Have you ever cooked something that actually tastes a lot better the next day? Well these Chinese restaurant takeout style spare ribs are a perfect case. A few months back, we posted a recipe for these Chinese roasted ribs. We decided to post it again using the second half of the BBQ sauce that we’d saved from the last rib recipe. The flavors actually intensify over time and really meld together, so don’t worry about making too much! In fact, sometimes we’ll double the sauce recipe and just keep it around for later. It will keep for a few months in an airtight container in the fridge.
This time, we used baby back pork ribs because they’re a bit more tender. It’s all personal preference, of course, but we like these “fun size” spare ribs. They also marinate quicker. Rather than letting them sit overnight, leave them for 4-6 hours. Just add more sauce so that it’s more concentrated. At the Holiday Inn, when we would have a run on ribs, we would marinate them faster by packing on more sauce to speed the marinating process. If you do this, just brush off some of the extra sauce before putting them in the oven.
Take a look at Judy’s Jasmine Tea Rub Ribs for a more exotic yet tasty rib recipe that will also delight your taste buds!
So without further ado, here’s the recipe:
- 5 cloves freshly minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced sweet pineapple
- 1 star anise – ground in a mortar and pestle
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground bean sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree, or 1 tablespoon tomato paste mixed with 1 tablespoon water
- 5 tablespoons ketchup
- ½ tablespoon 5 spice powder
- 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed juice from a tangerine or orange
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground white pepper
- ½ tablespoon paprika
- 2-3 racks baby back ribs
Stir together all the ingredients from the garlic to the paprika to make the BBQ sauce. In a zip-loc bag, add the ribs and half the sauce. Either marinate them overnight, or for 4-6 hours with a little extra sauce. Store the leftover sauce for later use.
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a roasting pan lined with heavy duty foil for easy clean-up. Add about 2 cups of water to the pan so there is about a half inch of water. Place a roasting rack on top of the pan and place your spare ribs on the rack (rib side up) and place in your preheated oven.
Roast for 30 minutes. Flip the racks over and roast for another 45-60 minutes. Add water to the roasting pan as the water dries up during the roasting process. If you like, you can finish them with a couple minutes under the broiler.
Serve these BBQ Chinese spare ribs right out of the oven after they have cooled enough to eat. They are at their best fresh out of the oven!
Take Out Style Chinese Spare Ribs
Ingredients
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon canned pineapple (minced)
- 1 star anise (ground in a mortar and pestle)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground bean sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree (or 1 tablespoon tomato paste mixed with 1 tablespoon water)
- 5 tablespoons ketchup
- ½ tablespoon five spice powder
- 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ½ tablespoon paprika
- 2-3 racks baby back ribs
Instructions
- Stir together all the ingredients from the garlic to the paprika to make the BBQ sauce. In a zip-loc bag, add the ribs and half the sauce. Either marinate them overnight, or for 4-6 hours with a little extra sauce. Store the leftover sauce for later use.
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a roasting pan lined with heavy duty foil for easy clean-up. Add about 2 cups of water to the pan so there is about a half inch of water. Place a roasting rack on top of the pan and place your spare ribs on the rack (rib side up) and place in your preheated oven.
- Roast for 30 minutes. Flip the racks over and roast for another 45-60 minutes. Add water to the roasting pan as the water dries up during the roasting process. If you like, you can finish them with a couple minutes under the broiler.
Nutrition
Matt says
I know a local restaurant that uses duck sauce in their recipe as well, but I don’t know the proportion. Do you have any recommendations on how much of it they might use?
I was also wondering if you know of any uses of the thick sauce on this website: https://wyindustries.com/condiments/
I suspect the thick sauce is used in lo mein or maybe fried rice, but wasn’t sure how much to use.
Thanks!
Bill says
Hi Matt, good question! Wah Yoan was/is the classic brand for bulk Chinese restaurant sauce supplies. This thick sauce is similar to molasses and used for sauces. In the past, it was widely used for fried rice, mostly because of the dark color and deep flavor. Years ago, many restaurants stopped using this thick sauce in favor of yellow food coloring and more salt and msg for rice and lo mein. The lighter color fried rice looked better to most, and there were some people, including restaurant owners who thought the thick sauce had an off-tasting flavor. In my parents’ restaurant many years ago, we used a combination of thick sauce, soy sauce and yellow food coloring for fried rice, which struck a nice balance. For lo mein, rice and other recipes, we use dark soy sauce instead of thick soy sauce, because it’s more readily available, has better flavor and thick sauce is not sold in small bottles. Hope that helps and thanks again for your question!