Cooking Ribs on the Grill is Easy, I Promise!
When you think of grilling season it’s hard not to think of grilled pork ribs – they’re a staple! Yet all the hype and obsession over BBQ ribs can make it seem like a super difficult thing to cook. Trust me, it’s really not.
This grilled ribs recipe is super straightforward and always flawless thanks to the 2-zone grilling method. Season baby back ribs with our signature BBQ dry rub then grill them low and slow with indirect heat, allowing the gentle, smoky heat to permeate the meat until it’s so tender that it’s nearly falling off the bone. Permission to sit back and relax during all this inactive cook time!
Slater the grilled baby back ribs with your favorite barbecue sauce and finish them over direct heat, creating beautiful caramelization and deliciously crispy charred edges. The final product is super juicy and tender enough to pull away from the bone, but still has the charred texture you crave from all things BBQ. It’s seriously perfect and the grill does all the work! 🙌🏼
All that’s left is to serve your grilled baby back ribs with a few classic cookout sides like baked beans, coleslaw, or potato salad and enjoy! Perfect for backyard cookouts, Sunday suppers, or event a hands-off weeknight dinner – there’s always a good reason to make baby back ribs on the grill!
Key Ingredients
You need…
- Baby back pork ribs – Grab a rack of baby back ribs from the butcher counter at your local grocery store (look for one that is meaty and not too fatty). This recipe uses a 4-pound rack of ribs, which typically serves 2-3 people as a main dish or a little more if you’re serving a big BBQ spread. Feel free to scale the recipe up if you’re feeding a larger crowd!
- BBQ dry rub – Our go-to dry rub uses a combination of brown sugar and spices for tons of amazing sweet-spiced flavor. It’s a simple mix of chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, mustard powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and brown sugar.
- BBQ Sauce – There are tons of amazing bottled BBQ sauces these days, so feel free to pick your fave. You can also always make your own homemade BBQ sauce, of course. Check out the Recipe Notes, below, for Mom’s pineapple sriracha BBQ sauce (inspired by our favorite Hawaii BBQ, Huli Huli Chicken!).
Essentials for Easy Baby Back Ribs
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Stainless Steel Measuring Cups & Spoons
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Buy Now → Perfect Baby Back Ribs Are All About the Prep!
Before you can get the ribs on the grill, you’ll need to do a little bit of prep work: remove the silverskin from the meat and season it with a homemade dry rub. (If you’ve ever made our Pressure Cooker Baby Back Ribs then this prep will feel familiar to you.) Both are very straight-forward tasks and it’s pretty much all the hands-on work required – everything else is inactive cooking!
Don’t skip this! If you leave the silverskin intact, the dry rub won’t penetrate the underside of the ribs, resulting in meat that is both tough and lacking in flavor.
Why? ⇢ Using a dry rub for pork ribs is so important – it imparts them with flavor throughout the entire cooking process.
How to Grill Baby Back Ribs
This recipe uses the 2-zone grilling to gently cook the ribs until tender with indirect heat and then finish them over high heat for a quick char. We love how the grilled baby back ribs are both deliciously juicy and crispy – truly the best of both worlds!
While the process takes several hours, it is entirely hands-off. Feel free to sit back and relax while the grill does all the work.
Preheat the grill. Whether you have a gas or charcoal grill, set it up with two heat zones: one with high, direct heat and a second with indirect heat. The overall grill temperature should reach about 300-400 degrees F before you start cooking.
Cook with indirect heat. Place the seasoned baby back ribs on the grill grates (bone-side down and meaty side up). Close the lid and cook for 1 ½ hours.
Wrap the ribs in foil. Carefully remove the grilled baby back ribs and wrap them in aluminum foil.
Why? ⇢ At this point, the connective tissues in the meat are melting away, making the grilled ribs super juicy. The foil packets capture all that juice (aka, FLAVOR!) so we can mix it in with the BBQ sauce later. It also prevents the grilled pork ribs from drying out and falling apart. They’ll be ready to fall off the bone and you don’t want anything slipping through the grill grates.
Finish over direct heat. Remove the foil and brush the ribs with your fave BBQ sauce. Move them to the direct heat side of the grill, cooking for a few minutes longer and basting with more sauce as desired.
Serving Suggestions
One of the best parts about making baby back ribs on the grill is enjoying them with plenty of sides. These ribs just beg to be served alongside summer cookout classics like smoky brown sugar baked beans, a big platter of grilled vegetables, creamy, crunchy coleslaw or your favorite pasta or potato salad.
I can’t wait for you to try these Grilled Baby Back Ribs! If you do, be sure to let us know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo and tag @playswellwithbutter on Instagram. We LOVE seeing your PWWB creations! ♡ Happy grilling!
Print
Finger Lickin’ Grilled Baby Back Ribs (Gas or Charcoal)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: serves 4-6 1x
- Category: Main Dishes, Pork Recipes
- Method: Grilling & Smoking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Learning how to cook the perfect rack of Grilled Baby Back Ribs is so much easier than you’d expect!
Simply season baby back ribs with a homemade BBQ rub, then cook them on a gas or charcoal grill, low and slow with indirect heat.
Once they’re juicy and fall off the bone tender, slather the grilled ribs in your favorite BBQ sauce and finish over high heat for beautiful caramelization and crispy-charred edges.
The perfect BBQ centerpiece and a great Sunday supper to enjoy all summer long!
Ingredients
- one 3–4 pound rack baby back pork ribs, “silverskin” membrane removed (see Recipe Notes)
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- PWWB BBQ dry rub (below)
- 1 cup BBQ sauce of choice (see Recipe Notes, below)
for the BBQ dry rub:
- 3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons dry mustard
- 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- optional: up to ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the grill. Prepare your grill for indirect cooking, creating a zone of direct high heat and a second zone of indirect heat. If using a gas grill, begin preheating at least 15 minutes before grilling. If using charcoal, light the charcoal at least 30 minutes prior to grilling. Learn more! ⇢ Grilling with the 2-Zone Method.
- Prep the baby back ribs: Generously season the entire surface of the ribs with the salt. Mix up the dry rub by adding all listed ingredients to a small bowl or jar and shaking or stirring to combine well. Sprinkle the dry rub all over the ribs, using your hands to lightly work the rub into the meat.
- Grill the ribs with indirect heat: Place the seasoned ribs on the indirect heat side of the grill, meaty side up. Close the grill lid. Cook the ribs with indirect heat for 1 ½ hours, carefully rotating the ribs 180° about halfway through. After 1 ½ hours, carefully remove the ribs from the grill. Wrap the ribs snuggly with heavy-duty aluminum foil, then return to the indirect heat zone. Cover and grill for 30 minutes longer, or until the ribs are juicy, tender, and just about ready to fall off the bone.
- Finish the ribs over direct heat: Remove the ribs from the grill, transferring them to a large sheet pan and carefully unwrapping the foil. Brush your BBQ sauce or glaze of choice over the meaty side of the ribs. Transfer to the direct heat size of the grill, meaty side facing down. Grill 5-8 minutes, flipping and basting with more sauce about halfway through, until the BBQ ribs are as caramelized and charred as you like.
- Serve: Slice the grilled baby back ribs into individual portions and serve immediately with your favorite BBQ sides. Enjoy!
Notes
- Ingredient Notes:
- Removing the “silverskin” from baby back ribs: When you bring a rack of baby back ribs home from the butcher or grocery store, there will typically be a thin membrane that runs along the back of the ribs – the “silverskin” – and it needs to be removed prior to seasoning. (If the silver skin is left on, the dry rub won’t penetrate the meat and the grilled ribs will be difficult to chew!) This is very easy to do at home. I suggest using a butter knife (or something with a similar blunt edge that is not sharp) to work the silverskin off the ribs in 1 spot. From there, slide your finger under the membrane and the silverskin should pull off very easily. (If you need another visual, this simple video tutorial may be helpful.)
- Pineapple sriracha glaze: Our favorite homemade BBQ sauce is a spicy-sticky-sweet pineapple glaze similar to Mom’s Huli Huli Chicken Sauce. To make it, combine ¾ cup pineapple juice, 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch, 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons ketchup, 1-2 teaspoons sriracha, and ½ teaspoon each kosher salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, whisking the mixture until it’s thick and glossy, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Removing the “silverskin” from baby back ribs: When you bring a rack of baby back ribs home from the butcher or grocery store, there will typically be a thin membrane that runs along the back of the ribs – the “silverskin” – and it needs to be removed prior to seasoning. (If the silver skin is left on, the dry rub won’t penetrate the meat and the grilled ribs will be difficult to chew!) This is very easy to do at home. I suggest using a butter knife (or something with a similar blunt edge that is not sharp) to work the silverskin off the ribs in 1 spot. From there, slide your finger under the membrane and the silverskin should pull off very easily. (If you need another visual, this simple video tutorial may be helpful.)
- Storage and Reheating: Leftover grilled baby back ribs will keep, stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave until warmed through.
- Alternate cooking method – Slowly bake in the oven, finish on the grill: If you prefer not to cook the BBQ ribs on the grill with indirect heat for 2 hours, you can replicate Step 4 using your conventional oven. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Place the seasoned ribs on a large baking sheet. Bake, uncovered, for 1 ½ hours, then wrap the ribs with foil and return to the oven for 30 minutes longer. Finish and serve according to the Recipe Directions, above, or feel free to finish the ribs with your oven’s broiler.
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These ribs were the best I’ve ever made! I doubled the rub recipe and prepared them using the oven method. We finished them on the grill. The tips throughout the recipe were helpful and the directions were easy to follow. They were a crowd pleaser!
That’s such high praise, Michelle!! Thrilled to hear that everyone loved them!
Delicious recipe! Goes great with Cole slaw and macaroni salad.
We couldn’t agree more, Billy! So glad you enjoyed!
I also cooked the ribs according to this recipe. They were so tender. Thank you for sharing
I tried this recipe (the dry rub), today July 27, 24 . It was delicious. I would have liked to make your barbecue sauce , but used my favorite brand . I highly recommend this recipe.
So glad to hear you loved these ribs as much as we do, Lesia!! The dry rub is one of our favorite grilling secrets!
The absolute BEST Back Ribs recipe on the planet! This was my first time making them ever and they came out perfect. I decided to make ribs instead of the traditional Christmas dinner meal for the family. These ribs will be our NEW annual Xmas tradition. Thank you so much for sharing this.
We LOVE hearing about our recipes becoming new traditions!! So happy to hear you loved the ribs, Kim! Merry Christmas!
Not sure if I missed it…what temp should the grill be at during cooking??
Hey Amanda! You can find more info on two-zone grilling here – it’s the secret to the BEST grilled ribs! Please let us know if you have any more questions!! 🙂