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Grilling Season: Easy Backyard Ribs

smoked ribs photo
smoked ribs photo
Reading Time: 5 minutes

For me, there aren’t many foods I enjoy more than a slab of barbecue ribs. Almost fall-off-the-bone texture, smoky flavour and a good helping of barbecue sauce. But, making great barbecue ribs is difficult. You need a smoker, the right wood, but more than anything, a lot of time and patience. I live in an apartment with a small balcony. A barrel smoker wouldn’t fit even if I wanted it to. But I do want my ribs in the summer. Therefore I came up with two ways of getting great finish-on-the-grill backyard ribs recipes: An oven and a stove top version.

Easy Backyard Ribs

Smoking your ribs in the traditional manner would take you around six hours. With my methods, you can cut that time in half or even get it done in 2 hours if need be. In the following backyard ribs recipe, I will show you how to either bake or boil your ribs beforehand and how to make a really nice barbecue sauce using some sauce you might have bought at the grocery store. For nostalgic reasons, reminiscing about going to summer camp, I always use Diane Sauce. Any major brand with a sweet and tangy BBQ Sauce will do.

Ingredients
  • a rack of baby back or side ribs
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
  • 1 tablespoon of chilli powder or paprika
  • 1 tablespoon of garlic salt
  • 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of dry mustard
  • half a cup of store-bought barbecue sauce
  • 2 tablespoons of sriracha or hot sauce of choice
Ribs on the Grill
Source: Traeger Grill
Oven Method
  1. Preheat your oven to 150°C (300°F). Now it’s time to prep your ribs. When you buy a rack of ribs, you’ll observe that the backside is covered by a silvery skin. With a sharp knife and without hurting yourself, make a few incisions in the skin and tear it off. This will prevent your rack from buckling into a bridge-like form when heated. It also lets the dry rub and later, the barbecue sauce, penetrate the meat. If you tried and are unsuccessful, don’t lose sleep over it.
  2. Combine all the spices on the list (from salt to dry mustard) into a nice dry rub. Set a tablespoon aside and rub the rest generously all over your rack of ribs. Wrap the ribs in foil, and bake it in the oven for 2.5 hours. I put mine on a roasting rack over a large rimmed baking sheet. Some of the juices might escape and you want them to be caught in the baking sheet for the sauce later.
  3. About 45 minutes before your ribs are ready to come out of the oven, turn your attention to the grill. Get it as hot as possible. The hotter the grill, the less likely your beautiful backyard ribs will stick to your grill grates.
  4. When your ribs are ready, take them out the oven and let them rest for a couple of minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine the barbecue sauce with the sriracha. Then, carefully pour the pork juices that pooled in the foil and the baking sheet into the mix. Add the remaining tablespoon of your dry rub, mix and voilà, you have a barbecue sauce for basting.
  5. Take your ribs over to the grill and sauce them generously before grilling them. I recommend cutting the rack in half at this point. Turn the ribs a few times, always letting them face the heat for about a minute. Every time you turn the ribs, sauce the side facing you. Don’t worry about a few dark spots on the ribs. That will give it some charred flavour. When you think they’re ready, remove the ribs from the grill and give it a final coat of sauce. Serve immediately!
Basting Ribs on the Grill
Source: Silver Oak
Boiling Method
  1. The oven method will give you more of a bite to your ribs. If you like fall-off-the-bone ribs, you should try this method. Cut your rack of ribs in half. Put them in a large heavy-bottomed pot and cover them in water. Bring up to a boil and then lower the temperature to a simmer. Salt generously – about 2 tablespoons of salt per litre of water. Let the pork boil away for about 90 minutes.
  2. Make your spice rub with the spices in the ingredient list. You won’t rub the pork in this method, but it is a good spice mix to have around for the whole summer. Reserve two tablespoons and store the rest away for a future project.
  3. About 45 minutes before your ribs are ready, turn your attention to the grill. Get it as hot as possible. The hotter the grill, the less likely your beautiful backyard ribs will stick to your grill grates.
  4. Let’s get to the barbecue sauce. Unlike in the oven method, we don’t really get any juices we can add to our store-bought sauce. Mix the BBQ sauce and sriracha together, and loosen the sauce with some of the boiling water from the pot. It will thin out and season your sauce a bit. Add the two tablespoons of spice mix and you are ready.
  5. When the ribs are done, and yes they will look pretty grey and grim, take them over to the grill and sauce them generously before grilling them. I recommend cutting the rack in half at this point. Turn the ribs a few times, always letting them face the heat for about a minute. Every time you turn the ribs, sauce the side facing you. Don’t worry about a few dark spots on the ribs. That will give it some charred flavour. When you think they’re ready, remove the ribs from the grill and give it a final coat of sauce. Serve immediately!

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Written by Kevin Sachs

Kevin Sachs was born and raised in Zurich, Switzerland. As a former broadcast journalist for SRF, his previous works were featured in Haaretz, Le Matin, Tagesanzeiger, Süddeutsche Zeitung and AWE Magazine. With his passion for all things food and travel, it was only a matter of time until he ended up at DINE Magazine.

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