This is the Ultimate BBQ Baby Back Rib Recipe! Cooked slow in the oven with a homemade spice rub, then finished on the grill with your favorite BBQ sauce. There’s nothing like fall-off-the-bone Baby Back Ribs and this easy recipe is a show stopper!
The BEST BBQ Baby Back Ribs
Welcome to GRILL WEEK here at Joyful Healthy Eats! I wanted to start the week off with a bang, so prepare yourselves!
As you all know by now I am pretty much a Grill Girl at heart. If it wasn’t so stinking hot all the time here in Texas I would grill every day. One of my favorite things to grill, besides pizza, is Baby Back Ribs. There is just nothing like fall off the bone Grilled BBQ Baby Back Ribs, and believe me these ribs will fall off the bone before they even get to the grill. They are amazing, hence the name –> “The Ultimate BBQ Baby Back Ribs.”
I actually even make these for our Christmas dinner too, because I can. And my family requests them every year!
How to Prepare Baby Back Ribs
The trick to making your Ribs fall off the bone in my opinion has two parts: remove the silver skin and bake them long and slow. (meaning at a low temperature for a long time) My mouth is literally watering as I’m talking about these. Once you taste them you’ll understand the extent of there deliciousness and why my mouth waters just talking about them.
So … ready… go get you some Ribs and I’ll walk you through the process!
How to Remove the Silverskin or Membrane from Ribs
Removing the silverskin is easier than you think. Pork ribs have a membrane that’s located on the back of the ribs. It does not have to be removed, but if you do it will make your ribs more flavorful and tender aka fall of the bone! To remove flip the ribs over and slide a knife under the silverskin anywhere along the rack. If it resists in one spot, just find another spot. Lift the silverskin up and loosen it with the knife until you can get a good grip on it. Then pull the silverskin off the ribs; it should just peel away in a large sheet. If the silverskin breaks, use your knife to restart at another section and repeat the process.
How Many Baby Back Ribs Per Person?
If this is your main entree I typically plan on each person eating 1/2 rack of ribs, so a full rack would feed 2-3 people.
How to Cook Baby Back Ribs
- To get started, preheat oven to 325ºF.
- Remove the membrane or silverskin.
- Season both sides of ribs with homemade spice rub and place in a roasting pan or 13″x9″ baking dish.
- Add cubed onion and 3 garlic cloves to the pan as well as 1 cup of water. Cover pan with tin foil and bake for 3 hours.
- Remove from oven and place ribs on medium heat grill.
- Slather with your favorite BBQ Sauce and grill each side 5-7 minutes. Remove from grill and serve.
So as you can see, I cook mine in both the oven and the grill. I find that cooking them in the oven before hand really breaks down the meat and leaves you with a “fall of the bone” tender meat. But slathering them with BBQ sauce and searing them on the grill to lock in all the flavors, well, that just screams summer to me.
This Recipe is tried and true. I’ve been making it for probably 10 years now and my mom has used the oven grill method since I can remember. My favorite part about this entire recipe is the homemade rub I use, the spices totally enhance the flavor of the ribs and take them to the next level.
In my opinion, I can never make ribs again without this rub! P.S. there’s subtle hints of cinnamon in it! Sooo good!
I know without a shadow of a doubt you are going to be blown away by this recipe. So make sure its’ on your MUST MAKE list.
Bon Appetit friends and Happy Monday!
Side Dish Ideas for Ribs:
- Asian Cucumber Salad
- Grilled Sweet Potato Salad
- Lightened Up Broccoli Salad
- Tomato Avocado Cucumber Salad
- Grilled Corn Salad with Jalapeno Dressing
- Easy Garlic Ranch Potatoes
- Strawberry Summer Sangria
BBQ Back Ribs
- Prep Time: 3 hours 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 40 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven / Grill
- Cuisine: American
Description
This fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs recipe with garlic-cinnamon spice rub and BBQ glaze will be a juicy, 4th of July favorite.
Ingredients
- 3 Full Racks of Pork Loin Ribs (Baby Back)
- 1 large bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
Spice Rub Blend:
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 large sweet onion, peeled & cut into wedges
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325ºF.
- Remove the membrane or silverskin from the bottom side of the ribs. (see photo above) Flip over the rib rack so you are looking at the bottom side (the side without the meat.) Go to one end of the rib rack, using a knife slide it under the silverskin and pull. It should peel right off in one swipe. Once you have removed this part from all 3 full racks, set them aside and prepare the spice rub.
- In a small bowl, mix garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, cinnamon, salt, and pepper.
- Next, rub this spice blend on the top side of each rack and place racks in two 13×9 baking dishes or in a roasting pan.
- Next, evenly spread the onion quarters and garlic cloves between the two baking dishes, placing the onions and garlic cloves on top of or underneath the racks of ribs.
- Lastly, add a 1/2″ of water to the bottom of each baking to dish. Completely cover each dish with aluminum foil. Place in oven and bake for 3 hours. {thats right.. you heard me… long and slow}
- Remove from the oven, discard the onions and garlic cloves.
- Heat grill to medium high heat, approximately 375-400°F. Place rack of ribs on the grill with thickest meat side facing up.
- Slather each side of the ribs with your favorite BBQ sauce and grill for 5-7 minutes. Flip the ribs and repeat process, by slathering bbq sauce on the other side and grilled for 5-7 minutes.
- Remove the ribs from the grill and let them rest for 5-10 minutes.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 rack
- Calories: 357
- Sugar: 16 g
- Sodium: 1100 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 25 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 22 g
- Cholesterol: 75 mg
64 comments on “The Ultimate BBQ Baby Back Ribs Recipe”
This is our GoTo for family get togethers. Best rib recipe ever!
Awe! Yeah, I”m so glad to hear that!
Perfect Ribs! I cooked them at 300 for 4 hours. The rub was nice but I think I’ll cut the cinnamon back a little next time, a bit too much for me personally. I ended up putting them under the broiler to finish instead of the grill, I was afraid of losing all the meat in the grill since they were falling off the bone. I paired it with your Root Beer BBQ Sauce and they were a huge hit! My family is already asking me when we are having them again.
Yippie! Is there anything better than fall-off-the-bone ribs! Isn’t that sauce sooo good!
I just printed the recipe. I am going to make these asap. One question…I only want to make 1 rack of ribs since there are only 2 of us. How long do I cook them in the oven? Also, I plan on cutting the ingredients for the rub in half or shouldn’t I do that?
Hey Ronna, I would start with 2 hours and then check them to see if they need to go longer. You want them nice a tender. And yes, you could cut the seasoning in half since you’re just making one rack. Hope you like it!
My husband said this was the best ribs I’ve made yet! We marinated them the night before with something I just threw together but he said it was the seasoning I put on it today which is the recipe..
This is hands down my husband’s favorite! I am so glad the rub was a hit. Tender Baby Back Ribs, is there anything better!
I made this recipe tonight exactly as it was written and it was fantastic! I really liked the flavor of the rub and the technique produced fall off the bone tender ribs. Thank you so much for sharing!
Hurray! So glad you love it just as much as we do! It’s one of our favorites!
This is by far the best ribs I have ever made, used to slow cook in oven at 200 for 7 hours, not only is this quicker, but i believe tastes much better
Quicker and better sounds like a winner to me. So happy you loved them!
Last night was my second session with this recipe. Truly amazing, so tender I probably used too much water this time so just left the ribs in the pan and put them under the broiler to avoid spilling. Not bad for a 82 year old novice.
Is there anything better than tinder ribs! I am so glad you gave it a shot!!
If making this dish in the summer (33C), instead of using my oven, could I put ribs in foil pan with water, cover with foil, & cook at 325 for 3 hrs on BBQ? Hoping to make these for a family gathering & when I searched for 5 star baby back ribs, your recipe was on the top!
Yes you definitely could do that! Would serve the same purpose. Then I would still finish on the grill to sear the flavor in.
Excited to make these ribs this evening. Quick question with the water! So the ribs will be directly sitting in the water based on how the recipe is worded is that correct?
yes that is correct. It helps steam them and makes them SUPER tender!
Can I bake them and place them in the fridge to cool and cook later? My culinary skills tell me this shouldn’t be a problem but I wanted to ask the author of the recipe………. Maybe you’ve done this?
Yes, you definitely can do this. I’ve even baked them and then grilled them the next day.
Does this recipe work with spare ribs as well?
yes it will!
Question, I am making a small amount of ribs, basically 8 ribs. Would you recommend a different cooking time? Also, just to confirm that the meaty side it on top when cooking and not turned over on bottom of pan?
Yes, I would reduce the cook time to 45 minutes to 1 hour. And yes the meaty side is face up.
I made this rib receipt tonight and they were the best ribs I’ve ever had! The spice rub made the house smell so good while they were in the oven. It is challenging to flip them on the grill because the meat is so tender it falls off the bone but I think that’s a great problem. I will definitely be using this recipe from now on! I’m looking forward to trying your other recipes.
So glad you loved the recipe! Fall off the bone ribs is never a bad thing!
This was the best rib recipe, that I have ever made. Fall off the bone tender. And so tender! Exceptional flavor throughout the meat. Thank you for sharing!
YES!!! It’s my one and ONLY recipe for ribs. You only need one if it’s a good one 🙂
Your BBQ Baby Back Ribs look so great. You make me go to the kitchen and cook ! Hope i can cook well as yours. Thank you very much for your sharing.
Hi, this recipe looks great, definitely going to try it. One question though. At the top of the article it says to put ribs on grill and put sauce on and grill, in the recipe itself it says to grill on each side and then put sauce on and remove from grill. Just wanted to make sure 😊, Thankyou
Hey Marilyn, I put the sauce on when the ribs are on the grill and then grill each side for 5-7 minutes to sear in all the flavor. I saw how it could be confusing in the directions so I edited it to be more clear. Thanks!
These ribs were a bit hard to flip on the grill because they were so very tender….next time I will oil the grill grates a bit. Recipe was easy to follow but I made and used extra spice rub because it was so good. I coated the ribs sparingly with sauce because I wanted to taste the meat. I made your grilled sweet potato salad and that was amazing, as well!!! Flavorful and fall off the bone tender-it’s what ribs are all about!
Awww… yeah that’s so exciting to hear Cynthia. So pumped you loved both of those recipes! They are my favorites!
Great recipe. The meat fell off the bone. I made my own BBQ as well. This is definitely a keeper.
These Baby Back Ribs look so inviting! I have to make them!
Looks absolutely fantastic! I’d love to try this, craving for this right now!
I have never made my own Ribs, I will now with these simple and straight forward recipe, they look mouthwatering!
Can’t ever get enough BBQ! This sounds like a great sweet and tangy flavor – what a fantastic idea. Looks tender, tasty and tantalizing – can’t wait to cook ’em up
Super tasty! We’ll be making these all summer!
As someone who absolutely loves barbecue, these look amazing! Trying these ASAP
I came drooling because of your recipe. It such favorable and viusable. I will start this BBQ weekend with your recipe.
thank you again
Made this recipe for 4th of July. They came out AMAZING. Thanks so much!
Awesome! So glad to hear it Bryce!
I made these last night, they were the best ribs I have ever had. The meat fell off the bone. This will be my rib recipe forever. Thanks again.
Yeah!! Awesome.. so excited to hear that you made them and LOVED them! 🙂 We now share the same Rib recipe… forever. 🙂 hehe
These ribs are on my “to make” list! Thanks for sharing at Party Thyme. This recipe has been pinned to my Party Thyme features board
Awesome! They are on my “make again” list. 🙂 Hope you have a great day Marilyn and awesome 4th!
Delicious! 🙂 I love baby backs! Thank you so much for linking up with me this week at Tasty Tuesdays! I’ve pinned this & shared it with my followers! Please be sure to stop back by the party and check out some of the other links!
Me too! My mom use to make them all the time growing up and I can remember fighting my dad over them. 🙂 Soo good!
Thanks! They were delicious :)! Stopped by your awesome party too! Thanks Lori, I hope you have a great Sunday.
Tomorrow Amazon will be delivering my first grill – Ever. A whole new grill world is about to open up to me. Thank you for this tutorial – it’s very helpful. Oh, btw, I found you at Anyonita Nibles’ Tasty Tuesdays.
Thanks,
Michele
Woo Whoo!!! I’m excited for you! You will love it! Can’t wait to see the grilling recipes you come up with. 🙂 Thanks so much for stopping by Michele, I hope you have a great rest of the week.
I want my babyback babyback babyback… 🙂 I digress.
But, THESE look PHENOMENAL! ! Also, I’d like to invite you to come link up with me at my link party! I’d love it if you could stop by & link up some of your recipes! Here’s the link: http://anyonitanibbles.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/tasty-tuesdays-16-dozen-delicious-desserts.html
haha… I was so thinking that song as I was writing this post. Too funny! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Anyonita, I hope you have a great week!
Looks delish, Krista! It’s time to grill out and I was just saying yesterday that I want ribs! Need to try this1
I’m visiting today from Mop It Monday. I hope you get the chance to visit my blog, linkup and leave a comment, too!
~ Megin of VMG206
Join me at my NEW party!! Open NOW (Sat thru Fri) @ DIY Showcase Link Party
Thanks for stopping by Megin! I hope you do get a chance to try these ribs, they are seriously amazing. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
I love barbecue ribs, one of my all time favorite meals! I am jealous that you can grill year round, so not fair 🙂
Me too! I am pretty lucky. After think living in Wisconsin for 23 years I just want to grill all the time now, because I CAN! 🙂
Grilling is something we do several times a week- ribs- are almost always on the menu this time of year. Can’t get enough. YUM
Totally agree, we actually moved it to a Christmas time tradition to because well.. we live and Texas and we can still grill then. 🙂
Wow those look incredible! Fantastic recipe, definitely want to give this a try 🙂
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
Thanks so much, I promise you will love them! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Eric, hope the baby’s doing well.
Krista, these look simply, mouth-wateringly, delish to nth degree! WOW! Thanks for sharing and pinning!
haha.. thanks Cindy. Always love seeing your sweet comments! I hope your day goes well and you are able to knock out that work stuff! 🙂