Grilled BBQ Spare Ribs
BBQ weather is upon us, and a great BBQ ribs recipe is a must! The long, hot summer starts early here in the South. For cookouts and picnics, this easy spare ribs recipe is my new favorite. I include my best dry rub recipe and provide tips for both gas and charcoal grills to ensure the perfect rack of ribs every time.
BBQ Spare Ribs: a Summer Feast to Remember
Summer grilling is a favorite pastime of my big, outdoors-loving family. It’s no surprise, then, that some of my best memories revolve around BBQ! This BBQ ribs recipe is the exact recipe in my new cookbook, Love Language of the South.
With the spicy-sweet dry rub and tangy BBQ sauce, these tender ribs are succulent and full of flavor. Alabama white sauce makes them over-the-top delicious: get the recipe in my book.
Our family smokes or grills almost every Fourth of July. We usually head out to the country and sit under the trees, play badminton, and take the kids riding all over the land in the back of the pickup truck. If it’s not too hot here in Alabama, we fish too. We’ll often invite the grandparents and cousins for fishing and a fish fry, or we’ll BBQ ribs, make burgers, or even better, do both. If I remember, I like to put a few chickens in the smoker too for all-week celebrating.
Of course, you don’t have to wait for a 4th of July picnic to grill up a savory rack of spare ribs. In fact, I recommend making them as soon as possible! Serve with:
- Coleslaw with Mustard and Apples
- World’s Best Potato Salad
- roasted potatoes
- corn on the cob
- Hummingbird Cake
- Southern Peach Tea
In this video I smoke the ribs, which you can do in a covered grill at low temperature. A charcoal grill will give you a fair amount of smoke, but you can use the same method with an electric or gas grill.
Want to bake those spare ribs in the oven instead? Check out my recipe for baked BBQ ribs.
With our large family, we often need to cook up several batches of these ribs. Fortunately, the recipe is easy to double or triple. Just click 2x or 3x in the recipe card below. Whether you’re serving 6 or 20, you’ll have a feast to remember.
What’s the difference between ribs and spare ribs?
When people say “ribs,” they may mean either baby back ribs or spareribs. These are two different cuts of meat. Baby back pork ribs are the shorter upper ribs. They are not only smaller but also leaner and more expensive than spareribs. The sparerib cut, on the other hand, are the larger, flatter cut of ribs from the belly area. The high amount of fat makes spareribs extra tasty for grilling.
Why use a dry rub for your BBQ ribs?
A rib rub recipe may seem unnecessary when you’re also basting the pork ribs with barbecue sauce. But a dry rub is a must in my opinion, whether you grill, smoke, or bake your meat. The dry rub adds tenderness as well as flavor to just about any kind of meat. In fact, it’s one of the most useful methods of ensuring fall-apart tender meat every time.
Ingredients for the Spice Rub
The best rib rubs use spice blends that will complement any sauce for your barbecue ribs. Here is the spice mixture I like to use. The brown sugar adds a hint of sweetness. It’s great on turkey, chicken, beef, and pork chops, too.
- light brown sugar
- smoked paprika
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- ground mustard
- cayenne pepper
Ingredients for the BBQ Sauce
A homemade sauce beats store-bought BBQ sauce anytime in my book. It’s also really easy to make.
- ketchup
- apple cider vinegar
- light brown sugar
- Dijon mustard
- smoked paprika
- garlic powder
- Worcestershire sauce
- freshly ground black pepper
- kosher salt
How long does it take to slow cook spare ribs?
Slow and low cooking on the grill makes pork spareribs extra tender and tasty. You’ll want to allow for up to 3 hours of cooking time, checking the ribs every 30 minutes after the first 2 hours. They are done when the meat pulls away from the bone. Then you will brush the cooked ribs with the sticky BBQ sauce and grill for 2 minutes on each side to caramelize the sauce.
Happy grilling and feasting!
Best Grilled BBQ Ribs
Ingredients
For the Ribs
- 3-4 pounds spare ribs
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar firmly packed
- ¼ cup smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
For the BBQ Sauce
- ½ cup ketchup
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup light brown sugar firmly packed
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Alabama White Sauce for serving (see link in Notes) optional
Instructions
- If using a gas grill, heat one burner or preheat to 200°F. If using a charcoal grill, stack the charcoal on one side.
- To make the ribs, in a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, paprika, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, ground mustard, and cayenne. Pat the ribs dry and remove the membrane. Rub both sides of the ribs with the dry rub mixture. Wrap the ribs in aluminum foil.
- Place the wrapped ribs bone side up, meaty-side down on the cool side of the grill. Cook for 1½ hours, then rotate the ribs 180 degrees and cook for another 1 to 1½ hours. After 2 hours of cooking, check every 30 minutes to see if the meat is pulling away from the bone. Remove the ribs from the grill.
- Meanwhile, to make the BBQ sauce, in a medium saucepan, combine all the sauce ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture begins to thicken, about 7 minutes.
- Heat the grill to 450°F by turning on all the burners of a gas grill or adding more coals to a charcoal grill and spreading them out evenly. Oil the grill grates. Unwrap the ribs and use a mop or brush to cover the ribs in the BBQ sauce, then place the ribs on the grill. Grill the ribs for 2 minutes without moving them, then flip them and grill for another 2 minutes, or until the sauce caramelizes. Remove the ribs from the grill onto a sheet pan and allow them to rest for about 10 minutes. Serve with extra BBQ sauce or Alabama white sauce.
I made these ribs for Memorial Day bbq with my kids, mom & siblings. They were so tender (fall off the bone) & tasty! I did low & slow… I believe the dry rub along with Stacy’s bbq sauce was the difference!! Everyone loved them & my son said the best I’ve ever made!! Everything you need is in Love Language of the South, Stacy’s cookbook! Also, the Kitchen Sink cookies are the best (made them for dessert!!)
That makes my day! Thanks so much John! I am sure glad you liked it. I hope it brings your family together so crazy often!
I forgot… this is definitely a 5+ star recipe!!
Thank you for this! It makes all the difference.