Sweet and Spicy Gluten Free Ribs

Name: Sweet and Spicy Barbecue Grilled Pork Ribs
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: 2 pounds ribs (bone in pork ribs); 1/3 cup strawberry jam; 1/3 cup ketchup; 1 tablespoon green chiles (finely chopped); 3 tablespoon maple syrup; 1 tablespoon molasses (regular or blackstrap); 1/8 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; 2 cloves garlic (minced)

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If you love fall-off-the-bone delicious gluten free 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!

The top view of a big plate of gluten free ribs.

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Ways To Cook Ribs:
Ingredient Notes For Gluten Free Pork Ribs:
Step-By-Step-Directions:
Substitutions:
Recipe FAQ:
More Gluten Free Pork Recipes:
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💬 Comments

Raise your hands if you love barbecue ribs!!

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.

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!

Two hands holding a partially eaten bbq rib.

Ways To Cook Ribs:

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.
Bake the gluten free barbecue ribs in the oven.

A hand dipping a grilled rib into BBQ sauce.

Ingredient Notes For Gluten Free Pork Ribs:

Ribs - I used bone-in pork ribs for this recipe.
Strawberry Jam - Any brand is fine.
Ketchup - You can use any brand of ketchup, just check to ensure your ketchup is gluten free.
Green Chiles - Use mild or medium spice.
Maple Syrup - This adds a bit of sweetness that really works well in this recipe.
Molasses - I used blackstrap molasses.
Garlic - Use minced garlic.
Spice Rub - The spice rub is below. I like to use either McCormick or Penzeys as these are gluten free.

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Step-By-Step-Directions:

A small glass bowl filled with spice rub for barbecue pork ribs.

Step 1: Let's make the barbecue spice 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 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
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon of cumin

Spice rub on a raw rack of ribs. The ribs are on a baking sheet.

Step 2: Dash outside and preheat the grill to 200º F (or preheat your oven to 300º F if you plan to precook the pork ribs a bit in your oven first.)

Step 3: Spread the rub onto the uncooked ribs. Make sure to coat both sides! Allow the meat to sit for 15 minutes.

Step 4: Wrap the pork ribs in tin foil and allow them to cook for 1 hour on the grill. I will turn the ribs over every 20-25 minutes so they cook evenly. Keep the heat low at 200º F.

Step 5: Unwrap the pork ribs and brush both sides with the homemade barbecue sauce. (See the recipe below!)

Step 6: 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.

another shot of the ribs coated in barbecue sauce cooking on the grill

Step 7: These BBQ gluten free ribs are done when they have an internal temperature of 160-170º F. Use a knife to slice between each rib to cut up the rack of ribs.

Substitutions:

There are a few easy substitutions you can use in this sweet and spicy ribs recipe:

You can use honey in place of maple syrup.
If you don't have ketchup, you can use pizza sauce. Pizza sauce is sweet similar to ketchup.
If you do not want these spicy, omit the green chiles.

Recipe FAQ:

What are the three kinds of pork ribs?

You can get pork ribs from three areas of a pig. There are country-style, back ribs, and spare ribs.

Which type of pork rib is best?

I personally love back ribs because they tend to be leaner and more tender when cooked.

How do you store gluten free pork ribs?

Store these ribs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can also freeze them in a zip-style freezer bag.

You may also love this Crockpot BBQ Chicken recipe.

More Gluten Free Pork Recipes:

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