How To Buy Ribs
You can buy ribs at the butcher shop, grocery store, or mass market retailers like Costco. Ribs from the butcher will usually be sold individually and pre-trimmed so you know what you are getting. The butcher will usually have their ribs cut down into St. Louis style while the mass market retailers sell spare ribs that you cut down yourself.
When buying ribs, look for marbling and uniformity of the rib so it cooks evenly, and make sure there are no shimmers. That is where the butcher got too close to the bone and nicked it with their knife. Look for marbling. Fat provides a lot of flavor but find ribs that have the least amount of fat because youll end up trimming it. Look out for blood spots on the meat. This usually means the animal suffered and muscles tensed up.
Treat The Meat To A Spice Rub
Taste of Home
Trust us: You want to add the spice rub. Like making the marinade, its simple to prep, just tossing some ingredients together in a bowl. Here, we use the remaining ½ cup sugar, plus salt and seasonings.
Take the ribs out of the fridge. Drain and discard the marinade from the 13×9. Pat the ribs dry . Rub the spice mixture over all sides of the ribs, patting with your fingertips to encourage it to adhere.
Test Kitchen Tip: When it comes to ribs, some people only use a marinade. Some people only use spice rub. We like to do both! Marinading adds layers of flavor that penetrate deep into the meat, while the spice rub adds flavor to the surface of the meat. When the grill sears the ribs, the spicy, crackling exterior of the meat makes a delicious contrast to the tender, succulent meat inside.
Why Do You Cook Ribs Past Done
The accepted finished temperature of pork is 145°F, however, this has not given the collagen inside your ribs time to become gelatin for that perfect bite. That begins to happen when temperatures inside the meat reach 165°F. Continue cooking ribs until they reach around 195°F to 203°F for maximum render. You can keep an eye on this using a meat thermometer between the bones, however, you need to exercise caution as the meat nearest the bones will register as warmer than the meat in the middle. It can be a tough balance with thicker probe thermometers.
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Frequent Question: Can You Grill Ribs Over Direct Heat
Pretty much every rib recipe out there calls for using a low and slow, indirect grilling method. Grilling them over direct, high heat is a great way to overcook them and have them turn out tough. Indirect, low heat will help create tender meat that will easily tear off of the bone.
Hour Of Final Touches Including Saucing
The “1” is for an hour or less where your ribs will develop that rich mahogany color youve only seen in your BBQ dreams. You’ll get them up to the perfect temperature, and then slather with Traeger BBQ sauce at the very end of the cooking process . The sugar in BBQ sauce caramelizes and can burn the ribs if its heated for too long.
- Carefully remove the foil from the ribs. Discard the foil.
- Arrange the ribs directly on the grill grate, cover, and continue to cook until the internal temperature of the ribs hits 195 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Slather ribs with BBQ sauce and cook for 10 to 20 minutes longer. An internal temperature of 203 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal.
- Let the ribs rest for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!
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How To Apply Bbq Sauce
When the ribs are approaching done, apply your BBQ sauce. Be careful here: as tempting as it might be to thickly paste on the sauce, I strongly recommend spreading it in thin layers. Doing this will give us the satisfying and sticky surface of our ribs.
If we apply it to thickly then it wont have the chance to dry, giving us a disgusting wet coating.
Layer carefully by applying a thin layer on one side, before turning over and doing the other side. Once both sides are coated, close the lid on your grill and leave for 5 minutes before repeating the process again. Repeat 4-5 times in total. Once done, remove from heat and put to one side.
How Long Does It Take To Grill Ribs At 400
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, place the seasoned ribs onto a baking sheet and cover with foil. Cook ribs for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 360 degrees and cook the ribs for another 2 hours.
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Baby Back Ribs In The Oven
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How To Cook Pork Ribs On A Charcoal Grill
Smoking with charcoal is tricky. The main difficulty is maintaining a low temperature. Most charcoal grills are designed to give you a hot fire for cooking burgers and steaks, not for hours and hours of cooking.
You also have to set up your charcoal grill for indirect heat that means the charcoals stay on one side of the grill, and the ribs stay on the other.
Measuring and arranging the charcoal briquettes is key. If you add the same amount of charcoal you would for cooking burgers, the grill will be way too hot. Also, if you light all of the charcoal at once, it may not stay hot long enough to smoke your ribs. One recent innovation to help solve this problem is the snake method, where you arrange the briquettes in a line that slowly ignites as you smoke.
You won’t be able to regulate the temperature at the touch of a button. If the fire dies out, you’ll need to open the charcoal grill and add more briquettes. In a worst-case scenario, you’ll need to take the ribs out and relight completely. In both cases, the meat will cool down, drastically increasing your cook time.
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Use The Right Equipment
Weve left this for last, but if youve got time before you start smoking your ribs, you should consider what equipment youre using. You can make do with what youve got, but youre likely to end up with food that tastes charred, burnt, or even a little chemically. There are grills that make smoking easy and pleasurable, and there are others that make you wish youd never started. Make sure you have the former!
If youre not sure what type of grill to invest in, the majority of experts and beginners will tell you to go with a pellet grill. As we touched on briefly earlier, pellet grills are designed to perfectly manage the temperature, which is absolutely key in grilling successfully.
Pellet grills are generally set-them-and-forget them, which means you can put your ribs on the grill and go about your day, or even go to bed! The pellets give your food a smoky flavor thats perfect every time, and we have plenty of different flavors to choose from. Our Z Grills are affordable, long-lasting, and extremely beginner friendly, so theyre the perfect pellet grill. To see our full range of Z Grills and our latest offers, .
Once youve mastered the basics, make sure you try some of our other recipes! Try Smoked and Braised Beef Short Ribs, Smoked BBQ Pork Ribs, or Pork Spare Ribs. If theyre not what youre looking for, you can explore all our recipes here.
How To Grill Ribs Fast: A Step
First of all, pick up a supply of good quality ribs from your local butcher. I prefer to buy local whenever possible, but if thats not an option for you, baby back ribs are readily available in most supermarkets. Try to buy the meatiest ribs you can find.
Once youve unwrapped the ribs, trim them to remove any excess fat, if necessary. For your convenience, weve included separate instructions for grilling ribs over charcoal and pellet-fueled units. Note that if you choose the pellet grill method, the process will take a good deal longer.
Take a look at our separate section below for more tips on how to save time when grilling ribs. If you choose to par-cook the meat beforehand, you can leave the ribs on the grill for just 5 to 10 minutes to give them a hit of smoky flavor.
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Grill Pre Cooked Ribs Using Different Methods
Wondering about how to grill pre cooked ribs? Are you a busy person with a tough home and office schedule? Then it will be very difficult for you to manage the homemade meals. And when it comes to the ribs it might be impossible as they take an hour or even more to prepare and cook them.
However, you know that with a little effort you can make or grill the pre-cooked ribs. It will take no time and you will feel the homemade taste from them. The best way to grill them is to follow the directions or proper guidance. You may find a lot of guides about cooking ribs on the internet, here is one of them.
In this blog, we will discuss how to prepare or grill pre-cooked ribs.
How To Season Ribs
Seasoning is the fun part of smoking ribs by choosing or creating a rib rub, you truly are making them your own.
Whether you use a dry rub or wet rub method you’ll need to choose a rib rub first.
- cumin
- cinnamon
… but it’s your call. The only word of caution: Don’t overdo it with any of these ingredients, or you could overpower the rest of the flavors.
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Wrapping Your Grilled Ribs
When youve been grilling your ribs for 30 minutes, its time to check they are properly browned all over. If you notice any raw-looking spots on the surface, keep grilling the ribs for 10 to 15 minutes more.
Youll next make your ribs even more tender if you steam them with some apple juice when tightly wrapped in foil. This will lock all the juice inside the packet with the ribs. Ensure the package is as watertight as possible once youve poured in your apple juice.
Pop your tightly wrapped spare ribs back onto the grill, again using the indirect cooking zone.
Shut the lid of the grill and ratchet up the temperature to 375F. This is hot enough for the apple juice to boil, further tenderizing your ribs, while also speeding up the time it takes to cook them.
After 30 minutes of steaming in the foil, dial the heat down and start unwrapping your ribs.
You should find the ribs are flexible now and mostly cooked. If you pick up the rack from one end, you should see it drooping.
If, however, you find the ribs are still not fully browned, close the package up and grill them for 10 minutes more.
How Do You Know When Your Ribs Are Ready
If you find that the probe on your old BBQ meat thermometer isnt the right size and havent gotten yourself a new one, like the Napoleon Bluetooth Wireless BBQ Thermometer, yet, try one of the following techniques. While theyre open to interpretation and definitely not fail-safe, these techniques can be helpful in making sure your ribs are ready for serving.
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How To Choose The Best Ribs For Grilling
The best ribs for grilling really depend on your tastes and needs. In most parts of the United States, pork ribs are preferred, and they are the most common types of ribs. However, beef ribs, which are larger and have a deeper flavor, are also popular in places where BBQ beef is king, like Kansas City and many parts of Texas. Both of these take well to American-style barbecue sauces. Lamb ribs are also a great alternative, but theyre not as commonly eaten in North America as pork and beef ribs. Lamb has a gamier flavor that requires different seasonings that pork and beef ribs. There are many mouthwateringly delicious lamb rib recipes in Middle Eastern and East Asian cuisines that feature cumin, coriander and a lot of garlic.
Among pork ribs, there are several common varieties to choose from:
Do Ribs Get More Tender The Longer You Cook Them
To keep ribs moist, its a good idea to hydrate the ribs while they cook. The longer you cook them, the more tender they will be. For example, ribs cooked for four hours at 225 degrees Fahrenheit will be more tender and juicy than those cooked for two hours at 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Sweet And Spicy Barbecue Sauce
You can use any barbecue sauce you like, but for us, we like to cook up our quick sweet and spicy sauce it only takes a few minutes. It combines ketchup, brown sugar, chili sauce , and spices. Weve shared how to make it in the recipe.
I like making a double batch of the sauce and keeping it in the refrigerator. It will last up to 5 days. The sauce is perfect with chicken, on a burger, or as a dip for fries.
We make a similar sauce to coat our brown sugar barbecue wings. Another option is our homemade bacon bourbon barbecue sauce . We use that sauce for our bacon bourbon baked ribs.
Bbq Ribs On The Charcoal Grill
Nothing says summer like grilled BBQ ribs! These baby back ribs on the charcoal grill are simple, delicious, and sure to please a crowd with tender, fall off the bone meat and crispy charred edges.
Coming from a long line of Texans, and having lived here my whole life, I like to think I know a thing or two about barbecue. I grew up on baby back ribs and brisket cooked all day long on a smoker during my childhood weekends spent at our family lake house.
Then I married another long-standing Texan who also loves his barbecue. In case you’re confused, throwing some BBQ sauce on a piece of meat does not, in fact, make said meat ‘barbecue’. Neither does cooking meat outdoors.
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How To Prepare Your Rack Of Ribs
One of the drawbacks of picking up store-bought spare ribs is that they are seldom properly prepared.
Fortunately, all you need to do is take care of some trimming before you grill your ribs.
The optimum rack of ribs for grilling will be square shaped and of an even thickness throughout.
Remove all loose pieces of fat, bone, or meat from the rib before you get started.
Next, cut away excessive fat from the rib rack, but dont go over the top and carve it all away. All youre looking to do here is reduce the mass of the thicker parts of fat rather than attempting to remove it all. Where youll be cooking your ribs much faster using a gas grill than a smoker, you wont notice such a distinct benefit from the fat anyway.
Your overarching goal here is to keep enough fat intact so the meat stays moist, but not so much that the finished product is overly fatty.
With trimming complete, rinse your rack of ribs with some cold water then pat it dry with some paper towels.
Can You Cook Ribs On A Propane Grill
Can you cook ribs on a propane grill? To cook ribs on a propane grill, your best best is to choose baby back ribs. You can make St. Louis ribs on a gas grill, too, but those may be better cooked in an oven. When picking a rack of baby back ribs, look for one that has an even layer of meat across the ribs.18 Sept 2019
How long does it take to grill ribs on a propane grill? Grill the ribs for 60-90 minutes at 300 degrees with the grill closed the whole time. Once the internal temperature reads 165-170, the ribs are done.
What temperature do you cook ribs on a propane grill? You should cook ribs on a gas grilll at a temperature range of about 225°F to 250°F on a gas grill.
How long should ribs cook on the grill? How long does it take to cook ribs on the grill? Depending on the heat of your grill, your ribs should take about 1½ to 2 hours in total. Use visual cues to know when your ribs are doneyou want them to be tender and easily pierced with a fork, but not completely falling off the bone.
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