I love baby back ribs. I also love tacos. In this recipe, the meat from baby back ribs is pulled off the bones, and used as the meat component in tacos. The tacos are served with a pineapple pico de gallo, crème fraiche, and spicy black beans.
I am cheating a little bit in that I am using store-bought, pre-cooked baby back ribs, the ones that come in a vacuum sealed bag covered in sauce. I grew up eating these easy ribs, which taste pretty darn amazing and are such a time-saver.
This recipe makes about 4 servings.
Baby Back Rib Tacos with Pineapple Pico, Crème Fraiche, & Spicy Black Beans
I love baby back ribs. I also love tacos. In this recipe, the meat from baby back ribs is pulled off the bones, and used as the meat component in tacos. The tacos are served with a pineapple pico de gallo, crème fraiche, and spicy black beans. I am cheating a little bit in that I am using store-bought, pre-cooked baby back ribs, the ones that come in a vacuum sealed bag covered in sauce. I grew up eating these easy ribs, which taste pretty darn amazing and are such a time-saver. This recipe makes about 4 servings.
Ingredients
For the Pineapple Pico de Gallo:
- 2 ripe Roma tomatoes
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- ½ fresh jalapeno, finely minced
- 4 slices of pickled jalapeno, finely mined
- 1 small red onion, small dice
- 1 cup of fresh pineapple, dried on paper towels, small dice
- 1 Zest of lime
- 1 Juice of lime
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
- Salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
For the Spicy Black Beans:
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ red onion, small dice
- 2 Tbsp chipotles in adobo sauce, minced
- 1 can of black beans, drained from their liquid and rinsed
- ½ jalapeno, seeds included, minced
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
For the Remaining Taco Components:
- 1 rack of store-bought, precooked baby back ribs in sauce
- 8-12 tortillas, corn or flour, wrapped in foil and warmed in oven
- ¼ cup pickled jalapenos, for serving
- 1 cup crème fraiche, for serving
- ½ cup queso fresco, for serving
- 1 cup of your favorite red or green salsa, for serving
- Your favorite hot sauce, for serving
- 1 lime, cut into wedges, for serving
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, for serving
Instructions
For the Pineapple Pico de Gallo:
- Cut tomatoes into quarters and use a small paring knife to remove the inner pulp, seeds, and liquid.
- Reserve the remaining flesh, and cut tomato flesh into small dice pieces.
- Season diced tomato with salt, and place in a bowl to rest for 30 minutes.
- Draining out the liquid that releases from the tomato after 30 minutes.
- Combine drained tomato with the minced fresh jalapeno, minced pickled jalapenos, red onion, diced fresh pineapple, lime zest, lime juice, red pepper flakes, and fresh cilantro.
- Taste and adjust for needed lime, salt, or freshly-ground black pepper.
For the Spicy Black Beans:
- Heat 1 Tbsp vegetable oil in saute pan on the stove.
- Add the onions, and cook until translucent.
- Add the chipotles in adobo sauce, and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
- Add the black beans, jalapeno, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper.
- Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
- Taste and season with salt & freshly-ground black pepper.
For the Remaining Taco Components:
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Remove ribs from packaging and wrap tightly in foil.
- Cook ribs in the oven at 350F for 60-70 minutes, or until ribs are incredibly tender and falling off the bone.
- When ribs are just cool enough to handle, quickly pull the meat from the bones and leave pulled meat covered with foil to keep warm.
- Warm up your tortillas in the oven, wrapped in foil.
- When ready to serve, assemble your tacos with the warm tortillas, pineapple pico de gallo, spicy black beans, pickled jalapenos, crème fraiche, queso fresco, salsa, hot sauce, freshly-squeezed lime, and fresh cilantro.
Notes
I prefer to eat these ribs on the same day that they are cooked, soon after they come out of the oven.