Chef John’s Copycat McRib® Sandwich

  4.5 – 30 reviews  • Baby Back Ribs

A yearly ritual, especially for fall and Halloween class gatherings, is to make these delicious muffins. These chocolate chip-packed pumpkin muffins are especially delicious when they’re still warm.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 2 hrs 50 mins
Additional Time: 8 hrs
Total Time: 11 hrs
Servings: 4
Yield: 4 large sandwiches

Ingredients

  1. ⅓ cup kosher salt
  2. ¼ cup brown sugar
  3. 2 tablespoons chili powder
  4. 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
  5. 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  6. 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  7. 2 racks baby back pork ribs
  8. 1 cup barbecue sauce, divided
  9. 4 sesame hamburger rolls, split and toasted
  10. 1 cup coleslaw

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
  2. Mix salt, brown sugar, chili powder, pepper, cumin, and cayenne together for the rub.
  3. Place ribs on a foil-lined baking sheet. Season both sides generously with some of the rub. Reserve remaining rub for another use. Cover top with parchment paper and wrap foil over the edges. Cover the whole baking sheet with another large sheet of foil, sealing in the sides.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven until tender, about 2 hours and 45 minutes.
  5. Unwrap ribs and let cool briefly until safe to handle. Pull out the bones, stuffing any loose pieces of meat back into the holes and checking carefully for bone fragments. Wrap ribs back up and refrigerate until cold, 8 hours to overnight.
  6. Cut each rack in half. Brush both sides generously with barbecue sauce.
  7. Preheat a charcoal grill for high heat and lightly oil the grate.
  8. Grill ribs until heated through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove from grill and brush with more barbecue sauce.
  9. Drizzle more barbecue sauce onto each roll. Sandwich each rib section between a roll and top with coleslaw.
  10. Make sure you don’t get the larger St. Louis-style ribs. Feel free to season them with any dry rub of your choice.
  11. For the slaw, I used my
  12. .
  13. Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of dry rub. The actual amount consumed will vary.
  14. For the rolls, I used my
  15. recipe, making 6 rectangles instead of 8 round buns.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 963 kcal
Carbohydrate 81 g
Cholesterol 180 mg
Dietary Fiber 6 g
Protein 45 g
Saturated Fat 18 g
Sodium 8820 mg
Sugars 33 g
Fat 52 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Joan Thomas
Loved this and so did my family. Why would someone remove the bones before cooking? Losing flavor!!
John Hall
It is quite obvious that all one has to do is remove the bones prior to cooking. A very simple procedure.
Michelle Ball
Put crispy fried onions on mine.
Michael James
Made this exactly as instructed. It is AMAZING. Takes time, but well worth it.
William Cooley
Am doing this review for john’s ‘method,’ which is genius and not messy. I use my own rub and BBQ sauce, but the oven cooking and bone removal makes this a hit with me. Once I get the bones out (and no, I do not refrigerate; not necessary), I add the BBQ sauce, recover and bake 5-10 to ensure they are hot. No outdoor grill here and no buns here. So much neater than “finger food!”
Jessica Kline
So excellent. Served our with grilled corn on the Cobb and deviled eggs. Wouldn’t change a thing, plus I have now made the slaw by itself for cookouts.
Tammy Jones
This was DELICIOUS! It was enjoyed by young kids all the way up to grandparents, and really was pretty simple to make. I used the kosher salt as written but still found it a little salty for my taste and will reduce to 1/4 cup next time. Also, I used St. Louis style ribs even though it said not to as that was all my store had. I upped the oven time to a full 3 hours and the bones slid right out… no issues at all and SO good! We will make this again and again.
John Scott
I’m not really sure why anyone would want to make a copycat of anything that is served at McDonald’s. I’ve never had a McRib, but a rib sandwich sounded good, so I decided to try this recipe. This sandwich was absolutely delicious and so easy to make. I like the fact that it can be made ahead with minimal effort required on the day of serving. I can’t wait until summertime when I can eat this outside on the deck!
Christopher Baker
Wow this was delicious! I’ve never had a McRib so I can’t say how this compares. We tried the sweet, hot mustard slaw on it, and that got mixed reviews in my family. We will reduce the cayenne in the slaw next time. We’ll definitely make these sandwiches again!
Charlene Williams
Great idea and great recipe. The irony of fast food that takes two days to make is wonderful to me. It worked well and was very tasty. My only criticism is that the rub caused the meant to be very salty. The next time I make it I will cut the salt used by about half and see how that goes.
Tiffany Carlson
Delicious. For extra sauciness I injected sauce using a basting tool into the bone holes. Cooking just 1 rack I baked at 325 for 1I/2 hrs and another 1/2 hr at 275. Came out perfect. Thank you Chef John!
Susan Bishop
great
Carlos Ramos
Outstanding! My first shot at ribs and they were fantastic. Excellent rub too. The ribs partially fell apart coming off the grill but that didn’t really matter to anyone at all. Served with homemade slaw – perfect combo.
Kristina Wyatt
To avoid the results of this recipe being too salty, be sure to use Kosher salt as listed in the ingredients, rather than regular table salt. If you don’t have Kosher salt available, use half of the listed amount. “A cup of table salt will have twice the salting power of a cup of Diamond Crystal kosher salt.”
Alicia Martinez
NO HOT STUFF ON SEASONING
Debbie Harrison
Excellent.
Amber Campbell
The sandwich was amazing. You definitely have to have some homemade coleslaw with it. Very easy to make very affordable if you’re on a budget. I recommend it.
Melissa Santiago
Too much salt. Even cut it in half. Will make again. Very good is spite of salt.
Marc Smith
Made it exactly as written. It turned out amazing. This was the perfect Super Bowl sandwich. I will make it again.
Michelle Rodriguez
Not sure if the amount of salt for the run was a typo, but the meat turned out to be VERY salty. Disappointing.
Alex Perez
For those complaining about the slaw, um, leave it off. I topped ours with the traditional pickles and onions and they were FABULOUS!! Chef John does it again. I’m actually not a huge fan of the McRib, but this is on a whole other level than the ground up mystery meat McDonald’s serves. If you like ribs, these are a can’t miss!

 

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