Honey Garlic Spareribs Chinese Restaurant Style

Another recipe I’ve been on the hunt for forever is one that will let me in on the secret to making restaurant-style honey garlic spareribs. Just like the ones I consume in great quantities anytime I see them in a Chinese food restaurant.

Could this the recipe that ends my search? It certainly has the right title. And the twist – that there is no honey in the recipe – may be why all the recipes that I’ve tried before to reproduce this delicious flavour combination have fallen short.

Let’s check it out:

Get the ribs into the instant pot.

Pork ribs.

Slice through the slabs so there are individual ribs.

Separated ribs, in the instant pot.

Smash a handful of garlic.

Smashed garlic.

Add the soy sauces to the garlic.

Soy sauces.

Get the brown sugar into the bowl too. Stir to combine.

Brown sugar.

Pour the cooking sauce over the ribs.

Add the garlic, soys and brown sugar to the instant pot (a whatfoodimade action shot™!).

Add enough water to cover half the ribs.

Add the water (another whatfoodimade action shot™!).

After 30 minutes, here’s the cooking liquid.

Cooking liquid.

Pour the liquid into a saucepan and cook to reduce and thicken. Maybe add a teaspoon or two of cornstarch.

Cooking liquid, reduced.

Honey Garlic Spareribs Chinese Restaurant Style.

Honey Garlic Spareribs Chinese Restaurant Style.

So, how do these compare to the ribs I inhale at Chinese restaurant buffets? They are not at all the same. They are delicious, making them in an Instant Pot takes no time (yay!) and they are very tender too. So… still on the search but not in any danger of going hungry either.

The recipe is online here:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Honey-Garlic-Spareribs-Chinese-Restaurant-Style/

Honey Garlic Spareribs Chinese Restaurant Style

I’m going to show you how to make Chinese restaurant style Honey Garlic Spare ribs. These are sweet, savoury and candy-like and the best part super easy to make. These ribs are found in many Chinese restaurant menus in Canada but they are actually are not found on any restaurant menu in China or Hong Kong. My dad had a Chinese Restaurant, this recipe was the one he used and now I’m sharing it with you. I’ve modified this recipe to use it in the Instant Pot as well.

A bit of trivia and history, this recipe was developed for the North American market by Chinese immigrants in the 60s or 70s trying to make a living serving food for a market that would not have a desire or palate to try “traditional” Chinese food. So hence was bone dishes like General Taos Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken Balls, Beef and Broccoli and Honey Garlic Spareribs, but while these dishes are different than traditional Chinese food, the techniques and essence of Chinese cooking is still applied to these dishes, even if they are for the North American market and palate.

Step 1: Ingredients

The list of ingredients is short:

1 rack of pork side ribs (about 3-4 lbs) or Pork Shoulder cut into Small Chunks
2 cups dark brown sugar
Handful of garlic cloves, smashed (about 12-18 cloves)
5 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
Water

Special Equipment:
Instant Pot

*Notice that missing from this list is honey, that’s the big secret and joke, is there is no honey in honey garlic spareribs.

Step 2: Method

Get your butcher to chop the pork side ribs into 1.5″ pieces, look at the pictures (from original recipe’s page) to see how they are cut up. If you are going to do it yourself, first take the rack of ribs and cut them between the bones to separate each rib.

Then cut each rib into chopstick size pieces, you will want to use a very large butcher’s knife or cleaver to do this. Alternatively, if you don’t want to cut them up or want bigger pieces, leave the ribs in single pieces.

Then:

Smash the cloves of garlic to start the process of releasing allicin (the pungent flavour and smell of garlic)
Add the ribs and smashed garlic into a pot, I’m using the Instant Pot to speed up the cooking process.
Add the 2 cups of dark brown sugar to the pot.
Add about 1-2 cups water, just enough to cover about half of the ribs. Don’t add too much, the pork as it cooks down will shrink and also release moisture and fat.
Add 5 tablespoons of light soy sauce
Add 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce Give the pot a good stir to combine all the ingredients.
Set the Instant Pot for 30 minutes at high pressure and start. If using the stovetop method, bring to a boil and then reduce to a very low simmer for 2-3 hours or until tender.
Let the Instant Pot depressurize naturally or manually release it, once cooked the ribs should be almost fall off the bone tender and a lot of fat will have rendered out. Skim this fat off and discard.

Serve will fresh steamed rice and vegetables. The juice in the pot can be reduced down in a saucepan to make it thicker and more concentrated as well. I like it straight from the pot and pouring some over my rice, so good!