Our easy beef riblets recipe in oven turns out fall-apart tender with caramelized barbecue sauce coating each piece. It is one of our favorite high protein meals that takes just 14 minutes to cook!
I first made Pork Riblets in Oven and those were a hit!! I found a huge sale on beef riblets at the store though and thought I should share how to bake these perfectly too. Still topping them off with barbecue sauce made them so delicious and will definitely make again.
You probably know that you should always slow cook ribs in oven to get them nice and tender. In the case of beef you do the same, but for a lot less time. Too long and they will dry out, so that is why this is literally the best 15 minute meal ever!!
I will say that this is an underrated cut from the cow. You may have passed by them at the butcher counter because you wouldn’t know what to do with them. We will change that today, right here.
Ingredient Notes
You are going to want 1.5-2 pounds of beef riblets. There are small bones in them so once those are removed you have a lot less. If you don’t see these with the meat you could ask your butcher if there are some in the back, they aren’t expensive.
What are beef riblets?
They are small, meaty pieces cut from the ribs of a cow, usually taken from the ends of back ribs or short ribs after the larger rib portions have been trimmed away. They contain a combination of meat, fat, and bone, which makes them flavorful and tender when cooked slowly. They are generally smaller and less expensive than full-sized beef ribs making them a popular option for family meals.
You will want to season the meat on both sides unless you want to leave as is, just know that they have a strong beefy flavor. I like a maple seasoning, salt and pepper for the basics but go for whatever you would normally add to ribs.
And then sauced is our favorite way to serve these. You can either add when done or for a few minutes at the end so it gets a bit deeper and sweeter. I typically have Sweet Baby Ray’s bbq sauce on hand but anything works.
Variations
I mean you could use other sauces too. We typically use the same with our Slow Cooker Riblets but teriyaki would work too for a sweeter taste. You could add some heat to make these spicy with a pinch of red pepper flakes or dry Sriracha too.
Another option to add a whollop of flavor would be to make our tri tip dry rub and coat both sides with that. With that no sauce would be necessary. Just make sure in this case to spray the pan and/or foil or else it may stick with the brown sugar in it.
How Long to Cook Beef Riblets in Oven
The reason why these only take 14-15 minutes is that just like when cooking steak, less is more. Beef dries out the longer it cooks vs. pork so stay close to the cooking source. Now there is a variance depending on how thick your pieces are but that is maybe 2 minutes less or more.
When to Add Barbecue Sauce
You do want to give the meat some time to bake as is first. Once it is almost done you will want to add a sauce to the top not only for flavor but to add moisture as well. Wait until the last couple of minutes before adding or it will burn. I like to broil it on so it thickens and bakes on but I have brushed on when served when making beef ribs in oven too.
Beef Riblets Recipe
Equipment
- 1 baking sheet
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef riblets
- 2-3 tbsp Maple seasoning
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce, or teriyaki
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Lay beef ribets into a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and season with salt, pepper and maple seasoning on top.
- Bake for 6 minutes and remove from oven. Flip each riblet over and coat top with barbecue sauce with a pastry brush.
- Switch to broil for 2-3 minutes or until barbecue sauce is hot, bubbly and caramelized. Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Walmart carries the riblets; they are called Flanken.