EASY 12345 Chinese Ribs (5-ingredients)

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5 from 201 votes

The EASY 12345 Chinese Ribs recipe delivers tender pork ribs cooked in a simple five-ingredient sauce that balances soy, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine, and brown sugar. The ribs are simmered slowly to infuse flavor and then finished by reducing the sauce to a sticky glaze. This approach requires minimal ingredients while producing richly flavored, caramelized meat with a balanced sweet and tangy profile, ideal for a flavorful main dish.

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

45 mins

Brining: overnight

8 hrs

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 403 kcal

Course: Side Dish, Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Ingredients

1 lb pork ribs i.e. 454g Ask the butcher to cut it for you to make your life easier!, cut into small pieces
salt Optional step, to brine the meat overnight
water Optional step, to brine the meat overnight
For the sauce See Variations in the pot above for how to vary the sauce once you've got the basic one down.
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine Substitute: a dry sherry
2 tablespoons soy sauce Not to be confused with light soy. You can also make your own dark soy, dark
3 tablespoons rice vinegar Substitute: white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar or chinkiang vinegar (note the latter will make the ribs very black and it's hard to tell if they burn.)
4 tablespoons brown sugar Substitute: granulated white sugar or rock sugar
5 tablespoons water If doubling or tripling the recipe, e.g. if you use 2 or 3 lbs of pork, you double/ triple all the ingredients for the sauce except the water. (Too much water will lengthen the cooking time.)
green onion Optional garnishes. You can use these instead of spring onions, sliced etc
sesame seeds
Coriander

Instructions

Cup of Yum

Optional: Mix the salt and water till the salt has dissolved to make the brine. Place the pork into the brine and refrigerate overnight.
Half an hour before cooking, remove the ribs from the fridge, rinse and pat dry. Leave till the ribs are room temperature/ about 20 minutes. Note: Cooking cold meat turns it hard and dry!
Put the meat in a pot over high heat. Add the rest of the ingredients and give them a stir to make sure everything is mixed well. Once it's come to a boil, turn down to low heat whilst maintaining a gentle simmer.
Cover and leave it for 40 minutes over low fire. Give it a stir every now and then, making sure there's enough liquid in the pot and that you give the ribs a toss.
After 40 minutes, uncover the pot and increase the heat so that everything comes to a sizzling boil. This is the key step to making the pork caramelised you want a thick, sticky sauce but you don't want it to burn. (Turn the heat down if the sauce looks like it's burning.)
Keep stirring till most of the sauce has evaporated and is a thick glaze consistency. Serve with white rice!

Notes

Brining ribs overnight tenderizes the meat but can be skipped if short on time.
If not brining, simmer ribs in water for an hour to create a pork stock, then cook in the sauce.
Adjust portion sizes as this recipe serves best as part of a multi-dish meal; increase amounts for main course servings.
When increasing recipe quantities, sauce reduction time may need to be extended to achieve proper caramelization.

Nutrition Information

Calories 403kcal (20%) Carbohydrates 20g (7%) Protein 18g (36%) Fat 27g (42%) Saturated Fat 9g (45%) Polyunsaturated Fat 4g (24%) Monounsaturated Fat 10g (50%) Trans Fat 0.3g (15%) Cholesterol 91mg (30%) Sodium 258mg (11%) Potassium 292mg (6%) Sugar 18g (36%) Calcium 28mg (3%) Iron 1mg (6%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 4 people

Amount Per Serving

Calories 403

% Daily Value*

Calories	403kcal	20%
Carbohydrates	20g	7%
Protein	18g	36%
Fat	27g	42%
Saturated Fat	9g	45%
Polyunsaturated Fat	4g	24%
Monounsaturated Fat	10g	50%
Trans Fat	0.3g	15%
Cholesterol	91mg	30%
Sodium	258mg	11%
Potassium	292mg	6%
Sugar	18g	36%
Calcium	28mg	3%
Iron	1mg	6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.