These sticky oven baked Cajun pork ribs are the perfect autumn dinner. Made with a brown sugar and spice dry rub and cooked in a flavourful braising liquid.
What's everyone been doing with their weekends? Hopefully you've been eating something warming like a big bowl of soup or a comforting stew and now you're after the perfect thing to finish off the weekend with a bang.
Well look no further than these sticky oven baked Cajun pork ribs. Not gonna lie, I may have made the glaze for these ribs a little too sticky.
The sugar in the braising liquid which you use to make the glaze means you're effectively making a caramel, make sure you don't take those eyes off the pot once you're in the final stages!
But then, I did promise you sticky ribs didn't I? Trust me, these will not disappoint!
I've never been one for cooking much Cajun food. I'm not sure why because the Cajun food I ate in New Orleans was some of the best of the road trip I did around the states a few years (oh my god, just realised that was actually nearly four years ago, where did the time go?!).
So how about these ribs then?
You start off with a spicy, sweet dry rub made from a Cajun spice mix and a good helping of sugar and salt.
Once you've massaged the rub into the ribs, you leave them to take on all that amazing flavour before putting them in a delicious braising liquid and cooking them low and slow for 3 hours until they're super soft and squishy.
Then we served the ribs over a rice pilaf with kidney beans and a base of the three key elements to all Cajun cuisine - onion, green pepper and celery.
Honestly these Cajun pork ribs are just the perfect weekend dinner when you've got time to leave something cooking in the oven for hours. Trust me, it is totally worth it.
Want more? Get all my other meat recipes before you go.
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WONDERING WHAT TO DO WITH THE LEFTOVER INGREDIENTS YOU’VE GOT FROM MAKING THESE STICKY OVEN BAKED CAJUN PORK RIBS?
If you’re anything like me then you’re always looking for ways to save money and avoid food waste so I want to make sure you’ve get plenty of ideas on how to use up any ingredients that are leftover from my recipes!
Brown sugar creates the lovely caramelisation in this caramelised pork stir fry
Sprinkle your leftover coriander over this jerk chicken with mango salsa and rice and peas
Recipe
Sticky Oven Baked Cajun Ribs with Rice Pilaf
Ingredients
- 500 g Pork Ribs
For the Dry Rub
- 8 tablespoon Brown Sugar
- 3 tablespoon Salt
- 1 tablespoon Chilli Powder
- 1 tablespoon Cajun Spice Mix
For the Braising Liquid
- 250 ml Chicken Stock
- 2 tablespoon Cider Vinegar
- 2 tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Sugar
- 2 cloves Garlic chopped
For the Rice Pilaf
- 370 g Rice (we used basmati)
- 1 tablespoon Cajun Spice Mix
- 1 litre Chicken Stock
- 4 tablespoon Butter
- 1 Onion chopped
- 1 Green Pepper chopped
- 2 stalks Celery chopped
- 2 cloves Garlic chopped
- 1 400g tin Kidney Beans drained and rinsed
- Bunch Fresh Coriander chopped
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 90°C. Mix together all the dry rub ingredients and sprinkle over the ribs. Rub into the meat thoroughly. Leave the meat to marinate for as long as you have (I left it for about an hour but the longer the better!). Place all the braising liquid ingredients into a saucepan and heat over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. When the meat has finished marinating place in a high sided baking tray and pour over the braising liquid. Place in the oven and cook for 3 hours.
- When the ribs are done, remove from the oven and pour the braising liquid into a small saucepan. Place over a medium-high heat and reduce it by half until you have a sticky glaze. This will take about 15 minutes.
- While the braising liquid is cooking make the rice by placing the rice, stock, cajun spice mix and 1 tablespoon of butter into a saucepan and cooking over a medium heat until all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Meanwhile, melt the rest of the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat then add the pepper, celery, onion and garlic. Cook until translucent and then add the cooked rice and kidney beans. Sitr through a handful of the coriander and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Serve the rice topped with the ribs and the sticky glaze.
Hannah Healy says
Wow! This looks so yummy!
michele says
We love ribs in our house, but the idea of the cajun seasoning is new for them. What a great idea it is too.... pinned to make soon!
Daniela says
It's still too warm where I live for these delicious ribs, but they are going on my Pinterest for later. They look like the perfect fall/winter meal.
Jagruti says
I always like a variety of rice, thanks for sharing
Jenn says
I was thinking of making a rice dish for dinner tonight so your pilaf is calling to me.