Air Fryer Ribs (Chinese Style Garlic Ribs)

Delicious finger-licking Chinese-Style Garlic Ribs (Suàn xiāng páigǔ - 蒜香排骨) are super tender pork, air fryer ribs with the perfect little chew. These pork ribs have a golden crisp exterior with a sweet, salty, and garlicky flavor that keeps you going back for more. 

Topped with fried garlic, green onions and chilis for an irresistible appetizer, dim sum, or dinner idea. Ready in ⅓ the time compared to traditional fried ribs with half the mess.

You know it is going to be good when a recipe includes the word “garlicky” in the description. Right? This Chinese pork ribs recipe is a huge crowd pleaser just like our Pressure Cooker BBQ Ribs. Doubling this easy recipe is highly recommended.  These Cantonese Style ribs disappear in a flash at tailgating events and family-style Chinese dinners.

You are going to learn how to tenderize ribs and marinate them with everyday items you probably have in your house right now. This recipe can easily be made gluten-free too. So, let’s get to the recipe!

Jump to:

• Ingredients and Substitutions
• How to Marinate?
• Fried Garlic Topping
• Cooking Hacks
• No Air Fryer? No Problem!
• How to Serve?
• Storage
• Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
• More Delicious Chinese Recipes
• Air Fryer Ribs (Chinese Style Garlic Ribs)

Ingredients and Substitutions

pork ribs (排骨) – We used baby back ribs (or pork loin back ribs) for this air fryer recipe. If you choose spareribs, these will take a little longer to cook. It is always best to remove the fascia from the back of the ribs to keep them tender.

egg whites (蛋清) are used to marinate the rib meat to make it tender. Velveting is a very common Chinese cooking technique where egg whites and cornstarch are used before stir frying. However, you can get the same effect by mixing egg white, Shao Xing rice wine, salt, and sugar to marinate the ribs before popping them in the air fryer.

garlic powder (大蒜粉) and fresh garlic (大蒜) – We used both garlic powder and fresh garlic in this recipe and lots of it. 7 cloves of fresh to exact and they were huge. There will not be any vampires bothering us today! If you are a garlic lover like us, be sure to try our Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce and our 5 Minute Stir Fried Garlic Pea Shoots as side dishes.

sugar or sugar alternative (糖) – This is an important ingredient that gives these air fryer ribs that special sweet flavor to complement the savory. We used coconut sugar, but you can substitute with a low carb sugar alternative of choice to keep it diabetic friendly.

green onion (葱) or you can also use small leeks finely chopped.

Shao Xing Wine (cooking wine) (料酒) or a dry cooking sherry to keep it gluten free.

Sesame oil gives it that lovely toasty flavor but if you do not have this just replace with a little light flavored oil, just so it does not stick on the air fryer basket.

White pepper is one of those quintessential Chinese ingredients and has a nice kick of spice. Of course, you can use black pepper as a substitute to taste.

ginger (姜) – fresh is best but if in a pinch you can add just ¼ of a teaspoon of dried ginger powder to the fried garlic and green onion dry topping.

chili – totally optional but our family loves that little kick. We used fresh mild Chinese chili peppers.  You may want to substitute with a jalapeno, mild pepper of choice or even a dash of dried red chili flakes.

How to Marinate?

This air fryer ribs recipe is best marinated at least 1 hour or overnight. However, we are going to let you in on a little secret. We only let these ribs marinate 15 minutes. Why? Because we like to shoot our food photography in natural light, and we were about to lose sunlight. 

This little test was a very happy accident. These air fryer baby back ribs were still tender with that delightful little chew. Just perfect. If life ever gets in the way and you need to get them in the air fryer without the full time to marinade, you are still good to go.

• First remove the membrane on the back of the ribs. Then cut each rib separately.
• Place the individual ribs in a large bowl and add the egg whites, salt, garlic powder, sugar, rice wine, sesame oil and white pepper and stir well.
• Marinate for one hour or up to overnight covered in the refrigerator.

Fried Garlic Topping

These Chinese spareribs are finger-licking delicious all on their own.  If you want to kick it up a few notches, be sure to add on this quick and easy topping made with fried garlic, green onion, ginger, and chili. Super easy but so delicious.

This is just the way that they served this dish in Guangzhou, China. All you need to do is add a little oil in the pan. Then, pan fry for just a minute or two or until the herb and spice mixture becomes aromatic. Do not burn the garlic or it will be bitter!

The Chili peppers are completely optional. We used a mild Chinese chili pepper for this recipe. If you like your dishes mild, leave it out. The one item that is not optional is GARLIC! Yes, we used 7 huge garlic cloves on one rack of ribs because that is how we roll.

Cooking Hacks

• Before you start, line the air fryer baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup and place this under the air fryer rack just like we did in our Banana Spring Rolls (Air Fryer Method). We have a Cosori Air Fryer. This may be different for each air fryer brand but ours has three pull out tray options. We place the air fryer basket in the middle tray section and the lined baking tray under that to catch any grease.
• Spray a little oil on the air fryer tray and on the ribs themselves to prevent the ribs from sticking. We used this method of our Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms and it works well to prevent sticking on the tray.
• Preheat the air fryer to 385 degrees F (196 degrees C).
• Place the garlic ribs meat side down first on the tray and air fry for 20 minutes. Then turn over and cook with the bone side up for another 10 minutes.  Baby back ribs have quite the curve on them. Therefore, you must be patient. Stack them next to each other to get the bone side bottom of the ribs brown.  The ribs tend to want to fall on their sides. However, that’s okay as your goal is to eventually get all sides golden brown.
• Then for another 5 minutes, we cranked the air fryer up to 400 degrees F (204 degrees C) and kept turned the ribs on all sides to make sure all sides were golden brown. We were very attentive these last 5 minutes to make sure we did not burn the ribs.
• Technically speaking, ribs are safe to eat once they hit 145 degrees F (63 degrees C) but they would be super tough. Cooking your ribs until they hit about 195 to 203 degrees F (90 to 95 degrees C) will give the ribs a chance to let the fat render and the muscle fibers to relax for a tender bite.
• Every air fry device cooks a little differently. If you know your air fryer cooks extra hot start out at preheat of 380 degrees F and start checking on your ribs sooner.
• If you are cooking larger spareribs, they are going to need a longer time to cook. So set the timer and keep your eye on them and add additional time as needed.

No Air Fryer? No Problem!

The traditional way to make Suàn xiāng páigǔ in the Guangdong region is to make deep fried ribs. If you decide to deep fry, you need to marinate your ribs overnight to make sure they get tender.

You will just need enough mild flavored oil so that your ribs can be submerged in the oil in a wok or deep pan. To check the temperature of the oil, place your wooden chopsticks in the oil. If bubbles form, then your oil I ready to deep fry. Carefully fry just a few ribs at a time and cook for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. We will include these directions in the recipe card below.

Alternatively, you can make baby back ribs in the Instant pot. Pressure cook the marinated garlic ribs for 24 minutes on high pressure and then natural release for 10 minutes. To finish off these Chinese pork ribs, set the oven to 385 degrees F (196 degrees) and allow to brown on all sides.

How to Serve?

• When game day is here, all you need are a few napkins and a few cold ones, and you are done.
• Air fryer baby back ribs are also delicious served as part of a dim sum. Try our Air Fryer Spring Rolls or any of our recipes for our Easy Chinese New Year Recipes.
• If you want to serve as a main for a family style dinner, be sure to make a little Hong Kong Fried Rice and try our Spicy Garlic Cucumber Refrigerator Pickles and Stir Fried Romaine Lettuce on the side.

Storage

Really?  Do you think you are going to have leftovers? If you are lucky enough to have leftovers, they can be stored in the refrigerator in a covered container for up to 3 days or stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

More Delicious Chinese Recipes

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