Texas Roadhouse Makes Their BBQ Ribs In 3 Easy Steps

When the craving for a meaty feast reaches its peak, you have to head to Texas Roadhouse for its signature fall-off-the-bone BBQ ribs. Tender, succulent and packed full of smoky flavor, these barbecued behemoths are guaranteed to hit the spot. And the key thing that makes them so tasty? It's the three-staged way they're prepared; a process of seasoning, slow-cooking, and grilling that gives rise to charred BBQ ribs with craggy craters of flavor.

The chefs at Texas Roadhouse begin by liberally coating the ribs in a powdered spice rub using a special seasoning shaker. Care is taken to cover the entire surface area of the ribs before they're flipped over and seasoned well on the other side so that every nook and cranny is smothered. Then the ribs are lined up in metal containers on their sides, lidded with foil, and slow-cooked until tender. The juices from the meat accumulate at the bottom of the pan as the foil traps the steam inside, resulting in a succulent texture. 

Finally, the cooked ribs are grilled to develop those crisscrossed char markings across their surface (as they haven't been steeped in a wet marinade, the dry rub is still stuck to the surface of the meat, which helps it develop a crust). While the ribs imbue the smokiness from the grill, they're simultaneously basted with a rich and punchy barbecue sauce that lends them a sweet-savory flavor and a glistening appearance. 

Cooking the ribs low and slow causes the tightly-packed fibers in the meat to loosen, and secondly, triggers the connective tissue and collagen to melt into unctuous gelatin, which lends them a super-succulent mouthfeel. Ranked at number 9 in our list of the most popular Roadhouse menu items due to their tender texture, it's actually the barbecue sauce that the ribs are slathered in that we enjoyed the most. Savory but not overly sweet, the sauce gives the ribs a smoky flavor and character, as well as an additional layer of sticky moisture that coats the fingers. 

If you want to recreate the flavor of Texas Roadhouse's BBQ ribs at home, you might like to begin by trying this recipe for baked and grilled baby back pork ribs. This recipe mimics the chain's three-stage technique by massaging a spice rub into the ribs, baking them in foil, and finishing them off on the grill with a slick of homemade barbecue sauce. If you don't want the hassle of prepping your own sauce, consider upgrading a store-bought BBQ sauce by adding zingy lemon zest, spicy sriracha, or a handful of fresh, fragrant herbs. In a pinch you can even make a simple barbecue sauce with three basic ingredients: Ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard.