Holiday Weekend Bake: Just 3 ingredients. I make it when I want dinner handled hours ahead of the backyard barbecue.

This is the kind of dish I lean on when a holiday weekend gets busy and I want dinner handled long before folks wander in from the backyard barbecue. It’s a simple Midwestern-style oven bake: just pork, barbecue sauce, and onions, slow-roasted until the edges turn dark, sticky, and a little bit charred in the corners of the pan. I’ve been making some version of this since my kids were young and we needed something that could sit in a low oven while we mowed the lawn or set up lawn chairs. It’s not fancy, just honest comfort food that fills the house with a sweet, smoky smell and comes to the table glistening in a dark baking sheet, ready whenever you are.

Serve generous spoonfuls of the pork and onions tucked into soft hamburger buns or piled over buttered baked potatoes. It’s also wonderful alongside classic backyard sides: potato salad, coleslaw, corn on the cob, baked beans, or a simple sliced tomato and cucumber plate. A crisp green salad or pickles help cut the richness, and if you’ve got a grill going, this makes a perfect partner to hot dogs and burgers, giving everyone a tender, saucy option without any extra work right at dinnertime.

Servings: 6

3 to 3 1/2 lb boneless pork shoulder or country-style pork ribs

Heat your oven to 325°F (165°C). Lightly grease a dark metal 9x13-inch baking pan or similar roasting pan. A darker pan helps those deep, glistening, charred corners form.

Slice the onions into thick wedges or half-moons and scatter them evenly over the bottom of the pan. They will soften and caramelize under the pork, soaking up the sauce.

Pat the pork shoulder or country-style ribs dry with paper towels. If using a whole shoulder, cut it into 3 or 4 large chunks so it cooks more evenly and gets more surface area for browning.

Nestle the pork pieces on top of the onions in a single layer. Pour the barbecue sauce over the meat, turning the pieces with tongs or your hands so everything is well coated. Spread the sauce so it runs into the corners of the pan—those corners will become dark, sticky, and extra flavorful as they roast.

Cover the pan tightly with heavy-duty foil, crimping the edges so steam can’t escape. Place the pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake, covered, for 2 hours. This long, gentle bake lets the pork get tender without drying out.

After 2 hours, carefully remove the foil (watch for hot steam). Spoon some of the sauce over the top of the pork pieces. Increase the oven temperature to 375°F (190°C). Return the pan to the oven, uncovered, and bake for another 30 to 45 minutes, basting once or twice, until the pork is very tender and the sauce has thickened and darkened around the edges.

For extra charred, glistening corners, move the pan to the top rack and switch the oven to broil on high for 3 to 5 minutes. Watch closely and pull it out as soon as the sauce at the edges is bubbling and just beginning to blacken in spots.

Let the pork rest in the pan for about 10 minutes. Use two forks to pull the meat into large, rustic shreds right in the pan, mixing it with the caramelized onions and all those dark, sticky juices. Taste and add a splash more barbecue sauce if you like it saucier.

Keep the pan loosely covered with foil in a warm oven (as low as it will go) until you’re ready to eat. It will happily sit for an hour or two while you tend to the grill and the guests, and it reheats well if you need to bring it back up to temperature.

You can use bone-in pork shoulder if that’s what you have; just allow a little extra time for the meat to get fall-apart tender and be sure to remove all bones before serving. If you prefer chicken, bone-in, skin-on thighs work well—bake covered for about 45 minutes at 350°F (175°C), then uncover and continue until the meat is cooked through and the sauce is caramelized and charred at the edges. For a bit of heat, stir a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes or a spoonful of hot sauce into the barbecue sauce before baking. If you like more smoke, a dash of liquid smoke in the sauce will give it that outdoor flavor even if the grill isn’t going. To keep things on the sweeter side, choose a honey or brown sugar barbecue sauce; for a tangier, less sweet dish, go with a vinegar-based sauce. Food safety tips: Always keep raw pork refrigerated until you’re ready to cook, and wash your hands, knives, and cutting boards well after handling it. Make sure the pork reaches at least 145°F (63°C) internally, though for this shredded style it will usually be much higher by the time it’s tender. Do not leave the finished dish at room temperature for more than 2 hours (or 1 hour if it’s very hot outside); keep it warm in a low oven or refrigerate promptly and reheat thoroughly before serving.