This post was sponsored by Smithfield as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
A summer just isn’t summer without grilling up some food. And honestly, my favorite food to grill is meat.
Can you believe this was my first time ever grilling ribs? It won’t be my last, it was so much fun and the ribs turned out AMAZING! I bought Smithfield® Extra Tender Fresh Pork St. Louis Style Spareribs from Food Lion. Then I came home and whipped up some Kansas City style sauce for them.
The result left my entire family smacking their lips and asking me to please make this again!
BBQ Grilling Tips
The secret to extra tender BBQ ribs is cooking them over indirect heat. This takes some planning, but the payoff is amazing.
BBQ Rub
I did not use a rub. I just used salt and pepper and a bit of garlic powder. However, Rachel shared an amazing recipe for homemade ribs rub that she gets raved about! You want to make sure that if you use a rub, you don’t overpower the taste of the ribs.
Smoky Flavor
Lots of people love a smoky flavor to their ribs. My family doesn’t, so I just used liquid smoke flavoring in the sauce. If you are using a gas grill, you can create “smoke bombs” with tin foil and slightly damp wood chips. Poke holes in the tin foil “bombs.” Place them under the food rack and after the heat is turned up they should start creating smoke to flavor your meat.
Indirect Heat
Put the ribs in the back of the grill so they don’t get the direct heat. You want to grill them for about 30 minutes at 300 degrees.
Add That Sauce
Now the fun part! After about half an hour, wrap the ribs in foil and begin slathering on your favorite sauce. Wrap the ribs up tight and let that sauce melt into the meat.
Some people like to add apple juice on top of the ribs at this step, saying it makes the ribs even more moist. I think I’ll try that next time. Mine turned out really tender without the juice, but I’d like to see how that changes them.
After you add the sauce, close the packet of foil and let it grill for another 30 minutes. Open the foil, add more sauce, close it up and let it cook for another 10 minutes.
The result is amazing!
Homemade Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce Recipe
- 2 (6 oz) cans of tomato paste
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoon liquid hickory smoke
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons garlic sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Just bring all these ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan then let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Depending on how thick you like your sauce, you can add water to thin it out. This makes a very thick sauce (perfect for my ribs).
Save Money On Ribs At Food Lion
I love shopping at Food Lion! Seriously, don’t buy your ribs anywhere else! Right now you can visit the Food Lion coupon page and get a $1.00 off coupon for Smithfield Extra Tender Ribs.
The best thing about Smithfield pork is that they are fantastic for beginner grillers (like me!). They don’t contain any artificial ingredients, but are enhanced to be a juicy as possible. This is probably why my ribs turned out amazingly juicy even though I forgot to add apple juice to the steaming part.
Now go get grilling some ribs!
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