The Absolute Best Way To Reheat Those Leftover Ribs

Slow-smoked ribs are hard to beat. You wait hours (sometimes even overnight) for that fall-off-the-bone meat to be done, and it feels like a dream taking that first bite. But what happens when you cook too many and can't eat them all as soon as they're ready? There are a few ways to reheat them, but you risk messing with the meat and causing it to become too rubbery or dry. Thankfully, there's one tried and true solution: slow-cooking them in the oven until they're just hot enough but not overdone.

Although it takes a bit more time, reheating the ribs at a low oven temperature is the closest you'll come to that original, slow-smoked flavor and texture. Of course, if you're pressed for time, there are other ways, but covering them, adding a little more barbecue sauce, and letting the oven do its thing is undoubtedly the best method.

The last thing you want to do is heat the ribs too much. That's why you should cook them low and slow; avoid a high-temperature oven and opt for 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Take them out of the refrigerator and let them approach room temperature for about 30 minutes (as long as they didn't previously sit out for more than two hours). 

Then, don't just throw them onto a baking sheet and call it day. Make sure to cover them; otherwise, even the 250-degree heat could be enough to dry them out. Once they're in there, cook them until they're hot, but not a minute longer. Somewhere around 130 should be hot enough that they feel like they were just cooked, but not so hot that the tenderness of the meat gets altered.

Something to consider before even cooking the ribs the first time: set some sauce aside for when you reheat. The barbecue sauce is not only going to add more flavor but will also act as an extra layer of protection to make sure the ribs don't dry out — apply it before you reheat the ribs.

If you're not planning to eat all of the ribs in one sitting, you can certainly wrap them well and store them in the refrigerator. Whether you're saving beef or pork ribs, the refrigeration shelf life remains the same: three to five days. Check the ribs' smell, texture, and color to make sure the ribs are still good enough to eat if they have been in the refrigerator for a while.

Thankfully, it's also fairly easy to freeze meat, which means if you don't think you'll eat them for a while, you can just pop them in the freezer. For the best flavor and texture, reheat the ribs within four months of freezing them. However, beef and pork both last up to 12 months in the freezer. 

After that, the meat is technically still safe to eat, but you might notice a difference in flavor and texture due to freezer burn.