Best Pork Ribs For Grilling
Each package is hand-selected and hand-trimmed so you know youre getting the most meat on each bone, and the flavor is irresistible. Theyre meaty, cook to fall-off-the-bone perfection, and are tender on the grill or in the oven.
Theres a reason Smithfield is the #1 rib brand in the U.S. You should eat what you love so I always choose Smithfield products! Their ribs, pulled pork, and pork chops are always my familys favorite to grill up quick weekday meals or smoked dinners over the weekend.
Smithfield Ribs are easy to find at your local Walmart or through the online Walmart Store. This way, you know youre getting a deal for the best ribs!
What Do I Need To Make Baby Back Ribs On The Grill
- Smithfield baby back ribs*
*I use Smithfield® ribs exclusively! Smithfield Extra Meaty Fresh Pork Back Ribs is my #1 choice for grilling ribs.
Each package is hand-selected and hand-trimmed so you know youre getting the most meat on each bone, and the flavor is irresistible. Theyre meaty, cook to fall-off-the-bone perfection, and are tender on the grill or in the oven.
Theres a reason Smithfield is the #1 rib brand in the U.S. You should eat what you love so I always choose Smithfield products! Their ribs, pulled pork, and pork chops are always my familys favorite to grill up quick weekday meals or smoked dinners over the weekend.
Smithfield Ribs are easy to find at your local Walmart or through the online Walmart Store. This way, you know youre getting a deal for the best ribs!
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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How To Cook Pork Ribs On A Pellet Grill
A pellet grill gives you the consistent temperature and reliable smoke flavor to make the best ribs on the block.
If you can automatically adjust the temperature of your pellet grill like you can with a Traeger you wont have to worry about opening the grill to add charcoal.
Because your pellets are constantly added to the fire, you dont need to open the grill to add more pellets. Those pellets are just working away, keeping your grill at the proper temperature and delivering natural smoke flavor to the ribs.
Just follow the instructions above for tender, delicious, perfectly-colored and evenly cooked pork ribs.
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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.
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Place The Ribs On The Grill
Where you place the ribs on the grill is most important. You need indirect heat to cook ribs without drying them out or overcooking them. The goal is to hit temperatures up to 375 F/190 C.
If you have a grill with the burners running front to back, you will need to use one of the burners on either end. Lets say you are using the left side burner. This means you place your smoke bombs directly over this burner . The ribs will be placed on the grate to the right of the hot burner. If the rack of ribs is short enough to be placed running parallel to the burners, set it near the hot burner but not over it. Otherwise, you might have to place it in a more diagonal position on the grill, which will require rotating the rack of ribs occasionally to even out the cooking.
Place the rib rack bone-side down on the grill, close the lid, and adjust the grill until it holds a temperature of 300 F/150 C. Let the ribs cook for 30 minutes. Dont open the lid as keeping it closed will hold in as much smoke as possible. Dont expect a lot of smoke to billow out of the grill as there wont be a tremendous amount of smoke production.
Easy Backyard Barbecued Spare Ribs
These classically flavored spare ribs are good any time year. Serve ribs with corn on the cob, creamy cole slaw and corn muffins. Just be sure to make plenty because these ribs will disappear quickly .
- 5 pounds pork spare ribs
- 1 cup cherry juice or cherry-cola
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
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Tips For Making Bbq Ribs On A Gas Grill
The Wrap: In order to get the ribs tender, and to save the beautiful color, be sure you wrap them tightly with foil or butcher paper.
The Thermometer: Dont trust your grills thermometer, use a reliable leave-in thermometer so you know the temperature at the grill grates where the ribs are cooking.
The Smoke: Pellets or wood chips, fancy box or foil packet, just leave it over the direct heat of the grill and it will produce a nice smoke for your ribs. You dont need to see so much smoke that you think somethings on fire. Clean smoke is almost transparent, and clean smoke is a must for good flavor.
The Moisture: Gas grills tend to offer a pretty dry cooking environment, because they dont seal like a Kamado style grill. This means youll need to spritz the ribs every hour to keep them moist.
The Zones: Two zone cooking is a must, if you want more information about two zone cooking, I encourage you to read that blog.
The Lid: Keep it closed as much as possible. Once you close the lid, dont be peeking in on the ribs, no matter how tempting. That lets the heat and smoke out.
The Doneness: Check here for an in-depth look into how to tell when pork ribs are done. The bottom line, they should be super tender and juicy, but not fall off the bone. You want to be able to bite into them, without the meat falling apart.
How To Store & Reheat Leftover Ribs
Cooked baby back ribs will keep in a covered container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days, or they can be frozen for up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw the ribs overnight in refrigerator if necessary, then place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Brush the ribs with another layer of BBQ sauce and cover tightly with foil. Warm in a 250°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until warmed through. Remove the foil and continue cooking for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the sauce to set and the bark to crisp up.
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How To Cook Pork Ribs On The Grill
You start by rubbing racks of pork baby back ribs with an aromatic mix of paprika, chile powder, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt, pepper and brown sugar. The ribs are then wrapped in foil and cooked covered on the grill over direct medium heat for 1 hour. I personally prefer using a charcoal grill, but you could easily make these on a gas grill. The key is to maintain a temperature of 350°F 400°F within the covered grill.
The ribs are then unwrapped and finished on the grill with the addition of hickory wood chips and store bought barbecue sauce. You baste and turn the ribs a few times over 10 12 minutes, resulting in saucy, smoky, charred ribs. So. Yum.
How To Grill Ribs
At last, youre ready to throw those ribs on the grill. Believe it or not, this is actually the simplest part. Because your ribs are already fully cooked, tender, and flavorful, all youre really doing is a reverse sear to get some color and roasty-toasty flavor. This is also when you coat your ribs in a BBQ sauce, which will caramelize and become sticky on the grill.
You can use a gas or charcoal grill for this.
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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!
Oven Roasted Baby Back Ribs
You can also prepare baby back ribs in the air fryer. Try our Air Fryer Pork Ribs!
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The Grilling Process To Cook Pork Spare Ribs With Grilled Peaches
The secret to grilling ribs is to pre-bake them in the oven first for about 3 hours at 300 degrees F. You will be able to tell when theyre ready to come out of the oven, because the bones should move easily, but not so easily they fall apart.
First, sprinkle both sides with salt and the rub. Wrap in lots and lots of foil. Make sure to place a sheet of foil on the bottom to catch any accidental drippings, and there probably will be some.
You can prep your ribs the day before. Once out of the oven, the ribs can be refrigerated overnight and then grilled on medium high heat without the foil the next day. .
If you want to make the ribs on the same day, pre-bake them early, and let them completely cool off before grilling, to prevent them from falling apart. Grill for about 20 minutes and apply the barbecue sauce in the last ten minutes.
Thats its. If you want to cook pork spare ribs on the grill, its that simple. Its doesnt get any easier, and when that meat falls off the bone, be prepared to beam from the compliments you will receive.
When feeding a crowd, I like to cut the ribs to 4 -6 bones each, making it easy for folks to grab a serving. Look how beautiful these ribs are, and they tasted even better. These were all pre-cut before I rubbed, wrapped and baked them. However, you can grill whole racks. Its your choice, but when making more than one rack, small sections are easier to manage and to turn over on the grill.
How To Smoke Ribs On A Pellet Grill: Variations Of The 3
Some people do not want their smoked ribs to fall apart or for the meat to fall off the bones.
If you think you are one of them, the 3-2-1 method is not best for you. This cooking process might be too long, and you might feel that it overcooks your meat.
The good thing is that you can achieve the desired results simply by tweaking some of the steps outlined above. You can shorten the second step from two hours to 45 minutes and step three from one hour to 30 minutes.
You could also reduce the first step to two hours and maintain the rest. As you gain more experience smoking ribs, you might even learn to do it by feeling and looking instead of by time.
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How To Gas Grill The Best Pork Ribs Ever
So now, let’s get to this delicious grilled pork rib recipe! I know that grilling pork ribs can seem intimidating. I hesitated to grill ribs for a long time. I just thought there were too many steps and that I needed to learn how to use a smoker or to create some sort of makeshift smoker. All of that is well and good, but it’s not absolutely necessary to create delicious, tender, flavorful pork ribs. And yes, you can do it on a gas grill! Just make sure your propane tank is full and I’m gonna show you how you can do this without any fancy tools or tricks.
How Can I Support Family Farms
When you pick up some pork ribs at Walmart or Kroger you are more than likely buying pork that was raised in Iowa by a family that has been doing it for generations. How cool is that?! Plus, I think it is super important, as a consumer, to know where my food is coming from and how it is being raised. It’s comforting to know that families, who care about us and their animals, are producing this food that I am enjoying.
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What Temperature Should You Cook Your Ribs On The Grill And For How Long
Everyone loves ribs, but not everyone has a fancy smoker for them. Weve got a solution: the grill.
There are plenty of meats that you can cook at a high temperature and have them done quickly, but not ribs. They are best done low and slow. To get started, heat your grill to 275 degrees, using a combination of charcoal and hickory wood. Knowing and maintaining the temperature of your grill is crucial during this process.
Youll want to let your ribs grill at 275 for four to five hours. Ideally, the internal temperature of the ribs should be between 190 and 200 degrees when youre finished. If you don’t already have a meat thermometer, go ahead and invest in one. You can find one for under $20.
Perfectly cooked ribs will pull apart easily, but be careful, overcooked ribs will become mushy. If you have leftover ribs, the best, most efficient way to reheat them is in the oven. Simply place the leftover ribs on a sheet pan, pour a small amount of water in the panjust enough to cover the bottomcover that pan with foil to trap in the moisture, put the pan in a 350-degree oven, and just like that, they’re done in about 25 minutes.
What Temperature Do You Cook Ribs On A Gas Grill
Youll actually be running your grill at two different temperatures. Starting at a lower temperature first, 255°F, and then increasing temperature to 285°F after you wrap the ribs.
Wrap the ribs? Yes. You can use either aluminum foil or butcher paper, but wrapping is imperative when making bbq pork ribs on the grill. More on this later.
For the temperature setting, I cant recommend enough the use of a reliable leave-in thermometer. I know your grill has a thermometer in its lid, dont trust it.
Lets assume the thermometer in your grills lid is accurate. Its not, but lets assume it is. Its reading temperature in the upper part of the grills lid, not on the cooking grate where the food is.
The temperature in the grills lid is much different than the temperature at the cooking grate in the indirect heat cooking zone.
Using a leave-in thermometer allows you to know exactly what the temperature is, where your food is cooking. And cooking ribs at the right temperature is one of the keys to turning out amazing ribs.
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Maintaining Consistent Heat In A Gas Grill
If you cant operate your gas grill accurately, you cant cook your pork ribs up to the par. So, if you are new to smoking, learn to control the temperature of your gas grill before starting to cook.
For baby back ribs, a grill temperature of 225-250°F is optimum to prevent the drying of meat. Also, owing to the long cooking time of ribs, it is best to set an indirect heating zone in the grill. You can do this by not lighting all the burners.
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