What do you do to cut the fattiness of some nice juicy spareribs? Bring on the heat! Adding a Korean-style hot pepper paste to the marinade in this recipe gives the meat a lip-tingling flavor, and leaving everything to sit overnight really gets that heat deep into the ribs without requiring a lot of extra ingredients or work.
To give the ribs a really spicy taste, the recipe calls for some gochujang – that’s a type of fermented hot pepper paste from Korea. One caveat though: you almost certainly won’t be able to find a brand of gochujang without soy. Some people will be fine with such a tiny amount of soy as a seasoning, but if you’re very sensitive or doing a strict Paleo challenge, it’s OK to find another brand of hot pepper paste to substitute. You should be able to find a Paleo-friendly brand that has just hot peppers and seasonings (and maybe some citric acid, which usually isn’t anything to be afraid about).
With a meal as heavy as ribs, a great side dish would be some coleslaw: make a classic recipe or try it with fruit for a slightly sweeter twist. Alternately, plenty of salads would go nicely with the ginger and the gochujang: what about baby spinach, thin-sliced pears, and walnuts to add a bit of crunch? Or if it’s still warm enough to grill, just toss some zucchini, eggplant, or other vegetables right onto the barbecue: they’ll be done in just a few minutes and you can get on with enjoying your delicious ribs!
Spicy Spare Ribs Recipe
SERVES: 4
PREP: 10 min + 12 h.
COOK: 90 min.
Protein: 37g / %
Carbs: 38g / %
Fat: 54g / %
Values are per portion. These are for information only & are not meant to be exact calculations.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. pork spare ribs;
- 2 tbsp. gochujang or hot pepper paste;
- 2 garlic cloves, minced;
- 1 tbsp. raw honey;
- 1 medium onion, sliced;
- 3 tbsp. coconut aminos (a Paleo-friendly replacement for soy sauce);
- 2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar (yes, this is Paleo; there is no actual rice in it);
- 1 thumb fresh ginger, minced;
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper;
Preparation
- In a bowl, combine the gochujang, vinegar, garlic, honey, onion, coconut aminos, and ginger. Give everything a good stir and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Rub the marinade all over the ribs and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 350 F.
- Remove the ribs from the marinade and set the marinade aside.
- Place the ribs in a roasting pan and cover with foil.
- Roast in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes.
- Remove the foil covering the ribs and baste with the remaining marinade.
- Cook the ribs for another 45 minutes, basting every 15 minutes.