Pork ribs were off the menu for me before starting my high-fat, low-carb diet. Now that I’m limiting myself to 20 net carbs per day, I’m enjoying the delicacies that come with the high-fat side of the diet. That means incorporating so many foods I never ate or limited my portions of foods like butter, bacon, sausages, heavy cream and many more. To my great delight, in Dana Carpender’s cookbook, 200 Low-Carb, High-Fat Recipes, she has a delightful buffalo ribs recipe. This recipe is based on hers, but you’ll have to buy her book for the exact one. I highly recommend it.

Carb-Smart Buffalo Ribs with Blue Cheese Dip      2 Net Carbs

I confess, I’d never had buffalo ribs in my life because I considered them game-day, bar food that I was above eating by my clean-as-a-whistle health standards. Now that I’ve crossed to the other side and eating high-fat, low-carb meals to improve my health, I will brag on this incredible finger-lickin’ recipe. There’s a lot of leeway to customize the recipe to your particular tastes, and I’ll show you where!

There are 3 simple parts to this recipe.

1. The ribs
2. The Buffalo Sauce
3. The Blue Cheese Dip

 Ingredients

• 2 punds pork spare ribs
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed (Use more if you’re like Emeril and love Gahh-lic.)
• 1/2 cup Frank’s RedHot Original Red Hot Sauce (Choose any level of spice you like.)
• 1/4 cup of shallots, scallions, chives, leeks or yellow, white or red onions
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of bacon grease, butter or olive oil
• 2/3 cup of Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise
• 2/3 cup of full fat Daisy sour cream
• 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
• Dashes of Tabasco or your favorite hot sauce
• Salt and pepper (optional)
• Garlic powder (optionals)

If you’re feeding hungry men a main dish, this recipe is likely good for 2 servings. If you’re small like me, or serving them them as a side or app to other game day foods, you can get at least 4 servings.

Rib Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350. I like to season my food because it makes all the difference. Place your ribs on a roaster. Honestly, I use a baking sheet with raised sides. Rub your ribs with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a few dashes of Tabasco on either side. Spread the seasoning evenly across the ribs. I eyeball it, but be careful because it’s easy to assault your food! I can go a little salt crazy, but as my momma taught me, “You can always add, but you can’t take away.” When the oven’s hot, place the ribs on the bottom rack of the oven so they don’t dry out on the top rack. Bake them for 2 hours and turn them over a time or two while they cook.

Buffalo Sauce Instructions

To start, melt the crushed garlic with the butter in a sauce pan. I don’t recommend a microwave because you can’t really monitor how cooked the garlic is. Stir the garlic in the butter until the it softens and separates. Then, add Frank’s hot sauce and blend until it’s temperature hot. Take the pot off your burner and set to the side until your ribs are done. By the way, this sauce can also be used on wings and small chicken drums.

Blue Cheese Dip Instructions

Melt the bacon grease in a small skillet over a medium heat. Avoid high heats that can lead to grease fires. If you don’t have any bacon grease, you can substitute butter, olive oil or other fat-base. Bacon grease just ads a different depth to the flavor of your food. A lack of it shouldn’t prevent you from making the recipe.When the bacon grease or substitute is melted, add your chopped onion of choice. Shallots are higher in carbs than other onions, so make your onion choice according to your carb needs. Stir the onions in the skillet until they start to brown. When they’re caramel brown, remove them from the heat. Be sure to do this before the next step because it’s very easy to burn the onions.

Next, in a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, blue cheese and Tabasco. When the onions are sufficiently cooled, add them to the bowl and combine well. Add salt pepper and garlic powder to taste. 

Variations

If you like them hot, choose your way to spice ’em up! Use the hottest sauce Frank makes. Add more Tabasco or habanero sauce or any other sauce you like to spice things up. 

When you serve

Use tongs and a knife or kitchen scissors to cut the ribs apart. Place the ribs on individual plates or in a bowl depending on who you’re serving and type of event. Reheat the Buffalo Sauce and pour over the ribs. Turn them over with tongs or your hands, if you don’t mind getting messy, to fully coat them. Put the Blue cheese dip in a bowl with a spoon and store any leftovers in the fridge. Set out plenty of napkins.

When you eat

Take one rib at a time by hand, because honestly, that’s just how your supposed to eat them. Top it generously with the blue cheese dip and enjoy!

Notes for your diet habits

I eat a high-fat, low-carb diet, but I also watch my protein and limit it to 62 grams of protein per day. When I eat protein as the main component of my meal, I plan a light protein meal for the other main meal of the day. It takes some planning and awareness, but is highly worth the effort. I know because my health has dramatically improved.

Nutritional Information

Serving Size=1 pound

Calories 764
Fat 72g
Carbohydrates 3g
Fiber 0g
Protein 26g

Buffalo Sauce (Serving Size=2 Tablespoons)

Calories 104
Fat 11.4g
Carbohydrates 0g
Fiber 0g
Protein 4g

Blue Cheese Dip (Serving Size=1 Tablespoon)

Calories18g
Fat 1.8g
Carbohydrates1g
Fiber 0g
Protein 2g

Good luck and please ask questions!

Also published on Medium.