Delight your taste-buds with Chef Tom's smoky, succulent Barbecue Pork Spare Ribs cooked on the charcoal grill. Impress your family & friends with recipe for tender pork ribs.
WHAT YOU'LL LOVE
- Building two separate charcoal piles with an open center creates true indirect heat, so the ribs never sit directly over flame and risk scorching
- Slathering the ribs in barbecue sauce before applying the rubs gives both seasonings something tacky to stick to, rather than falling off a dry rack
- Offering two finishing paths — sugar-and-honey wrapped or plain double-wrapped — lets the same base recipe produce either a sweeter or more traditional bark-forward rib
- Placing the ribs meat-side down against the brown sugar and honey during the foil stage lets that side pull in concentrated sweetness directly, rather than the glaze pooling underneath unused
Barbecue Pork Spare Ribs
Tom Jackson
Rated 4.3 stars by 3 users
Category
Entree
Cuisine
American
Servings
8
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
4 hours
Calories
929
Chef Tom fires up the Yoder Smokers Flat-Top Charcoal Grill for a rundown on how to smoke Barbecue Pork Spare Ribs over indirect heat in a charcoal grill.
Ingredients
- 2 racks pork spare ribs, trimmed St. Louis style
- Kozlik’s Carolina BBQ Sauce
-
Plowboys BBQ Yardbird Rub
-
R Butts R Smokin’ Honey Chipotle Rub
- Brown sugar
-
Reida Farm Wildflower Honey
Directions
- Light two chimneys of lump charcoal. When the charcoal is red-hot, dump each one at opposite ends of the Yoder Smokers Flat-Top Adjustable Charcoal Grill, leaving the center of the grill open and without charcoal.
- Position one grate in the center of the grill (the second grate can be removed for this cook). Set up a FireBoard 2 Wireless Thermometer to monitor the grill temperature, with an ambient thermometer clipped in the center of the grate.
- Add a couple of chunks of smoking wood (we used cherry), or small splits (hickory) to the charcoal beds to add smoke and heat. Try to stabilize the temperature in the 250ºF-300ºF range. As the temperature drops, add more chunks of unlit lump charcoal and smoking wood to maintain the heat. If the coal bed gets too small, light a new chimney of charcoal and add when hot. You can also manage the heat by closing down the vents on the top and bottom (leave about 1/4 open) of the grill to minimize airflow, which keeps the temperature lower and allows for a longer burn time with your charcoal.
- Slather the ribs with Kozlik’s Carolina BBQ Sauce. Season with Plowboys Yardbird and R Butts R Smokin’ Honey Chipotle.
- Place the ribs on the smoking rack in the center of the grill. There should be not direct heat from the charcoal underneath the ribs, or they will scorch. Smoke the ribs, maintaining the temperature of the grill as described above, until a dark reddish mahogany brown bark is formed on the surface. Remove the racks of ribs from the grill.
- Lay out four sheets of foil (two per rack).
- For sweeter ribs, add about 1/3-1/2 cup brown to the foil, in the shape of a rack of ribs. Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of Reida Farm Wildflower Honey over the sugar. Place the ribs meat-side down on top of the sugar and honey. Wrap tightly in foil.
- For less sweet ribs, simple double wrap in foil with nothing added.
Return the ribs to the grill and continue cooking until tender. Looking at the ends of the bones, the meat should move freely from the bone when twisted.
- Finish your sweet ribs by brushing them with Firebug Mild Grillin’ Sauce while still warm. Slice and serve.
- Finish the less sweet ribs by brushing them with the Kozlik’s Carolina BBQ Sauce while still warm. Slice and serve.
Recipe Note
Recipe FAQ
Why build two separate charcoal piles with the center left open, instead of one central fire?
Splitting the charcoal into two piles with an empty center creates a true indirect zone, so the ribs sitting in the middle never have direct flame beneath them and risk scorching.
Why slather the ribs with barbecue sauce before applying the dry rubs?
A layer of sauce gives both rubs something tacky to adhere to, helping them build a real crust through the smoke rather than falling off a dry, unseasoned surface.
Why does this recipe offer two different foil-wrap options?
Wrapping with brown sugar and honey pushes the ribs toward a sweeter finish, while a plain double-wrap keeps things simpler and more bark-forward. Both use the same smoked base, so the finishing choice is really about final flavor, not technique.
Why place the ribs meat-side down against the sugar and honey in the foil?
Setting the meat directly against the sweeteners lets it pull in that concentrated flavor as it steams, rather than the sugar and honey pooling underneath the bone side where the meat can't absorb it as directly.
How do I know when the ribs are actually done?
This recipe uses bark color first (a dark reddish mahogany) and then bone movement as the doneness tests the meat should twist freely away from the bone ends once the ribs are tender, rather than checking a specific internal temperature.
How indoor-friendly is this recipe?
1 out of 5 this is a multi-hour charcoal cook built around managing two separate fires for indirect heat and real smoke. An oven can render the ribs tender, but you'll lose the bark and smoke flavor entirely.
Recipe Highlights
Split charcoal, open center: Creates true indirect heat with no scorching risk.
Sauce-first binder: Helps both rubs build a real crust instead of falling off.
Two finishing paths: Sweet honey-wrap or plain double-wrap from the same base.
Meat-down foil placement: Lets the ribs pull in concentrated sweetness directly.
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Nutrition
Nutrition
- Nutrition Serving Size
- 4 oz
- per serving
- Calories
- 929
- Carbs
- 21 grams
- Protein
- 80 grams
- Fat
- 56 grams
- Sodium
- 1608 milligrams
