Stovetop Garlic Spare Ribs

Featured on almost every Chinese restaurant buffet, Garlic Spare Ribs are a classic and are loved by all! My version is so easy to make and tastes exactly like that popular buffet favourite. One pan and a stovetop is all you need for these ribs! They’re garlicky, sweet, sticky, and delicious!

Lord Byron’s Kitchen is no stranger to rib recipes. The most popular are my Copycat Chinese Dry Garlic Ribs. That one is followed closely by my Family Style BBQ Ribs. And, just recently, I published my Bourbon Pork Ribs, which seems to be gaining traction as well. These Stovetop Garlic Spare Ribs have some stiff competition!

I’ve said it before in previous rib recipes that the best way to prepare ribs is to bake them at a low temperature for a really long time. Well, Dear Reader, it turns out I was wrong! That really doesn’t happen often, so I’m quite unfamiliar with the feeling; ask John.e! But, we don’t always have the time, or the desire, to spend all day in the kitchen cooking ribs in the oven, so I’m happy to report that even though these ribs take just over an hour from start to finish!

TYPES OF RIBS

I have friends and family who much prefer beef over pork. To me, that is just blasphemy! No matter the cut or how expensive the beef was, if sitting next to pork, I’d pick the pork first. To me, it has way more flavour and stays more tender and moist. It’s also much less costly!

Can you use beef ribs in this recipe rather than pork ribs? Absolutely! In fact, you go ahead and treat them the exact same way. I do find that beef ribs are typically chewier than pork ribs. You can cook them both the same way. Beef ribs tend to be much bigger and meatier as well. Other than taste and texture, the biggest difference is the price. Pork ribs are much cheaper.

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Spare Ribs 
• Water
• Sugar
• Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• Molasses – This gorgeous, sticky, sweet concoction is just boiled cane sugar.  Stay away from dark or blackstrap molasses unless instructed otherwise.  Fancy molasses is a light molasses. Honey can be substituted here, but the ribs will be lighter in colour.
• Garlic – You will need 10 cloves of minced garlic for this recipe.
• Ginger – Use fresh ginger. Grating it with a box grater makes it super easy, but you can finely mince it as well.
• Rice Vinegar – If you don’t have rice vinegar, you can use cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.
• Dry Mustard – This is a powdered mustard, usually sold in small cans. You will find it in the spice section of most grocery stores.
• Onion Powder
• Ground Black Pepper
• Cornstarch
• Sesame Seeds and Green Onions – For flavour and garnish.

HOW TO MAKE STOVETOP GARLIC SPARE RIBS

Add all of the sauce ingredients to a large dutch oven and stir to combine. Turn the heat to medium and allow the sauce to heat up. In the meantime, rinse the spare ribs under cold running water. Gently massage each piece taking the time to feel for small bone fragments and remove any if found. Once all of the spare ribs have been cleaned, add them to the pot with the sauce and increase the heat to high.

As the sauce and rib mixture comes to a boil, some foam will gather at the top. Use a spoon to scoop out the foam/scum and discard it. One all of the foam has been removed, reduce the heat to simmer and place a lid on the pot. Simmer the spare ribs for 1 hour, checking and stirring at the 30 minutes and 45 minutes.

Next, whisk together the cornstarch and water to make a slurry. Remove the lid and slowly pour in the slurry mixture while stirring the ribs and sauce. This will thicken the sauce. Once thickened, turn off the heat and allow the ribs to rest for 5 minutes, uncovered, before serving. Plate and garnish. Enjoy!

LET’S TALK ABOUT MOLASSES!

There are three types of molasses – light, dark, and blackstrap. If you boil cane sugar once, you will get light molasses. If you boil it twice, you’ll get dark molasses. So, boiling it three times must mean that you’ll get blackstrap molasses. Remember, the darker the molasses (blackstrap) the less sweet and more bitter it is.

Never use blackstrap molasses in a recipe unless instructed to do so by the author of the recipe. You can use light or dark without changing the taste drastically. There are also sulphured and unsulphured molasses. The difference between the two is that the sulphured molasses has been chemically treated with preservatives.

If you buy molasses to make these ribs and have lots left over, there’s plenty you can do with it. One of my favourite sources of recipe inspiration is Taste of Home. Here’s a list of 33 Amazing Molasses Recipes! Just an FYI here, if you don’t have molasses and don’t want to buy any, you can use honey here instead.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

I’m one of those people who feel that a meal isn’t complete without sides. And, to be honest, it’s the biggest thing I struggle with. I have no issues whatsoever with deciding on the main dish, but preparing sides is not something I enjoy much at all. In the case of these Stovetop Garlic Spare Ribs, however, I would highly recommend sides you would commonly find on a Chinese buffet restaurant table, such as veggies and rice!

If you want something more flavourful, try this Soy Sesame Bok Choy; it’s super light and refreshing. It pairs so well with these ribs. Every time I make bok choy, I always want bean sprouts to go along with it. I have this delicious Bean Sprout Salad that is a must! You might even want to double the recipe; it’s that good!

When all else fails, I always turn to my tried and true, good ol’ faithful fallbacks. You cannot ever go wrong with a really good potato salad and a great-tasting coleslaw whenever you’re serving something with lots of sauce and garlic flavour. My absolute favourite potato salad is this one, and my favourite coleslaw has to be this one. As I said, you can’t possibly go wrong with either of these! Happy eating!

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!