Chocolate Raspberry Ribs

"Feast of Saint Valentine"


Chocolate sauce on meat, yup I had to try it. I figured if I’m going to do a month of chocolate I had to at least attempt to make some kind of meat with chocolate. Obviously chicken or seafood is out of the question (I’m not that adventurous) , that left only pork and beef, and I thought ribs might be a good option, since it normally pairs well with sweeter sauces.

 I’ve been on a honey mustard joy ride and all the ribs I’ve been making and even chicken for that matter have been using honey mustard sauces on them. So the raspberry chocolate ribs were an adventurous detour.

Over all I would give this flavor combination a 7 out of 10. Ribs are tender, well-seasoned, the sauce has a very ‘perfumy’ aroma, I think due to the berries.   I’m not sure if it’s because I knew there was chocolate in the sauce why I had a lot of preconceived expectation of the outcome, but it was not bad at all. Both ingredients really do stand out, some people taste more of the chocolate and others the raspberry. For me the raspberry flavor was the strongest

One thing I would say the sauce lacked the signature Smokey flavor you expect from bbq ribs. I think if I had added some liquid smoke to the sauce it would have been more ‘BBQ-ish’.  I can see this being a real conversational starter at a potluck or chocolate themed party.

I’m not sure I would give up my honey mustard sauce for a chocolate raspberry sauce, but it was an interesting experiment. It has me wondering what other pairings can be made with chocolate and meat. I think another good idea would be to include the dry unsweetened coco powder in my dry rub seasoning instead of or in addition to putting the chocolate in the sauce……..but that’s for another time.

Ingredients (printable recipe)

Dry rub:

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp. salt

1tsp Black pepper

1 tsp. Cayenne pepper

2 tsp. Smoked paprika

1 tbsp. No salt seasoning

1 tbsp. Garlic powder

1 tbsp. Onion Powder

2 tbsp. oil

2 tbsp. Soy sauce

Sauce:

2 ½ cups raspberries and black berries

¾ cup water

½ cup honey

4 oz milk chocolate

1 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. lime juice (optional)

Greedy tips

• Cook ribs in oven covered for about 2 hours at 375, you will know it’s cooked when the meat is falling off the bones
• The drippings from ribs you can pour into ice trays and freeze to make a yummy gravy or BBQ sauce for another time
• The longer the sauce cooks the more intense the flavors become of both the chocolate and berries
• You can strain your sauce if you don’t like raspberry seeds so it’s a smooth consistency. (I should have done this)

Xoxo Greedygirl