Ribs on the Grill: Chipotle Apple Butter Ribs Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you make ribs tender after grilling? ›

Moist, gentle heat and a wet vinegary sauce can save dry ribs. Here's what to do: Make a 50/50 mixture of your favorite BBQ sauce and apple cider vinegar and coat the ribs in this mixture. Then wrap the ribs tightly in foil and put them in a low oven (say 300°F) for about an hour.

Set the oven to 300°F. Move the ribs to an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Bake 2 1/2 to 3 hours for spareribs or 1 1/2 to 2 hours for baby back ribs. Halfway through cooking, cover the ribs with aluminum foil to protect them from drying out.

Pull the ribs out and place on a bed of aluminum foil. Rub the butter on the ribs, a dusting of rub and a very light coating of sauce. Seal the foil. Place ribs back on the smoker or indirect heat of a grill for 1 hour.

Wrapping your ribs are key if you want to lock in all of the moisture and flavor! Double wrap each rack of ribs securely and enjoy some ribs in no time.

Follow this tip: Pre-cooking the ribs before they hit the grill not only gives you more control over the cooking temperature, but it can also make for more tender meat. You can oven-bake, boil, or even use the slow cooker for pre-cooking before firing up the grill.

Oil the grill grates. Place the ribs bone-side down, on the cooler part of the grill (indirect heat). Cover and cook, rotating the ribs once, until the meat is tender and pulls away from the bones, about 2 hours.

You can cook ribs either covered with foil or uncovered. Foil is used to stop the meat from drying out but is not essential. If cooking uncovered and you notice the meat is drying out or browning too quickly, you can cover with foil for the remaining cook time.

Baking ribs in the oven before grilling them is a great method for achieving fall-off-the-bone tenderness. The low and slow baking process allows the flavors of the seasoning and rub to penetrate deeply into the meat, resulting in more flavorful tender ribs.

The best way to maximize tenderness and juiciness is to braise your ribs, which means cook them in a liquid. This liquid needs to be salty to not draw the juices out of the ribs through osmosis. The liquid has to not be too salty though, or else it will end up salting the meat more than you want.

To keep ribs moist while smoking on a grill or oven, use a spray bottle to mist them with liquid (e.g., apple juice) every 20-30 minutes. Consider brining or marinating beforehand, maintaining a consistent temperature, and wrapping the ribs in foil to trap steam.

What does butter do for ribs? ›

Tip #4: Wrap and butter it up.

It also adds moisture and speeds up cooking time. Wrapping should be done about half way through the cooking process or when internal meat temp is 150-160 degrees. Use two layers of heavy duty foil to wrap the meat.

Oven reheating is the most successful method for restoring ribs to their tender, juicy state. Just place leftover ribs in a pan, cover them tightly with aluminum foil, and slip them into a gentle 250-degree oven until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 130 to 140 degrees.

Select a lean rib and cut off the visible fat. We like our ribs lean, tender, and beautiful. Cook them low and slow. Two pounds or less will take 4 1/2 hours at 225 degrees F.

Cover the ribs with aluminum foil. Bake the ribs at a low temperature (275°F) for 2 ½ to 3 ½ hours or until they are tender. Slather the baked ribs with barbecue sauce, and then broil (or grill) the ribs for a few minutes until the sauce is caramelized.