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Gochujang-Glazed Baby Back Ribs
Korean dwaeji kalbi are pork ribs seasoned with gochujang (a fermented chili paste), garlic, sugar and a few other high-impact ingredients. The ribs typically are grilled for only enough time to cook the pork through, not for hours on end to render the meat American-barbecue tender. However, for our version, which is a riff on Sohui Kim’s recipe from “Korean Home Cooking,” we use the oven for convenience and we cook the ribs to that ultra-tender state. Look for gochujang in the international aisle of the supermarket or in Asian grocery stores. When shopping for baby back ribs, try to select meaty racks of equal size so they cook at the same rate.
4-6
Servings
Tip
Don’t use regular foil, as it’s too thin and narrow to securely wrap the racks of ribs. Be sure to use extra-wide (18-inch) heavy-duty foil. When wrapping the ribs in foil, be sure to position the racks meaty side down and keep them that way when placing them on the rack before baking. This allows the meat to braise in the pork juices that collect in the foil.
4 hours
45 minutes active
Ingredients
-
¾
cup gochujang
-
¼
cup rice vinegar
Directions
-
01Heat the oven to 300°F with a rack in the middle position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with extra-wide, heavy-duty foil, then set a wire rack in the baking sheet. In a medium bowl, whisk together the gochujang, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. Measure out ¾ cup of the mixture, cover and refrigerate to use for glazing. Cut two 20-inch lengths of foil; set aside.
Reviews
August 15, 2022
Sweet and the right heat
Delicious!
June 27, 2022
Yum
Perfect recipe! Best ribs of my life!
May 17, 2026
LISTEN TO YOUR GUT! - I followed the recipe exactly - and was sorry for it.
My custom is to never alter a recipe the first time I try it - and even though every bone in my body was saying "THIS RECIPE SKIPPED MARINATING THE MEAT IN THAT GORGEOUS SAUCE". . . . I proceeded with the recipe as written - and put the ribs in the oven immediately after saucing them. Huge mistake. The outside charred part of the ribs was, as expected, the only part of the meat that had any flavor. Next time I'll marinate overnight - and then you'll have something awesome. But this was a huge miss as written.
May 25, 2023
Go Gochjang!
Will definitely be adding this to the rib rotation! My two foodie daughters loved this recipe and served up the compliments. The flavor is rich without being overwhelmingly spicey, the technique straightforward, and the cooking time delivers extremely tender ribs. Two things I especially appreciated: being able to use the same sauce for cooking and then basting at the end; and the slicing of the membrane rather than removing it entirely. The latter will be a real time saver moving forward. Served with rice and broccoli for a completely satisfying first-time. Milk Street meal!
May 15, 2023
Outstanding!
Fantastic recipe. A huge hit every time. My only suggestion is to use a fat separator in Step 3 rather than trying to skim the fat with a spoon in Step 4. This past weekend I doubled the recipe to prepare 4 racks. I put two on the upper-middle oven rack and two on the lower-middle rack, and it worked out great. I left the rack in the upper-middle spot for broiling.
I whipped these up on Sunday morning for lunch and caused quite a ruckus around the nook table as we lapped these up hungrily. Absolutely delicious! The only thing I did differently was cooking them sous vide at 91ºC for 3 hours instead of in foil in the oven. Once I brushed on the reduced juices plus reserved marinade and stuck them under the broiler, people really stood up and took notice! I served them with the Gamja Jorim from Milk Street May-June 2018 as a side and it made for a phenomenal lunch. Our only regret: we wanted more ribs! Next time: double recipe.
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Just made these today. I had cut out a rib recipe from another mag to have this week between the holidays but then saw this one published. Amazing. I would not change a thing. The only thing I noticed that a normally detailed Milk Street didn't state was where the rack should be in the oven when broiling. Due to the lack of comment I at first left it in the middle where it was stated to be for the cooking portion of the ribs. I moved it up one right away though as even for a 2 minute broiling time in the first step I could tell there was not enough broiling happening. The upper middle level was perfect. The ribs were amazingly tender with a wonderfully flavored sauce that had just a little zing. Well done Milk Street. This is a good "Tuesday Night" meal when one works from home during a pandemic. Very little active time so I threw these in the oven at a little after 2 and they were done by a little after 4:30. I then threw some potatoes in to roast while the ribs were resting so the timing on everything was perfect.