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 peasy.
There is are just a few things to learn, and you can do this over and over. You will be the grill master.
First, you must set up your grill. And know your end point. That is it. The rest is personal preference.
My Rating:
An easy 5. My wife wanted it over and over and gave a five also. “The best-looking ribs…ever.”
Pro Tips: How to Grill Baby Back Ribs on a Gas Grill
By far the most important things about this recipe is grill set up. You get that right, you are golden and can do no wrong (almost). Get it wrong, and you have no chance.
Fortunately, it is not that hard. Please review this details on 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
So what is the “end point”?
When are they 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. First, temperature, I want the instant read temperature in 185 plus range.
Note the exposed bones are saying we are done.
Second, I want to see some bone. This means the ends of the rib bones are sticking out some.
See the done ribs crack under their own weight.
Lastly, when I pick up the ribs with tongs holding them about 1/3 of the way up, they crack some.
This post is for one slab of baby backs. You could do two slabs side by side if you have enough space or use a rib rack. I used a smaller slab of ribs and the time was right 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. DO NOT GO BY TIME ONLY HERE.
Do You Want Something Special? Try Memphis 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.
Other Baby Back Rib Options
Easy Oven Baked Baby Back Ribs
Set up the grill for indirect cooking over a drip pan under the indirect are with 1/2 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 1/2 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 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. See notes.
The ribs are done when: First, temperature, I want the instant read temperature in 185 plus range. Second, I want to see some bone. This means the end of the rib bones are sticking out some. Lastly, when I pick up the ribs with tongs holding them about 1/3 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.
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How to Grill Baby Back Ribs on a Gas Grill
Ingredients
- 1 rack baby back ribs - or more
- 1/2 cup rub of your choice
Excellent Rub if you don't have one. Enough for 2 slabs. Cut in half to have less left over if you want but I save it for next time.
- 8 tablespoons brown sugar - 1/2 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 1/2 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 1/2 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 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.
- The ribs are done when: First, temperature, I want the instant read temperature in 185 plus range. Second, I want to see some bone. This means the end of the rib bones are sticking out some. Lastly, when I pick up the ribs with tongs holding them about 1/3 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.
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. I used a smaller rack of ribs and the time was right 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.Check Out Other Great Recipes
Nutrition is generally for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.
All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.
Originally published May 11, 2014
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.