This Chinese spare rib recipe is exactly what you want in a Chinese takeout-style or restaurant-style BBQ rib—a little sweet, juicy, and full of nostalgia!
Our recipe comes from my father, who cooked Chinese food in the Catskills of New York back in its heyday and ran his own Chinese restaurant for 10 years.
Not only are we sharing my father’s recipe with updated photos (we first published this recipe in November 2013, not long after we started The Woks of Life), we also have a VIDEO showing you how to make it—along with some memories & family taste tests!
My father’s cooking background (TLDR: he really knew how to make chinese spare ribs!)
I learned this Chinese Roasted Ribs recipe from my father, a Cantonese immigrant who found work as a cook here in the U.S. He cooked Chinese and American food for thousands of visitors to the Catskills, where I grew up, and later ran his own Chinese restaurant, Sun Hing.
In their heyday, people would pile in from New York City to the Catskills summer resorts. People call it the Borscht Belt now, because most vacationers were Jewish New Yorkers, but it was just home to me. By the 1970s, the region was no longer at its height of popularity, but there were still many large resorts and hotels catering to thousands of visitors every summer.
My father started out working as a roast cook in these resorts (most notably, Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel). He then moved on to become the head chef at a local Holiday Inn in Liberty, NY, where they served continental cuisine and Chinese food.
We’d hand out a menu with two sections, where the 12 oz. Junior Steak, Long Island Duckling, Cordon Bleu, and Chicken Marsala sat alongside the shrimp with lobster sauce and Moo Goo Gai Pan.
Soon, word got around about the Holiday Inn’s restaurant, and the mostly Jewish guests vacationing at Grossinger’s about a mile away would come to take a break from Kosher food.
This is where I made my first foray into the restaurant world. I worked there for 4 summers as a bus boy clearing and setting tables and kitchen man making Caesar salads, chopping vegetables, boiling lobsters, and making shrimp toast.
I quickly learned that a Chinese Chef is only as good as his BBQ ribs. How delicious (or not) your Chinese roasted ribs were, was one of the standards of measure in those days for being an accomplished Chinese American chef. Only the head chef could or was allowed to make the BBQ sauce.
When my father showed me how to make his Chinese spare rib marinade in a 5-gallon bucket, he told me that no one else would teach me how. Every chef kept his recipe a closely-guarded secret.
I have fond memories visiting my father in that kitchen when I was younger. (And still not old enough to work.) I would sneak to the back of the kitchen and use my handy pocketknife to cut off a sliver of meat just as it came out of the oven. It was totally worth the risk of being scolded for nicking food! My father would later use this recipe at the take-out restaurant he opened in New Jersey.
Well, with those summers in the Catskills behind us and many of these nostalgic recipes disappearing, I’m sharing my father’s secret with you today. While we used to make this recipe in a 5-gallon bucket at a time, I have scaled it down for the home cook to make enough for 1 rack of ribs. Let’s get to it.
Chinese SPare Ribs Recipe Instructions
In a medium bowl, make the BBQ sauce by combining the garlic, sugar, salt, ketchup, hoisin sauce, ground bean sauce, Shaoxing wine, pineapple juice, five spice powder, white pepper, and red food coloring (if using, for that classic restaurant look). Reserve 3 tablespoons of the marinade, and set it aside in a small bowl.
Rub the whole rack of St. Louis ribs with the rest of the sauce, and marinate on a sheet pan or in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate the ribs overnight or up to 2 days.
Not Sure what St. Louis Ribs are?
Check out our full guide to Pork Ribs, where we break down different cuts of pork ribs, what they are, and how to cook them!
When ready to cook, remove the ribs from the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty foil and place a metal rack on top.
Place the ribs bone side up on the wire rack, and transfer to your preheated oven.
Before closing the oven, pour 1½ cups of water into the pan below the rack. This prevents any drippings from burning or smoking and keeps the ribs moist. Roast for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the reserved marinade with the maltose or honey, and heat it up in the microwave or bring it to a simmer in a saucepan. Stir until the maltose/honey have dissolved into the sauce. You’ll use it to baste the ribs.
Next, carefully remove the ribs from the oven (careful of any remaining water in the bottom of the pan!) and flip the ribs. Add more hot water to the bottom of the pan; it should cover the bottom of the pan in a thin layer. Roast for another 30 minutes.
Cover the entire pan with a piece of aluminum foil and continue roasting for 30-60 minutes. (30 minutes for ribs with a bit of bite to them, which is what we like, or 60 minutes for more tender ribs)
Remove the ribs from the oven and baste them on both sides.
Add more hot water to the pan if needed, and roast for another 10 minutes. Repeat this step, basting the ribs on both sides again and return them to the oven for the last 10 minutes.
Remove the ribs from the oven, cover with foil, and rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving!
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Recipe
Chinese Spare Ribs (Restaurant Secret!)
Ingredients
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon ground bean sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon pineapple juice
- 1 teaspoon five spice powder
- 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
- 8 drops red food coloring (optional, for the old-school "look)
- 3 pound rack of St. Louis ribs (trimmed pork spare ribs; 3 pounds/1.35kg = 1 rack)
- water
- 2 tablespoons maltose (or honey)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, make the BBQ sauce by combining the garlic, sugar, salt, ketchup, hoisin sauce, ground bean sauce, Shaoxing wine, pineapple juice, five spice powder, white pepper, and red food coloring (if using). Reserve 3 tablespoons of the marinade, and set it aside in a small bowl.
- Rub the whole rack of ribs with the rest of the sauce, and marinate on a sheet pan or in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate the ribs overnight or up to 2 days.
- When ready to cook, remove the ribs from the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty foil and place a metal rack on top.
- Place the ribs bone side up on the wire rack, and transfer to your preheated oven. Before closing the oven, pour 1½ cups of water into the pan below the rack. This prevents any drippings from burning or smoking and keeps the ribs moist. Roast for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine the reserved marinade with the maltose or honey, and heat it up in the microwave or bring it to a simmer in a saucepan. Stir until the maltose/honey have dissolved into the sauce. You’ll use it to baste the ribs.
- Next, carefully remove the ribs from the oven (careful of any remaining water in the bottom of the pan!) and flip the ribs. Add more hot water to the bottom of the pan; it should cover the bottom of the pan in a thin layer. Roast for another 30 minutes.
- Cover the entire pan with a piece of aluminum foil and continue roasting for 30-60 minutes. (30 minutes for ribs with a bit of bite to them, which is what we like, or 60 minutes for more tender ribs.)
- Remove the ribs from the oven and baste them on both sides. Add more hot water to the pan if needed, and roast for another 10 minutes. Repeat this step, basting the ribs on both sides again and return them to the oven for the last 10 minutes.
- Remove the ribs from the oven, cover with foil, and rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving!
