I love using my air fryer machine and this air fryer ribs recipe is one of my favorite. This tender and juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside ribs are easy to prepare and quick, ready in just 25 minutes.
If you’ve followed my blog, you know I like sharing air frying recipes such as my air fryer chicken for the poultry lovers. If you’re a red meat fan, I also have a recipe for cooking steak in the air fryer which comes out super delicious. Finally, if you feel like cooking seafood, you might want to try air frying shrimp which is quick and easy.
I normally cook ribs on the grill or smoker, but during cold season cooking ribs in the air fryer is my choice of cooking method. I live in New York so winter can be harsh here so I avoid having to cook outside in the cold. My air fryer gets used most often during wintertime.
Follow along and I’ll show you how to cook these amazing ribs in the air fryer with simple ingredients. Let’s get started!What Makes A Good Ribs Recipe
You can use baby back ribs or St. Louis Style ribs for air frying. I normally prefer baby back ribs only because they are shorter and I can fit several pieces in the air fryer but I had the St. Louis ribs so it is what I used for this recipe. Baby back ribs are also not as meaty as the St. Louis style ribs so cooking baby back ribs is much quicker usually about 10 minutes faster.
Whether I’m cooking ribs in the air fryer, grill, smoker, or oven I always do these two things to make my ribs super delicious.
One of the first things I do with the ribs is I remove the membrane and trim any excess fat. Many tend to forget to do this step but it is important. The membrane hardens if you don’t remove it, making it a leathery texture on the under side of the ribs. It also keeps the sauce from penetrating the meat. I won’t get into how to remove the membrane but if you need help just search on Youtube.
Secondly, I like to dry brine my ribs by sprinkling a decent amount of kosher salt about ¼ teaspoon per pound. I let the salt absorbed for about 1 hour. The salt really helps boost the flavor of the meat.
How To Make The Best Air Fryer Ribs Recipe
Once I remove the membrane, trim fat, and dry brine my ribs, I’m ready to cook my ribs in the air fryer. Here are a few tips on using an air fryer to cook ribs.
Slice and separate each rib instead of a big slab. This helps cook the ribs much faster and create a crunchy texture all around the rib.
As I mentioned above, I used St. Louis style ribs for this recipe and cooked for 25 minutes. I would adjust your time down to 15 minutes if you are cooking baby back ribs.
Finally, brush the ribs with your favorite BBQ sauce after the ribs are cooked. I used Dinosaur BBQ sauce on mine but you can use any kind of BBQ sauce. Adding the sauce in the beginning doesn’t really enhance the flavor of the meat and the sauce will dry up taking away the flavor of the sauce. Brush the sauce after ribs are cooked.
OTHER RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
Air Fryer Ribs
Tender and juicy air fryer ribs recipe
Ingredients
- 1 rack St. Louis Style or Baby Back Ribs
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 cup BBQ Sauce
Rub
- 1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Brown Sugar
Instructions
Prepare ribs by removing membrane and cut off excess fat. Slice each rib separately.
Sprinkle kosher salt on both side of the ribs adding about ¼ tsp of salt per pound. Rest for 1 hour.
Combine rub ingredients and cover ribs generously with the spice mixture.
Place skewers through ribs and place in air fryer. Set air fryer at 350F for 25 minutes for St. Louis style ribs or 15 minutes for baby back ribs. (I am using a Power Air Fryer Oven which has the rotisserie feature. If you do not have this feature, you will have to flip the ribs halfway through the cook time)
Brush ribs with your favorite BBQ sauce and serve.
