The Best Boneless Country Style Pork Ribs (2024)

Melt-in-your-mouth tender, bathed in a sweet and tangy homemade barbecue sauce, these country style pork ribs are truly something special!

The Best Country Style Pork Ribs

This rib recipe has been in our family for about 20 years. The recipe was given to us by a friend of my sister, to put in a family cookbook for my niece’s wedding.

I was the one who made the cookbook and assembled the recipes. This one sounded really good and I decided to give it a try for my family.

It turned out to be a huge hit with my husband and three kids.

That was the first time I had ever tried making any ribs before, so it was a whole new experience.

Be sure and read until the comments at the end. This is our most popular recipe and many of our readers have made the recipe and offer their tips, questions, and experience with it. Sara

As the ribs cooked, the smell started making its way through our house. My children started coming into the kitchen to find out what was cooking.

Then they wanted to know when they would be done because they smelled so good!

My children declared these ribs to be the “BEST food that they had ever!

Over the years, I’ve made these many times and my middle daughter, now grown, makes them on a regular basis. Each time she wants to make them, I get a request, “Hey mom, can you send me that recipe for the country ribs?”

Well, here it is. This is dedicated to K and her passion for these country style barbecue ribs.

They are very easy to assemble. The original recipe calls for cooking them on a rack and basting with the sauce. I tried that and thought they were way too dry that way.

My daughter and I prefer to cook them right in the sauce. It’s easier and they have a lot more flavor after baking in the sauce.

Related: For another country classic, try our old fashioned meatloaf recipe!

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Country Pork Ribs Ingredients

• Apple Cider Vinegar — Some people find the amount of vinegar listed to taste too vinegary. We are sharing the recipe exactly as it was given to us. Feel free to use less vinegar if you think you might be sensitive to the taste.
• Ketchup
• Brown Sugar
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Salt
• Paprika
• Dry mustard
• Pepper
• Garlic — chopped
• Country style boneless pork ribs –– you can use 1-3 pounds, depending on how many you plan to feed

Shop Our Kitchen Tools Used

• Roasting pan, Dutch oven, or 9 x 13″ baking pan — we used a Dutch oven
• Medium saucepan
• Foil — for covering the ribs during cooking

What Cut of Meat are Country Style Pork Ribs?

This recipe calls for Country Style Pork Ribs. The ones I bought most recently were mostly boneless, but a few had bones. They are in the meat section with other pork cuts.

Unlike the name implies, country style ribs don’t actually come from the rib area of the pig, but instead the shoulder. Usually they are boneless, but occasionally you’ll find them with pieces of the shoulder blade, so be sure to give them a good once-over to make sure.

Country style ribs have a similar shape and consistency of baby back ribs, but they’re meatier because there’s no bone and there is a nice marbling (fat) that makes them tender.

I made my recipe with 2 ½ pounds of ribs and this amount of sauce was plenty. You could probably cook up to 3 ½ pounds with this amount of sauce.

How to Cook Country Style Ribs in the Oven

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Combine all the ingredients except the pork ribs in a medium saucepan. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes and stir to mix. This is a very mild BBQ sauce—not a bit spicy and not too sweet.

Place ribs in bottom of a roasting pan or 9X13 baking pan or dutch oven.

Pour sauce over the meat, then cover the pan with foil.

Bake at 500 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 1 to 1 ½ hours. Check your ribs at the 45-minute mark and turn them in the sauce.

When the ribs are tender, remove the foil and cook for 15 minutes without the foil. Don’t let the sauce cook off. You just want to reduce it a little.

The ribs are done when the meat is tender and pulls apart easily.

Remove the BBQ ribs from the sauce to serve. The sauce can be put in a small bowl to serve on the side.

Can You Use Store-bought Barbecue Sauce?

The homemade sauce is what makes these ribs so special! However, you can substitute your favorite barbecue sauce if you like. I’d recommend using about a cup and a half of sauce.

Can You Make Country Style Ribs in the Slow Cooker?

While we always use the oven-baked version, you could make these boneless ribs in a crockpot too.

To do so, make the sauce according to the original recipe but reduce the vinegar to 1/2 cup. . Place the ribs in the slow cooker, cover with the sauce, and cook for 6-8 hours on low until they are fall off the bone tender.

After you remove the ribs from the slow cooker, pour the sauce into a saucepan. The sauce is thinner cooked in the slow cooker, so you may need to cook it down a little.

Perfect Pairings

These country ribs taste delicious when served with some of our classic side dishes:

• Best Homemade Dinner Rolls
• Stovetop apples
• Homemade potato salad
• Cheese Soufflé

Oven Baked Country Style Pork Ribs Recipe

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