Copycat Famous Dave's Ribs - Best BBQ Ribs Recipe! (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making good ribs? ›

Pretty much every rib recipe out there calls for using a low and slow, indirect grilling method. Grilling them over direct, high heat is a great way to overcook them and have them turn out tough. Indirect, low heat will help create tender meat that will easily tear off of the bone.

Louis-style ribs cooks evenly. This is often the choice cut for restaurant ribs because their uniformity is easy for a kitchen to manage.

The secret to incredibly tender ribs is baking them low and slow. Baking ribs in the oven is so easy. 95% of the cooking time is spent relaxing while your ribs transform into fall-off-the-bone perfection.

A charcoal or wood fire will give you the best flavor, but any heat will cook the ribs. Your goal is to get good color and caramelization on the outside of the ribs, but also to cook them long enough that the tough collagen breaks down and the meat becomes tender.

This method entails smoking them for the first 2 hours directly on the smoker rack. After 2 hours, wrap the ribs in aluminum foil and baste on BBQ sauce and let them smoke for 2 more hours. For the last hour of smoking, remove them from the aluminum foil and then apply BBQ sauce directly to the ribs.

Since the ribs are fatty, many cooks choose to parboil spareribs for a short time or boil for an extended period of time to tenderize the rib meat. This renders some of the surface fat and makes it easier to remove the inner skin from the ribs before you grill them, too.

BBQ FOR GROUPS

If cooking for a larger group, the baby back ribs are great because they are smaller (making them easier to handle as finger food because of its smaller portion size) and each individual rib delivers a tasty bite of meat on the bone with a lower concentration of fat.

Louis spare ribs are most common among competition BBQ cooks. They take a little longer to cook than baby back ribs and contain small pieces of cartilage in addition to the larger bones. I prefer to cook with St. Louis ribs whenever possible.

Bake, covered tightly with foil until tender, about 3 hours. Editor's Note: A tightly sealed pan topped with aluminum foil will lock in the heat, steam and moisture around the ribs to keep them extra moist and juicy while they cook.

The reason you would boil ribs before cooking them is simple. This process helps tenderize the ribs and makes them more juicy. It not only shortens the cooking time significantly, but it also helps make the meat far easier to chew.

Do ribs get more tender the longer you boil them? ›

Slower methods can be ready in as little as 30 minutes - however, keep in mind that the longer you cook your pork back ribs the more tender and succulent they'll be.

Do you bake ribs covered or uncovered? 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.

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. Once the ribs have been baked, all you need to do is finish them quickly on the grill and coat them with your favorite sauce.

Place ribs on a foil-lined baking sheet (or large roasting pan), meat-side up. Bake for 4 hours (middle rack, uncovered). Turn oven up to 250 degrees F and let ribs cook for another hour. Turn oven up to 275 degrees F and let ribs cook for another hour.

321 ribs are a foolproof way to get fall-off-the-bone ribs. The 321 rib method is based on smoking the ribs for 3 hours, wrapping them with liquid for 2 hours, and saucing them for the final 1 hour.

A Few Words on The 2-2-1 Method

The initial 2 hour step is where the smoke flavor gets into the meat, the middle 2 hour step is where the super tenderizing takes place. The last 1 hour step is where the crust develops on the outside.