What’s the secret to fall off the bone ribs? You want to make sure you choose the right cut of pork, and you want to use a spice rub that adds flavor while it tenderizes. And when it comes to cooking them, slow and low is best! This recipe makes the most tender ribs I have ever tasted!
We just finished the most amazing meal. Sweet and spicy, fall-off-the-bone ribs.
We’re talking finger-licking, three-napkin, slap-your-momma good.
Once I finally figured out how to cook ribs — and it’s really not hard or even time consuming — they quickly became one of our year-round family favorites. A rack of ribs is a great start to a family dinner and they’re also great to serve when you have guests over. They’re definitely one of our cookout favorites, along with Grandma Joyner’s southern baked beans and colorful vegetable potato salad.
Those three things on a plate together, followed up with a bowl of peach trifle for dessert, make me happy!
This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Smithfield at Walmart. Read my full disclosure policy here.
After I made these babyback ribs for my parents, my mom asked me for the recipe! She wanted to know my secret for fall off the bone ribs.
It’s really a combination of three things:
- the right cut of pork (like Smithfield All Natural Fresh Pork back ribs from Walmart)
- a fabulous spice rub
- steaming the ribs slow and low before saucing them and finishing them on the grill or in the oven
Cooking ribs is really not hard. And if you’ve struggled before to cook tender ribs, you’ll never have that problem again if you use this recipe and follow this simple technique
Watch just how easy it is to make fall-off-the-bone ribs
We always buy Smithfield ribs because I’ve found them to be meatier and more tender than other brands we’ve tried. I recently discovered Smithfield All-Natural at Walmart, a line of U.S. born and bred all-natural products that are free of hormones, steroids and artificial ingredients.
Now, it’s time to spice those ribs with a rub that does double-duty as a flavor enhancer and tenderizer.
I usually make enough spice rub to tenderize and marinate several racks of ribs. What you don’t use can be stored in the pantry in a mason jar for a few weeks, as long as you’re careful not to contaminate it with uncooked pork.
You wan to coat the ribs, top, bottom and sides, with a generous amount of the rub, massaging it into the meat.
Then you want to encapsulate that flavor. I usually overlap two pieces of aluminum foil, then top them with a long sheet of parchment paper. I wrap the rack of ribs inside both layers. Be sure to fold the parchment first, so the ribs can steam in the packet.
Then wrap in foil and bake in a 350-degree oven for 60 to 90 minutes, until the meat is tender and shows no resistance when you pierce it with a knife. (You can also cook the ribs in their foil packet on the grill, as I did for these Asian sweet & spicy grilled baby back ribs.)
Whether I start them in the oven or on the grill, I always finish my ribs on the grill.
Carefully transfer the ribs to the preheated grill rack (they will be tender!) and brush both sides with your favorite barbecue sauce.
Grill over medium low heat, flipping once, until the sauce caramelizes. (Watch the ribs closely and turn down the heat if the ribs are browning too quickly. The sugar in barbecue sauce can burn.)
If it’s too cold to finish the ribs on the grill, you can turn your oven up to 425 degrees and cook them on a lined, rimmed baking sheet for about 15 minutes or until the barbecue sauce has caramelized.
Are you hungry yet?
Fall Off the Bone Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 rack pork loin back ribs
- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce
For the Spice Rub
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup kosher salt
- 3 Tablespoons paprika
- 1½ teaspoons ground mustard
- 1½ teaspoons cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine spices in a mason jar and stir or shake to combine, being careful to break up any clumps.
- Place two large pieces of foil, overlapping in the center, on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Top with a large piece of parchment paper, which is big enough to encase your rack of ribs.
- Place the ribs, meat side up on top of the parchment. Coat the top, bottom and sides of the ribs with spice rub. (You will have spice rub left over. Store any leftover spice rub in the pantry in a mason jar or another airtight container.))
- Fold the parchment over the ribs, sealing along the center and at both ends. Then fold the foil over the parchment-encased ribs.
- Cook ribs for 1 hour to 1½ hours in the oven on the middle or lower rack. Cook until a knife pierces the meat easily with no resistance.
- Transfer to a medium low grill and brush ribs on both sides with barbecue sauce.
- Cook on the grill over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes, turning once, until the sauce has caramelized.
- Alternately, you can finish the ribs on a lined baking sheet in a 425-degree oven, cooking for about 15 minutes.
- After basting the ribs with barbecue sauce, watch them closely as the sugar in the sauce can char or burn.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin this! Fall off the Bone Ribs Recipe
You may also enjoy these recipes for your cookouts:
Asian Maple Chili Garlic Grilled Ribs
Southern Baked Beans with Bacon
Pamela
Can you put the rub on in advance and let in sit in the frog a couple of hours?
Atta Girl Amy
You definitely can.
Carl Rohrssen
I just made these ribs. Oh my goodness. They were the best I’ve ever made. Fall off the bone and such a nice flavor. My wife loves pork ribs. I prefer beef ribs. I did pork ribs tonight and I truly enjoyed them. Thank you.
Atta Girl Amy
So glad you both enjoyed the recipe. I’ve never grilled beef ribs before; here in NC, when we say BBQ, we are talking about pork! But I might have to give this recipe a try with beef ribs.
Patty
It’s funny that you published this today. I woke up in the middle of the night because I was dreaming about ribs. My hubby went down to the freezer and took some out (one of his favorites) and I have already put the rub on them. Thanks for sharing. I can’t wait until dinner.