Country style ribs are seasoned and then smoked via indirect grilling until they reach 180F at which point they are seared to get that glorious flavor char on the outside. The reverse sear country style ribs are then dunked in BBQ sauce and smoked indirect a little more to thicken up that sauce to make sure they are ooey, gooey, porcine perfection. These are one fantastic way to feed a crowd for not a lot of money, which is what barbecue is all about: Taking the extra time to convert cheap cuts of meat into something tasty and juicy. In this case, fingers of pork butt we call country style ribs or just country ribs.
Two Kinds of Country Style Ribs
There are two kinds of country style ribs. One is much closer to a pork chop. These are from the pork butt and are simply “fingers” of pork butt (or pork shoulder – same thing). If you get the pork chop country style ribs, the cooking times are way lower as is the final internal temperature. There is also a much smaller window to get them cooked through before drying them out. These, from the pork butt, are full of the same fat and collagen as pork shoulder. It takes a lot longer to liquefy and render all of that, but that also allows for a much larger window to make sure they are done and still stay juicy.
Here you can see the fat and collagen that runs through these country ribs:
Since these are essentially, fingers of pork butt, or tubular pork steaks, then you just might be interested in some other pork steak recipes:
- Just keep flipping, pork steak edition.
- Smoked pork steak: about the easiest pork steak recipe we have.
- The best part of the pork butt is the pork collar – saucy reverse sear pork collar steaks.
- The ultimate pork steak guide.
Reverse Sear Country Style Ribs Ingredients
- 5-6 Country style ribs, cut from the pork butt
- Salt
- Your favorite BBQ rub
- Your favorite BBQ sauce
- Your favorite beer
Country Style Rib Prep
Season the ribs all the way around, including the ends, with salt and your favorite BBQ rub:
How to Reverse Sear Country Style Ribs
I’m going for two zone grilling (indirect grilling) on a gas grill, which means one burner set high enough to keep the internal temperature of the grill around 300F (+/-25F). A smoker box filled with wood chips placed over a hot burner will provide the smoke. The country ribs go on the side of the grill with no direct heat. The lid is closed and the ribs slow cook until they reach 180F to render all the fat and collagen. Once they hit 180F, the country styles are seared all the way around over the hot side of the grill and then dunked in BBQ sauce and placed back on the side with no direct heat. After the sauce thickens up (about 10 minutes), remove the country ribs from the grill and serve.
For a Charcoal Grill
Bank a pile of hot coals to one side of the grill and drop a chunk or two of your favorite smoke wood on top. The country style ribs go on the opposite side of the grill with no direct heat. The lid is closed and the same instructions as above are followed. Once they reach 180F, sear them over the hot side of the grill and then dunk in sauce and place back on the cool side of the grill for the sauce to thicken (about 10 minutes). Remove the saucy pork from the grill and serve.
Prepare the Grill
I lit the far left burner and set it to medium and waited until the internal temp in the grill chamber reached around 300F. I then filled the smoker box with some apple wood chips.
Pro Tip ~ Smoker boxes take a little while to get smoking. If you have a blow torch, you can speed that up. A brulée torch or a plumbers torch will do. Just take the lid off and give the wood a quick blast of maybe 5 seconds with the torch.
This pic is from a different cook but you get the idea:
Put the smoking smoker box over the hot burner and it will continue to smoke until the wood chips turn to ash:
Then put the country style ribs on the side of the grill with no direct heat.
Here are my country ribs after about 30 minutes in the grill:
While the country style ribs smoke, let’s make a batch of sauce. I sparked up the side burner and placed a sauce pan over the top of one of them: 
The other burner has corn boiling on it.
Now crack open your favorite beer and pour some or all of it into the pan of sauce:
Stir the BBQ sauce and beer slurry and allow it to simmer until it thickens by 1/3 – 1/2:
While the sauce simmers, rotate the country styles to make sure the ones farthest away spend some time closer to the heat and vice versa. Flip others around so the one end that was facing away is now facing the heat:
Once the pork reaches 180F (ish) sear the country ribs on the hot side of the grill:
Time to Get Saucy
Pro Tip ~ Skip the basting brush and just dunk the country styles right into the pot
Once the country styles are sauced, place them back on the side of the grill with no direct heat and close the lid to get that sauce to tack up and get extra gooey.
Platter with that fresh corn and serve:
Reverse Sear Country Style Ribs Recap
The pork butt country style ribs are a fantastic way to feed a crowd for not a lot of money. They are almost impossible to mess up with all that fat and collagen. The only downside is it takes a little while to render that collagen down. That being said, it’s a lot faster than doing a whole pork butt and the bark to meat ration is way better.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.
Also, if you could leave us a great review with lots of stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ that would be most appreciated!
Additionally, you can follow us on our GrillinFools Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter/X and YouTube feeds
Recipe Card
Reverse Sear Country Style Ribs
Country style ribs cut from the pork butt, seasoned, smoked, seared and dunked in sauce to make reverse sear country style ribs
Equipment
- 1 Smoker box If using a gas grill
- Wood chips Do not soak them
Ingredients
- 6 Country Style Ribs Cut from the pork butt
- Salt
- Your favorite BBQ rub
- 16 ounces BBQ sauce
- 8 ounces Beer
Instructions
- Salt and season the country style ribs with your favorite BBQ rub. Make sure to coat all the sides and the ends.
- Prepare the grill for two zone grilling with hot coals banked to one side, or the gas burner cranked on from one side and the country style ribs go on the other side. If using charcoal, simply lay 2 handfuls of wood chips or a couple wood chunks into the coals. If using a gas grill, place a smoker box full of dry wood chips over the lit burner. If you need to speed things up to get the chips smoking, give them a quick blast with a plumbers torch.
- Once the chips start smoking, and the internal temp of the grill chamber is around 300F (+/-25F) then set the seasoned country style ribs on the side of the grill with no direct heat and close the lid.
- Check back in about an hour. Rotate the country ribs to move the farthest ones away from the fire closer and the closest move to the farthest for even cooking.
- While the country style ribs are smoking, turn on a side burner and place a sauce pot on it. Pour in the BBQ sauce and beer and set to a low simmer. The water in the beer will evaporate out, leaving the flavors behind making the BBQ sauce better.
- Once the country ribs hit 180F internal temperature, sear them off over the hot side of the grill to get some char on the outside and then dunk into the BBQ sauce pot. Place the sauced country style ribs on the side of the grill with no direct heat and close the lid to allow the sauce to tack up and thicken.
- Remove the country ribs from the grill and serve.
The post Reverse Sear Country Style Ribs first appeared on GrillinFools.
