This is a recipe I’ve had on my mind for a long long time, my friends. I love ribs, but I was never able to summon the courage required to smoke them on my trusty old BBQ. Well, I’m happy to say that those days are behind me now.
In this post, I will show with you how to make ribs on your barbecue and I will also share with you some tips and tricks on how to make them in the oven.
These Keto BBQ Ribs are not only easy to make, but they are a blast. My first advice to you is, get a couple of friends, some keto friendly beverages and get smoking.
Prepping your Ribs
The most important thing to remember here is to remove the membrane that covers the rack. This is very important as it can make get really tough once cooked. If you want those ribs to be falling of the bone then here is what you need to do:
- Gently slide a small knife under the membrane then using your fingers pull the membrane away from the bones. If it is slippery use a paper towel to take hold of it and pull. It should not give you that much trouble.
The second thing you will want to do, if you’re cooking this on the BBQ, is to trim any excess fat you can see.
Bonus Tip: You can have your butcher do all of this for you. You can just tell him/her how you want to cook them and he/she will know what to do.
How To Prep Your Barbecue
Let me state this very clearly. You do not need a smoker to make BBQ ribs. Although it would be very nice to have, you can get this done on your old trusty charcoal barbecue. Here is how I do it:
First, I use Sugar Maple Charcoal as a heat source. As you may know, I live in Montreal and Maple is just about the favorite thing around here. Not to mention that it make some very flavorful Barbecue. Once you get your fire started, push the coals to one side (I push mine to the right) and make sure they are tightly packed. For optimal results, use a vortex.
To produce some flavorful smoke, you can use some smoking wood chunks. Submerge your wood chunks in water, to make sure that they burn slower and produce more smoke. Your wood chunks will be added to the coals right before we place the ribs on the grill.
Once again, the choice of wood is up to you. I used hickory.
Lastly, you want to make sure that your barbecue is at 275F.
Keto Friendly Dry Rub
Once your ribs are prepped and ready to go, it’s time to make your dry rub. Here is how I make mine:
- 4 Tbsp sweet Hungarian Paprika
- 3 Tbsp Pink Himalayan Salt
- 2 Tbsp Black Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Truvia
- 2 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 Tsp Onion Powder
- 1 Tsp Dried Thyme
- 1 Tsp Dried Oregano
Mix all dry rub ingredients in a bowl and generously sprinkle on top of your ribs. Gently press your rub onto your ribs. Flip and repeat until your ribs are fully covered.
Cooking your Ribs
Once your barbecue is ready to go, place your ribs on the opposite side of your coals. It’s very important that your ribs are not sitting on top of the coals. Let your ribs cook for at least 2 and half hours without flipping them or touching them for that matter.
All you can do during that time is monitor the temperature of your barbecue. If it drops too much, add more charcoal and a couple chunks of wood. If the temperature is anywhere between 250 and 300, then just let it be.
After 2-2.5 hours of cooking, the dry rub will stick to the ribs forming a crust. Remove your ribs from the barbecue and place them on aluminum foil. It’s at this point that I like to brush my ribs with barbecue sauce.
You can either make your own, or use a store bought sugar-free bbq sauce, like this one.
Once you brush your ribs with sauce, wrap them in foil and put them back on the grill for another hour.
Congratulations, you’re ribs are now cooked!
However, before you cut into these bad boys, you need to let them rest for another 20-30 minutes. During that time the juices will redistribute through the meat, helping them remain moist. If you skip this, your precious flavor juices are going to run out when the slabs are cut.
During this time, think of making a nice side dish that will go well with these ribs. Maybe a Refreshing slaw?
The choice is yours my friend. Enjoy 🙂
How to Make Keto Ribs in the Oven
If you don’t have a barbecue and still want to make ribs, we got you covered. Fair warning: the result will be different since oven rely on dry heat, but it will still be delicious.
Step 1, Pre-heat your oven to 275F;
Step 2, Make your smokey dry rub :
- 2 Tbsp sweet Hungarian Paprika
- 2 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
- 3 Tbsp Pink Himalayan Salt
- 2 Tbsp Black Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Truvia
- 2 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 Tsp Onion Powder
- 1 Tsp Dried Thyme
- 1 Tsp Dried Oregano
Step 3, Bake for 3-4 hours or until falling off the bone-level tenderness is achieved 😀
Step 4, Mix your sugar free BBQ sauce with a few drops of liquid smoke and brush your ribs with it. Wrap your ribs with tin foil and let them rest for another 30 minutes.
Step 5, Enjoy!
Keto BBQ Ribs
Ingredients
- 2 Racks of pork ribs
- 4 Tbsp sweet Hungarian Paprika
- 3 Tbsp Pink Himalayan Salt
- 2 Tbsp Black Pepper
- 1 Tbsp Truvia
- 2 Tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 Tsp Onion Powder
- 1 Tsp Dried Thyme
- 1 Tsp Dried Oregano
Instructions
Prepping the ribs
- Gently slide a small knife under the membrane then using your fingers pull the membrane away from the bones. If it is slippery use a paper towel to take hold of it and pull.
Prepping your barbecue
- Light your barbecue and get it to 275Once you get your fire started, push the coals to one side and make sure they are tightly packed.
- To produce some flavorful smoke, you can use some smoking wood chunks. Submerge your wood chunks in water, to make sure that they burn slower and produce more smoke. Your wood chunks will be added to the coals right before we place the ribs on the grill.
Making the Sugar-free Dry Rub
- Mix all dry rub ingredients in a bowl and generously sprinkle on top of your ribs. Gently press your rub onto your ribs. Flip and repeat until your ribs are fully covered.
Cooking the Ribs
- Once your barbecue is ready to go, place your ribs on the opposite side of your coals. It's very important that your ribs are not sitting on top of the coals. Let your ribs cook for at least 2 and half hours without flipping them or touching them for that matter.
- All you can do during that time is monitor the temperature of your barbecue. If it drops too much, add more charcoal and a couple chunks of wood. If the temperature is anywhere between 250 and 300, then just let it be.
- After 2-2.5 hours of cooking, the dry rub will stick to the ribs forming a crust. Remove your ribs from the barbecue and place them on aluminum foil. It's at this point that I like to brush my ribs with barbecue sauce.
- You can either make your own, or use a store bought sugar-free bbq sauce, like this one.
- Once you brush your ribs with sauce, wrap them in foil and put them back on the grill for another hour.
- before you cut into these bad boys, you need to let them rest for another 20-30 minutes. During that time the juices will redistribute through the meat, helping them remain moist. If you skip this, your precious flavor juices are going to run out when the slabs are cut.
- Serve and enjoy!
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