If you love fall-off-the-bone delicious barbecue pork ribs, this recipe is a family-pleasing dinner recipe to try! I am talking flavor popping ribs with a finger-licking homemade sweet and spicy barbecue sauce your family is going to LOVE!
Grab a few simple ingredients and fire up your grill! You are sure to love this recipe for BBQ spare ribs on the grill. If you love to grill, try this Grilled Pork Chops recipe too!
(*This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Farmer John California Natural Fresh Pork. All opinions are 100% mine.)
Raise your hands if you love barbecue ribs!!
Have you tried grilling a rack of pork ribs? It is time to get out of the grilled hamburgers and hot dogs rut and try something new and delicious!”
Our family loves to make ribs. BBQ pork ribs are the perfect meal to make on the grill. I feel like my teens are always hungry and I often have to buy more than one rack of ribs to satisfy their appetite!
I am so excited to share my newest recipe with you because most importantly, ribs have a stigma of being difficult to make. I am ready to shatter that by showing you how easy and foolproof cooking ribs can be with Farmer John California Natural Fresh Pork.
The hero of this recipe is the Farmer John Fresh Pork Loin Back Ribs. I love this brand because their ribs are meatier than most ribs I have tried, and that means more flavor-packed delicious pork for your family!
Farmer John California Natural Fresh Pork is made from 100% fresh pork with no artificial ingredients and comes in a variety of cuts, including boneless loins, chops, ribs, ground pork, tenderloins and more.
Options to make this BBQ ribs recipe:
- Start the ribs in the oven and finish on the grill. This is the quickest cooking method.
- Cook them the whole time on the grill the whole time. You will love the flavor you get cooking these ribs on the grill, but it will take longer.
- Cook them in a smoker. We love our barrel smoker, but it takes many hours.
Are you ready to grill some ribs?
How to make a barbecue spice rub:
The first step is to make the rub! The rub is not only to add a little flavor into the ribs while they cook, but it primes the meat for the barbecue sauce. The most important flavors in this rub are the salt and paprika.
These spices blend in with the strawberry and green chile flavors in the barbecue sauce, which you will read about shortly! In a small bowl, combine:
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
Dash outside and preheat the grill to 200F degrees (or preheat your oven to 300F degrees if you plan to precook the pork ribs a bit in your oven first.)
Spread the rub onto the uncooked ribs. Make sure to coat both sides! Allow the meat to sit for 15 minutes.
Wrap the pork ribs in tin foil and allow to cook for 1 hour on the grill. Keep the heat low at 200F degrees.
Unwrap the pork ribs and brush both sides with homemade barbecue sauce. (See the recipe below!) Cook without the foil, basting with barbecue sauce every 20 minutes.
Turn the ribs each time you add sauce. Continue to slow grill the ribs.
What internal temperature do you cook pork ribs?
The ribs are done when they have an internal temperature of 160-170F degrees.
Use a knife to slice between each rib to cut up the rack of ribs.
Another great way to shake things up in the kitchen is to use the rib meat for other dishes whether it’s sliders, or quesadillas, tacos, etc…all you have to do is wrestle a few of these delicious ribs away from your teens! I kid you not, my kids devoured these ribs so quickly, I had to make them again to try out a fun taco recipe I wanted to make.
The fresh strawberry and green chile flavors in the barbecue sauce blend beautifully with fresh strawberry and cabbage in these tacos!

Sweet and Spicy Barbecue Grilled Pork Ribs
A delicious homemade sweet and spicy barbecue grilled pork rib recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ribs
- 1/3 cup strawberry jam
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon green chiles, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- Preheat the grill to 200F degrees.
- Place the pork ribs on foil and cover with the spice rub. Allow to sit 5 minutes.
- Wrap the pork ribs in foil and slow cook on the grill for 20 minutes.
- Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan, cover, and simmer on low for 15 minutes. Coat the pork ribs with the sauce when they are almost done cooking!
- Remove the pork ribs from the foil and coat the pork ribs in the homemade barbecue sauce.
- Cook for an additional 15 minutes, turning the ribs over so both sides are cooked with the sauce. Check for an internal temperature of 160-170F degrees.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving:Calories: 546 Total Fat: 47g Saturated Fat: 14g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 21g Cholesterol: 159mg Sodium: 308mg Carbohydrates: 26g Fiber: 0g Sugar: 20g Protein: 32g
amine@ instant pot sizes
Yum! These ribs look amazing! I love starting mine in the oven and finishing them up on the grill.
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much Amine ๐
Andrea @ Cooking with Mamma C
I love that you have strawberry jam and maple syrup in your recipe! These ribs look fabulous. I usually cook mine in the Crock Pot for a lazy method, but would love to try them on the grill.
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much Andrea…I love the lazy crock pot method too ๐
Shadi Hasanzadenemati
Love the flavors here, perfect for a family party!
Claudia Lamascolo
That was one lucky man who got to eat those ribs. They sure are finger lickin great! WOW
Sandi Gaertner
LOL, we have two lucky men :-).
Daniela
Yum! These ribs look amazing! I love starting mine in the oven and finishing them up on the grill. That way you get some smokiness without too much hassle.
Sandi Gaertner
Exactly…the smokiness is fabulous and that flavor carries through if you end up making tacos with the extra rib meat too.
ali randall
You had me at “fall off the bone.” I usually do start them in the oven and finish on the grill. I am intrigued by the flavors you have going on here and am always looking for new flavors and ways to eat ribs because we eat them all summer long. TIme to get my grill fired up:)
Sandi Gaertner
LOL, it is definitely time to fire up the grill. These ribs are perfect for summer grilling.
Sandi Gaertner
LOL you and my son think alike. He is a huge rib fanatic :-).
Jessica Formicola
I am a sucker for a good rib recipe, and this one looks amazing!
Sandi Gaertner
Thank you so much Jessica :-).