Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Who’s ready for grilling season? If you’re like me summertime means grilling and grilling means ribs! And of course ribs means cooking in the oven and heating up the house…
Not anymore, these tender spareribs are cooked on the grill!
- No slow cooker, pressure cooker or cooking the rack in the oven first!
Yes, you heard me right these ribs are cooked entirely on the grill. It’s super easy to do, the hardest part is waiting for them to be done.
Ok… so today we’re talking spareribs. But these aren’t made in the pressure cooker, these are made entirely on the grill. That’s right, no oven, no pressure cooker… no problem!
If you don’t have a gas grill this can certainly be done on a charcoal grill, just cover and monitor the temperature of the grill with a heat thermometer.
How To Parboil And Grill Ribs
Step 1:
Put your rack of ribs in a large stockpot. Fill it with enough cold water to cover. Then, squeeze lemons in a bowl and strain all the juice in the pot. You may also throw in the lemon rinds, just make sure to remove the seeds.
Step 2:
Add salt, bay leaves, and peppercorns into the mix. Then, bring it to a boil. Let it boil until the meat is slightly soft but nor falling apart.
Step 3:
Prepare your grill.
Step 4:
Transfer the parboiled ribs to your grill with the meatier side down, and grill for at least 10 minutes. Brush with your choice of sauce or glaze, and grill for another 3 minutes.
Your delicious ribs should be around 165F in the center. Likewise, you want to avoid charring the ribs but you want it falling apart.
Can I Cook Baby Back Ribs In The Oven
Yes! Heres how to cook our Smithfield baby back ribs in the oven:
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Tip: Use A Two Zone Grilling Set Up
You want to use a two zone grilling set up when grilling ribs, essentially turning your grill into a convection side cooker where your food is cooked with indirect heat.
Indirect heat cooking will lead to even, tender, and tasty results when it comes to low and slow cooking on a grill. Using direct heat will mean that you run the risk of over cooking the outer layer of your ribs before the inside has had a chance to properly cook. The end result of that would be a charred outside and a tough, chewy inside.
You can read more about indirect heat grilling here, but essentially you should turn on the burners on only one side of your grill, and place your food on the other side of the grill to cook.
How Long You Should Smoke Ribs For

There are two main types of ribs that you can smoke St. Louis ribs, also known as spare ribs, and baby back ribs.
While the St. Louis ribs can be seen on the pigs belly area, the baby back ribs can be seen on the back loin region.
Many people use spare ribs for smoking because they contain a lot of fat content. So, the steps that we have mentioned here are for the spare ribs.
Here are the steps that you must take before you proceed to find how long to smoke ribs:
- Clean the ribs properly and remove the sticky and thick membrane found on the rear of the ribs. You can use your fingers or a knife to cut this membrane off.
- Check the pork ribs thoroughly to remove most of the significant layers of fat that you can find. If you dont remove the fat bits in this step, the smoked pork ribs would taste chewy at the end.
- Cover the ribs with a generous dose of dry rub at least for an hour before you start smoking or cooking them. You can tweak the ingredients of the rub to suit your tastes. However, the simple recipe is to use ¼ cup each of brown sugar & paprika, 3 tablespoons each of black pepper & coarse salt, 2 tablespoons each of garlic powder, onion powder & celery seeds, and a small pinch of cayenne pepper.
- Leaving the dry rub on the ribs for an hour will help make the ribs flavorful and juicy.
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What Comes Before The Grilling
As opposed to sausages, steaks, and burgers, ribs require special attention before you actually put them inside an offset smoker or for example, a small bbq grill. When you buy a fresh rack of ribs, you cant just go on and put them on a hot grill grate expecting to be flavorful and juicy. Rib preparation includes:
Preparing a nice slab of ribs is not hard and there are no special requirements in terms of equipment, besides a solid grill. But, like everything in life, it requires the best ingredient of them all: patience. If you plan to do it fast, the best thing would be to reschedule the rib cookout, because there is simply no way to just storm through it.
How To Cook Ribs On The Grill
So youre ready to take the dive into the world of cooking ribs on the grill? I promise its easy and youll be obsessed with the finished product. Youll need about 15 minutes of prep time and an hour of cooking time. So, make sure you account for that when planning out your meal!
Youll want your grill preheating to low heat for about 15 minutes before youre ready to throw the ribs on. I use a propane grill, so 15 minutes is all I need. If youre using a charcoal grill, youll need more time for it to preheat, so plan accordingly.
You also dont want to put ribs on the grill that just came out of the fridge, or else the meat might get shocked. So, while your grill is heating up, let the ribs rest on the counter for about 15 minutes.
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How To Grill Baby Back Ribs
Plan for about one pound of baby back ribs per person. The ribs can sometimes come with a membrane along the backbone that you can remove, or you can have your butcher remove it for you.
How Long To Boil Ribs Before Grilling
The process of boiling ribs before grilling is not always simple. We all know that if you put the ribs in cold water, they will take longer to cook than if they were already at a boil when you put them in. But how long to boil ribs before grilling?
What about salt and pepper? And what about adding other ingredients like vinegar or tomatoes?
In this article, Im going to go through everything that goes into cooking a great rib recipe!
But before we discuss the boiling time, lets consider what we mean by boiling rib and the pros and cons associated with the process.
Contents
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Take Them Off After Applying Your Favorite Sauce
Once your ribs are done, you want to glaze them with a sauce before taking them off the grill. I like using this amazing barbecue sauce that is made of ketchup and brown sugar for my ribs. You can use any type of sauce you enjoy or make your own at home!
Once your BBQ sauce is on your ribs, its time to take them off the grill. I like to place mine on a plate and let them sit for about five minutes so that the sauce can soak in. Then I am ready to eat!
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How Long Does It Take To Bbq Ribs
Theres nothing I enjoy more than planning a great barbeque for the weekend. If ribs are on the menu, grilling them to perfection is important. If youre wondering how long does it take to bbq ribs Im going to show you.
There are different types of ribs to cook. Preparation is key to ultimate ribs satisfaction. Grill for too long and youll get dry and tacky meat. Undercook your ribs and your guests will be disappointed with meat that is hard to chew.
When preparing food, I always factor in time. If you dont have the time, then dont waste good ribs. You need prep time to clean, trim and season the ribs. Dry rubs and barbecue sauce add flavor to ribs. There are different types of basting sauces to consider too. You can make them from scratch or get ready-made ones from the supermarket.
Next up is the cooking and grilling time. You dont want to be rushing the cooking time of ribs. The end result does depend on the length of time you grilled your ribs. To get quality, tasty, perfectly cooked ribs every time it helps to know the right cooking time for ribs.
Im going to show you how to grill your ribs so theyre tender and succulent. Ill share with you the different times for different ribs and the preparation techniques. But before I teach you what you need to know, do you know the different types of ribs?
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How Long To Grill Ribs On A Charcoal Grill
Cooking time depends on grill temperature. The idea is to keep the grill at a consistent temperature of around 225 °F .
Low and slow is the name of the game and why you need to give yourself plenty of prep time.
At 225 °F , its going to take at least 5 hours, possibly just over 6 to cook them.
Although we want the internal temperature of ribs to be 190 °F minimum, it doesnt mean theyre ready. It takes time to break down the connective tissues that make them tender, and sometimes we need to take them and slowly up to as high as 205 °F
The basic timeline looks like this:
- 3 hours of smoking unwrapped
- 2 hours of cooking wrapped in foil
- 1 hour of cooking unwrapped at a higher temperature to finish
Your ribs may take more or less time depending on your grill. Remember to occasionally rotate them, check fire, top up your choice of smoking wood for your ribs, and if used your water pan every 30 minutes.
Test for doneness, not time or temp, and you should be ready to serve perfect ribs. Ill talk about doneness in a moment.
Should You Cook Ribs Before Grilling

Another option to preparing your grilled ribs is to bake them in the oven or slow cooker and simply finish them up on the grill. This ensures that the ribs are tender but also have that great smokey char that the grill gives off.
Ive found that with this grilled ribs recipe, the ribs come out tender every time even if cooked on the grill from raw. I love the flavor that cooking the ribs on the grill for the full hour gives, but thats just a personal opinion. Really, either method works great for delicious bbq ribs!
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Are Grilled Ribs The Same As Bbq Ribs
You may be wondering if grilling ribs is the same as barbecuing ribs. Technically, theyre two different types of ribs using very different techniques.
Barbecue comes from the Spanish word barbacoa, which originated with the Taino people one of the native inhabitants of the Caribbean islands before the arrival of Europeans. The Tainos would cook meat over smoking embers for a long period of time so that the meat would be infused with the smoke flavor and remain tender. That technique evolved to our modern form of American barbecue, but the essential technique has remained the same: you are basically smoking the meat over a very long period of time. While you can do this at home, it is a long, labor-intensive process that can sometimes take a full 24 hours and uses a lot of fuel. As well, you need special equipment to cook BBQ ribs.
Grilling, on the other hand, means to simply cook food over flames covered with a grate. You can grill pretty much anything very quickly. The only problem is that for tougher cuts of meat, like ribs, you need long, gentle cooking to get the meat tender. The solution for most home cooks is to boil, braise, or bake the ribs first until theyre tender and then grill them to get a nice smokey char. As long as you have a grill any type of grill you can grill ribs quite easily.
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:
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Do You Wrap Ribs In Foil When Grilling
You should wrap your ribs in foil for the last 30-40 minutes of cooking. I like to slather mine with BBQ sauce and then wrap them. You should also cover the ends of the ribs with foil if they start to get well-done during the cooking process.
Covering them after they have been on the grill for a few hours will then help to lock in that moisture and savory grill flavor while the ribs finish cooking.
How To Grill Ribs On Indirect Heat
The final cooking method is to simply tenderize your ribs over the grates of your grill by cooking them for several hours over indirect heat. Heres how.
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