Wasabi Barbecue Baked Spareribs

These amazing ribs are sweet and savory and will melt in your mouth.  They have all of the flavor of barbecue ribs, but prepared right in your oven.  Wasabi gives these meaty ribs a unique taste, but kids will enjoy them as well.

Japanese barbecue is very popular, but Japanese barbecue normally requires that you cook your food at an indoor grille at your table, which means people have to go out to a restaurant if they want to enjoy this style of cooking.  And for Americans who love to grille, sometimes it is too much work when you just want a quick and easy meal.  If you love barbecue but want something that you can cook indoors without the inconvenience of setting up your grille, then this is the answer for you!

We eat these ribs about once a month.  Living in Japan, we don’t have a built in oven: however we use a Balmuda Convection Oven, which is an amazing product that I highly recommend for those who need a microwave/convection oven.

 

Wasabi Barbecue Baked Spareribs

The secret to these ribs is in the dry rub – the brown sugar and paprika blend with the juices of the meat and infuse it with a sweet and smoky taste.  The ribs are baked over relatively low heat and rolled in the rub for a second time during baking.  The wasabi adds taste but not too much bite, but check out the notes below if you want to add some more heat.

You can seal up and save any unused dry rub in an airtight container – it goes great on chicken, beef and pork.  But make sure you throw out any unused dry rub if you have rolled raw meat in it.

PREP COOKING YIELD
10 minutes 50 minutes 8-12 ribs
PREP 10 minutes
COOKING 50 minutes
YIELD 8-12 ribs

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 – 2 lb pork short ribs (8-12 ribs)
  • Dry Rub

Dry Rub Mix

  • 1/4 cup granulated brown sugar
  • 3 TBSP Paprika
  • 1 TBSP Salt
  • 1 TBSP Black Pepper
  • 1 TBSP Onion Powder
  • 1 TBSP Garlic Powder
  • 1 tsp Ground Cumin
  • 1 tsp Wasabi powder

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 300 degrees F/150 degrees C
  • Coat each rib by rolling in the dry rub being sure to completely cover it

  • Line up the ribs in a foil lined baking pan

  • Bake for 30 minutes
  • Remove from the oven and roll the ribs in dry rub one more time. Put back in the baking pan with the opposite side up.  Bake for 15 more minutes.  Finish by broiling at 400 degrees F/200 degrees C for 5 minutes.
  • Serve.  Garnish with scallion, parsley or cilantro if desired.

Notes:

  • This recipe is for mildly spiced ribs.  To spice them up, add more wasabi to the rub.  I recommend adding one more tablespoon of wasabi powder if you want your ribs to have a strong bite and even more if you want blazing hot ribs.
  • If you do not have wasabi powder, you can add mustard powder or even leave it out altogether.
  • This dry rub can also be used on chicken, other types of pork, and beef.
  • These ribs will taste like they came right off the barbecue.  Enjoy and let us know what you think!

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