Get Ready To Serve Your Ribs
According to the United States Department of Agriculture , the internal temperature of ribs needs to reach 145°F before they are safe to eat. Use a meat thermometer to test the heat level before removing your ribs from the grill. The USDA also recommends allowing ribs to rest for a few minutes after coming off the grill, so the juices redistribute, and the meat is moister, and they are easier to carve.
Carve your ribs, and to enhance the smoky flavor, serve them with coleslaw and hush puppies.
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How To Cook St Louis Style Ribs On A Charcoal Grill
Whats the best way to cook ribs on a charcoal grill?
- Once the charcoal is lit, place it at the bottom of your grill and position it so that it is only covering half of the grill area. Add several large hardwood chunks to the charcoal. This will help us generate smoke throughout the cooking process. Place the grate back on the grill.
How To Make Bbq Ribs
If you want to grill BBQ Ribs, and who doesn’t? You simply need a BBQ dry rub for ribs and/or your favorite homemade BBQ sauce. I prefer to use both, but you can use either based on your personal preference.
Dust the ribs liberally with the dry rub prior to grilling, this can even be done the day prior if desired. The BBQ sauce will be applied to the ribs during the final hour of cooking. The heat from the grill will transform the BBQ sauce into a delectable sticky jam clinging to the meat! You can even make great BBQ ribs in the oven when it isn’t grilling season!
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This Is A Tutorial On How To Smoke Ribs On A Weber Charcoal Grill
How to smoke ribs on a weber charcoal grill
Learn how to smoke meat on a charcoal grill by starting with these impressive Smoked Spare Ribs with a homemade Rib Rub.
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Video #4 Smoking Ribs Using A Slow N Sear
The Slow N Sear is a fun accessory that is essentially a massively oversized charcoal basket with a built in water reservoir. Some folks claim that the steam produced by the water reservoir helps adds moisture to the meat. Im not sure of how accurate that claim is but I can attest that it is easy to maintain Low and Slow for at least eight hours on a single load of charcoal.
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How To Grill Ribs Fast
Although its preferable to cook ribs for several hours over a low fire, its possible to prepare them more quickly over a charcoal fire. It helps if you use baby back ribs, which are leaner and cook more quickly as a result. You can also speed the process along by par-cooking the ribs beforehand in boiling water or the microwave.
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How To Cook Ribs On A Charcoal Grill
Smoke the perfect barbecue pork ribs on your charcoal grill with our step-by-step recipe and guide. Cooked over indirect heat and applewood, this smoked rack of spare ribs will rival anything youve had before.
Any good BBQ chef knows his way around a good rack of ribs, but some fall short by thinking they dont have the right equipment. While ribs are traditionally cooked in a smoker or Kamado grill, they can actually easily be made on a charcoal grill as well.
Charcoal grills are often underrated for their flexibility, and unlike their gas brothers, they can actually be turned into brilliant smokers without compromising on that classic smoky BBQ taste.
Todays guide will walk through the steps on how to cook ribs on a charcoal grill.
Need a recipe? Check out our Texas Style Baby Back Ribs
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Grilled Ribs On The Bbq
There is no fancy recipe here, were simply making grilled ribs on your barbecue and have them come out tender, juicy, and just about ready to fall off the bone. A little tug and the bone is stripped clean!
If youd like some of my funky and delicious BBQ sauce recipes, head on down to the bottom of the page and find a list of goodies just before the recipe card.
How To Wrap Ribs
Another hour later, check on the ribs. We want them to curve slightly without breaking. If theyre yet to reach this point, allow them to cook for a little longer. However, if they are bending nicely then double wrap the ribs in aluminum foil. We do this to help increase the internal temperature of the meat while also holding in moisture, making them extra juicy.
Place the wrapped ribs back on the grill. Check on the coals and water again. Dont add more wood chunks this time as the ribs will have absorbed enough smoke.
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Directions: How To Prepare Baby Back Ribs On A Charcoal Grill
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How To Smoke Ribs
Get the ribs ready. Place the ribs on a sheet pan and remove the membrane on the underside of the ribs insert a butter knife between a bone and the membrane, with your fingers separate the membrane slightly, then use a paper towel to pull it away from the ribs.
Season the ribs with the rub on both sides of the ribs. If its early in the day, cover the sheet pan in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Prepare the grill. Remove any ash from the grill, open the top and bottom air vents fully, remove the cooking rack, and place the two charcoal baskets on opposite sides of the coal grate. Next, set your chimney starter in the middle of the grate and fill it with charcoal. Get your lighting material, matches, drip pan, and glove ready to go. Soak the wood chips at least 1 hour before using.
Serve the ribs. When the ribs are tender, remove the racks to a sheet pan and cover with foil. You can sauce the ribs at this point or just serve sauce on the side. Let them sit for about 20 minutes before slicing.
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What Are Perfectly Smoked Baby Back Ribs
Ribs should have bark on the outside with a pink smoke ring underneath it and a strip of gray juicy cooked meat in the center. This is before applying any sauce to ribs.
According to my pitmaster husband, David:
Perfectly smoked baby back ribs are achieved when the ribs are cooked to the precise consistency where you render the fat. The ribs should stay firm and in one piece, until you break them, leaving just a little meat for gnawing off the bone. Its really all about time and temperature.
Theyll make you have sauce on your face, slam up to your eyebrows!
How Long To Grill Ribs
Place the ribs bone side down over the direct heat and close the lid. Set your timer for 35-45 minutes.
Once the 45 minutes is up, flip the ribs so that the meat side is down. Cook them meat side down for 15 minutes.
Your total cook time is about 60 minutes.
As I said, it doesnt matter what kind of ribs you have. Baby back, St. Louis style, they all cook the same when you do it this way! Simply maintain that 350 degrees and youre good to go!
After 45 minutes to 1 hour of grilling, your ribs should be right around 203 degrees F. internal temperature. Ideally, theyll get to 205 degrees F. but 203 is perfectly acceptable!
After the 60 minutes is up, sauce the ribs again and crank the heat to high .
Char up the BBQ sauce on each side for a few minutes and double-check your temperature.
Thats how to BBQ ribs on the grill, the right way!
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Variations For The Best Fall Off The Bone Bbq Ribs Recipe:
- Serve these with or without sauce. This Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce is our favorite BBQ Sauce! The sauce goes on at the very last minute, if you put the sauce on too early, the sugar/ brown sugar will cause over-browning/burning.
- Ive included a recipe for a tangy BBQ sauce that you can make while the ribs are cooking, but if you dont want to go to the effort, buy your favorite store-bought one and brush them on in the last 15 minutes of cooking so they get a nice char.
- This recipe uses baby back ribs, but it will work with any kind of ribs although you will have to adjust the cooking times.
- Alternative to grilling them ribs can be made in the oven. Bake at 275°-300° for 3- 3 1/2 hours. Lemon Blossoms also has an excellent recipe for BBQ Ribs in the Oven with Bourbon Peach BBQ Sauce
- Want a variation for the dry rub? Here is a simple dry rub recipe in this recipe for Beef Ribs Recipe here!
How Many Ribs Per Person
If you’re hosting a party, you want a good idea about how many ribs to smoke. To figure that out, there are some questions to ask yourself first:
Are the ribs the only main course? How many side dishes are there? Will there be dessert?Are your guests big BBQ eaters?
A good rule of thumb is to assume about 2-3 servings per rack of pork ribs. You may need to adjust this up or down depending on your answers to the questions above.
How gorgeous are these St. Louis-style spare ribs?!
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Monitoring The Ribs Smoking On The Charcoal Grill
The temperature inside the grill, with the lid on, should be maintained between 250°F and 300°F. This is the ideal temperature for what is called a low heat smoke.
The temperature should not get higher than 325°F, which will cook the meat too fast and possibly burn the meat.
If the temperature gets too hot, raise the lid for 2 or 3-minutes to let the heat escape and the coals burn down a little.
If you dont have a thermometer on your grill, a general guide is if you can hold your hand over the cooking grill for between 8 to 10-seconds, the temperature should be right.
Every hour you must perform the following.
- Turn the meat. Turn the ribs over to ensure and even smoke and cook.
- Add coals if necessary. If the temperature is starting to drop, add a few more coals.
- Add more wood. Add another handful of the wet wood chips.
- Top up the water in the drip tray. This water will evaporate during the process and should be replaced.
In the last 30-minutes of cooking, baste the ribs with your favorite basting every 10-minutes.
The total time it should take to smoke a couple of racks of ribs on your charcoal grill should be about 3-hours if you use the temperatures we have indicated for a slow smoke.
But, as Jeff Phillips explains, Low and slow is the key to smoking ribs.
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Start The 7 Days Of Charcoal Grilling
If youre looking for a way to start the week off right, Charcoal Grilling is the perfect way to start it. Charcoal Grilling is the process of burning meat or seafood with charcoal to create a dark and pungent flavor. This unique experience can be enjoyed by either as a form of released stress, music listening, and socializing. Its also said to be earth-toned and it can be helpful in treating anxiety and depression.
When it comes to cooking, dont be afraid to start the soft-boiled egg with charcoal. Its a powerful tool for cooking that can help you reduce your oil and fat bills as well as improve your food quality. Charcoal is also good for your environment, as it doesnt release toxins that can pollute the air.
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How Do You Make Ribs Tender On The Grill
The secret to making tender ribs on the grill is low and slow cooking. Low cooking temperatures allow the collagen in the tough meat to slowly break down and melt during the lengthy cooking session. If your ribs are tough they simply need to cook longer, as long as you have been cooking them at the right temperature.
Turn Your Charcoal Grill Into A Smoker
Using the two disposable aluminum pans, you can convert your grill into a smoker. One pan will catch the drippings, and the other will hold water to add moisture to the grill and help regulate the temperature.
Steps to creating a smoker from your charcoal grill:
Make sure your grill is clean.
Remove the cooking grate and start the charcoal.
Place one aluminum pan on the coat grate and pour charcoal on the other side.
Add the wood to create smoke.
Return the cooking grate and place the second aluminum pan on top of it.
Fill the pan up with water.
Congratulations! Your charcoal grill is now a smoker!
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Putting The Ribs On The Grill
With the grill set up for smoking, we can add the ribs. At most, you will probably be able to fit two racks of baby back ribs or one rack of spareribs. Alternatively, you can buy a rib holder that props up the ribs so they stand on end so that you can fit more ribs at a time. Of course, this really depends on the size and type of charcoal grill you are using. What is important is that the ribs are not set on top of each other. It is important to expose as much of the surface of the rack to heat and smoke as possible.
At this temperature, it is going to take about 3 to 4 hours to cook the ribs completely. We are looking for a final temperature of around 180 F to 185 F/80 C to 85 C. This is the point of maximum tenderness before the meat starts falling off the bone. Remember that great ribs have bones in them and don’t fall into a pile of meat when cooked. That whole “falling off the bone” thing was created by bad restaurants that boil ribs.
Place the rack of ribs on the cooking grate of the grill, rib side down, next to the water pan. No part of the ribs should be directly over the fire. We will turn the ribs in a little while to provide for even cooking.
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.
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Why Do Ribs Take So Long To Cook
Heres why. Because ribs contain a great deal of fat and connective tissue, the meat is naturally tough before its cooked. Only the long, slow cooking process can break down the tissues and render the fat to give you the tender, succulent texture you crave. Louis ribs typically take 5-6 hours before theyre done.
