Easy St. Louis-style ribs — the best BBQ of summer. Pork spareribs cooked low and slow on the grill and basted with barbecue sauce until tender and almost falling off the bone.
I should probably name my husband in this story — his name is Mark. He’s a devoted meat lover and proud of it: he prefers a protein on his plate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That preference has kept me cooking a lot of meat through the years, and it’s rubbed off on our family, too. Our middle daughter was a vegetarian for seven years but recently started eating meat again, so the dinner table has definitely shifted back toward grilled proteins.
Another quirky habit Mark has is eating ice cream every day. Seriously — every single day. If we run out, a quick ice cream run becomes a family emergency. My sister-in-law once asked if he really has it daily, and the answer is yes. He’s only given it up for Lent that I can remember, and somehow our daughters have picked up the same routine.
Mark also loves crunchy snacks: potato chips, crackers, anything with a good snap. When he’s in “crunch mode,” it’s impossibly loud. It’s part of his charm, though — he’s a great dad and a generous husband, and we all enjoy him. But where he really shines is at the grill.
We’ve had a gas grill for more than two decades. In fact, a new Weber arrived at our house in the middle of a Chicago winter long ago because Mark worked on the Weber account. He learned that grill inside and out and has relied on it ever since. He grills chicken, vegetables, and lots of other things, but ribs are his favorite.
After moving to St. Louis we realized we hadn’t properly tried St. Louis-style ribs in our own backyard. Mark was a baby-back ribs fan and insisted spareribs weren’t as good. I kept suggesting we give St. Louis-style spareribs another shot — they’re spareribs trimmed to remove the rib tips and brisket flap, giving a neat, rectangular rack. After a bit of research and a plan, we decided to try them the right way.
The first step was making a simple barbecue sauce. I’d never made sauce from scratch before — we usually use bottled varieties — but this one is straightforward and delicious. A useful technique we learned is thinning the sauce with water and basting the ribs frequently. Light, repeated basting builds layers of flavor and forms a caramelized crust without letting the sauce scorch.
We cooked two slabs for this batch. I prepped them by removing the membrane from the back of the racks. Starting the membrane with a knife, then gripping it with a paper towel and pulling it away, makes the job easy. You don’t want that thin membrane left on the ribs; removing it helps the rub and sauce penetrate and ensures a more tender final result.
There are many ways to approach ribs: dry rub versus sauced, gas grill versus charcoal or smoker, and whether or not to add smoking chips. Rib competitions exist because the differences matter. The method below is how we do it on our gas grill; feel free to adapt it to your equipment and taste.
Mark took charge of the cooking and followed a low-and-slow plan. After an hour on indirect heat he began the basting rhythm: a thin sauce applied every ten minutes, alternating sides to build several thin coats. The meat should start pulling away from the ends of the bones and develop a sticky, glossy crust. When that happens, turn off the heat, close the lid, and let the racks rest on the grill for a short time to finish.
The result was fantastic — tender St. Louis-style ribs with just the right balance of smoke, seasoning, and sauce. Mark declared them among the best he’s made, and I agree: these could easily become our go-to ribs for backyard cookouts. If you enjoy a saucy rib with a caramelized finish, this technique is worth trying.
HUNGRY FOR MORE? Subscribe to the newsletter to get recipes and updates, follow along on Instagram, or find us on Facebook and Pinterest to see more photos and ideas.
BBQ St. Louis-Style Ribs
Ingredients
- Your favorite dry rub
- 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce (see note for a simple homemade sauce)
- 2 slabs St. Louis-style pork spareribs, membrane removed from back side
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
-
Season the ribs with your dry rub, starting on the bone side. Use a light, even coating and finish with salt and pepper. Let the seasoned racks rest for about 30 minutes.
-
Preheat the gas grill on high, clean the grates, then turn off the center burner and set the two outer burners to medium. Aim for an internal grill temperature of 250–300ºF for indirect cooking.
-
Combine 1 cup of water with the barbecue sauce and set the thinned sauce aside for basting.
-
Place the ribs on the grill, bone-side down, and cook for 30 minutes. Flip and cook the other side for another 30 minutes.
-
After one hour, begin basting with the thinned sauce every 10 minutes. Work in cycles: start with the meat side up and baste twice over 20 minutes, flip and baste the bone side for 10 minutes, then flip and baste the meat side two more times over 20 minutes.
-
You’ll know the ribs are close when the meat pulls back from the ends of the bones and the surface looks glossy and caramelized. Give them one more baste on the meat side, turn off the heat, and keep the lid closed for 10 minutes. Our ribs were done at about 2 hours; if needed, continue basting and flipping every 10 minutes until they reach your desired doneness, roughly 2–2½ hours.
-
Remove from the grill, slice into individual ribs, and serve. Offer extra undiluted barbecue sauce on the side for dipping.
Recipe Notes
- ⅔ cup ketchup
- ½ cup cider vinegar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
This yields a tangy, slightly smoky sauce that thins well for frequent basting and caramelizes beautifully on the grill.
Nutrition
Note: Barbecue sauce adapted from a classic simple barbecue sauce recipe. Enjoy these ribs at your next cookout and adjust seasonings and basting rhythm to suit your grill and taste.