Caipirinha Baby Back Ribs (Costelinha de Porco na Caipirinha)
Are you a rib lover? So am I! I always welcome the sight of them with a smile... and these succulent Caipirinha Baby Back Ribs (Costelinha de Porco na Caipirinha) are no exception!!! For those who may not know, caipirinha is Brazil's national cocktail made from lime, sugar, and cachaça (a distilled beverage similar to white rum).
The preparation of our caipirinha baby back ribs is quite simple. Blend cachaça (or white rum if desired), lime juice, brown sugar, garlic cloves, a few seasonings, and fresh parsley in a kitchen blender and pour over the ribs. Marinate, and then cook on the stove top (first pan-searing to brown, and then simmering until tender and liquid evaporates). The result: One of the tenderest and tastiest ribs that you will ever experience.
This recipe took its inspiration from Costelinha de Porco à Mineira ("Fried" Baby Back Ribs) -- a traditional dish from Minas Gerais in Southeastern Brazil. The difference here is the caipirinha ingredients! Cachaça, the main ingredient of caipirinha, has many more uses than than just as a base for the caipirinha drink in Brazil-- it is also great for marinating meats, and for making pie crust and empanada dough flakier. It is available at large liquor stores in the U.S., but in a pinch white rum is a suitable substitute.
As for side dishes, our caipirinha baby back ribs can be served with farofa, collard greens a la Mineira, and yuca fries, or with pretty much anything else that you want.
Enjoy our caipirinha baby back ribs... and get used to being asked to make them again and again! 🙂
Caipirinha Baby Back Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 stack stack baby back ribs 3.3 pounds or 1.5 kg, buy a stack with 10-14 ribs
- ¾ cup cachaça or white rum
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 6 cloves of garlic chopped
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1½ tablespoons anatto powder used most for coloring foods and available at local supermarkets
- ¼ cup fresh parsley roughly chopped
- ½ cup vegetable oil or a bit more if necessary
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- OPTIONAL: Before marinating the caipirinha baby back ribs, place the full stack of ribs on a cutting board, turn the ribs over, and stick a butter knife right under that white membrane.
- Wedge the butter knife in between membrane and meat/bone. Pull membrane off. This will make ribs even more tender but is optional since our ribs are not supposed to fall off the bones.
- MAKE AHEAD (MARINADE): Cut the ribs individually (right over the meat in between each bone) and place them in a large bowl or rectangular pyrex dish, and set aside. In a blender, blend well the cachaça or white rum, lime juice, sugar, garlic, salt, pepper, annatto powder, and parsley until obtaining a smooth mixture. Pour this mixture over the ribs. Using your hands, mix ribs with the marinade to coat both sides of each rib. Cover bowl or pyrex with plastic or foil, and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours (Inactive Time).
- Drain the marinade from the ribs by simply shaking a bit and seting aside the marinade.
- In a large (wide) pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat and brown the ribs evenly (do not overcrowd the pan). Transfer ribs to a plate and discard leftover oil. Then, add and mix water to the reserved marinade, place ribs back into the pan, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan, reduce heat to medium-low, and let cook for 20 minutes or until the ribs are tender and liquid has evaporated completely.
- These caipirinha baby back ribs can be served hot (brushed with honey, if desired) along with any side of your choice , or with collard greens a la Mineira, yuca fries, and farofa.
Nutrition
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Looks so delicious! Pretty sure it pairs very well with Caipirinha cocktail 🙂
Wow, Denise this looks so so delicious. I'm wondering how it would pair with chicken. i'll give it a shot.
Great one.
No worries, Ash! It will pair well with chicken too. xx
I love ribs - one of my favorite types of food! These look delicious! I still remember your Brazilian-style pork ribs too - they looked so appetizing on a picture!
Simply mouthwatering, Denise!!!
Julie & Alesah
Gourmet Getaways xx
What an inspired recipe! I would never have thought to pair the flavors of Caiprinha and ribs. But it's a natural! Really good -- thanks.
Love the flavours on these ribs, Denise! They look fantastic! Denitely, finger licking 🙂
oohh! Defilitely I must try this recipe ! My family loves ribs so bad!
Those pork ribs look fantastic Denise! We never tried marinating with rum, so that's really a must-try:) We bet it'll be amazing.
Thank you for another wonderful recipe!
Love,
Panos and Mirella
xoxoxoxo
They looks succulent and delicious Denise. I am not much a ribs fan but would love to give this a try some day 🙂
Wow Denise! I am licking my fingers already! These are so inviting! : )
How lovely... look at the color of this.. amazing. Well done my dear. I have a question though.. do you have any non-alcoholic sub for the cachaça ?
Amira:
You can use sprite soda instead of cachaça, or you can use all the ingredients from the recipe, omitting the cachaça and increasing the amount of lime juice.
Wow Denise, these baby back ribs look awesome, I love the idea of "caipirinha" in these ribs...delicious!
Thanks for this great recipe...have a wonderful week 🙂
Fabulous flavor with easy preparation make this an outstanding recipe!
This sounds so flavorful with all that rum and lime juice and brown sugar combining with that meat!
Oh my word, Denise! These sound absolutely amazing. Such a delightful twist on barbecued ribs!