Apple Butter Spare Ribs

I started off with the idea of apple butter spare ribs a few years back, but never felt I had the sauce quite right. I started off trying to make an apple butter flavoured barbecue sauce with quite a long list of ingredients. Since then I've been putting less and less into the sauce besides the apple butter as this recipe continues to evolve, and the fewer other things I put in, the better I like it. Although I think I've hit some sort of balance here; lots of sweet apple butter flavour, but with a bit of tang and bite. Very easy too, although they do take some time to bake.

2 to 4 servings
2 1/4 hours - 15 minutes prep time


Make the Sauce:
2/3 cup apple butter
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger

Mix these together in a small bowl and set aside.

To Bake the Ribs:
450 to 700 grams (1 to 1 1/2 pounds) pork side ribs

Preheat the oven to 325°F

Cut the ribs into pieces; either individual ribs or portions for each serving. Lay them in a shallow baking dish, e.g. that good old glass lasagne pan for me. Spoon half of the sauce evenly over the ribs. Bake them for 1 hour.

Turn the ribs over, and spoon the remaining sauce evenly over the ribs. Return them to the oven for 1 hour, until they are very tender.




Last year at this time I made Ham and Mushroom Orzotto and Navy Beans Baked with Herbs & Tomatoes.