I have seen a number of recipes for barbecue sauces and marinades utilizing Dr Pepper soda as the sugar base and frankly I have shrugged them off or chalked them up as a gimmick recipe. Then one day, last Wednesday to be exact, I had dinner at this fantastic restaurant while traveling on business and lo and behold on the menu were Dr Pepper ribs. Fried Dr Pepper ribs at that. Well since my per diem was covering the expense, I proceeded to investigate this savory culinary cousin of the 7 Up pound cake, and Rice Crispy Treats. I trust that you can guess how my story ends considering the title of this recipe. Yes I loved them. In fact they may have been the best ribs anyone, anywhere has ever prepared. Maybes it’s those 23 mystery flavors kicking in. OK maybe I am getting a bit carried away but these ribs are like no other you have eaten.
This recipe is my attempt to recreate the magic and damn it, I nailed it. Nothing beats baby backs for best results but you can use spare ribs as well. If you do opt for spare ribs be sure to cut away the soft bone brisket to make them St Louis style. Don’t know what I mean by cut away the brisket? No worries, just ask your butcher to trim them for you.
INGREDIENTS:
For the ribs and rub
- 2 full racks pork spare or baby back ribs, silverskin removed
- 4 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon coriander
- 1 tablespoon herbs de provance
- 2 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (substitute brown sugar)
- 1 can of Dr Pepper
- 2 cups peanut oil
For the Sauce
- 2 cans Dr Pepper
- 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce (found in the Asian sections in most super markets)
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
- 3 – 4 drops Sriracha sauce
PREPARATION:
1. Mix the dry rub ingredients together and rub into the racks of ribs on both sides. Marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or preferably, over night.
2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place the ribs on a wire rack in a roasting pan then pour a can of Dr Pepper into the bottom of the pan. Cover with foil and cook for 1 1/2 hours. At this point check to see if the meat easily pulls away from the bone. You will most likely need to cook them for about another 30 minutes but this all depends on your oven. Just make sure to get them nice and tender.
3. Meanwhile let’s make the sauce. Reduce the 2 remaining cans of Dr Pepper in a medium saucepan over high heat to about 1/2 cup. It will be just a bit syrupy. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining sauce ingredients.
4. When the ribs are done and somewhat cooled, cut into individual ribs and transfer them to a large bowl. Add about 1/3 of the sauce mixture and gently toss the ribs to coat them with the sauce. I say gently because if you were successful at getting them super tender, they will break apart if you are too aggressive with them now. Heat the peanut oil in a large pot over medium heat. Just hot enough to gently fry the ribs to crisp them up a bit. Fry each rib separately because they crisp up very quickly. About 5 – 6 seconds per side then transfer to paper towels to drain. Next return the fired ribs to the bowl and add another 1/3 of the sauce and gently toss again. Serve warm along with the remaining sauce for dipping.
Serves 2 – 4
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I just tried this recipe. awesome is all i can say.
will be cooking these very soon. i’ll just substitute regualar dr.pepper with the diet kind.
Oh no! I don’t suggest that because the sugar is a key component and any substitute for sugar will not have a similar chemical reaction when cooked. If you are concerned about HFCS then simply use DP made with real sugar. But frankly HFCS, if at all more harmful than regular sugar (still in debate) could only be a problem when regularly consumed. Like if you drank regular non-diet soda several times a day. Eating these ribs a couple of times a year should be OK. But then again if you are diabetic…
Twitter: fructosenews
Fructose can increase appetite, did you ever notice you are never really “full” from a glass of soda or sweet juice, you tend to want to snack on something or follow it up with a glass of water?
jameio´s last blog ..Effects of Fructose on Diabetes
do you think i could do a vegetarian variation?
they have tofu ‘riblets’ at my supermarket and since i’ve been a vegetarian for almost a year, i’d really like to see…
but what’s your advice on this one?
i don’t want to try it and have it be horrible.
any advice?
Maybe but I can’t advise. If you do try, lrt us know how they turn out.
Twitter: sjula
The sauce be itself is amazing, so I think it would work on some tofu riblets. As for the the rub, you may want to jut toss them in it before cooking or cut it out entirely. Good luck.
I tried them, oh my god they were good, I added sesame seeds to the sauce, they taste like I went to oriental express. They were really tasty only one thing the sauce was not thicking up so mixed flour and water and then add to the sauce and it finally thicken. And poured them over jasmine rice.
Just an FYI, most sodas are making “throw backs” or how they used to make them before HFCS, you can get Dr. Pepper made with real cane sugar if you just do a little research. I will be making these… using the Dr. Pepper with the real cane sugar.
I have seen Pepsi products with the “throwback” label on them. You can get non HFCS sodas at places like Trader Joes and Whole Foods too….
EVERYTHING in MODERATION…
i really love the tenderness of these ribs. I think I would make it the same but with a different sauce, I am not a big on the oriental flavor. However I still thought they were really good.
Love it! Actually I am just a big fan of Dr. Pepper.
Attempted this over the weekend with mixed results. First I over-reduced the Dr. Pepper and it burnt, second time it came out fine. Couldn’t fine sweet chili sauce in my Whole Foods so I combined hot chili sauce and honey to try to get the same effect. Overall the sauce came out great and I would cut the chili sauce and just up the sriracha for more heat. I saw the update of the sauce for the wings and agree. Second I forgot to cover my ribs in foil… while they didn’t come out tender and juicy like I wanted they still were fine and tasted good. Note to anyone making this, it took me 2-3 hours to reduce the Dr. Pepper. I have a question about making the ribs; should they be sitting in the Dr Pepper while in the oven or above the Dr Pepper on the wire rack? I will definitely be making this again and again. Now I gotta try those wings!
Hi Steve – the DP goes in the bottom pf the roasting pan, under the ribs. The foil seals the moisture inside the pan with the ribs. These keeps them from drying out while they cook and therfore makes them tender and juicy.
For me the DP for the sauce reduces in about 20 minutes.
Try an asian market for the sweet chili sauce.
The wings are my new favorite, just made some for football party this weekend.
OK, thanks for the clarification! I have no idea how you get it to reduce in 20 mins at a medium heat, you must be using black magic or something. Oh well!
I put the DP for the sauce in a saucepan and cook it over high heat. It boils and bubbles during the process until only about 1/2 cup is left .
These were absolutely delicious, but if I did them again, I wouldn’t do the frying part – they were fantastic right out of the oven and tossed with the sauce. I didn’t think the frying improved them enough (it did add to the flavor/texture, of course) to justify the extra work, the extra fat and that oily smell in my house afterwards : ).
As to the HFCS – I avoid it whenever possible, but am certain that I will not die from using it in this recipe. I don’t drink soda because it’s WAY too sweet for me, but would be more comfortable with it if it was made with sugar.
What’s wrong with HFCS? Very briefly, both sugar and HFCS are a combination of glucose and fructose, but the HFCS has a higher Fruc to Gluc ratio. Every cell in our bodies recognizes and can process glucose into energy…Fructose is ONLY processed in the liver – gives the liver a lot of extra work to do, taxing it and distracting it from other important cleansing work. Instead of going to providing cells energy, as in Glucose processing, the liver turns fructose into fat.
The rise in childhood obesity and diabetes has directly paralleled the increase in HFCS in our diets.
Okay…my two cents. Deeeee-licious ribs, thanks for the recipe.
Yeah the frying part can be skipped with only a change in texture. I did so because the ribs I had at the restaurant had done so and was trying to deliver the same product. Great texture but maybe not worth the hassle.
Don’t know if its common knowledge or not, but you can buy Dr. Pepper and A&W Rootbeer flavored bbq sauces in the grocery stores now. Although I’m sure your recipe has a better flavor. I look forward to trying it.
Hmm… Wonder how it would compare?
Never had such tasteful and tender ribs. Simply delishious!
Thanks for the recipe; can’t wait to try it.
I won’t weigh in on the HFCS/sugar debate, but it’s my understanding that the reason HFCS is used so much in the U.S. (since the 1940′s) is that it is a less-expensive raw material. We didn’t just start sucking down the stuff after seeing a 30 sec. ad. Like Daniel, I live in N.TX and I’ve had Dublin D.P. made with real sugar, and it does make a diff in taste. Go to http://www.dublindrpepper.com and you’ll find bottled BBQ sauce made with Dublin D.P. Also, the cake mix sold on the website is to die for!
Ginger, would you go into someone’s home and tell them that they are brainwashed morons? As that would be rude beyond words, I would hope not. I’m sorry that you’re not happy here in the US and wish you the best upon your hopefully-soon return to your homeland.
Chili is working on a chicken wing recipe reaturing the Dr Pepper sauce. Can’t wait!
These were delicious, Chili. Gracias
Only thing I couldn’t find was the herbs de provance
Minor detail, glad you enjoyed them!
How do you think this Dr. Pepper sauce would work as a sauce for hot wings? I’m not a huge rib fan, but wings….and this sauce sounds delicious!
Hmm… Great Idea! The sauce is not real spicy as is but you could probably add some heat for sure. I might experiment and see what I come up with.
O my god..thank for posting this..they were phenomenal..i made a few minor changes to the recipe because of the materials i had on hand and what not..and i like to experiment..but they turned out fantastic..you have introduced me to a new bread of meat.. Dr pepper flavored haha..this will not be the last time i cook with dr pepper…thank you for this
Believe me, I thougth this was just a gimmicky approach to cooking ribs, but this is my best method and recipe. People love them.
I think I dreamed of this recipe once and woke up telling myself Dr. Pepper’d meat was preposterous. Thank you sir for fulfilling my dreams.
No need to thank me, making dreams come true is my job
These sound wonderful. And if you’re in Canada, hfcs in pop is not an issue. We have real sugar in the pop here.
I didn’t say it would kill you; I said it’s unhealthy. If it were “just sugar” it wouldn’t be called high-fructose corn syrup, it would be called sugar.
I spent years, decades, eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. That led to a heart attack at age 50 due to clogged arteries. Do what you like.
Valid point. If anyone were to build a weekly menu from the recipes here, they will be in trouble sooner or later. ChliCheeseFries.net is about celebrating rich, spicy sometimes greasy food. I don’t condone eating like this all the time but on those occasions when your healthy pursuits allow for a little indulgence, hopefully you will find something satisfying here.
Could you use something other than peanut oil?
Sure, any oil will do. I know many are allergic to peanuts.
I would highly recommend against this recipe for one reason: Dr. Pepper (and all other soft drinks these days) is made with high-fructose corn syrup, or HFCS. A simple google search will show how unhealthy this stuff is.
I live in Dallas, TX. About three hours away is Dublin, TX, home to the original Dr. Pepper bottling plant and they still use cane sugar in their process. It makes a HUGE difference and this is the DP I remember from being a kid.
Well not that I am saying eat these everyday but once in a blue you should be OK.
HFCS will not kill you. NEWSFLASH: It’s sugar. Taste different from sugar? Yes. Kill you? No.
Oh, wow, somebody doesn’t understand the concept of moderation.
Even after all of that heavy googling on the subject.
Are you kidding me? google the stuff, do some actual reading……stop being scare mongered, your why people think americans are gullible.
Americans ARE gullible. Other western countries don’t allow high fructose bullsh!t in their food, but Americans see one 30 sec. TV commercial and suck down the stuff.
I can’t wait to move out of the states. I’m surrounded by brainwashed morons.
BTW- delicious recipe.
Love the silverfish comment
. Def gonna try these soon, tomorrow even. Thx
I don’t mean to be picky but silverfish is a small insect, silver skin attaches muscle tissue in mammals.
Just so you know…
Correction made, sorry for the typo.
If the picture is this much delicious then I can imagine this taste in the reality, I am going to make it certainly………….
This plus the garlic mashed potatoes might be the way to go this weekend
I didn’t share this part I served these with garlic pepper jack mashed potatoes and they rocked the house. Great minds think a like I guess
Indeed good Sir
Do share that recipe one day!
But this is definitely on the menu for Sunday!
Sticky Deliciousness!
Oh Yeah