Baby back ribs are seasoned and placed on a skewer. They are then smoked on the rotisserie on a gas grill. That’s right, this is how to BBQ ribs on a gas grill. Scroll down for the step by step, pic by pic, foolproof instructions. Scroll all the way down for the video.
I get it, gas grills are super convenient. It wasn’t until I had kids and too much other stuff to deal with that realized I couldn’t always crank up the smoker for an all day smoke sesh. I could come home from the office, crank up the gas grill, get my fire fix and still feed my family in a reasonable amount of time.
Some will say that cooking with gas is no different than cooking on the stove. That there is no smoke flavor and it is far inferior to charcoal or pellet grilling. For some things, it is inferior. Cooking a brisket or a pork shoulder would be hard on a gas grill. But steaks, burgers(/tacos), and fish on a gas grill are phenomenal. Also, cooking outside on a pleasant evening is better than inside the kitchen any day. And who says you can’t get smoke on a gas grill.
I beg to differ. Here are two examples:
And here are a couple of our favorite rib recipes, although not cooked on a gas griill:
Back to How to BBQ Ribs on a Gas Grill
How to BBQ Ribs on a Gas Grill Ingredients
How to Grill Ribs on a Gas Grill
Light the rotisserie burner on the gas grill and then skin the membrane and season the ribs while the grill warms up. Run the rotisserie spit through the ribs and place on the grill. Set a couple chunks of smoke wood near the lit burner for smoke, close the lid and let the heat and smoke work their magic. Re-season the ribs about an hour in. Once the bones poke out about 1/2 inch, sauce with your favorite BBQ sauce and close the lid for a few minutes to thicken the sauce. Re-apply sauce a couple times if you you wish for more sauce. Remove from the grill, and spit, and serve
The instructions for how to do this on a charcoal grill are down below the recipe card.
The first step for how to BBQ ribs on a gas grill is to skin those ribs:
Truth be told, the baby back ribs I bought for this cook were already skinned by the butcher, but everyone always asks why I didn’t skin them, so I grabbed a skinning pic from another rib recipe.
Season the ribs with salt and the BBQ rub (we used John Reeves’ Smokin X Simply Sweet Rub) starting with the bone side and flip over and then season the other side:
The rub we used, John Reeves’ Smokin’ X Simply Texas rub is sweet and peppery and melds well with the sauce which we will talk about below.
Why Season Ribs Bone Side First?
The reason we season bone side first, is if we did the meat side first and then flipped the ribs over, all that seasoning that touches both the ribs and the cutting board is going to be left on the cutting board when the ribs are put on the grill. The bone side has a natural concave shape that elevates the seasoning off the cutting board and thus saves us from a re-application of seasoning
Time to skewer the ribs. This is the hardest part of How to BBQ Ribs on a Gas Grill, but it ain’t all that hard.
Skewer the Ribs
Set one of the spit forks at the edge of where the burner is in the back and then run the spit between the second and third bone from the end of the slab. Slide the ribs down a few inches and run the spit through the middle and then through the second and third bones at the other end. Secure the ribs in place with the other spit fork and place on the grill
Rib Placement in Relation to the Rotisserie Burner
One note here on the placement of those ribs. Those ribs are about as long as that rotisserie burner. Should I put two slabs on, the ends won’t cook as much as the meat lined up with the rotisserie burner. Turn on the burners underneath the ends of the ribs that run along the bottom of the grill. Set them to low. That should get all the meat cooked somewhat evenly thanks to the ever rotating rotisserie.
How to Smoke on a Gas Grill
This is so easy, it’s almost comical. For smoke we need wood and heat. Place a couple chunks of smoke wood near the hot burner. The smoke wood needs to be close enough to smolder, but not too close that it catches on fire. Close the lid and the gas grill is now a smoker
I have not talked about temps much here because most gas grills have two temperatures, Hades and off. The rotisserie here will mitigate that issue. The rotation of the baby backs will keep the meat from burning from direct heat.
Pro Tip ~ If your gas grill runs too hot for some cooks, even on the lowest setting for the burners, partially close the valve from the propane tank that leads to the grill. Basically, reduce the fuel supply to drop those temps
As an offshoot of the temps talk above, this cook will be considerably shorter than on a typical charcoal grill.
Think 90 minutes or so here.
After 30 minutes, the ribs are already looking good:
After an hour on the rotisserie, give the ribs a dusting of the seasoning:
At around 90 minutes, bust out the BBQ sauce.
We used the Andria’s BBQ Sauce which is positively addictive and my go-to sauce right now:
You will learn this tip on your own, but this might save you a minute or two.
Stop the rotisserie to sauce. Then rotate 45-90 degrees and stop it again. Only sauce while it is stopped:
Close the lid for 4-8 minutes to let that sauce tack up a bit and re-apply as much as you want.
Sauce Warning ~ Sauces with a lot of sugar can blacken if left on too long at this point. If yours starts to blacken, either add more sauce, which only delays this for a little bit, or remove the ribs. You can absolutely re-apply 3-4 times and keep the sauce from burning, just keep an eye on that sauce.
I didn’t have any problems with sauce blackening with the Andria’s BBQ Sauce. It only have 4 grams of sugar per serving. I searched through my fridge which has about 8 different bottles of sauce from various manufacturers and all of them ranged from 8 grams to 21 grams of sugar. Gotta love a fantastic sauce that isn’t loaded with sugar.
I think I sauced three times before removing the rotisserie spit (heat resistant gloves are highly recommended):
Drop the spit claw off the end of the spit and slide the ribs off:
Finally, slice that slab of baby back ribs:
Additionally, a couple of close-ups:
Almost forgot
Final Pro Tip ~ Give it another dusting of seasoning after the ribs are sliced. Trust me here.
Feel free to do a side by side on this, but be sure to thank me in the comments below
How to BBQ Ribs on a Gas Grill
But how are they? They are not as smoky as ribs cooked in a dedicated smoker, but they are definitely smoky. They are also very tender and that sauce was thick, gooey and oh so tasty. That sweet and peppery Smokin X seasoning binds it all together.
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How to BBQ Ribs on a Gas Grill
Baby back ribs, seasoned and smoked on a rotisserie on a gas grill before getting slathered in sauce to answer the question how to BBQ ribs on a gas grill
Course Entree, Finger Food, Main Course, Ribs
Cuisine American, American Fare, Baby Back Ribs, Barbecue, BBQ, Ribs
Keyword Andria's, Andria's Barbecue Sauce, Andria's BBQ Sauce, Baby Back Ribs, Baby Backs, Barbecue Ribs, Barbecue Rub, Barbecue Sauce, BBQ Ribs, BBQ Rub, BBQ Sauce, BBQ Seasoning, Gas Grill, How to BBQ Ribs on a Gas Grill, How to Smoke on a Gas Grill, John Reeves, Ribs, Smokin' X
Prep Time 6 minutes minutes
Cook Time 1 hour hour 26 minutes minutes
Servings 4 People
- 1 slab Baby back ribs
- Salt
- Your favorite BBQ seasoning We used John Reeves' Smokin' X Simply Texas Rub
- Your favorite BBQ Sauce We used Andria's BBQ Sauce
Light the rotisserie burner on the grill and get the spit ready for the rotisserie
Skin the ribs and season with salt and the BBQ rub while the grill warms up
Skewer the ribs on the rotisserie spit and place the ribs on the grill
Set a couple chunks of smoke wood on the grill close to the rotisserie burner
Close the lid and let the heat and smoke do their thing
After about an hour, give the ribs another dusting of seasoning
After 90 minutes, brush on your favorite BBQ sauce, close the lid for 4-8 minutes for the sauce to tack up. Repeat this step up to three more times
Remove the ribs from the grill and serve
How to Grill Ribs on a Charcoal Grill
Light the charcoal and bank the coals to one side of the grill with no direct heat on the other side. Skin the membrane and season the ribs while the grill warms up. Target temp inside the grill is 275F (+/-25F). Set the ribs on the side with no coals and smoke wood on the coals. Allow to smoke for 2 hours and re-season the ribs with a dusting of BBQ seasoning. After another 30 minutes, brush with your favorite BBQ sauce and close the lid to allow the sauce to thicken. Add more sauce about 10 minutes later. Repeat the saucing until you feel you have enough. Remove the ribs from the grill and serve.
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Author information
Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.
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