Asian Spare Ribs
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Asian spare ribs are a delicious and easy recipe perfect for an appetizer or main dish. Tangy sweet, with a little kick of spice (or a lot!), try these pork ribs for a homemade version of a take out classic! Unlike many store bought sauces, this homemade sticky sauce does not contain any red food coloring.

I’ve made this recipe with both spare ribs and baby back ribs. Choose your favorite cut. (Recipe adapted from Craig Claiborne’s New York Times Cookbook. This post was originally published on February 12, 2013. Updated January 17th, 2025)
Baby back ribs or spare ribs; What’s the difference?
For the answer to this question, I consulted the experts at Weber, who know a thing or two about meat and grilling! “Baby back ribs (bottom of photo) are cut from the top of the rib cage, near the backbone. Spareribs (top of photo) are cut from the bottom of the rib cage, and sometimes they include the brisket, which is a bony piece of meat that hangs from the bottom. The farther down the rib cage you go, the meatier the ribs get.”
I do try to get a ribs that have some fat on them as the fat adds flavor. For this recipe I used spare ribs. I cut them into individual ribs before baking, since I like to get the sauce on the sides of the ribs, but you can certainly bake the whole rack of ribs intact and cut them afterwards. Serve the extra sauce on the side.
Ingredients for Asian sticky ribs
3 pounds will serve 3-4 people as a main course. This sticky sauce will work on any meaty tender ribs or boneless ribs as well.
- 2 racks of ribs, (2 3/4 to 3 pounds) spareribs or baby back ribs, trimmed of silver skin, and cut into individual portions.
Sticky sauce ingredients:
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 Tablespoons ketchup
- 3 Tablespoons light soy sauce or regular soy sauce
- 3 Tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Chinese whiskey, Shaoxing wine, or dry sherry
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 1 Tablespoon fresh ginger grated
- 1-3 teaspoons sriracha chili sauce depending on how hot you like it.
How to make this recipe:
Although these ribs cook on a low heat for a total of an hour and 45 minutes, they’re basically hands off except for a couple of brushes with the glaze during cooking
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- Cut the spareribs into individual ribs and arrange them on a wire rack on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. I like to put them fat side up so that it will drip down through the meat. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven. The ribs are brushed twice with the glaze.
Making the glaze:
- Combine the rest of ingredients; garlic through sriracha sauce, in a small bowl.
- Brush the spareribs lightly with the mixture. Bake for 30 minutes longer. Turn and brush with more sauce on the back of the ribs, and continue baking for an additional 30 minutes.
Avoid cross contamination!
Once you’ve brushed the sauce on the raw pork the remaining sauce must be boiled to prevent cross contamination!
- Meanwhile heat the remaining marinade in a small saucepan, over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it boils and thickens.
- Brush sauce on the finished ribs.
Make it your own!
Taste and adjust to your family’s preferences! I always think of my recipes as starting points. I’ll give a suggestion, like “1-3 teaspoons sriracha sauce, depending on how how you like it.” This general direction is because I have no idea what your family’s heat tolerance is. I put 1 teaspoon in the last time I made them, and both my daughter and husband said, “not spicy enough!” I, on the other hand, thought the balance of sweet to spicy was perfect! Taste the sauce before you rub them on the raw ribs! Add more (or less) honey, garlic or ginger. Sensitive to alcohol? Skip the Chinese wine and substitute rice vinegar. Brown sugar or molasses can be substituted for the honey for a richer flavor.
What to serve with Asian spare ribs?
Serve with steamed or Fried Rice, stir-fried veggies, or this Asian Salad Dressing over crisp iceberg lettuce to mimic the salads served in Chinese restaurants.
Looking for more easy Asian recipes?
Asian Spare Ribs
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- Cut the spareribs into individual ribs and arrange them on a rack in a baking pan. I like to put them fat side up so that it will drip down through the meat. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven.
- Combine remaining ingredients and brush the spareribs lightly with the mixture. Bake for 30 minutes longer. Turn and brush with more sauce and continue baking for an additional 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile heat the remaining marinade in a small saucepan, stirring constantly, until it boils and thickens.
- Brush sauce on the finished ribs.
- Serve with stir-fried vegetables and rice.
Love the flavors in your ribs. Thanks for sharing on Thursdays Treasures.
Hey Cynthia – what’s catsup?? I suppose I should google it!! Even without knowing what that is, I know this is a winner. You have a great flavour combo there, great depth of flavour (I am so over the 2 ingredient dishes that say Spare Ribs + bottle of BBQ sauce!!) This is actually very similar to what I call my Pantry Chicken. Because all the ingredients for the sauce are usually in my pantry!
Nagi, it’s also spelled “ketchup”. I think it depends on what part of the country you’re from.
Darned delicious! So easy to make, I’ll be making these for every game day, thanks!
Thank you Jenny!