Summer is almost here and with it comes the desire to lounge in the sun, eat watermelon and grill anything covered in barbecue sauce.
The first thing most people think of when they hear barbecue is ribs and they are certainly a first on our list when we get grilling.
After a winter of making them in the pressure cooker (which makes them deliciously, by the way), it’s time for us to expand our cooking space, eating space and living space. We like to grill all summer long and take full advantage of the nice weather. It makes life so much easier, doesn’t it?
These ribs are one of our favorite summertime dishes. The first time I made them I think my husband was shocked by how tender they were. Maybe even a little jealous since they were more tender and juicer than his? 🙂
The secret to cooking great ribs is the grilling temperature and the time. Basically, there is a golden rule for cooking ribs on the grill and that is:
Go low and slow for fall off the bone ribs
There are other rules though and perhaps they are all important or why would we do them, right? Each of them adds a little bit of something special to making this recipe delicious.
Here are the tips to get fall off the bone ribs:
- Go low and slow. You want to make sure the grill doesn’t go above 300 degrees with 250 degrees being the optimal temperature.
- You will end up coming the ribs for just over 4 hours. Give yourself plenty of time!
- Cook them inside foil the majority of the time. (Specific instructions in recipe.)
- Make sure to let them rest at least 10 minutes before serving. Pork will continue to cook after it is off the grill or out of the oven, so you want to give it the time to continue to do that. Letting it rest will also help to retain the juices and give you the best flavor.
Grab all my tips and tricks in the recipe below! And, as an extra bonus, you can find a recipe for how to cook ribs in the over for the same great taste and flavor!
Fall Off The Bone Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 slab baby back ribs
Rub Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
- 1 Tbsp. regular paprika
- 2 Tbsp. garlic salt
- 1 Tbsp. black pepper
- .5 Tbsp. chili powder
- 1.5 Tbsp dried basil
- 2 tsp. of dried parsley flakes
Sauce Ingredients
- 1.5 cups catsup
- 2 Tbsp. vinegar
- 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp. Worcester Sauce
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp. smoked paprika
- 2 tsp. garlic salt
- 2 tsp lemon zest lightly packed
- 1/2 - 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/2 - 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
Instructions
- On a gas grill, on turn the front burner or one of the side burners to low/medium. My grill has a right, left and middle. I usually only turn on the right or left side. You want the internal temperature around 250 degrees. I keep it on medium the entire time.
- While the grill heats up put your ribs on a large piece of tin foil and remove the silver membrane. This will make the ribs more tender.
- Rub both sides of the ribs with the spice rub. You want this to be heavy. You will lose some flavor to the heat as the ribs cook.
- Place ribs bone side up and tent them. Make sure the foil doesn’t touch the ribs. You want to create a pocket with the foil so you can retain the moisture while they cook.
- Place the ribs on the opposite side of the grill from the ignited burner and leave them there for two hours. Make sure the temperature doesn’t fall below 200 degrees or go over 300 degrees.
- After two hours, open the foil and coat the ribs with your barbecue sauce and turn them bone side down, meat side up. If there isn’t a lot of moisture in the foil, add a ¼ cup of water or beer.
- Re-seal your foil tent and cook for another 2 hours.
- When time is up remove the ribs from the foil (carefully!) and pull them toward the burner that’s on. They will already be ready to fall to pieces on you so be careful.
- Coat again with barbecue sauce and turn on all the burners. Close the grill and cook for about 10 minutes. You want the grill to start smoking so that you get a nice char. If it is not smoking, turn the heat up a bit.
- When done, let the ribs rest for about 10 minutes. This will help to retain the meat’s moisture.
- Add another layer of barbecue sauce and serve.
I hope you try this this summer and enjoy the season! I would love to hear how it goes and see photos!
Maybe you’ll end up cooking them better than your husband too. 🙂
EXTRA BONUS TIP: How to grill ribs inside!
Sometimes spring days don’t go as planned and you end up needing to make your barbecue inside. Don’t fret about it at all! You can make amazing ribs in the oven! Here is how you do it.
Baby Back Ribs in the oven
- Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.
- Remove the membrane on the ribs.
- Season all sides of your ribs with your rub on top a piece of foil.
- Place the ribs on the foil on a cookie sheet. Make sure they have enough room and aren’t crowded. Don’t try to cram multiple slabs on one. If you’re using Baby Back Ribs, place the bone side up. If you’re using Country Style Ribs you should place them on their side.
- Tent your ribs with the foil and make sure the tented part doesn’t touch the ribs.
- Place the ribs on the center rack of your oven and bake for 2 ½ to 3 hours. Total time will depend on the size of your ribs.
- Remove the ribs from the oven, open the tin foil and flip them so the bone side is now down and the meaty side is up. Slather them with barbecue sauce on both sides.
- Cook, uncovered for another 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and rest 10 minutes. Don’t skip this step! It helps to keep the meat moist, tender and improves the texture.
- Cover with additional barbecue sauce and serve!
My husband is the neighborhood grillmaster. I have to show him this. He loves making ribs.
I’m drooling just looking at those ribs. I need to get my husband to cook them low and slow. He tends to cook them for a short amount of time.
These ribs look so juicy, I know my hubby and my girls will devour them. Thanks for sharing the recipe
Your mouth look like you devour your hubby what a lucky guy
Saving this for later! We just got out very first BBQ and I look forward to lots of summer cookouts.
I’ve never had much luck with ribs on the grill. I’m excited to try your method, they look delicious!
Meat that falls off the bone is literally my perfect food!
We cook ours often in the oven, but we love to grill as well so I will definitely share this with my husband. Thank you for sharing.
YES!!! Low and slow and the resting period are KEY! As a midwesterner, we do tons of grillin’ and you got these tips spot on! Your ribs look delicious!
Oh Lordy!! This is a big deal. I want some now but I will have to wait until the weekend. My husband promised!!
These ribs do look fall off the bone! I love grilled ribs that have a sweet, sticky coating.
I’m a pescetarian so I don’t eat meat. But my husband loves ribs and we often have people over for cookouts so this has been pinned!
Oh these must be so good. We’re going to have to pick up some ribs and try out your advice soon!
This is how my husband cooks our ribs. In the oven and then after many hours on the grill. It seems like it takes forever but it is well worth it! Yum!
My husband is the expert on ribs not me, but we usually grill them and he does a good job. This is a good tip for next time!
This post is right on time! It’s BBQ season and so many of us will be out grilling. One can never have too many rib recipes! Yum!
I’ve always had a hard time getting ribs just right. I will definitely try this out. A great rib dinner is always appreciated in our house!
These are really awesome tips! I will definitely keep this in mind for our next grilling!
Oh I love baby back ribs! We’ve yet to buy any this season. This sounds like a wonderful way to cook them!
Yum! This looks so good! Great tips! We love ribs!
Falling off the bones is the only way I eat ribs! These look fantastic!
This has my stomach rumbling! It looks so good. I’ve actually never made ribs, but I’m going to bug my boyfriend to make them this way
Wow these look absolutely delicious!!!! I have to try this recipe like immediately!!!! Yummy!!!
Looks amazing! I love BBQ ribs, I prefer dry ribs, but my kids always enjoy it with sauce! Thanks for sharing the tips.
umm YES PLEASE!!! Saving this right now! ahh my husband and I are huge fans of ribs! Especially during BBQ season. This sounds amazing.
My husband is the grill master in our home and he cooks the ribs in foil with barbecue sauce. It makes it super tender and juicy!
These look delicious! Ribs take forever to make so I’m definitely going to try this grill recipe. What a great option for summer festivities.
It’s all about the low and slow. I usually don’t have the patience for that but it definitely produces tender ribs!
Ohhhh yes! I love ribs, but I’m not much of a griller. This is fantastic!
Yes, oh my gosh, baby back ribs are the best part of Summer!! Your pics have me drooling, lol.
Juicer and tender 🙂 my imagination blossoms 🙂 This will be great for my summer vacation thank you!
do you know that critics say that if our ribs fall off the bone they are overcooked? Well, I think they are crazy! I can’t stand to eat ribs if they are not fall off the bone easy and slathered in bbq sauce!
This is such a nice post and I love the way of your grilling. I am not good in this job but thank you for sharing this now I can do it more nicely.
We are making this afternoon
I’ll post a pic and using your recipes and tips
Thank you
Great, this looks yummy! I am not good in cooking but i’ll definitely share this recipe with my wife. Thanks 🙂
What does ‘tent them ‘ mean? For those of us who can’t read your mind you may want to make that more clear. On to a different recipe.
Ah hahahahaha too funny. Goodbye.
Thank you very much for such an easy and cool recipe! I have been looking for this for a long time. I grill masterly and i want try cook this in my grill station!