Slow Roasted Beef Back Ribs w/ Sweet & Spicy Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

I was home today trying to get my kitchen back in order. I don't want to just schlep it back together -- I want to reorganize it and de-clutter it as I go. I also want to take advantage of having everything already out of the cabinets to thoroughly clean everything out. My new appliances should be here any day now so I am trying to get everything in order before they arrive. I also need to make a final decision on my backsplash tile. I've found something I really like in NY...but would prefer to find something local, if possible...so the search continues. Since I was at home working around the house today, I decided to prepare Slow Roasted Beef Back Ribs for dinner. I picked up a package of beef back ribs that looked good at the store yesterday. 

While I've made boneless beef ribs in the crock pot several times before...I've never actually oven roasted or grilled bone-in beef ribs. I wanted to coat them with a dry rub while they roasted and then brush them with barbecue sauce near the end. The problem with commercial barbecue sauces is that they are almost always full of high fructose corn syrup which I avoid at all costs. I've seen the simple paleo version of tomato paste and balsamic vinegar barbecue sauce floating around on the web...but I've tried it and well...it just doesn't float my boat if you know what I mean! So, I embellished the patootie out of my little can of tomato paste which started as the base of my sauce. I have to tell you...I wasn't sure what to expect with my maiden voyage cooking bone-in ribs, much less a decent barbecue sauce to baste them with...but I have to tell you...they were out of this world! They were fall off the bone tender and the combination of the spice rub and the sauce together was outstanding. 

My personal preference for barbecue sauce has always been a sweeter type sauce...usually sweet and spicy. One of my old favorite flavors of barbecue sauce was Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet & Spicy sauce. I actually have a bottle of it in my fridge that my sons use occasionally to dunk their chicken in. One of the ingredients in that sauce is pineapple juice concentrate. So...I decided to play around and use that flavor in my sauce as well. I made my own "sugar free pineapple juice concentrate" using my OliveNation Pure Pineapple Extract (there's another decent extract made by Bakto but you have to buy it in a set along with other flavors). Pineapple is one of those fruits that is very high in sugar which means that pineapple juice concentrate would be sky high in sugar. So, I decided to make my own sugar free pineapple juice concentrate by using water, pineapple extract and Swerve to sweeten it with. It was so good and so "pineappley"...LOL. For those of you that don't like your sauce as sweet, you can reduce the sweetener a bit...but by the time I blended all my seasonings, spices and flavors together...it was perfect for me. These ribs slow roasted for several hours, so obviously they are not your typical weeknight meal...but when you have time, they are definitely worth the time to make. I posted several photos below as well as the recipe for the ribs and the barbecue sauce. Enjoy!

Slow Roasted Beef Back Ribs w/ Sweet & Spicy Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

4 pounds beef back ribs (cut into individual ribs)
Chipotle Rib Rub, or preferred dry rub
1/4 cup Sweet & Spicy Chipotle Barbecue Sauce
1 cup of water

For the Chipotle Rib Rub:
1 heaping tablespoon Swerve sweetener (or preferred granular sweetener)
1 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

For the Sweet & Spicy Chipotle Barbecue Sauce:
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons Swerve sweetener
1 teaspoon pure pineapple extract
2 dashes ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (I used Lea & Perrins original)
1 teaspoon Tamari sauce (I used San-J organic gluten free)
1-1/2 teaspoons ground mustard
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle powder, to taste (I used 1/2 teaspoon to make it spicy)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a large casserole dish or shallow baking pan, arrange ribs in a single layer. 

Mix dry rub ingredients together in a small bowl. Season both sides of ribs and gently rub in.

Pour 1 cup of water, up to about 1/4-inch deep around ribs. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and place in oven. Roast covered for 3 hours, until tender. 

While ribs are roasting, combine barbecue sauce ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Set aside.

Uncover ribs after roasting for 3 hours. Brush with thin layer of barbecue sauce. Reduce heat to 300 degrees. Place ribs uncovered in oven and roast for an additional 30 minutes. Brush with additional sauce, if desired. Refrigerate remaining unused barbecue sauce up to 2 weeks.

*Note: Do not dip brush directly in pan of barbecue sauce. To avoid cross contamination of sauce, remove a portion of sauce to a separate small bowl. Store remaining sauce in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.