Gordon Ramsay's BBQ Ribs

Published August 19, 2020

Y’all loved Gordon Ramsay’s meatball recipe with coconut broth, so I decided to challenge myself to another one of his recipes for this week’s blog.

Ingredients for Gordon Ramsay’s BBQ Ribs

Buying Extra Ingredients

I bought pork loin baby back ribs when I went to the store for last week’s meatball recipe. As for the other ingredients, I knew I already had ketchup, soy sauce, and brown sugar for the BBQ sauce.

If you’re going to the store to buy your protein, you may want to buy a backup bottle of ketchup and soy sauce. I didn’t think this recipe called for a lot, until I used nearly the whole bottle of soy sauce and opened a new bottle of ketchup.

No Recipe Adjustments

When I first converted the ingredient amounts for this recipe, I was thinking that I didn’t need as much soy sauce and ketchup as Gordon Ramsay called for.

I was hesitant that the final BBQ sauce would be overly sweet or salty. In the end, I decided to follow the recipe completely, without making changes, to see how it turned out for the first time. It was 100% perfect, and I was glad I didn’t tweak any amounts or add additional ingredients.

How to Make Gordon Ramsay’s BBQ Ribs

Tools for this Dish

• A large skillet for cooking the BBQ sauce and one for browning the ribs

• An oven-safe skillet/pan/tray for baking the ribs (I used the same pan that I made the BBQ sauce in)

• Measuring cups, wooden spoon, tongs

• Cutting board and knife

Cooking Notes

I decided to use my largest cast iron pan and make this (nearly) a 1-pot meal. Gordon Ramsay’s original recipe didn’t specify that you should brown your ribs beforehand, but I assumed that having a crust on the outside would help give them color, so I did it anyway.

Considering you’re going to crisp the ribs up during the second half of the cooking process, this might be an unnecessary step. If you decide not to brown them, let me know how they turn out by leaving a comment below!

During the second half of the baking process, the goal is to get the BBQ sauce to darken like a glaze. After 25 minutes I was worried that my ribs were burning. They weren’t — it was the sauce touching the sides of the cast iron pan, that smelled like it was burning. In the end, the sauce tasted amazing, so be sure to let your ribs cook uncovered for the full amount of time.

My cast iron pan was blisteringly hot, so I let it sit for 10 minutes before I plated the ribs.

I spooned some of the BBQ sauce over each rib, and quickly removed it from the pan with tongs. I tried not to lift it using the bone, because I could already see that the meat was falling away (that’s how you know they’re going to be good).

I served these ribs as an afternoon snack before dinner. We devoured them in no time, and everyone agreed that they were spectacular.

Recipe Score

I would give Gordon Ramsay’s BBQ Ribs a 12/10 for the following:

• Recipe Level

  • Easy: As I say with most recipes that bake in the oven for hours, you don’t need to be perfect. Your garlic and onion don’t need to be identical slices when chopping, just small enough to dissolve into the BBQ sauce when baking.
    
    When cooking your BBQ sauce, be sure to keep stirring, so it doesn’t burn (especially after adding the brown sugar). Once you place your ribs in the oven, you don’t even have to turn them — as you do when cooking braised spare ribs.

• Ingredients

  • This BBQ sauce uses common pantry ingredients. The only items for this recipe that you may have to go to the store for are the fennel seeds and protein.

• Prep

  • There’s no prep involved with this dish. I personally like to pre-measure and layout all of my tools for the dish beforehand, which you may consider prep.

• Flavor

  • 12/10: These are the best ribs of my life. The sauce is not sickeningly sweet — which I worried it would be for the amount of ketchup and brown sugar that’s in it. However, the addition of the soy sauce and the hours in the oven turn it into a savory, sticky BBQ sauce. Paired with these fall-off-the-bone ribs, you have a guaranteed hit for BBQ-lovers!
    

K. Martinelli Makes Gordon Ramsay’s BBQ Ribs

Thanks for Visiting

Looking for a side to make with your BBQ ribs? Browse my side dishes here.