1-2-3-4-5 Ribs is a dish that’s come in and out of my consciousness with an almost mystical quality. I didn’t know the origin of the name, nor had I ever tried it. But every so often, I’d hear of it again and wonder what everyone else seemed to know that I didn’t!
So when I heard recently from a cousin that it’s her go-to rib recipe and that her kids love it, I finally was able to demystify the dish that’s eluded me all these years.
So Why Is It Called 1-2-3-4-5 Ribs?
I don’t know who invented this wickedly tasty Chinese rib recipe, but when you see a name like 1-2-3-4-5 Ribs, you know it’s going to be easy.
Basically, the 1-2-3-4-5 refers to the ratios of 5 basic ingredients: Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar, and water. The result is a sticky sweet and sour sauce that perfectly coats the ribs.
Depending on whether you prefer your sweet and sour sauce to be primarily sweet or sour, you can feel free to switch around the sugar and vinegar ratios (use 4 tablespoons vinegar and 3 tablespoons sugar as opposed to the other way around).
Just one word of advice—restrain yourself from changing the recipe in any other way! Even I had to control myself, because I wanted so much to add some dark soy sauce to make the color a little darker. But I decided to have faith, and as you can see, the black vinegar helped do the job nicely! In this case, the basic simplicity of the dish really works.
I will say that 1-2-3-4-5 ribs do call for a fair amount of sugar, so make it as an occasional treat. That said, I’m very glad this recipe is no longer a mystery to me!
1-2-3-4-5 Ribs: Recipe Instructions
Select meaty ribs, and have the butcher cut them into 1.5” to 2” long pieces. Rinse and pat dry with a paper towel.
Preheat a wok until it starts to smoke lightly (see my post on how to prevent food from sticking to a wok). Add 2 tablespoons oil, along with the ginger slices. Over medium heat, fry the ginger for 1 minute.
Add the ribs.
Turn up the heat to high, and take a few minutes to brown both sides.
Turn down the heat, and add in:
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine…
2 tablespoons light soy sauce…
3 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar…
4 tablespoons sugar…
And 5 tablespoons water.
Stir and mix everything well. Turn up the heat to bring it to a boil.
Once boiling, cover and reduce the heat to medium/low. Simmer for 25 minutes (20 minutes if the ribs are less meaty than mine). Halfway through the process, check to make sure the liquid is not drying up. If so, reduce the heat further and add in a little more water if needed.
After 25 minutes of simmering, remove the lid. There should be quite a bit of liquid left.
Time to turn up the heat to reduce the sauce and make the ribs glisten. With the heat on high, continuously stir and toss the ribs. This process takes only a couple of minutes.
Reduce the liquid until there is ¼ cup of liquid left and the ribs are gleaming with sauce! Serve immediately.
1-2-3-4-5 Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds pork ribs (680g, the meatier the better, cut into 1.5- to 2-inch pieces)
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 4 slices ginger
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 5 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Select meaty ribs, and have the butcher cut them into 1.5” to 2” long pieces. Rinse, and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Preheat a wok until it starts to smoke lightly (see my post on how to prevent food from sticking to a wok). Add 2 tablespoons oil, along with the ginger slices. Over medium heat, fry the ginger for 1 minute. Add the ribs, turn up the heat to high, and take a few minutes to brown both sides.
- Turn down the heat, and add in 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine, 2 tablespoons light soy sauce, 3 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar, 4 tablespoons sugar, and 5 tablespoons water. Stir and mix everything well. Turn up the heat to bring it to a boil.
- Once boiling, cover and reduce the heat to medium/low. Simmer for 25 minutes (20 minutes if the ribs are less meaty than mine). Halfway through the process, check to make sure the liquid is not drying up. If so, reduce the heat further and add in a little more water if needed.
- After 25 minutes of simmering, remove the lid. There should be quite a bit of liquid left. Time to turn up the heat to reduce the sauce and make the ribs glisten. With the heat on high, continuously stir and toss the ribs. This process takes only a couple of minutes. Reduce the liquid until there is ¼ cup of liquid left and the ribs are gleaming with sauce! Serve immediately.
nutrition facts
Made this without the sugar. I don’t like sweet food. It was fantastic and easy. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Glad you liked it, Rita.
I have pork ribs that have been pressure cooked with black beans for soup. Can I use them in this recipe? If so what do I adjust to this recipe? Cooking times and water quantity?
The pork ribs are too soft at this point, you can just eat the ribs with some dipping sauce like light soy sauce or our dumpling sauce.
A family favourite. Made this so many times! Easy to cook and most important it’s so yummy. The ingredients are simple and easily available too. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe
You are so welcome, Pamela. How great is that!
So interesting. I have to try this version. I know this recipe as Wuxi Ribs and clearly there must be a lot of ways to make it. My son, who taught me to make Wuxi Ribs, spends 1/2 his time in Shanghai and 1/2 his time in the USA, uses the same ingredients but in far different proportions. (It also takes about 3 hours to make. I like your quicker version!) The result is also a sweet/tangy/sticky sauce coating the yummy ribs.
So glad you enjoyed this quicker version, I like to save time too :-)
Hi! This recipe looks delicious and I plan on making them this week. Can you advise if I can throw these into a slow cooker after browning to tenderize the meat? In Texas we cook our ribs, “low and slow”. Was considering to cook them during the day and then complete the last step in the wok. Let me know what you think!
You can try, Katina.
Hi Judy! Do you think I can replace black vinegar with rice vinegar? Thank you!
Yes, you can.
My family loves this recipe…especially my picky 10 year old. Are there other cuts of pork that you would suggest? Ideally looking for something boneless (again, catering to the picky 10 year old).
Hi Susan, stick to ribs because that’s the best cut with the best texture. The next cut is pork belly. You can try this pork belly recipe also?
I made this with country style pork ribs (they’re boneless) because they’re inexpensive, and it turned out amazing. I just cubed the meat like it calls for and did everything else the same, except I used white vinegar.
So glad you tried and enjoyed it :-)
Funny thing is, my Shanghainese family calls this tang cu pai gu! So ever since I was a child, I’d order tang cu pai gu thinking I’d get this but I didn’t- not to say it wasn’t delicious regardless :). My father’s recipe often has more sauces and less reducing due to personal preference, so it was interesting seeing other takes on this dish, and to finally find out the name of the dish. Thank you!
Hi Helen, here is our Shanghainese tang cu pai gu recipe. It’s different than 1-2-3-4-5 ribs. :-)