These Salt and Pepper Ribs are fall-apart-tender with a light, crispy coating. Topped with a mouth-tingling salt and pepper topping with chillies and spring onions, they’re totally moreish!
These ribs undergo a two-stage cooking process. First they’re cooked slowly in stock with some aromatics – this to to make the meat tender, almost to that fall-apart stage.
Then we coat the ribs and fry them up in a crispy coating with Chinese five spice (the essential component for any Chinese-style salt-and-pepper recipe).
This results in crisp, yet meltingly tender spare ribs that make an impressive dinner.
📋 Ingredients?
👩🍳PRO TIP I like to slow-cook these ribs on the stovetop, as it’s quicker, but you can do this first part of the recipe in a slow cooker. See the notes sections of the recipe card for information.
This is how they look straight after being fried – a lovely crisp and flavourful coating, that just gets better when we add the toppings too!
🍽️ What to serve it with
Serve as a main course with rice, or as part of a Chinese banquet. How about:
So tender and tasty – I love the vibrant colour of the chillies and spring onions (scallions) on top.
🍲 More fantastic recipes with Pork
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Salt and Pepper Ribs Recipe
Ingredients
Slow cooked ribs:
- 8 meaty pork ribs (sliced into individual ribs) – this is about 1.5kg or 3.3lbs
- 1 litre (4 cups) hot chicken stock
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 3 cloves garlic peeled and chopped in half
- 1 tbsp rice wine
- 1 tbsp caster or granulated sugar
Rub:
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 3 heaped tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA)
- 2 tsp chinese five spice
- 2 tbsp cold water
- 240 ml (1 cup) oil for frying
Spicy topping:
- small bunch spring onions sliced on the diagonal
- 1 green chilli chopped finely
- 1 red chilli chopped finely
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
Instructions
- Add all of the slow-cooked rib ingredients to a heavy-based large pan. Bring to the boil, then place a lid on, and cook on a low heat for 4 to 4 1/2 hours. Check a couple of times during the last hour of cooking, and top up with a little more water if required.8 meaty pork ribs, 1 litre (4 cups) hot chicken stock, 1 tsp minced ginger, 3 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp rice wine, 1 tbsp caster or granulated sugar
- Turn off the heat and drain the pork. The cooking liquor is no longer needed, and can be discarded (or used as a great stock for soup). Leave the ribs to cool for a few minutes, so they're cool enough to handle.
- Make the rub by mixing the salt, pepper, cornflour, and Chinese five spice together in a large bowl. Add in the ribs and dust them in the rub.1 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 3 heaped tbsp cornflour, 2 tsp chinese five spice
- Remove the ribs from the bowl and lay out on a tray or board.
- There should still be a little of the powder left at the bottom of the bowl. To this add the cold water and stir together to form a liquid.2 tbsp cold water
- Brush this liquid on the ribs (this will give a lighter crispier coating to the ribs).
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the ribs. Cook on medium-high for 8-10 minutes, carefully turning every 2-3 minutes until the ribs are golden and crisp.240 ml (1 cup) oil
- Remove the ribs from the pan and place on a large serving plate.
- Add 1 tbsp of the oil from the ribs to a small frying pan and heat over a medium heat.
- Add the spring onions, chillies, salt, and garlic into the hot pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring often, until fragrant, then sprinkle over the ribs and serve.small bunch spring onions, 1 green chilli, 1 red chilli, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 cloves garlic
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe was first published in September 2015. Updated July 2023 with new photos, a couple of recipe tweaks and some housekeeping.
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could you oven cook instead of shallow frying ( or possibly grill )
These ribs are delicious. They are so good I’m making them again today.
Done these a few times now – always great.
Last made these a year or so ago and it had the honey chilli drizzle but the updated recipe doesn’t? Really loved the honey drizzle and would love to made it again. Could you repost it? It would be greatly appreciated 😊