These Chinese salt & pepper ribs combine savory, sweet, and spicy flavors together that are sure to become a family favorite. My Dad was actually the one who taught me this recipe and I still cannot get over how easy it is to prepare. No slow cooking in the oven for 2 hours, all it takes is 30 minutes from start to finish.

Chinese Salt & Pepper Ribs
A combination of savory, sweet, and spicy ribs all in just 30 minutes. These are not "fall off the bone" ribs, but do not underestimate how tender and juicy they are. A perfect protein choice if you are running low on time for those weeknight dinners. Recipe video to follow along above!
Ingredients
- 1 rack spare ribs (10-12 ribs)
- 2 tsp pepper salt
- 1.5 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp custard powder
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 green onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 red thai chilli
Instructions
- Cut up your rack of ribs into individual ribs and let them come up to room temperature if you have time.
- Season with pepper salt, soy sauce, sugar, custard powder, and oil.
- Air fry at 375F for 15 minutes flipping halfway through the cooking process. Make sure you don't overcrowd the air fryer.
- Chop up your garlic, green onions, and chili's and sauté in a pan for 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add the ribs from the air fryer into the pan and toss for an additional 3 minutes.
- Top with more green onions and enjoy!
Notes
Custard powder: The purpose of custard powder is to thicken the seasoning. If you cannot find custard powder, I would use corn starch as a substitute.
Pepper salt: For those of you who don’t know or have never heard of pepper salt, it is a spice blend mixture that consists of salt, white pepper, MSG, and five spice powder.
Check out some of our other rib recipes!
