipe and then placed them on a rack meat side down inside of a roasting pan with foil lined on the bottom, and then covered the pan with foil. I slow roasted them at 250 degrees for about 2 hours, took them out and flipped them over and covered them with foil again and put them back into the oven for another 1 -1/2 hours. I took them back out of the oven, removed the foil completely, brushed a small amount of BBQ sauce over the top of the ribs, put them back in the over, did not cover them this time, and baked them for another 30 minutes. OMGOSH, they were so juicy, tender, and with your rub recipe, the taste was amazing! Thank you for your rub recipe!
Best ribs EVER!!!! They were fall off the bone tender and so flavorful. I think they were better than my local rib joint! Will definitely make these again.
Very tasty and easy … will definitely make this again.
Love this recipe, making it for the second weekend in a row today, thank-you!
Quick question, in the photo’s it looks like you’ve sprinkled flat leaf parsely on at the end but its nowhere in the ingredient list, or instructions. Thoughts?
Thanks,
Hi Jo-Anne, glad you like the recipe. The flat leaf parsley is totally optional and used only for garnishing. You can add it, if you’d like to. Have a great day!
Hi Mira, What a fantastic recipe! I made one rack tonight and it was tender in 90 minutes, so I added my favorite sauce, cooked the ribs 20 more minutes and they were delicious! Thank you for an easy, wonderful recipe!
Helpful hint, drop oven temp to 275F, after saucing, for the last 1/2 hour. 🙂
Great! Thank you!
It was my first time making ribs ever, and they came out delicious! I do think I’ll let the rub sit on the meat for a few hours before cooking next time. I let the rub sit for 15 minutes before putting them in the oven. I felt like some of the meat was not as flavorful as others. It may have just been the cut though. However, the meat came out tender and fell right off the bone.
Pure vegetarian !!!!
Love this St. Louis Style Ribs recipe , Never even heard about this recipe ,will definitely gonna try this one this weekend . Thanks for sharing this one.
Hope you like it!
These Style Ribs. Oven Baked recipes seems delicious and amazing one , one of my best non veg recipe. Thanks for sharing this one
Second time I’ve made these. They are
Soooooo good!! I did exactly as the recipe. Totally fall off the bone. Will be in my repertoire of recipes.
I made this today. The ribs come out tender but a little too hot (spicy) for my taste. I followed the instructions exactly and added 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper to the dry rub. If you like mild spicy ribs then it’s fine but if you are not that into heat then consider reducing the cayenne pepper to a 1/4 teaspoon or skip it altogether. One thing I do want to mention is that the instructions for baking in the oven neglect to tell you that the last part after basting the ribs in bar-b-q sauce requires to you cook for 20 minutes uncovered. I will definitely use this recipe again because it’s so convenient but I will make minor tweaks here and there to suit my preferences. I encourage others to do the same.
Thanks for sharing this Ribs Recipe, super excited to try this one
OMG, this is a great recipe, I rubbed the ribs first with yellow mustard and then followed the recipe. So tender, fall off the bone. Will definitely do this again.
Perfect instructions – ribs came out tender, juicy, and fall off the bone goodness! The only “fix” I will do next time is leave out the cayenne pepper. This made the ribs way too hot (and I like spice!) 🙂 I ended up wiping the rub off of the ribs with a paper towel and putting additional BBQ sauce on them and broiling them for a few minutes. Thank you for the recipe! It is great!
Made the ribs today. They are so good!
I’m just wondering, how is it it goes from 350 in oven for almost 2 hrs to grill at 350 for an hr..? I mean I know grills are usually slightly harder to control flare ups for some but the math doesn’t make sense?
Damn good ribs!!! I’m never allowed to cook ribs because, frankly, I mess them up every time! I took a chance with this receipe to redeem myself and BAM!!!!! I not only redeemed myself but now I’m the rib cooker from now on! Im am so excited to have found this recipe!!! Thank you times a million!!!!!
I was going to smoke some ribs this afternoon, but the wind is whipping, and it is pouring….so plan be is Mira’s oven baked ribs. I’ll let you know what I thought later tonight!
These ribs are so easy and wonderful!! They were a hit with our whole family.
Thans for sharing this recipe:)
I forgot to give it 5 stars!!! This recipe was awesome…my whole family loved it….and it made me look great too!!
Thanks,Sharon
My family thinks these ribs taste better than those served at our favorite BBQ restaurant! The only change I made was to leave out the cayenne pepper, but otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly, and my family loved them! Thanks for an excellent recipe!
I followed the recipe exactly and would not change a thing. They were perfect and delicious. I’ve always done St. Louis ribs on the grill. These were much more tender. The rub is amazing.
Absolutely love this recipe!! I’ve used this once before but not with the rub. This is the first time using it love it!!