I tried three barbecue-ribs recipes from chefs Ina Garten, Guy Fieri, and Rachael Ray.
Garten's sauce was thick and tasty, but Fieri's ribs were too sweet, tangy, and difficult to make.
I thought Ray's ribs were delicious, especially because of the dry-rub prep and the boozy glaze.
Ribs are a quintessential American staple, especially in the South.
But I usually only buy ribs that are already seasoned and come with a barbecue sauce vacuum-sealed along with the meat. All I need to do is warm them up in the oven.
To expand my culinary skills, I decided to try three homemade ribs recipes from Ina Garten, Guy Fieri, and Rachael Ray to see which popular chef has the best spin on the classic dish.
Garten's recipe seemed straightforward, but her sauce is loaded with ingredients.
Garten's barbecue sauce called for standard ingredients, like tomato paste, garlic, onions, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce. But it also included exciting additions such as hoisin sauce, Dijon mustard, cumin, chili powder, and red-pepper flakes.
It only called for a cup of honey to help balance out all the savory, smoky flavors.
I had to move my sauce into a bigger pot because there were so many ingredients.
The sauce was supposed to cook in a saucepan, but I had to transfer it to a larger pot to boil and simmer because there were so many ingredients.
I let the sauce boil for 30 minutes and poured it over the ribs, which I'd already seasoned with salt and pepper and placed on a foil-lined baking tray.
I started the cooking process in the oven.
Garten's recipe said to cook the ribs in a 350-degree oven for 1 1/2 hours for baby backs and 1 3/4 hours for St. Louis-style.
I ended up leaving them in for two hours to ensure the meat was tender and cooked through.
Once the meat easily fell off the bone, I knew they were ready for the grill. I grilled the ribs over medium heat for four minutes on each side to finish them off.
I was a big fan of Garten's sauce.
The ribs were so tender, well-seasoned, and meaty. I appreciate that not much effort had to go into making them taste great either.
The sauce was the main star of the dish. It was thick, tangy, smoky, and savory. It ended up being a lot less sweet than other brands I've had, which I liked.
Fieri's recipe called for a simple brine.
Fieri's recipe called for a simple brining process before grilling the ribs.
His brine included vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic, beer, and onions, and his homemade barbecue sauce featured frozen raspberries and raspberry jam.
To start, I let the meat sit in the brine for 15 minutes as instructed.
For this recipe, I cooked the meat without the sauce.
I started by quickly searing each side of the ribs on a grill before adding them (as well as onions, garlic, and beer) to a tray.
I tightly covered everything with aluminum foil to roast in a 400-degree oven for an hour and a half.
While the ribs cooked, I started on the sauce.
First I added onions and serrano peppers to a heated pan with oil. Then the recipe called for minced garlic and ginger, apple-cider vinegar, frozen raspberries, raspberry jam, and molasses.
I brought everything to a boil and left it to simmer for 15 minutes.
Once it was done cooking, I used an immersion blender to puree the sauce, and then a sieve to catch any raspberry seeds.
This part wasn't fun because the sauce was relatively thick, so it took a while to drip through the sieve. And then my sieve broke, so couldn't get every seed out of the sauce, which ended up being fine.
Once the ribs were done, I poured the barbecue sauce on the meat side, roasted everything for seven minutes, added the sauce to the other side, and roasted again to finish the dish.
I, unfortunately, didn't like the results of this recipe.
I don't mind a sweet barbecue sauce, but I wasn't a huge fan of this one. Because there were 2 cups of raspberries and ⅓ cup of raspberry jam, it ended up tasting too tart.
I didn't really see the point in including the fruit in its raw form and as a jam. I wish it were just the jam, then I probably could've skipped the sieve altogether.
Ray's recipe let whiskey take center stage.
Ray's recipe called for a simple sweet-and-smoky dry rub made with brown sugar, espresso powder, mustard powder, paprika, and cayenne. I only had dark brown sugar, and the recipe asked for light, but I don't think it changed the outcome.
The main ingredient in her sauce was whiskey, and she specifically called for Southern Comfort.
I patted the dry rub over the baby-back ribs.
Once the ribs were coated in the dry rub, I cooked them in a 325-degree oven for about an hour and 45 minuets.
While the ribs cooked, I prepared the sauce.
The sauce, which was more of a glaze, called for three shots of Southern Comfort whiskey in addition to more standard ingredients like chicken stock, tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic, onion, oil, and ground pepper.
After a quick boil and simmer, I removed the garlic and onion and set the sauce aside.
I took the ribs out of the oven, broiled them for three minutes, poured the glaze over the top, and broiled them for another three minutes.
These ribs were amazing.
The dry rub really helped make this recipe flavorful.
I wasn't sure I'd like the mixture of hot sauce and whiskey, two things I'm not normally a fan of, in the sauce. But the spice level was manageable, and the whiskey had fruity flavor notes that I enjoyed.
The only step I'd cut next time is pouring apple juice on the sheet pan I used to cook the ribs. I didn't notice its presence, and it was kind of a hassle.
Other than that, it was a slam dunk, and I'll be making it again.
Ray's ribs were easily my favorite.
Ray's dish was the quickest to make out of all the recipes I tried. It also called for fewer ingredients and steps, which resulted in fewer dirty dishes — a win all around.
I probably wouldn't make Fieri's ribs again because I wasn't a fan of the flavors, but I could definitely see myself using Garten's sauce recipe in the future.
This story was originally published in August 2023 and most recently updated on August 13, 2024.
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