I love ribs! They are one of my favorite foods. I also love guava, usually as a jelly or paste. Not so much as a fresh fruit. This spare rib recipe calls for a dry rub the night before, a slow bake in the oven, and basting with the guava jelly once you’ve got the ribs on the grill. I hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients

For the Dry Rub
(FYI – This will make enough rub for more than one day depending on how many ribs you are making)

2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup onion powder*
1/8 cup garlic powder*
1/8 cup chili powder
1/8 cup paprika
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp black pepper

*Please be sure you are using powder and not onion salt or garlic salt!

Whisk together all of the above.

For the Guava Basting Sauce

One 17 ounce jar Guava Jelly (look for it in the Ethnic/Spanish aisle)
2 shots Worcestershire sauce

If you’d like a little kick and smokiness in your baste, add a spoon of Korean Gochujang sauce (available at Korean/Asian markets) or a some more paprika with a shot of Tabasco.

Cooking Directions

Rub your ribs with the dry rub, both top and bottom. Let sit overnight preferably to allow those flavors to work into the meat.

In the morning, drain off all the juice from the night before and place the ribs in a baking pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 325 for about an hour.

While you are doing that, please guava jelly basting mix in pan and melt jelly at low heat.

Once you remove the ribs from the oven, place on a grill at low and baste with the guava jelly mixture. Start with basting the top, flip in about 10 minutes and baste the bottom. Continue flipping and basting for about another thirty minutes. Cut and serve the ribs! I usually love some cole slaw on the side for mine.

Image by RitaE on Pixabay