how to cook spare ribs on gas grill in foil

Great! You bought a smoker. Now you are googling how to make smoked pork ribs. You stumble upon one of the thousand recipes for 3 2 1 Ribs. You follow the recipe step by step and make an "ok" rack of smoked ribs where the meat "falls off the bone". Congratulations. You just overcooked another rack of ribs like everyone else, including myself when I first started.

If you've ever gone to a BBQ competition and had the Pitmasters ribs, you will quickly notice something. The ribs are individually cut and the meat actually stays on the bone until you bite it off with your teeth. Now remember your 3 2 1 ribs and how gravity removed the meat from the bones for you. That's not what you want. AmazingRibs.com BBQ legend Meathead feels quite strongly about 321 ribs as well.

I've also taken inspiration from Aaron Franklin with the method he uses for smoked ribs. His Masterclass training program goes over ribs in great detail.

What Are 321 Ribs, and Why Aren't They Ideal?
How Long Does it Take to Smoke Ribs?
Smoked Ribs Temperature
Ingredients:
Gear:
Time:
Instructions:
Smoked Pork Ribs – BETTER THAN 321 !!!
- Equipment
- Ingredients
- Instructions
- Nutrition

What Are 321 Ribs, and Why Aren't They Ideal?

The 3-2-1 method makes you smoke the ribs for 3 hours, then wrap the ribs in foil and cook for 2 hours followed by one hour of cooking unwrapped and coated in BBQ sauce. It's simple but not the best way to smoke ribs. The 321 method is simply cooked too long, especially during the second step in foil for 2 hours.

We take issue with several aspects of the 321 ribs recipe:

The time the smoked ribs cook in foil is too long
The time spent cooking the ribs out of the foil is too long
The goal shouldn't be pork ribs with meat falling off the bone

The way we do ribs at AngryBBQ isn't completely different from 3-2-1 ribs, but we tweak the steps to get you as close to competition ribs without making the process too hard. You could call this 3-0.75-0.5 ribs. I reduce the cooking time in the foil by 1.25 hours. 2 hours in foil will turn your ribs into mush. I also believe cooking the ribs for an hour after the foil cook is too long and dries out your ribs. Our method will make the most amazing ribs.

Another popular method is the 2-2-1 Smoked Ribs. The only difference with this smoked ribs recipe is that you reduce the initial 3 hour smoke time to 2 hours but you are still cooking the ribs in foil for 2 hours which is simply too long. The best way is 3 – 3/4 – 1/2 smoked ribs but that is simply not catchy or memorable.

Perfectly Smoked Pork Ribs - Not overdone 321 Ribs — Perfectly Smoked Pork Ribs

How Long Does it Take to Smoke Ribs?

Pork baby back ribs will typically take about 3 hours of smoke time. This is enough time for the ribs to be thoroughly cooked and take on a smoky flavor. You can do the "bounce test" with the ribs where you pick them up with grill tongs and lightly bounce them. If the meat starts to crack by the bone, the ribs are done smoking. You can start the foil portion of the cook.

Smoked Ribs Temperature

When the smoking portion of the rib cook is complete, the ribs will be around 175F. That sounds very high but this is normal when smoking ribs. Since we are cooking at a low temperature of 225F and spritzing the ribs to keep the moisture level high, the ribs will not taste overdone.

I strongly recommend you get yourself a good smoker/grill thermometer like the Signals from Thermoworks so you can make sure your smoker is staying around 225F. You would be surprised what the actual smoke box temperature is compared to the built-in thermometer.

Ingredients:

2 Racks of Baby Back Ribs
6 TBSP Melted Honey (Get Real Honey from a Local Honey Farm)
4 TBSP Melted Butter
Dry Rib Rub (Try our homemade rib rub recipe)
BBQ Sauce: Make our Jack Daniels Sauce or Traditional BBQ Sauce

Gear:

Thermapen ONE

Time:

Prep Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Smoking/Cooking Time: 4 hours
Resting Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 30 minutes

Instructions:

Rinse the ribs in cold water and pad dry.
Trim any excess fat or connective tissue. Only leave what you want to eat.

On the bone side of the ribs, remove the membrane. A quick trick is using a piece of paper towel to help grip the membrane. Once you get a good grip of the membrane, simply pull until it is completely removed.

Once the ribs are prepped, I apply my favorite rub generously. Make sure to cover all the sides and edges of the ribs.

Cover the ribs and keep in the fridge for 2 hours or more.
Remove the ribs from the fridge and allow to warm slightly on the counter.
Fire up the smoker to 225F. I use Pecan or Cherry, when smoking ribs.
Once the smoker is at proper temp, place the ribs on the grill meat side up.

Now you can pretty much wait for the three hours to pass or some fanatics prefer to spritz their ribs every 30-45 minutes with a 50/50 mixture of apple cider vinegar and water. I personally quit doing this, because I never noticed a difference.
After three hours, remove the ribs and place each rack meat side up on a large piece of Heavy Duty tin foil.
Brush melted butter over the tops of the ribs then followed by brushing the melted honey. You can spritz the ribs for extra moisture.
Flip the racks around so the bone side is facing up. Brush with melted butter and melted honey.
Leave the racks bone side up and wrap the ribs tightly. Place back on the smoker bone side up for 45-60 minutes. Keep the temp at 225F.
Remove the ribs from the foil and place back on the grill.
Brush the ribs with your favorite barbecue sauce. Cook for approximately 30-45 more minutes at 225F.
Check for doneness by using your grill tongs and pickup up the ribs and give them a slight bounce. If the meat starts to slightly split, the ribs are done.
Remove from the smoker and cover in foil. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Be a professional and take a sharp knife (I use a Henkel Serrated Bread Knife) and cut each rib individually. You'll notice how the ribs don't fall apart as you cut. Also look for that beautiful pink smoke ring.

Serve and enjoy. You just got a lot closer to competition ribs.

Smoked Pork Ribs – BETTER THAN 321 !!!

If you've ever gone to a BBQ competition and had the Pitmasters ribs, you will quickly notice something. The ribs are individually cut and the meat actually stays on the bone, until you bite it off with your teeth. Follow this recipe, and serve competition worthy ribs right at home!

Prep Time 2 hrs 15 mins

Cook Time 4 hrs 15 mins

Resting Time 15 mins

Total Time 6 hrs 45 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: 321 ribs, how to smoke ribs, not 321 ribs, smoked baby back ribs, Smoked Pork Ribs

Servings: 5 people

Calories: 714 kcal

Author: Michael Haas

Equipment

smoker
Smoking Wood (we prefer pecan or cherry)
Paper Towel
Cutting Board
Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil
Grill Basting Brush
Sharp Knife
Grill Tongs
Spritzer with 50/50 Water and Apple Cider Vinegar

Ingredients

2 Racks Baby Back Pork Ribs
6 TBSP Melted Honey Real honey from a local honey farm is best!
4 TBSP Butter
8 TBSP Rib Rub Try our homemade dry rub rub.
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce Mike likes Angry BBQ's homemade BBQ sauce, Jannah likes Kansas City style!

Instructions

Rinse the ribs in cold water and pad dry.

Trim any excess fat or connective tissue. Only leave what you want to eat.
On the bone side of the ribs, remove the membrane. A quick trick is using a piece of paper towel to help grip the membrane. Once you get a good grip of the membrane, simply pull until it is completely removed.
Once the ribs are prepped, I apply my favorite rub generously. Make sure to cover all the sides and edges of the ribs.

Cover the ribs and keep in the fridge for 2 hours or more.
Remove the ribs from the fridge and allow to warm slightly on the counter. Fire up the smoker to 225F. I use Pecan or Cherry, when smoking ribs.
Once the smoker is at proper temp, place the ribs on the grill meat side up.
Now you can pretty much wait for the three hours to pass or some fanatics prefer to spritz their ribs every 30-45 minutes with a 50/50 mixture of apple cider vinegar and water. Adding moisture to the ribs aids in a smoky bark. After three hours, remove the ribs and place each rack meat side up on a large piece of Heavy Duty tin foil.
Brush melted butter over the tops of the ribs then followed by brushing the melted honey. You can spritz the ribs for extra moisture at this time. Flip the racks around so the bone side is facing up. Brush with melted butter and melted honey.
Leave the racks bone side up and wrap the ribs tightly. Place back on the smoker bone side up for 45-60 minutes. Keep the temp at 225F.
Remove the ribs from the foil and place back on the grill. Brush the ribs with your favorite bbq sauce. Cook for approximately 30-45 more minutes at 225F.
Check for doneness by using your grill tongs and pickup up the ribs and give them a slight bounce. If the meat starts to slightly split, the ribs are done.

Remove from the smoker and cover in foil. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Be a professional and take a sharp knife (I use a Henkel Serrated Bread Knife) and cut each rib individually. You'll notice how the ribs don't fall apart as you cut. Also look for that beautiful pink smoke ring.

Nutrition

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Michael Haas

Michael is the co-founder of AngryBBQ and a self proclaimed pit master. He is always striving to make his brisket better than the last. If he's not tweaking a rub, buying a different smoker or researching online you'll find him playing guitar or tinkering in the garage. And yes, Michael is the hot headed one with the temper. Hence the name AngryBBQ.

41 thoughts on "How to Smoke Ribs: Not the Overcooked 321 Method"

I was a 3-2-1 rib guy and was not pleased with the gelatinous texture of the completed ribs. Yeah they fell off the bone, but they didn't have any bite at all. Last night I made 2 racks following these instructions. WOW! The ribs were perfect. Thank you for posting this technique.
1. Hi Fred,
  
  Glad to hear you enjoyed them. It's funny how methods that do not create the best results get so popular and become the standard way of doing things.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Michael
  1. What perfect timing. I came across this article as my ribs are approaching their 3 hour mark. Gonna shift to your 3 – 0.75 – 0.75 method. 🙂
    Can't argue with better ribs quicker. Can't wait to see if there's a difference.
    1. Great to hear John. You'll never do 321 again. Enjoy.
for the last section when saucing the ribs; does the temp remain at 225? or do you increase it to 300?
1. Hi Ashay, Yes just keep the temp at 225F when you are saucing the ribs.
  Cheers,
  Michael
  1. Our recipe has been updated to clarify about keeping the temp at 225F while saucing.
This is it. This is the recipe. I've been experimenting with the 3-2-1, 2-2-1, etc methods and this is the golden ratio right here! Cuts perfectly but doesn't pull off the bone with gravity! Tastes great too!!
1. Glad you enjoyed it.
I was planning to do the 3-2-1 method and found this while looking it up. My wife and I agreed these were the best ribs we have ever had, period.
1. Thanks for the positive comments Ben. Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Try out our brisket recipe sometime.
Wow. Like everyone above, I've done most of the other variations on ribs, including 3 2 1.
By far the best ribs I've ever made! Everybody at our get together was praising the ribs.
Thanks for this recipe.
1. Glad to hear it went well for you Steve. Thanks for trying our recipe.
  
  Michael
I tried this method but with two racks came out perfect!!!! Soooo how does one compensate for three or four racks? Please lmk!
1. Hi Jeremy,
  
  Glad the ribs turned out for you. We wrote the recipe for two racks, if you want to do four racks, simply double everything. Just make sure they can all fit in your smoker. If your smoker is right full with four racks, I would recommend moving the ribs around the smoker to ensure they are cooked evenly. My Traeger and Camp Chef pellet grills do have hot spots. Hope that helps.
  
  Michael
I did shorten up the last hour (saucing) by about 15 minutes but kept everything else the same. Sorry, I like the meat falling off the bone, as does pretty much everyone I know. I sure don't need the "pull" to enjoy ribs. The 3/2/1 will continue to be my go-to method.
1. Hi William,
  
  Thanks for commenting. I agree that a good amount of people like their ribs with the meat falling off the bone. Our guide is to help you get your ribs similar to the Pit Masters in BBQ competitions.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Michael
Hi – My ribs are coming up on the initial 2 hour mark. But they will be done too early now. Can I let them rest in the foil for a couple hours before I put them back on the grill ?
1. Hi Bill,
  
  Your best bet is to foil them and get them in your over or smoker at 150 and hold them for a while. They may still be overcooked but it's worth a shot.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Michael
I'm doing 3 racks of baby backs tomorrow. The only question I have is why do you place your wrapped ribs bone side up? I've always put them back meat side up. I think I will try one rack your way and let the rest the way I've been doing it. Just curious
1. Hi Bill,
  
  I recommend wrapping the ribs meat side down for two reasons.
  1. It gives the meat side a chance to cook in the butter and honey better. It takes on more flavor.
  2. It evens out the cook a little. The meat side is up most of the time during the cook, this evens things out a bit.
  
  It's the little things that go a long way.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Michael
Hi Michael,

I'm giving your recipe a try. I'm new to smoking and used the 321 method previously (FYI, the meat never fell off the bone). I'm currently at the three hour mark, internal temp is 180 – they're done! I basted and put back in, won't they be over cooked with another hour and a half of cooking?

Thanks,
Kurt
1. Hi Kurt,
  Sorry for the late reply. I'm on holidays and not checking in on things as regularly. Theoretically they are done already but taking the ribs off the smoker to put in the foil for 45 minutes, back out of the smoker to remove the foil and back in again, drops the temp of the ribs and slows the cooking process. Remember I mentioned to check the ribs by doing the bounce test with the grill tongs? Do that test while they are smoking. It will aid in knowing how well cooked the ribs are. Even though the ribs will be over 145F, they will still not be completely overcooked like most 3-2-1 rib methods. Stick to the recipe and see how they turn out. Let us know.
Will this work:

A – with St Louis style ribs?

B- my house likes dry ribs. Do I HAVE to sauce to make this work?
1. Hi Auggie,
  
  This will work with St. Louis style ribs. St. Louis ribs usually need a bit more time to cook but I've had success with both St. Louis and Babybacks with this recipe. I haven't done this method with dry ribs yet but you can give it a shot. You do not need to sauce at the end to make this recipe work.
  Cheers,
  Michael
Tried this my first time cooking with a smoker. Did one set of ribs 3-2-1 and one set of ribs this way. They were both good but I think your method was better and more popular with my guests. How would you change this recipe if you were smoking pork spare ribs instead of baby backs?
1. Hi E.R. Marty,
  Side ribs or spare ribs have more fat content and are not as meaty. They typically take longer to cook but this recipe will definitely get these ribs cooked through. Good luck and thanks for commenting. Happy grilling/smoking.
  Michael
I'm doing a 1.5kg pork loin rack tomorrow. Will this method work for me? Would I need to adjust any temps or timing?
Thanks in advance!
1. Hi Sam, Sorry for the late reply. I definitely think you can try this recipe on your pork loin rack. The loin rack is substantially thicker than baby back ribs so make sure you monitor the temperature to make sure it hits 145F. Give it a shot. I think this would taste great.
  Cheers,
  Michael
Tried this last night with some St. Louis ribs on a Weber Smokey Mountain 18.5 on the racks and it worked great. I will make a few slight mods to the cooking times and rub mix (too much cayenne for our liking), but the 5-spice powder definitely comes through nicely. We used Stonewall Kitchen Maple Chipotle BBQ sauce (one of our favorites) and it was exceptional.
Looking ahead – how would you handle this if you were hanging your ribs in order to have more racks and accommodate more guests? Not sure how I would be able to wrap them. Or would you just skip the wrap?
1. Hi Michael, Thanks for commenting and I'm glad the ribs turned out well. Our rib rub does have a bit of kick, so I think I'll mention to add the cayenne to taste.
  To answer your question about adding more racks for a large dinner party, I wouldn't skip the foil part of the cook. I feel this aids in flavor and texture by letting the ribs bathe in butter and honey. If you are tight on space in the Smokey Mountain, I would still wrap the ribs when it is time and put them in your oven at 225F. When the ribs are wrapped any smoke/charcoal flavor will not be entering the ribs. Then when the foil portion of the cook is complete, put them back on the Smokey Mountain.
  Hope that helps.
  Michael Haas
I'll be smoking 3 racks instead of 2 racks. How does that change your directions?
1. Hi Luis,
  I would just make sure you have extra butter, honey, rub and tin foil available for the cook. As long as the smoker has room for all three racks, you are good to go. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Michael
I tried your recipe with a set of baby back ribs and the results were incredible. The whole family was happy!
I'm tempted to try it with spare ribs, and was wondering if you've gotten any feedback on how much longer the intervals should be. I'm tempted to keep things the same but do 3.5 or 4 hours for the first step rather than 3. Any opinion?
1. Hi Jim,
  
  I think you are fine with extending the first step as you pointed out. To test the ribs for doneness, you can do the Amazingribs.com method by picking up the rib rack with bbq tongs in the middle of the rack. Lightly bounce the ribs in the air, and if the meat is starting to separate from the bones, your ribs are done and ready for the next step. It's a quick and simple way to test.
  Let us know how the spare ribs go.
  
  Cheers,
  
  Michael
Meat side up after saucing?
1. Hi Doug,
  Correct. I put them meat side up after saucing.
  Enjoy,
  
  Michael
Hi Mike,
Another convert here. I was looking for better ribs than 321, and mine were perfect a few weeks back. My question is when to extend if they aren't quite done? If I have some fatties cooking slower or ambient temps or whatever contributing to a slower cook. In that case, would I give them longer before going to foil? I'm assuming you wouldn't want a longer foil time because of the mush factor? Or, longer in step 3 before saucing, if needed. The little things do matter, and I know sooner or later I'll have a shorter or longer cook time. Thanks.
1. Hi Darwin,
  
  I agree with cooking them longer on the first step vs in the foil or before saucing. Longer in the foil will create mush and longer on the final pre/saucing step might dry them out.
  
  Thanks for commenting.
  
  Michael
I was not doing the 3-2-1 and have never wanted my ribs fall off the bone. Wanted competition worthy ribs. Used to smoke to 160 and then wrap the ribs till they hit temp.
I think the key was wrapping for a bit and then putting them back in unwrapped.
Using your method made the best ribs I've ever made. Not greasy ribs. The spice of the rub with the sweet of the honey baste. Amazing!!
Thanks
1. Thanks for the compliments Andy and I'm glad you tried the rub as well. It works perfectly with pork ribs.
  Michael