Chipotle Glazed Baby Back Ribs

These were good. Seriously good. Awesome in fact. Yes, I realize to call a recipe 'really good' or 'awesome' is bad blogging. But...these Chipotle Glazed Baby Back Ribs were really that awesomely good.

The recipe for this came from the Rick Bayless Fiesta at Rick's cookbook. I found the dish pretty simple to make though you do have to plan ahead as there is some time spent overnight in the fridge. The rub takes just a few minutes to put together. The sauce takes just a few minutes to put together.  Put the rub on the meat, some time in the fridge, some time in the oven and then just a quick grill with the sauce. These would be great to pre-do for a BBQ. I can see baking these and then taking them to a party to finish on the grill.

There is also some heat in these ribs. I didn't find it very hot at all though Mr. L had a bit of trouble at first (he said his mouth was on fire when he started but the heat mellowed). I saw one review online that stated these had way too much heat for their palate, so I'd be careful if you have trouble with heat from chipotle peppers.

As the recipe states, you'll probably end up with some leftover rub and sauce. No worries. Grab some chicken and grill those. I bought some chicken legs, put some of the leftover rub on them, put them in the fridge for  a couple of hours and then grilled them with the leftover sauce. The chicken was as yummy as the ribs!

CHIPOTLE GLAZED BABY BACK RIBS

FOR THE DRY RUB

4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1/3 cup ground ancho chile
4 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 teaspoons ground black pepper
5 teaspoons salt

FOR THE RIBS AND GLAZE

4 large slabs (about 6 1/2 pounds) baby back ribs
1 7.5 ounce can chipotles en adobo
3/4 cup honey

1. Season the ribs. Combine all the dry rub ingredients in a food processor and run until thoroughly blended. Sprinkle the mixture on both sides of each slab of ribs, rub it in to ensure even coverage, then cover and refrigerate overnight. You'll probably have a little dry rub left; in a tightly closed jar in the refrigerator it will last several months.

2. First rib cooking. Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Lay the ribs in a single layer on two rimmed baking sheets and bake for about 1 1/4 hours, until the meat is tender when tested with a fork. (This cooking may be done early in the day you're serving. Cover and refrigerate the cooked ribs until an hour before serving).

3. Second rib cooking. Turn on a gas grill to medium or light a charcoal grill and let the coals burn until medium-hot and covered with a white ash. In a food processor, blend the can of chipotles with the honey. Scrape into a small bowl and carry to the grill, along with a basting brush.

Lay the ribs on the grill, convex-side down. When hot and well browned, about 3 minutes, flip them over and brush liberally with the chipotle glaze. Cover the grill and cook about 7 minutes for the glaze to set and begin to brown a little. There will likely be leftover glaze, which can be covered and refrigerated for a week or two.

Cut the ribs apart (that's my preference) and serve right away. Serves 8

Note: Chefs note says "the ribs are best when baked the same day you eat them and grilled within a few minutes of serving. They will hold well in a very low oven for a half hour or so before serving". We had these for several days afterwords and they were fine.

Note: We used ribs from Zanottos that came out very tender. We used Mexican oregano (came in the little green square box spices at our grocery store).

Note: We had the butcher cut our two slabs of ribs in half so that they fit better in the oven and on the BBQ. We used a gas grill.

Did I mention how seriously good these were? I thought that maybe we liked them so much because the actual 'ribs' were what was tasty, but after using the rub and sauce on the chicken, we realize it really is this recipe. This is now our 'go to' rub and sauce for chicken and ribs on the grill. The success of the Chipotle-Glazed Baby Back Ribs makes me excited to try more recipes from the Fiesta At Ricks cookbook!

Comments

[Chris]

You know I like this one. Grilled corn too? BONUS!

The last can of chipoltes that I got were exceptionally hot but usually they don't bother me.

[MAry]

These look seriously good. As a matter of fact I've just spent some time playing catcg-up with your posts. I love your recipes ans the food you feature here. I'll be back often. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

[Debbie]

Awesome! This will be the next recipe that I try from the cookbook. Looks amazing.

[grace]

i kneel before the miracle worker known as rick bayless. he is a star, and by that i mean his food absolutely rocks my world. these ribs look and sound so amazing, and that's coming from someone who's a bit squeamish when it comes to gnawing meat off bones!

[Lara]

If Luis saw this, he'd be at your house right now with a bib on. :-)

[The Duo Dishes]

Have you ever tried brining your chicken before applying a rub? Apparently, it helps the meat soak up even more flavor. Really want to try a rub for any meat. It seems like an even better way to get flavor into your food.

[Mrs. L]

Chris - For some reason we've been doing a lot of corn on the grill this season, wahoo, bonus points!

Mary - Thanks for the blessings Mary.

Debbie - There are so many great recipes to chose from the cookbook I'm not sure where to start next.

Grace - The ribs themselves were very tender, Bayless just revved them up to exceptional.

Lara - Have Luis make these for you!

Duo Dishes - Never thought to brine my chicken first. I know we'll be doing this again so thanks for the tip.

[andrea]

There's a good tomatillo and chipotle salsa recipe in Mexican Everyday.

Cooks Illustrated is big on brining chicken and pork. I saw an episode where they salted the soaking water for white bean soup, to promote even cooking. I'll have to try that the next time I make bean soup.

[Barbara Bakes]

I haven't had a good rib in ages. Yours do look amazing!

[Buffalo Tenderloin]

Tasty!!!!really its a simple and awesome recipe ...its a great blessing Mary..i love the way u presented the procedure ...https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&send_id=817789614&email=7cff47bb7cdcb76fbfa15e66c81a1961 i will surely goona make this for my sister birthday ..this will be a great treat to her...

[Mrs. L]

Andrea - I'll have to give that recipe a try. And yes, I brine my pork too.

Barbara Bakes - You should try these, they really are good.