What are St. Louis Style Ribs?
St. Louis style ribs are a type of sparerib. Spareribs consist of the section of the rib cage between baby back ribs and the pig’s sternum. Full spareribs include rib bones, cartilage, the rib tips, and even part of the sternum itself. St. Louis style ribs are spareribs that have been trimmed down to a more uniform rectangular shape, with the sternum, cartilage, and rib tips removed.
St. Louis style ribs consist of the portion of the rib cage closer to the pig’s belly, while baby back ribs are closest to the pig’s spine. St. Louis style ribs have longer, flatter bones than baby back ribs, which are shorter and more curved. The meat on St. Louis style ribs is very fatty and lies mostly between the rib bones, while baby back ribs are somewhat leaner, with most of the meat sitting on top of the rib bones.
Ready to do this? Let’s get to it. Here’s what you’ll need.
Ingredients
- One 2 lb rack of St. Louis Style Pork Spareribs
- Olive Oil, Hot Sauce, or Mustard
- Your Favorite Pork Dry Rub
- 1 cup of Apple Juice or Apple Cider Vinegar
Equipment
- 1 Offset Smoker, Pellet Grill, Ceramic Grill, or Charcoal Grill
- Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil
Prep the Ribs
Most spareribs that you find in grocery stores have already been cut in the St. Louis style. If the packaging doesn’t say “St. Louis style” you should be able to tell based on the very symmetrical, rectangular shape of the ribs. If you have full spareribs, you’ll need to start by trimming away the breastbone, rib tips, and squaring off the rack before you’re left with a St. Louis style cut. The folks over at Serious Eats have a great walk-through of the process.
Once you’re working with a St. Louis style cut, there are still a couple preparation tasks you need to do. First, remove the membrane from the back of the ribs. This is the thin but tough, translucent white layer found covering about half of one side of the ribs. Use a dull knife or your fingers to get a corner of the membrane peeled away from the ribs. Then, using a paper towel for grip, you should be able to pull the rest of the membrane off in one go. This membrane is naturally tough, and won’t render down as well during the cook. Removing this ensures a clean, tender bite through on your finished ribs.
Next, do any clean up trimming needed to make a clean, uniform rack of ribs. This includes removing any small dangling pieces of meat or fat that may dry out during the cook. You may also need to remove the diagonal flap of meat that is part of the pig’s diaphragm. You’ll find this on the same side of the ribs as the membran you just removed. Lastly, square off the ends of your rack if necessary, by removing the small ribs on the end. SAVE ALL THESE TRIMMINGS! This is good meat that you can include in a number of other dishes, including baked beans and sausage filling.
BBQ Prep Knives
Season the Ribs
Now it’s time to put our first layer of flavor on the ribs. Make sure they are dry of any moisture if you haven’t already. Starting with the backside, apply a thin layer of binder. This can be olive oil, hot sauce, or mustard, and it will help the dry rub stick to the meat. Don’t worry too much about the flavor here – you won’t really be able to taste it after 5-6 hours in the BBQ. Next, sprinkle a liberal and even amount of your favorite dry seasoning onto the ribs, and gently rub it in to make sure it sticks. Check out some of our favorite pork rib rub recommendations below, or our list of the Top 15 BBQ Dry Rubs.
Alternatively, you can use a simple mix consisting of a 3:3:1 ratio of kosher salt, black pepper, and paprika.
Great St. Louis Style Ribs Dry Rubs
Miners Mix Maynards Memphis Championship BBQ DRY R…
$8.59 ($1.51 / Ounce) (as of April 27, 2024 16:07 GMT +00:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Pork Barrel BBQ All American Seasoning & Rub Cater…
Lambert’s Sweet Rub O’ Mine (12.5 Ozs)
7% Off
BBQ the Ribs
The prep work is done and it’s time to put these bad boys on the barbecue! We’re going to be using a 3 stage approach for these ribs – smoke, wrap, and sauce. The first stage is going to infuse the ribs with awesome smoke flavor, and a beautiful mahogany color. The second stage is where we’ll get the ribs up to an internal temperature where the connective tissues start to render down, giving us perfectly tender ribs. In the last stage we’ll sauce the ribs, applying our final layer of flavor and getting a beautiful tacky finished texture.
Smoke
Get your smoker or BBQ running around 225 degrees, and loaded up with your favorite hickory wood logs, chunks or pellets. Our goal in this stage is low and slow, bathing the ribs in maximum smoke. Place the ribs in your smoker or BBQ in a single layer and over indirect heat. Let these hang out for 3 hours, spritzing about every half hour with apple cider vinegar or apple juice if the surface starts looking dry. Other than that, keep your BBQ closed to make sure all that beautiful smoke stays inside – if you’re lookin’ you ain’t cookin’!
Great Backyard Smokers
Wrap
After 3 hours, your ribs should have a beautiful red-orange color to them, and the meat should have started to slightly pull away from the ends of the rib bones. Remove the ribs from the BBQ and increase your cook temp to around 250. Give the ribs one last spray of apple cider vinegar or apple juice. Using long sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil, wrap each rib tightly with the dull side of the foil facing out.
After you’ve made sure the foil wrap is tightly fitted to the ribs, place them back in the BBQ for 2 hours. I’d recommend keeping this stage to around 2 hours. Every time I’ve gone over that mark, the ribs have been seriously overdone. While they are fall-apart tender, they lack any sort of structural integrity. 2 hours at this temp seems to be the sweet spot to getting very tender ribs that can still hold their shape in rib form.
Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil, 130 Square Feet
Amazon Basics Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil, 125 Sq Ft (Pack of 1)
$9.82 ($0.08 / Sq Ft)
Reynolds Wrap Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil, 50 Square Feet (Packaging May Vary)
Sauce
After 2 hours wrapped, remove the ribs from the BBQ and carefully unwrap them (watch out for hot steam!). The rib meat should now have noticeably pulled away from the ribs, revealing a quarter to a half inch of bone. We’re done cooking the ribs in this last stage. All we are doing is applying sauce and making sure the final texture is on point. After unwrapping the ribs, baste the tops with your favorite BBQ sauce. Have fun and experiment! If you went with a spicier dry rub, maybe try a sweeter sauce to balance out the heat. You can also mix a little apple cider vinegar or apple juice into your sauce to thin it out before applying it to the ribs. This often helps you get a more even coat of sauce on the ribs.
Awesome St. Louis Style Ribs Sauces
Bone Suckin’ Barbecue Sauce – BBQ Seasoning & Rub,…
$21.50 ($0.83 / Ounce) (as of April 27, 2024 16:07 GMT +00:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Rib Rack BBQ Sauce, Original – 2 Count (Packaging …
Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ Sauce, Original – All-Around Ch…
St. Louis Ribs Finishing Glazes
Traeger Pellet Grills SAU041 Sugar Lips Glaze BBQ …
$9.95 ($0.45 / Ounce) (as of April 27, 2024 18:56 GMT +00:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Heath Riles Cherry Apple Habanero BBQ Glaze
$14.95 ($1.25 / Fl Oz) (as of April 27, 2024 17:05 GMT +00:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Kosmos Q Apple Habanero BBQ Glaze – 16 Oz Bottle f…
$14.95 ($0.93 / Ounce) (as of April 27, 2024 17:05 GMT +00:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)
Once sauced, return the unwrapped ribs to the BBQ. Cook the ribs for another 15 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced and becomes tacky to the touch. You’re done!
Remove the ribs and let them rest for 10-15 minutes. Carefully slice between each bone and serve with additional sauce, your favorite sides, and plenty of napkins!
More Great BBQ Recipes
Hickory Smoked St. Louis Style Ribs
Description
St. Louis ribs are an iconic piece of American BBQ, starring in both backyard parties and competition turn-in boxes. Perfecting this delicacy is easier than you might think, and our modified 3-2-1 method kissed with hickory smoke is sure to be a crowd-pleaser for any occasion.
Things You Need
Ingredients
Equipment
Instructions
-
Prep the Ribs
Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs. Remove any dangling pieces of meat or fat. If using a full sparerib, also remove the breastbone, rib tips, and square off the ends of the rack.
-
Season the Ribs
Apply a binder of olive oil, hot sauce, or mustard to both sides of the ribs. Evenly sprinkle dry rub on the ribs, completely coating both sides. Gently rub into the meat to ensure the dry rub sticks.
-
Smoke the Ribs
Smoke the ribs, uncovered, for 3 hours at 225 degrees. Use hickory wood logs, chunks, or pellets (optional). Spritz the ribs with apple cider vinegar or apple juice every half hour to keep them moist.
-
Wrap the Ribs
Individually wrap the racks in heavy duty aluminum foil, dull side out, and return to the BBQ. Increase the temperature to 250, and cook for an additional 2 hours.
-
Sauce the Ribs
Carefully unwrap the ribs and remove from the foil. Baste the top of the ribs with BBQ sauce and return to the BBQ, unwrapped. Cook for 15 minutes or until the sauce reduces and is tacky to the touch. Remove the ribs from the BBQ, let rest for 15 minutes, slice between ribs and serve.
Note
Let us know how this recipe turned out for you! Leave a rating and drop a comment below - we love to hear from our readers.
These were so good!
I used my homemade rub and let it sit over night in fridge. Drizzled a little honey on top before wrapping in aluminum. Meat side down the last two hours. Yummy good!
So tender, the foil wrap makes the difference.
smoky!!!
these were the most beautiful thing I’ve made!
so so so good. bbq perfection
these were a hit, ran through them so fast at the BBQ
hands down my favorite ribs
sticky sweet with some heat!
hands down my favorite method for ribs. Never fails!
the color on these was legit!
completely fell apart. almost too tender
incredible!
I think I cooked a little too hot on the wrap phase. These got a little mushy. Great flavor though.
great tip to cook for a few minutes after saucing. let’s it get perfectly sticky and tacky
love it. love ribs.
perfection!
I used this recipe for my first attempt at making ribs. It was unbelievable. Seriously turned out better than some Texas BBQ joints I frequent. Followed the instructions outlined here. Only difference was the wood that I used. Since the bin was still full, I used Traeger Signature Blend wood pellets. Thanks for this!
This article is inconsistent. Up top you say 2 lbs of ribs and in the recipe section you say 3lbs. Which is it? Timing would change
We made these yesterday. Soooooo good! Definitely will make them again!
Great article. What temp do you set the grill to? Excited to try this next time I grill.
Made these they are fantastic!!!!
Like meat candy ! Yummy and delicious!!😛😛
For everyone that doesn’t know; when you wrap the ribs in foil do it meat side down and if there’re to tender only remove or open the the top of the foil to put the sauce on if you choose that way there’re not falling off the bone on your grates!