Grilled Baby Back Ribs

It took me three tries, but I’m now starting to get the hang of baby back ribs. Whether it’s baby back or St. Louis here are six tips for great ribs:

Tip one: Pat Dry your uncooked ribs

Tip two: Use a dry rub for extra flavor

Tip three: Start your ribs in the oven and wrap tightly in foil

Tip four: Make sure the grill is hot so you char the meat turn as soon as you get good char and grill marks (don’t burn the skin)

Tip five: Baste the ribs each time you turn the ribs

Tip six: When ribs are done, baste them again for extra flavor

Grilled Baby Back Ribs

Author: Alexis Avila, A Day in the Bite

Recipe type: Ribs

Cuisine: American

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 85 mins

Total time: 1 hour 40 mins

Serves: 4-6

It took me three tries, but I’m now starting to get the hang of baby back ribs. Whether it's baby back or St. Louis make sure you follow this recipe step by step and check out my six tips to ensure your ribs are mouthwatering delicious.

Ingredients

Dry rub (ok if you are missing one or two of these ingredients)
· ¼ cup brown sugar
· 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
· 2 teaspoons black pepper
· 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
· 1 teaspoon garlic powder
· 1 teaspoon onion powder
· 1 teaspoon ground mustard
· ½ teaspoon cinnamon
· ½ teaspoon celery salt
· ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 racks pork back ribs, about 4 pounds
1½ cups bbq sauce, plain
¼ cup maple syrup
⅛ cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons white vinegar

Instructions

Prep Dry Rub by putting ingredients in bowl and mixing with a fork until no clumps
Pat Dry the ribs and apply the dry rub onto both sides of ribs
Cover ribs in foil and put in fridge for at least an hour or overnight
Get ready to cook ribs:
Mix sauce, syrup and brown sugar, set aside
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Place ribs in a large baking/casserole dish
Pour vinegar into dish with ribs and cover tightly with aluminum foil
Bake about 75 minutes or until very tender
Remove from oven and carefully lift off tin foil - watch out for steam
The ribs are now fully cooked and just need to be 'sauced' finished' and you have 2 options:
Heat bbq to medium and place ribs meat side down without sauce - but you can baste the back with the sauce (use a brush to baste your ribs)
Cook until they start to develop grill marks, and turn over - now baste the top
You could stop here after they grill a bit on this side, or you could baste them a bit more and then give them a couple more minutes meat side down – I like to flip them a few more times at this point so I can apply more of the mixture.
Heat broiler to high and place ribs on a baking sheet about 4 inches from the heat source
Brush top of the ribs well with the sauce and cook until they start getting a bit brown - then flip to the back, sauce and cook some more
Flip back to the top (sauce again) and cook until they get that beautiful rib look
Then, no matter how you cooked them, give them one extra baste them after they've been removed and just before you serve them.