Dine and Dish

Food blog with family recipes

Asian Ribs with Five-Spice Rub and Hoisin Glaze

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Asian style BBQ Ribs on a white plate

 

If you are from Kansas City, like I am, then you can attest to this. One can’t go anywhere in the city and talk about food without someone bringing up barbecue. The debate typically is who has the best? Is it KC Masterpiece, Arthur Bryants, Jack Stack, etc? My favorite Kansas City barbecue, by a long shot, is Oklahoma Joes. I love everything about that place and their ribs are seasoned and cooked to perfection. The meat literally melts in your mouth. My second choice for great Kansas City barbecue is a little joint not many have heard of. It is a place where you can find the most delicious pulled pork sandwiches, fall of the bone tender ribs and great company. This little place is called….my house. Yep. I can get fantastic Kansas City style barbecue without even getting out of my PJ”s, courtesy of my husband and his mega smoker.

It is great to have a husband who can cook such great barbecue. It eliminates our need to go out and face all of the restaurants with three kids in tow. There is one problem with it though. My husband has one perfected barbecue rib recipe, and being the creature of habit that he is, he refuses to change it up at all.

A few months ago when I was browsing through the recipe section of Food & Wines website, I stumbled across a recipe for Asian style ribs. The recipe sounded fantastic, but I am not the rib cooker in the family so I figured that I would never get to try ribs this way. I held on to the recipe though, just in case. Last weekend my husband announced that he was going to make ribs on Saturday and when he did, the Asian style rib recipe popped into my mind. Could I somehow convince my husband to stray from the norm, to branch out and try something new? Long story short, with a lot of nudging, begging and cajoling, I was able to convince him to try something different. We had all the ingredients on hand to make the Asian ribs from Food & Wine and my hubby set out on his adventure of trying something new.

These ribs, although not even close to comparable to Kansas City style barbecue, were phenomenal. The flavor was perfectly “Asian”…they were exactly what I hoped they would be like. I am thankful too because if my husband would have had to stray from his “perfected” recipe to have the ribs be awful, I would be the one to blame.

If you are looking for a different way to make your barbecue ribs, this recipe is a must try. A complete hit from Food & Wine.

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Asian Ribs with Five-Spice Rub and Hoisin Glaze

Perfect Ribs for a warm summer night filled with BBQ. 
Course Dinner
Keyword dinner, ribs
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 33 minutes
Total Time 48 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds pork spareribs
  • 1/3 cup Asian Five-Spice Rub
  • 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
  • 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • Vegetable oil for brushing
  • 3 tablespoons Chinese five-spice powder
  • 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

  • Using a sharp knife, make 1/4-inch-deep slashes in the rib meat between the bones, without cutting through. Spread all but 1 tablespoon of the spice rub over the ribs and into the slashes and let stand for 5 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the hoisin sauce, ketchup and the remaining 1 tablespoon of spice rub and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute, then transfer to a bowl.
  • Light a grill. Lightly brush the ribs with oil and grill over a moderately high fire, turning frequently, until the ribs are sizzling and cooked through, about 25 minutes. Brush the ribs with half of the hoisin glaze and grill for 2 minutes longer. Transfer the ribs to a cutting board and cut in between the bones. Serve the ribs with the remaining hoisin glaze on the side.
  • Asian Five-Spice Rub
  • Chinese five-spice rub is a bold mix of cinnamon, clove, fennel seed, star anise and Sichuan peppercorn. Grace Parisi loves the way these exotic, fragrant spices flavor fabulously sticky spareribs glazed with sweet hoisin sauce.
  • In a small bowl, combine all of the ingredients, pressing out any lumps of brown sugar.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  5. amrita says

    heya dearie!

    I’ve tagged you! ..Check out my blog for the rules/instructions!

    I never knew you were from zaar till I noticed the same picture of the asian style ribs on flickr AND zaar! Hehe!!

    Cheers

  9. My Kitchen in Half Cups says

    With Ella at the table, I’d think it would just have to be good.
    And the ribs look wonderful also!

  10. Nora says

    Glad that you were able to convince your husband to steer away from the familiar path 🙂

    I like slathering hoisin sauce on a lot of stuff like lamb chops and t-bone steak. It somehow goes well with meat on the bone.

    cute pic of Ella!

  13. blue zebra says

    Kristen these look sooooooo great. You’ve made me hungry for good ribs, girl. And Ella is just a heartbreaker! She is such a doll! 😀

    Thanks for this recipe. 😀

  16. blue zebra says

    Kristen, we had take out ribs tonight! Nowhere near as good as any of yours no doubt – but had to tell ya…you set those trends girlie! 😀 Sides, I had to have one more peek at Miss Ella. Gawd she makes me smile she’s so cute with that corn and rib face!

  19. Deborah Dowd says

    The heck with the ribs! That picture of Ella with the ear of corn takes me back to when my toddlers had their first ear of corn (eons ago). What a precious memory!