Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (2024)

Pork spareribs — also called St. Louis-style spareribs — are suited for all kinds of cooking methods, from slow-roasting to grilling and smoking to braising. Whereas baby back ribs are cut from the top of the rib cage in the loin area, spareribs come from the lower portion, at the belly of the pig. Sparerib racks can be twice the size of baby back; they're meatier and marbled with fat, making them extra flavorful. We've rounded up these sparerib recipes to highlight all the delicious ways the cut can be prepared; try them with a tropical rum-guava glaze, braised for a red chile pozole, marinated in an apple-Asian pear puree, or in any of our other tasty dishes here.

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Rum-and-Guava-Glazed Spareribs

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (1)

Brined in a citrusy sugar solution, smothered in sofrito, and slow-cooked, these ultra-tender ribs are glazed in a fruity, rum-spiked barbecue sauce. In the Dominican Republic and beyond, barbecue maestros use tropical fruits like passion fruit, guava, and pineapple to add a layer of fruitiness and sweetness to their barbecue, especially in their sauces.

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Balinese Sticky Glazed Pork Ribs

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (2)

Sweet, hot, and tangy, these ribs from chef Lara Lee are seriously delicious and easy to make indoors — no grill or smoker required. Kecap manis is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce that forms the foundational sweet and tangy flavor, and sticky texture, of the glaze that coats each bite of these tender ribs.

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Perfect Smoked Pork Ribs

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (3)

If you're looking for a show-stopping rib recipe for your next cookout, look no further than these oven-baked smoked pork ribs. Smoking then baking yields meltingly tender, deeply flavored spareribs that are incredibly satisfying to eat — moist and meaty, with a texture that's tender but not falling off the bone. This Memphis-style rib recipe relies on St. Louis–style spareribs, but the method works for any rack.

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Pozole Rojo

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (4)

Bright with lime juice, this pozole recipe is rich from two cuts of pork — shoulder and spareribs — and savory from hominy and dried ancho and guajillo chiles.

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Sweet and Spicy Spareribs with Korean Barbecue Sauce

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (5)

Top Chefwinner Mei Lin slow-roasts these spareribs in the oven until they're super tender; then she glazes them on the grill with a sweet and spicy sauce spiked with gochujang. She also stirs the sauce into pulled pork, serves it with french fries instead of ketchup, and mixes it with melted butter to toss with fried chicken.

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Cavatelli with Sparerib Ragù

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (6)

This hearty ragù from New York chef Josh Laurano features little riblets and tender chunks of sparerib meat in a rich tomato sauce. Adding pork skin to the sauce makes it extra luscious, pairing perfectly with a glass of tangy Tuscan red.

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Greek-Style Pork Spareribs with Grilled Lemons

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (7)

Chef Michael Symon cooks these honey-glazed ribs on the grill from start to finish. Here, we start them in the oven, then throw them on the grill just before serving for a nice char; if you prefer, you can finish them in the broiler instead of on the grill. To serve, drizzle the spareribs with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and fresh oregano.

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Pork Ribs Vindaloo

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (8)

Chef Floyd Cardoz created this juicy, saucy dish as an ode to his mother's pork vindaloo, using ribs instead of the more traditional shoulder. Serve the spareribs with crusty bread to mop up every bit of the spiced, tangy sauce.

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Mapo Pork Ribs

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (9)

These pork ribs get the “mapo” in their name from a district in Seoul where this marinade style is popular. These spicy, sticky, and sweet spareribs are so tender and easy to eat because of the acidic Asian pear in the dressing and the slashing technique used in preparing the meat.

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Honey-Glazed Spareribs

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (10)

These crispy, sweet-and-spicy pork spareribs are a particularly good example of what’s so great about using a pressure cooker. Pork spareribs typically require very slow cooking — usually braising — to tenderize them before grilling. Here, a pressure cooker does that braising in a fraction of the time.

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Tuscan-Style Spareribs with Balsamic Glaze

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (11)

Meat expert Bruce Aidells loves to barbecue spareribs, but his favorite way to prepare them is to generously season the ribs with a mix of aromatic herbs and spices and slow-roast them until tender and crisp. Like his favorite Tuscan cooks, he finishes the ribs with a simple balsamic glaze.

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Maple-Roasted Pork Spareribs

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (12)

The sweet glaze on these ribs highlights Vermont's fabulous maple syrup. To make it, you'll need half a cup of syrup.

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Ribs with Hot Pepper Jelly Glaze

Marinated, Glazed, or Braised, These Are the 13 Spareribs Recipes to Make Now (13)

Former F&W editor Grace Parisi dry marinates then roasts baby back and spareribs before grilling them with a spicy red pepper jelly glaze. The resulting ribs are irresistibly caramelized.

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