Here is a simple and relatively quick recipe for grilling ribs, in this case we are going to be cooking grilled baby back ribs. The two most popular choices for ribs are pork spare ribs and baby back ribs. Spare ribs take at least 3 hours to cook properly. Although they are well worth the wait, baby back ribs offer some delicious meat cooked in about half the time. This recipe is a much quicker, yet still delicious recipe for grilled baby back ribs. It doesn’t matter whether you have a gas or charcoal grills, we’ll show you how to do either. The main point is that we are going to cook indirectly, with only half of the grill lit. Got about 2 hours to kill on a nice afternoon? If so, run down and get some baby backs and let’s do this…
Simple and QUICK Grilled Baby Back Ribs…
Let’s look at this technique step by step…
Step 1, Remove the skin. Ok, I promise, this is THE hardest part of the job. There is this really thin skin on the back of the ribs that doesn’t look like much, but after it cooks it’s as tough as leather. Using your finger nail on the edge of one side and get under the skin. Use a paper towel to grip it and tear it off the back of the ribs.
Step 2, Rub ‘em down. One of the keys to a good rib is the rub. What’s the key to a good rub? That depends on who you ask. Want to know a secret? A lot of the top BBQ guys out there competing use store-bought rubs. The fun to a good rub though it experimenting and coming up with your own. Here’s a starter rub, use it as a launching point to your own BBQ deliciousness! Use your rub to generously cut the ribs, front and back and then cover them with plastic wrap and let them cure a bit in the refrigerator. This step allows the rub to sort of “dry marinade” the meat.
Step 3, Soak some wood chips. We want to add some smoke flavor to these ribs. Fruit woods like apple and peach provide a nice subtle smoke, while hickory and mesquite are very strong. I prefer fruit, but it’s up to you. Soak your chips or chunks of wood for at least 30 minutes prior to grilling.
Step 4, Light the grill. While the ribs are sitting in their new rub, let’s set up the grill. The gas grill is easy. Make yourself a smoke pouch with the soaked wood chips, light half of the burners to high and leave the other half unlit. The charcoal grill isn’t that much harder though. Simply light a chimney full of coals and wait until there is ash forming on the top coals. Pile all of the coals to one side of the grill and put a drip pan with about 1 inch of water on the cool side.
Step 5, Start grilling. Place the ribs over the cool side of the grill, toss the wood chips onto the coals (if using a charcoal grill) and close the lid. Seriously, I told you this was easy!
Step 6, The Sauce! After about an hour of grilling, it’s time to hit them with a little sauce. We do this towards the end for two reasons. One, we don’t want the sugar in the sauce to burn. The other reason is that we want that rub to create a nice bark or crust on the ribs. What sauce should you use? Again, this ranges from your Grandpa’s uber-secret sauce to a nice store-bought sauce. Whatever you’ve got, slather it on those ribs and close the lid again. If using charcoal, go ahead and throw about 10 more coals on the pile, preferably already lit from the chimney.
Grilling ribs can be intimidating, but as you can see from this recipe, it doesn’t have to be. Grilled baby back ribs make a great addition to your backyard BBQ. Add a few new york strips and some grilled vegetables and you have an impressive feast for your next party! We will cover some other grilled ribs recipes in the future that use more of the “slow and low” technique for those delicious spare ribs. But until then, enjoy these deilcious grilled baby back ribs!
