Cooking irresistible, juicy, fall-off-the-bone spare ribs is ridiculously easy with a sous vide machine. These sous vide beef spare ribs with BBQ sauce slow cook for 24 hours. They finish in the oven with minimal effort.

These devilishly addictive sous vide style barbecue spare ribs are very easy to make.

Time and temp for Sous vide spare ribs with BBQ sauce

Sous vide spare ribs cook at 155 degrees for 24 hours.

How to cook frozen sous vide beef ribs

Beef spare ribs are inexpensive and great to pick up in bulk. I like to grab a large slab of beef ribs at Costco to break down into smaller portions. Within a day or two I season, vacuum seal, and freeze them in batches to sous vide later. Frozen sous vide spare ribs last a few months in the freezer.

Save time by defrosting the spare ribs for 12+ hours before popping them in the sous vide bath. Or, sous vide frozen ribs by increasing the time in the bath by half. So instead of cooking sous vide spare ribs 24 hours, frozen ribs cook for 36 hours.

Seasonings and sauces for sous vide spare ribs

Salt is your friend when seasoning sous vide meat recipes, especially before the meat is sealed in the vacuum seal bag.

• Any BBQ sauce
• Any dry BBQ rub
• A simple mixture of 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 2 tbsp brown sugar, and 2 tbsp chili powder
• Saved juice from the bag, reduced in a pan on the stove to thicken it, can add a lot of extra moisture to the ribs.

Baby back ribs VS spare ribs

This recipe can be used to make baby back or spare ribs. Baby back ribs have a reputation for being tender and get a ton of love. But tougher cuts of ribs, like these St. Louis style spareribs, turn out completely tender when cooked sous vide style for at least 24 hours. Another popular Sip Bite Go recipe for ribs are these sous vide short ribs marinated in red wine. Oh they are delicious!

Finishing sous vide spare ribs in the oven

The BBQ sauce is added to these spare ribs after the sous vide bath. Once the ribs are done in the sous vide bath, slather on BBQ sauce and pop them in the broiler on high for 3-5 minutes. 

Living in the Pacific Northwest, outdoor cooking is basically off-limits during the rainy and cold Winter months. So my goal for this recipe was to make barbecue sous vide beef ribs I could enjoy any time of the year. In the Summer, I plan to try this recipe for sous vide ribs finished in a smoker or on the grill.

You’re on a mission to sous vide everything foodie bud, Jenna.