Are baby back ribs best cooked on the grill or in the oven?

Everyone is going to say the 3,2,1 method on a charcoal grill.

Truth is it depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it and your definition of fall of the bone.

Easiest and simplest way is in the oven @350 for 2 to 2 1/4 hours wrapped in foil tight with the membrane off the back of the ribs. The bones will be completely meat free.

When I want some smoke flavor, I will smoke them a little on the charcoal grill and then finish in the oven.

Mine are always fall off the bone tender. I'll remove the membrane off the inside of the racks, season them with my blend of seasonings, put them in a Dutch oven on a rib rack to hold them upright on edge, place a bit of liquid in the pot and put them in the oven for a couple hours to really tenderize them.

Then to finish them off, it's out to the grill to sear them and add the BBQ sauce to get a bit of bark on the outside.

I do ribs two ways and both yield very tender and delicious ribs.

Charcoal Grill - Grill a rack of ribs using indirect heat. I make a foil pouch for apple or hickory chips and place directly on the coals. Season ribs however you like, and let cook for an hour. Baste with bbq sauce, and let cook another 10 minutes. Simple, delicious, and you get the char and smoke flavor.

Oven - Season ribs and wrap tight in foil. Bake for 2 hours at 250. Let rest for 15 minutes and remove from foil, discarding juices. Raise temperature of oven to 375 and cook for one hour. Baste with bbq sauce every 20 minutes. Super tender and the bbq sauce gets very sticky and delicious.

Both ways will yield super tasty and tender ribs.

I've settled on the following method-

-Wait for the coals to be 80% "whited over" so you don't get that nasty thick blue smoke in your meat. Indirect, keep ribs off to the side from charcoal.

Season lightly with salt, pepper, and just a touch of garlic powder. I don't even bother with the brown sugar or paprika or any of that anymore, the sauce provides those flavors later.

-Smoke with cherry or apple wood chips for 20 minutes max. (Ribs have alot of surface area, and absorbs alot of smoke very quickly. It's easy to oversmoke them, all you will taste is smoke. )


-Allow to cook in grill until the coals start dying and grill temp gets down into the mid 200's. Usually 1.5 hrs.

-Wrap in two layers of foil, with my favorite sauce (Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet or their Sweet Heat), on a deep baking sheet. They will leak, somehow someway, I always get juice in my pan. If you use a cookie sheet, you're going to regret it. Use something with higher sides.

-Put in 300* oven for 1.5 hours.

-Remove and let rest for 15-20 minutes.


Let the downvotes begin, and may my GSB stalker RhodeTerrier use this against me for gotcha-points on the Georgia Board later.

Disclaimer- this is for baby backs. For spare ribs or country ribs, I have different more traditional methods that you'd all probably approve of.

Pull membrane add salt and rub.

Smoke @ 225 with hickory/pecan/apple/cherry for two hours.

Wrap in foil with brown sugar, butter and honey and cook for an additional 1.5 hours.

Unwrap and cook until the ribs pass the bend test or if you grab a rib and twist, it pulls away from the meat.

Sauce if you like and cook an additional 5-10 minutes.