You probably often wonder when your pork ribs are done if you’ve ever cooked them on the grill or tobacco smoker. Let’s break down exactly how to determine when your ribs are done.
Baby back ribs can be tricky to cook just right Undercooked, and they’ll be tough and chewy Overcooked, and they’ll be dry and flavorless. But when you nail that perfect temperature, baby back ribs become fall-off-the-bone tender with a caramelized exterior that bursts with finger-licking flavor.
So what’s the magic number for cooking baby back ribs to juicy, tender perfection? According to cooking experts, you’ll want to aim for an internal temperature of 195 to 200 degrees F This allows the collagen in the ribs to fully break down into gelatin, making the meat incredibly succulent
In this article, we’ll walk through everything you need to know to cook outstanding baby back ribs every time. Here’s what we’ll cover:
- What Are Baby Back Ribs?
- Why Temperature Matters
- Step-by-Step Guide
- Prep the Ribs
- Apply Rub or Sauce
- Cook the Ribs
- Finish on the Grill
- Test for Doneness
- Troubleshooting Tips
- Serving Suggestions
- Favorite Baby Back Rib Recipes
What Are Baby Back Ribs?
Baby back ribs come from the upper rib section near the spine of the pig. They are called “baby” back ribs because they are shorter and more tender than spare ribs. Baby back ribs contain less fat and connective tissue than other rib cuts.
Typically, a full slab of baby back ribs contains 12-13 ribs. They have a light pork flavor and tender, fall-off-the-bone texture when cooked properly. The reddish-pink meat should slide cleanly off the white bone when they are finished cooking.
Why Temperature Matters
Cooking ribs to the right internal temperature is crucial for achieving the ideal texture. Here’s why it makes such a big difference:
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195°F and below – Collagen hasn’t fully broken down yet. The meat will still be tough and chewy.
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195-200°F – The collagen has melted into tender gelatin. Ribs are at peak tenderness and juiciness.
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205°F and above – Collagen breaks down too much. Meat starts to dry out and toughen up again.
So hitting that 195-200°F window is the rib cook’s goal for perfect doneness. Let’s look at how to make that happen.
Step-by-Step Guide
Follow these steps to cook phenomenal baby back ribs every time
Prep the Ribs
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Remove membrane – That papery membrane on the back of the slab will shrivel up and make ribs tough. Slide a butter knife under it to pull it off.
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Trim excess fat – For maximum tenderness, trim thick sections of hard fat around the edges. Leave just a thin layer.
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Apply a binder – Brush both sides with mustard or oil. This helps rubs and sauces stick better.
Apply Rub or Sauce
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Rub – For deeper flavor, coat both sides with a dry spice rub. Let sit 30-60 minutes before cooking.
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Sauce – For sticky, glazed ribs, brush with your favorite barbecue sauce. Reserve some sauce for serving.
Cook the Ribs
You have a few options for the initial cook to get ribs tender before finishing on the grill.
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Oven – Cook ribs covered at 250°F for 2-3 hours until meat reaches 170°F.
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Slow cooker – Cook ribs on low heat for 4-6 hours until tender.
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Smoker – For serious smoke flavor, cook ribs at 225-250°F for 3-5 hours.
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Boil first – Parboil ribs for 30 minutes to soften them up, then proceed with your cooking method.
For any option, cook until ribs reach an internal temperature of 170°F. This ensures they braise long enough to become tender.
Finish on the Grill
Once ribs are partially cooked, move them to a hot grill to finish. This gives them that charred, caramelized exterior.
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Heat grill to medium-high. Sear ribs meaty-side down first.
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Flip and cook 2nd side. Brush with sauce in the last 5 minutes if desired.
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Total grill time will be 15-30 minutes. Just don’t overcook.
Test for Doneness
When ribs are close to being done, start checking temperature. Use an instant-read meat thermometer to be sure.
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Insert thermometer into thickest part of meat, away from bone.
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It’s done when ribs register 195-200°F.
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If under, give them more grill time and check again.
The bones should be visible with meat contracted and slightly shrunk back along them. Meat should slide easily off the bones when fully cooked.
Troubleshooting Tips
Having issues getting baby back ribs just right? Here are some troubleshooting tips:
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Ribs are tough and chewy – They were undercooked. Next time, cook to a higher internal temp of at least 195°F.
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Ribs are dry – They were overcooked. Don’t go over 200°F internal temperature next time. Also brush with sauce at the end rather than the beginning.
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Bones aren’t visible – Membrane wasn’t removed so meat didn’t contract as it cooked. Always remove membrane first.
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Fat isn’t rendered – Hard fat needs higher heat to melt. Trim excess fat before cooking or finish over direct heat.
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Skin is soft and limp – Steam made the exterior soggy. Avoid steaming ribs. Broil or grill to crisp the exterior.
Serving Suggestions
Baby back ribs deserve some delicious accompaniments:
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Breads – Serve with corn bread, biscuits or soft dinner rolls to soak up sauce.
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Sides – Pair ribs with baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad or mac and cheese.
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Sauces – Provide extra barbecue sauce, ranch and hot sauces for custom flavor.
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Refreshments – Iced tea, lemonade and beer are perfect with barbecue.
Favorite Baby Back Rib Recipes
Ready to cook the best ribs of your life? Try these crowd-pleasing baby back rib recipes:
Sweet and Spicy Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs
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Ingredients – Ribs, brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, garlic, ketchup, mustard, liquid smoke.
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Method – Season and bake uncovered in the oven at 275°F for 3 hours until tender and caramelized.
Memphis Dry Rub Baby Back Ribs
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Ingredients – Ribs, Memphis dry rub blend, barbecue sauce.
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Method – Coat ribs with dry rub and chill overnight. Smoke over indirect heat, then grill with sauce.
Hoisin-Ginger Glazed Baby Back Ribs
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Ingredients – Ribs, hoisin sauce, ginger, rice vinegar, sesame oil.
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Method – Simmer ribs in braising liquid, then grill with hoisin glaze.
Dr. Pepper BBQ Baby Back Ribs
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Ingredients – Ribs, Dr. Pepper, ketchup, spices, liquid smoke.
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Method – Boil ribs in Dr. Pepper mixture. Finish on grill with barbecue sauce glaze.
Bourbon Brown Sugar Baby Back Ribs
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Ingredients – Ribs, bourbon, brown sugar, spices, barbecue sauce.
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Method – Marinate ribs in bourbon mixture overnight. Grill to finish.
Achieve Baby Back Rib Perfection
Cooking baby back ribs to juicy, fall-off-the-bone perfection is easy when you nail that ideal internal temperature of 195-200°F. Now you know exactly how to prep, season, cook, test and troubleshoot ribs for your best results ever.
Fire up the smoker, oven or slow cooker and enjoy outstanding homemade baby back ribs – a backyard BBQ favorite!
Tips for Making the Best Ribs by Taking Rib Temperatures
Here are a few tips to help you get the most accurate temperature for ribs.
- Put the probe between any bones in the thickest part of the meat. Do not put the probe in a fat pocket or touch any bones on your rack of ribs. This will not give you a correct reading.
- To get temperatures quickly and keep your grill or smoker from losing heat, use an instant-read thermometer. A slow temperature reading can cause your ribs to take longer to cook because they lose too much heat.
- Take a few readings of the temperature across the ribs. It’s easier to see where your ribs are when you have more than one readout. You can move the ribs around to account for thicker ribs taking longer to cook and fix any hot spots.
Once the ribs are getting close to the right internal temperature for doneness, you’ll start looking for other signs to make sure you get the perfect rack of ribs.
One tool we use regularly is the “bend test. ” The bend test requires you to use tongs to lift one end of your rib rack. Lift the end off of the grates, straight up. One end of the rack will stay on the grill, and the ribs will have a nice bend to them. The meat on top of the rack will also break up a bit.
The tough connective tissues are still very tight if the whole rack lifts up at once. Your ribs need more time to cook. If your ribs break apart, you may have taken them too far (fall-off-the-bone tender ribs, anybody?).
Looking for bone pull-back is a very visual indicator for rib doneness, but admittedly the least accurate. When the ribs are done cooking and ready to be taken off the grill, the meat will have pulled back between the bones, leaving about ½ inch of the bones showing.
One reason this method isn’t as accurate is that it can be way off or way on depending on the type of ribs you’re cooking and how they were cooked. Spare ribs tend to pull back more than baby back ribs. To improve the look of the finished rib, you can also make the pull-back better by pressing the meat up between the bones on the sides of the ribs while they’re cooking (this is often done in competitions).
Best Internal Temperature for Different Pork Ribs
200-202 degrees F is the best internal temperature for spare ribs and their trimmed-down counterpart, St. Louis spare ribs. This higher temperature is due to the fat content and muscle structure of these cuts.
198-200 degrees F is the best internal temperature for baby back ribs. These ribs tend to be leaner and can dry out if cooked too high. It’s best for the thermometer to slide into the baby back ribs like butter when you want to check the temperature. The ribs may not fall off the bone at this temperature so keep that in mind.
If you want them to fall off the bone completely, the temperature should be above 200 degrees F. In that case, you’ll need some BBQ sauce to make up for the moisture that was lost.
202-205 degrees F is the best internal temperature for country style ribs. These “ribs” come from the pork shoulder, so they have a lot of fat and tend to be ready to eat at a higher temperature than real ribs. We like serving these shredded with some barbecue sauce as they are definitely fall-off-the-bone tender.
We suggest that you buy single racks of each cut at the store and cook them next to each other if you aren’t sure which type of rib you like best. Because of this, you can try each one for yourself and see which one your family likes best.
All ribs are tasty, but some people like how fattish a spare rib is while others like how meaty a baby back rib is. The only way to know what you like is to give them a try.
If you buy your ribs frozen, you’ll want to defrost them completely before attempting to cook. Cooking meats from frozen can drastically alter the cooking time. Since higher heat is used to cook frozen ribs to the right temperature, they will be a bit drier when they are done.
You can change the final texture of your ribs even more than the temperature. You can leave the papery membrane on the bone side of the ribs or take it off. This membrane is thin and white. As you cook your ribs the membrane dries out and can turn leathery.
To combat that undesirable bite of papery/dry membrane, most people choose to remove it completely. Using a butter knife, lift one end of the membrane and wiggle it loose. Then, hold it firmly with a paper towel and peel it off the rib bones.
Some people like to keep the membrane, but they score it all the way across the bone side of the ribs with a sharp knife so that the tough membrane doesn’t bite too much. This makes for an easier bite-through experience.
What Temperature Should I Cook My Ribs?
FAQ
Are baby back ribs done at 165?
Are baby back ribs done at 180 degrees?
What temperature are baby back ribs fully cooked?