Baby back ribs, sprinkled with a dry rib rub and air fried with sauce applied in the last minutes of cooking.
Air Fryer Baby Back Ribs
Y'all, I swear. If I hadn't tried it for myself, I never would have believed you could successfully prepare baby back ribs - in an air fryer!
What??
In fact, the first time I made them I thought surely it was a fluke. So I tried it again.
Sure enough, it's true! And they are good y'all.
Just a quick reminder.... as always, full recipe text with measurements and instructions, as well as a printable document, are a little bit further down the page. Just swipe or scroll past the step-by-step pictures below.
Now, given the fact that air fryers tend to be on the smaller side, this method is a little more suitable for 2 to 4 people rather than a larger family, unless you're willing to do several batches, but for the two of us it's a fast method.
The results produce ribs that are not fall off the bone like you get with oven baked ribs, but gives a tender rib, with a nice bite, similar to what you would get on the grill.
The biggest caveats you need to know?
First, use a quality brand of baby back ribs.
I bought some on sale once and a brand I'd never heard of and you could tell they were a lower quality because they weren't trimmed well, they were full of gristle and in the end, they were tough. Lesson learned.
Bottom line. Buy a brand you already know, and trust.
Second, just like oven ranges, every single air fryer cooks differently, so when you try someone else's recipe in your air fryer, you may have to make some adjustments.
Brands have different wattage levels and some will cook hotter, meaning you may need to adjust the temperature or time. The key is always going to be the internal temperature of the meat and what you're looking for here for nice, tender ribs is 170 degrees F.
Here's how to make my Air Fryer Baby Back Ribs.
Preheat a large basket or oven style air fryer to 380 degrees F setting cook time to 30 minutes. You'll want a 3-1/2 to 4 pound rack of quality baby back pork ribs.
To season these, I'm using my usual rib rub - brown sugar, paprika, onion, garlic and chili powder, cumin, Creole (or Cajun) seasoning, black pepper and oregano.
Please note, I've written these instructions using an oven style air fryer with trays. If using a larger basket style fryer, make adjustments as needed.
Place the ribs in a single layer on the air fryer trays and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat air fryer to 380 degrees F and set cook time to 30 minutes.
Once preheated, place trays into air fryer and cook for 10 minutes with the meaty side up.
Remove trays, turn ribs over and return to air fryer, meaty side down and swapping tray placement if using an oven style fryer, or rearranging ribs in a basket style. Cook another 10 minutes with the meaty side down.
Remove from oven.
And brush with sauce on bone side.
Turn over.
Brush with sauce on the meaty side, return to air fryer and continue cooking for 10 minutes longer with meaty side up. Check the temperature using an instant read thermometer inserted at the thickest part of the meaty section, which ideally should read at 170 degrees F.
For more of my rib recipes, check out the collection on my Pinterest page!
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