Everything you need to know to make the best ribs this summer! Tips for making them in your slow cooker, instant pot, smoker , on the grill or in the oven!
Everything You Need to Know to Make the Best Ribs
Marrying Parker meant I was marrying a grill master! We have been dining on ribs and incredible grilled and smoked meats all summer long. If you’re like me, I was in the dark about cooking ribs. I wanted to know how to make the best ribs! So Parker taught me everything I need to know to make the best ribs! Here’s what he taught me…
How to Make the Best Ribs
Ribs are a classic summer barbecue food and they’re not as difficult as most people think. I’ll give you the in’s and out’s of ribs in this 101 tutorial so you can wow your family during your next backyard barbecue. You ready to learn everything you need to know to make the best ribs?
What Type of Ribs should I Buy?
Let’s start of simple. Where do you even buy a good rack of ribs? Some people may think you need to go to a fancy butcher, and you can! But we also find great ribs just at our local grocery stores! They cost anywhere from $7-$10 and can feed a whole family, so it’s actually a fairly cost effective dinner! The main types are Baby Back (these are very common and the smallest), St. Louis (which are larger and flatter than the rounded baby back), and the Spare Ribs (which have slightly less meat and are just the St. Louis with the rib tips and skirt meat). So which should you get? The Baby Back or the St. Louis would be my suggestion. Personally, I would go with the Baby Back only because they are smaller (plenty of meat though!) and are just easier to work with for beginners.
Here’s a photo comparing the large Spare Ribs with Baby Backs! The St. Louis ribs are between these sizes.
How to Prep a Rack of Ribs:
The Secrets to the Best Rib Rub:
The Go-To Rib Rub:
Ingredients
Directions
The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Ribs:
Meat thermometers are incredible for cooking! We cook ours too 200 degrees to melt all the connective tissues… that makes them super tender! We could go on and on about meat thermometers but we’ll get back to everything you need to know to make the best ribs.
How to Smoke Ribs:

A great recipe, I want to try it immediately and love to take it, Thank you for sharing the recipe details.