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Sweet and Sour Ribs (An old family recipe)

June 25, 2010 by KimiHarris 21 Comments

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My local store, New Seasons Market had pastured (grass fed) ribs on sale for $.99 a pound Father’s Day weekend. I bought ten pounds to make for my dad, my husband and our extended family and another 5 pounds for the freezer.  I borrowed my mother’s recipe (handed down from my great aunt) for sweet and sour ribs. Tangy and sweet, these ribs were a favorite among both the grown-ups and the kids when we did family meals together growing up in California. They are about as messy as you can get, but worth it.

While the snobby side of me complained a little with this recipe (“What is this? Doctored up ketchup?”), I contented myself by simply using better ingredients for the recipe. I used organic ketchup that didn’t use corn syrup (if I had time I would have made my own to save money), rapadura to sweeten it with instead of plain sugar (and reduced the amount as well), and apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar (which, unless organic, is often made with GMO ingredients). Still not the healthiest rib recipe out there, but it was well enjoyed by all of us!

I told you it was messy! This is how my dad looked at one point.

I served it with baked potatoes with sour cream, butter, chives and bacon bits and a large salad. It was really a simple meal, but super delicious. Definitely a meal to make the men happy (and really was pretty frugal too). I am labeling this is a $10 dollar main because that’s what it cost me to make one batch of it.

I doubled the recipe for ten pounds of ribs (it fed 7 adults and three kids with leftovers, as the ribs were very meaty).  Yum!

Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Ribs

1 onion
3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced or put through a garlic press
2 tablespoons coconut oil, lard, tallow, olive oil, or fat of choice
2 cups of ketchup (use a brand that doesn’t use corn syrup)
3/4 cup of whole cane sugar (rapadura, sucanat, or coconut sugar)
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
About 5 pounds of beef back ribs

1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the ribs single layer on jelly roll pans, and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Cook for 1 hour in the middle of the oven.

2) Meanwhile make the sauce: In a large saucepan, heat the oil/fat until hot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sprinkle with a little salt. Sauté until soft, adding garlic in the last minute or two of cooking.

3) Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a low simmer. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring once in a while

4) When the hour is done for the ribs, take out of the oven and cut into individual ribs (if you used two pans, you can now probably fit all of the ribs onto one sheet at this point). Pour the sauce over all of the ribs, turning to coat them well. Cook for another 30 minutes.

Serve with lots of napkins and enjoy!

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KimiHarris

I love beautiful and simple food that is nourishing to the body and the soul. I wrote Fresh: Nourishing Salads for All Seasons and Ladled: Nourishing Soups for All Seasons as another outlet of sharing this love of mine. I also love sharing practical tips on how to make a real food diet work on a real life budget. Find me online elsewhere by clicking on the icons below!

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Filed Under: $10 Main, Dairy Free, Main Dishes Tagged With: $10 Main, Dairy Free, Nourishing Frugal Recipes

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rosie

    June 25, 2010 at 11:32 am

    That is a great photo! Gotta try these ribs.

    Reply
  2. Jessie

    June 25, 2010 at 1:56 pm

    this looks great! Such a deal on the ribs – I’m jealous.

    Reply
  3. Krissy

    June 25, 2010 at 4:52 pm

    You mention vinegar above; is their an omission in the recipe?

    They sound so good!

    Reply
    • KimiHarris

      June 25, 2010 at 9:51 pm

      oops! Don’t know how that got left out! I’ve added it in. 🙂

      Reply
  4. Katie

    June 25, 2010 at 5:55 pm

    sounds so good!

    Reply
  5. Claudia Ritter

    June 25, 2010 at 11:19 pm

    $.99 a pound for pastured meat!? Wow – I think the closest I’ve seen to that price locally (San Diego County, CA) is $3.99 a pound for grass-fed ground beef. I hope more consumers realize the value in pastured products and purchase it as much as possible to begin to drive the price down. I managed to get pastured eggs on the shelf of my local co-op and see pastured products at Whole Foods, but it’s pricey stuff.

    Reply
  6. Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen

    June 26, 2010 at 1:42 pm

    These look great!!! I have a BBQ ribs recipe and BBQ beans recipe from my grandma that we had at every family picnic when I was growing up, and I pretty much did what you did with buying better ingredients! Some things, you just can’t mess with (all the way at least…) and .99 per pound for pastured ribs is awesome! Did you buy the whole store out? I would have!

    Reply
  7. Simply Life

    June 27, 2010 at 3:51 am

    My mom would absolutely love these!

    Reply
  8. Pia

    June 27, 2010 at 6:14 am

    Love the picture of your dad!

    Reply
  9. Ambre

    June 27, 2010 at 7:29 pm

    Delicious! We love using Bison when making ribs. It adds a whole new layer of flavors to the end product. You should try it sometime!

    Reply
  10. Leesie

    June 28, 2010 at 8:57 am

    Wow, great price and great store! Thanks for sharing another family recipe 🙂 you rock, Kimi. I hope all is well with the ‘little ones’ and you are feeling good.

    Reply
  11. Kathleen

    June 28, 2010 at 11:09 am

    Looks amazing! I never make ribs, but I love them so much. I feel like it’s a fabulous summer food.

    Reply
  12. mary

    June 28, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    Have you tried making hard candy with the coconut sugar?

    Reply
  13. Anne Marie

    July 9, 2010 at 5:58 am

    Do you think this could be done on the grill? I was thinking of trying it here today (with temperatures over the 100s I didn’t want to use the oven).

    Reply
  14. Anne Marie

    August 10, 2010 at 7:17 am

    Finally the weather allowed me to try this. Absolutely wonderful. When I was making the sauce I was scared because it was very acidic, but with the roasting in the oven it…(going into a food coma)… Just wonderful! My husband loved them and wants me to try the sauce on other things like tri-tip and roast. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  15. Linda

    August 27, 2010 at 4:52 pm

    Would this work with pork in stead of beef? My husband and son both cannot tolerate beef.

    Linda

    Reply
  16. Kelly

    August 6, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    Kimi,

    Just checking on the amount of the apple cider vinegar—is it really 12 tablespoons or is it 1-2 tablespoons?

    Thanks!

    Kelly

    Reply
  17. Maureen

    December 10, 2014 at 8:03 pm

    I can testify that these are delicious. And the family thought so too.

    Reply
    • KimiHarris

      December 11, 2014 at 10:47 am

      Yay! So glad you guys liked them. 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Frugal and Healthy Summer Meals for a Crowd says:
    June 17, 2011 at 10:46 am

    […] done ribs on the grill before, but that would be nice to prevent heating up the stove. My family’s sweet and sour ribs have wide appeal and are delicious (even if I do heat up the oven to serve.) Unfortunately, ribs can […]

    Reply
  2. Happy and Healthy 4th of July Recipes says:
    July 1, 2011 at 9:06 am

    […] Sweet and Sour RIbs Messy goodness. […]

    Reply

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