The Holy Grail of ribs, smoked, grilled baby back ribs, can be yours. It's not that hard. Do them low and slow like the smokers do but on your gas grill. The trick is the grill set up. Once you get this down, it's easy.
Introduction
There are three recipes I consider the Holy Grail of grilling. First, this recipe for baby back ribs. Second, Brisket (How to Cook a Brisket on a Gas Grill.) And third, Pulled Pork from Butt (Pulled Pork on a Gas Grill - Not That Hard.)
For real beginners, I want to add on hamburgers (How to Grill a Hamburger - A Beginner Tutorial) along with chicken breasts (How to Grill Chicken Breasts on a Gas Grill).
If you conquer all of them without fear, you are a grill master. You have won the backyard battle.
With ribs, there is are just a few things to learn, and you can do this over and over. First, you must set up your grill. And you must know your endpoint, that is it, the rest is a personal preference.
My Rating
An easy 5. My wife wanted it over and over and gave a five, also. "The best-looking ribs...ever."
♨️Grill Setup
By far, the most important thing about this recipe is the grill set up. You get that right, you are golden and can do no wrong (almost). Get it wrong, and you have no chance. This goes for almost any grill recipe more complicated than a hot dog.
Fortunately, it is not that hard. Please review these details on the grill setup.
How to Set Up Your Gas Grill for Smoking and Low and Slow Cooking
A Beginners Guide to Grill Temperature on a Gas Grill
But here is a summary.
Indirect Heat
You will be using indirect heat, meaning the meat will not be directly over the burners. All grills are different, but you will need to learn this for your grill for this and other recipes.
You will need a way to check and monitor the surface temperature of the grill where the ribs will be cooking. This is NOT a hood thermometer. They are first inaccurate, and second are nowhere near the surface where the cooking is happening. I suggest a grill surface thermometer that will be about $10. It will make your grilling of all recipes 200% better instantly.
If you are lucky, the manufacturer of your grill provides these instructions. But even then, you will need to spend a bit of time experimenting with your set up. For my 4 burner grill, I can use the center area with those two burners off and the two outside burners on about medium. But yours may be totally different.
You will also need a drainage pan under the ribs. This is usually under the grids but CAN NOT rest on the burners.
Again, please see my more comprehensive guide listed above.
Smoking
I have a smoking box built-in my new grill. On my old grill, I used a cast-iron smoking box (link in The Cooking for Two Shop.) You could use an aluminum foil pack of wood chips. I generally use hickory, but cherry, pecan, mesquite, and apple are commonly used. Some people like oak but I really dislike oak for this.
Again, please see my more comprehensive guide listed above.
🐖The Ribs
First, your ribs should not be frozen when cooked with this method. Also, examine the ends of the bones for bone chips before proceeding.
What are Baby Back Ribs?
Back ribs are cut from the top/back part of the rib, where it meets the spine. They are called baby back since they are shorter than the other rib cuts. They will usually be 10-12 ribs that are 4-5 inches give or take a little and usually weighs 1 ½ to 2 pounds.
Since they are meatier and in higher demand, they will cost more but well worth the price.
Removing the membrane
Pork ribs have a membrane on the back of the ribs, which is the lining in the lung cavity. It does not have to be removed, but most experts want it removed (and I do, also.) I think you get more rub flavor if you remove it.
This is easier than you think. I like to use my fingers and a butter knife. And many times, the best part of the knife is the handle. Work your way under it in the area of a rib near an end. Then once you can get a good hold on it, start pulling at an angle, and it will come off. It is an acquired skill, so you won't be perfect the first time.
The Dry Rub
I included a nice simple 8:3:1:1 rub in the recipe. A great rub by any standard, but do you want a "top of the line " rub? It is a bit more complicated, but try Marlowe of Memphis BBQ Dry Rub, it is more work, but it is worth it. Try some Marlowe Memphis Dry-Rubbed Ribs today.
🌡️Grill Temperature
Most smokers and top grillers like to cook ribs in the 225°-250° grill temperature range. While higher temperatures will cook faster, that is not better. It will tend to cause dried out meat.
⏰How Long?
While there are the variables of the grill and meat, there is never an exact time for something like this.
A good estimate for cooking a medium size rack of ribs is 3 hours. If the ribs are a bit small or you are unsure about your grill setup, start checking at about 2 hours. A thick slab may take 4 hours. If you are cooking more than one slab with a vertical rack, add about 30-60 minutes.
How to tell if they are done?
This is the biggest issue. Too long, and they are dry and overcooked. Too short, and they are tough. I'm combining three things.
1) Temperature, I want the instant-read temperature at 190° plus range. More like 200°-205° is better. It is hard to get an accurate temperature due to the thin meat and the bones interfering.
2) I want to see some bone. This means the ends of the rib bones are sticking out some.
3) When I pick up the ribs with tongs holding them about ⅓ of the way up, they crack some.
If you use a larger rib like a St. Louis or similar, they will also take longer. DO NOT GO BY TIME ONLY HERE.
📖Related Recipes
Easy Oven Baked Baby Back Ribs
Memphis Barbecue Sauce - A Wonderful Thing
Marlowe of Memphis BBQ Dry Rub
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Set up the grill for indirect cooking over a drip pan under the indirect are with ½ to 1 inch of water. Stabilize temperature about 250°. Clean and oil grill, of course.
Prep the ribs. Remove the inner lining and check for bone chips. There seems always to be some.
Rub with about ½ cup of a dry rub of your choice. I have included an 8:3:1:1 rub in the recipe but use what you want. The rub will work fine if applied just before grilling or the day before. If applying early, then wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Place over the drip pan and start your smoke. I did about 30-60 minutes. Then keep your hands off for about 3 hours total from the start of cooking. Add some time to that if cooking more than one slab. It may be 4 hours or more. If you are unsure of your grill setup or doing smaller ribs, start checking at 2 hours.
The ribs are done when: First, temperature, I want the instant-read temperature in 190° plus range (200°-205° preferred.) Second, I want to see some bone. This means the ends of the rib bones are sticking out some. Lastly, when I pick up the ribs with tongs holding them about ⅓ of the way up, they crack some.
Allow to rest for 10 minutes before digging in.
Potato Bonus
Scrub and coat medium-large russet potatoes with oil. Toss them on the grill with ribs in the indirect heat area. They will be great.
📖Full Recipe
How to Grill Baby Back Ribs on a Gas Grill
Ingredients
- 1 rack baby back ribs - or more
- ½ cup rub of your choice
Excellent rub if you don't have one. Enough for 2 slabs. Cut in half to have less leftover if you want, but I save it for next time.
- 8 tablespoons brown sugar - ½ cup
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Set up the grill for indirect cooking with a drip pan under the indirect are with ½ to 1 inch of water. Stabilize temperature about 250°. Clean and oil grill, of course.
- Prep the ribs. Remove the inner lining and check for bone chips. There seems to always be some bone chips.
- Rub with about ½ cup of a dry rub of your choice. I have included a 8:3:1:1 rub in the recipe but use what you want. The rub will work fine if applied just before grilling or the day before. If applying early then wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- Place over the drip pan and start your smoke. I did about 30-60 minutes. Then keep your hands off for about 3 hours from the start of cooking. Add some time to that if cooking more than one slab. It may be 4 hours or more. If smaller rubs or you are unsure of your grill, start checking at 2 hours.
- The ribs are done when: First, temperature, I want the instant read temperature in 190° plus range. Second, I want to see some bone. This means the ends of the rib bones are sticking out some. Lastly, when I pick up the ribs with tongs holding them about ⅓ of the way up, they crack some.
- Allow to rest for 10 minutes before digging in.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- Grill set up is job one as they say.
- DO NOT GO BY TIME ONLY HERE. Learn your end point of cooking, and you can do no wrong.
- If you are unsure of your grill setup, or doing smaller ribs, start checking at 2 hours.
- Know your endpoint:
a) Temperature, I want the instant-read temperature in 190° plus range. More like 200°-205° is better. It is hard to get an accurate temperature due to the thin meat, and the bones interfering.
b) I want to see some bone. This means the ends of the rib bones are sticking out some.
c) When I pick up the ribs with tongs, holding them about ⅓ of the way up, they crack some.
Dry Rub Note:
I included a nice simple 8:3:1:1 rub in the recipe. A great rub by any standard but do you want a "top of the line " rub? It is a bit more complicated but try Marlowe of Memphis BBQ Dry Rub it is more work but it is worth it.Helpful links.
How to Set Up Your Gas Grill for Smoking and Low and Slow Cooking A Beginners Guide to Grill Temperature on a Gas Grill This post is for one slab of baby backs. You could do two side by side if you have enough space or use a rib rack. The time is about at 3 hours. If you have a large slab of ribs or do a rib rack to cook more slabs at once, you will need to add some time. I'll say up to 4 hours or more here . If you use a larger rib like a St. Louis or similar, they will also take longer.To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Originally published May 11, 2014. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Don
This is the dry rub that I use on chicken, beef and pork. I keep a large shaker bottle in my spice cabinet and some in a zip-lock bag so I'm always ready. It will clump some after a while but the back of a spoon takes care of that.
1 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup chili powder
1/2 cup white sugar 1 Tbsp onion powder
1/2 cup kosher salt 1 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 2 tsp dry mustard
Thomas
total failure and I followed this to the core.
Andy
Dr Dan
What are your thoughts on wrapping the ribs in foil for the middle stage of the cook? I’ve read about 2-2-1 namely cook open for 2 hours to form bark, wrap in foil for 2 hours to counter stall and preserve moisture then finish open again.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Andy,
Welcome to the blog.
What you are asking is about "the stall" which occurs when fluid comes out of the meat at about 150 degrees. It will go to the surface and evaporate. That will slow cooking and the meat will not be quite as moist. I have a long discussion on my grilled brisket recipe. https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/cook-brisket-gas-grill/#the-stall
It is fine to do but be sure to remember you are cooking to an endpoint and not just by time. I have never done this for ribs but find miminal effect on my briskte. If you do it, be sure to wrap tightly since you need as little air as possible in the wrap. If you use foil, be sure not to have holes in it from the bones.
But I don't bother with it.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Matt
Delcious. Wife also loved them. These are the best ribs I've cooked so far - this basic recipe is a keeper and I'm going to stick with it.
I cooked them for the first time tonight on my Genesis II. It was tricky figuring out the right temperature and they reached 195-ish after 2.5 hours, so I'm going to have to play with the setup. Someone on this page writes about switching one off and on again at certain intervals. I might try that, but I'd rather just be able to let them sit.
The ribs were still fantastic despite not having gone at least three hours in the grill. Super juicy, tender, and almost fall-off-the-bone. They're going to be even better once I can figure out the surface temperature problem.
Janel
I do not know how you got the wood to smoke...on a gas grill at such a low temperature
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Janel,
Welcome to the blog.
It will smoke. If you use an aluminum pouch or castiron box, put it over the direct heat side. If you have a built-in box, use it. More details at https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/set-gas-grill-smoking-low-slow-cooking/
Hope that helps.
Dan
Valerie Pickett
Outstanding ribs! Thank you for a great recipe!
It was my first time cooking ribs on the grill! The man and I went to a local meat shop and purchased the ribs so I didn't want to fail. Looking at a lot of recipes yours was the most complete and easy to follow.
The only question I have for next time is how to ensure the top of the ribs are a little less chewy?
Will be checking out the rest of your site. Thank you again❣
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Valerie,
Welcome the blog.
By the top, I assume you mean the outside of the meat where the rub is. The chewie is some dryness of the meat from dry cooking, you can add some humidity to the environment with water in the drip pan. Some people "mop" with various solutions.
Hope that helps some.
Thanks for the note and rating.
Dan
Jubran
Just tried these out on our new Weber Genesis II 310 for Memorial Day - came out delicious!
Our grill is a three burner, so we started off with the two sides on and one off in the middle. The heat was rising a bit too rapidly at first with two burners, so after an hour I turned one of the burners off, then on again after another hour. After 3 hours, both racks were right at 190F, so I finished them with a quick sear on medium heat over direct flame to finish it off, and it came out great. It looks like experimentation really is needed with each unique grill.
One concern I had was with the wood chips. After three hours, I had no smoke coming out of the hickory wood chips I bought, despite being hot to the touch. I think next time I'll do without soaking first and see how it turns out.
Thanks for the great recipe, Dr. Dan.
Matt
Jubran, did you have the burners on low the entire time? I may try your method of switching one off then on again.
Greg
I've been using your method for 2-3 years now. Family, friends, and visitors always ask how it's done after they've eaten (can't really beat that as a compliment when it comes to ribs).
Brad
WOW! DrDan, thanks so much! Thanks for your attendant article "How To Set Up Your Gas Grill for Smoking and Low and Slow Cooking." That got me to experimenting with my grill as you suggested, with your guidelines in mind. I have a nice 4-burner CharBroil with Grill Grates installed. Previously, I've had OK results to burned results. Tonight, my birthday, we had fantastic ribs. I figured out to use my outside burners on low with the outside Grill Grates taken off. That gave me the indirect heat at 250º. I used the shallow aluminum drip pan with water. I also did an America's Test Kitchen suggestion and brined my ribs before cooking. I also cooked them with the meat side down. Your rub recipe is totally awesome! I got totally fall off the bone tender and moist meat. Couldn't decide whether to use BBQ sauce or not because the rub was incredible.
Thanks again, you are the (grillin') Man!
em
Hi DrDan,
I am just want to confirm that you are using Fahrenheit temperatures? Our grill was purchased in Finland and uses metric, but we can do the conversions ourself, of course!
Emily
DrDan
Yep, Fahrenheit. As a doctor I used metric for everything. Here everything is American.
Alec
I have a surface thermometer but a question about location. For the gas grill ribs, do I want the thermometer to reach 250 on the heat side or the indirect side? Or should it be places somewhere in the middle of the BBQ?
DrDan
I do near the back of the indirect side, That is the surface temp you want the ribs to cook at. If you don;t have room there then right next to the ribs away from the direct side.
Let me know if other questions.
Dan
Stephen Reedy
I'm low and slow cooking mine on a small grill. With the burners going front to back. I lined the back portion of the rack with foil to help keep it in indirect heat, and placed drip pans directly on top of the foil. My grill also has the upper rack which is where I placed the ribs so the drip pan is underneath. I lack a temperature gauge so I actually have no idea what temperature the ribs are getting. I suppose this is going to be trial and error until I get a thermometer. I did have to rotate the ribs about 2 hrs into the process because the side facing the directcheat blackened, while the back did not. I hope these turn out ok my girlfriend and her mom are coming over to help eat these! I'll try to post a picture of the finished product if I can
DrDan
I'm afraid this is not going to go well for you. You are totally driving blind. I'm a huge believer in thermometers. I'm more of a "science guy". I'm not sure the way you have it set up is very "indirect".
https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/grill-temperature/
https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/set-gas-grill-smoking-low-slow-cooking/
Jeff
Hey DrDan
That's awesome information, I really appreciate it!!! I will definitely get one of these on grill thermometers and try it out, and this time have better success! One last question (sorry to keep bothering you!) in your opinion, where I found the ribs to be to salty, do you think if I had cooked at the right temp the salt wouldn't have been as powerful or it didn't matter and it's just my taste buds?
Again thanks for all your help and advice, it's greatly appreciated!
DrDan
Again a taste thing. Cut back the salt in the rub or use less rub.
Have a good day and let me know if you have other questions.
Dan
Jeff
Hi DrDan
It's a 4 burner grill I bought new in may. I used the far left burner for the smoke and indirect heat source. The thermometer is located in centre of lid. I'm not sure if this link will work but it is almost identical to this one (broken link removed—DrDan)
As for the smoke, I guess my smoker box worked as it should have then? As I said I. New at this and had the understanding that you were supposed to smoke the whole duration of the cook (as in like a smoker unit would do)
Thanks for the fast reply, anything you can think of to ask or tell me to help hone my skills I would greatly appreciate!
Cheers
Jeff
DrDan
Hi again.
The thermometers in grill hoods are unfortunately horrible. They are cheap and measure the air temp at the top of the grill, not the surface temp. So your issues are temperature related. Probably the same issue Gadge, the commenter before you, had but didn't realize.
I used grill surface thermometers for years. They only cost about $10 and will last most of grill season until you can't read it anymore. Amazon, Home Depot or Lowes will have them. I now use a fancy Theromoworks remote monitor.
The amount of smoke is more a personal taste thing. I find 20-30 minutes to be my taste. Type of smoke is also a taste thing. I like hickory usually. The soaking of the chips is frequently recommended but most pros don't care.
Jeff
I tried this recipe and didn't have the desired outcome. It was also my first time doing ribs on a BBQ so I more than likely did something wrong. First I found the ribs to be very salty. Second, I kept the heat constant at 270-280 range and cooked them for 4 hours, checked the internal temp and it was reading 140. Thirdly, when the ribs were finished cooking they were, not tough but also not fall off of the bone, somewhere in between but leaning more to the tough side. I did the water tray below the indirect side under the ribs, so I don't know why I had this outcome. Any advice would be great.
On the same topic but different note, if I could get some help about smoking would be good. I have 2 smoker boxes, soaked the apple wood chips, filled the box and it was literally 45 mins before it stared to smoke. Worst off, it only lasted for 20 mins at best! Once the smoked stopped I removed that box and put In the new box with fresh chips, and same thing, 45/50 mins before smoke started and only lasted for 20 mins. So I made a smoker packet out of tinfoil and tried it with dry chips, had to wait over an hour and got 30 mins of smoke. Each time the smoker pack/box was over the only lit burner. I have no idea if it is normal or not. Again any feed back would be great. One last thing, should I smoke the whole ti,e they are cooking, or only for a short period at the first or at the end? Like I said this was my first attempt, I have been trying to up my barbecuing skills this year and I would like to get a good hold of this technique.
Sorry for the long post, thanks for any help and the recipe!! Cheers
DrDan
Hi Jeff,
My first question is the thermometer? New? Old? Location? Number burners on the grill. I just sounds like the temperature was off.
Next the smoking. I usually I only do smoke for 20-30 minutes. But it starts the smoke usually within 5-10 minutes and last the 20 plus minutes. Again I question the temperature.
What do you think?
Dan
Gadge
I put the ribs on the gas grill. It didn't even make it the 3 hours you suggested. After 2 hours on the grill, I checked it and it was burned all to hell. Completely ruined.
Grilly mcbuzzedrealgood
Check his instructions for INDIRECT heat
Woody
OMG......used Jack Daniels wood chips.. usually have left overs but these chips gave it the WOW factor