Pork Riblets Products

When you're looking for the perfect backyard barbecue appetizer, consider grilling up a rack of pork riblets. These tasty morsels are similar to pork spareribs but smaller. The riblets are smaller pieces of ribs that come from a full rack of spare ribs. Because they're smaller in size, they're easier to eat, perfect for finger food, and when slathered in zingy barbecue sauce, pork riblets are a true crowd-pleaser.

Pork spareribs come from the lower part of the hog's rib cage, where the ribs wrap around the belly and attach to the sternum. Butchers cut pork ribs lengthways that results in two slabs of ribs. Then, these ribs are cut to make smaller pieces called riblets. Riblets and rib tips are slightly different as rib tips don't have any bone parts in them. Rib tips come from butchers trimming off the meaty tips when making St. Louis-style ribs.

Before riblets became popular, butchers often discarded the bony parts trimmed from pork spareribs. Once consumers caught on that riblets make fantastic appetizers, butchers started selling them to happy customers. Today, riblets are affordable, easy to cook, and easy to eat.

What do these little riblet morsels taste like? Pork meat is quite sweet, but similar to pork spareribs, the taste of pork riblets depends on the type of rub or sauce applied to the riblets when they're smoked, grilled, or baked in the oven. Because of their small size and the fact that they have bones in them, the texture of pork riblets varies with each piece. There are parts of the riblets that have succulent meat and other parts that have crunchy tips and ends. When the barbecue sauce is cooked properly, it will caramelize on the meat, creating a sweet and tangy addictive taste.

As with all pork products, you want to make sure that the meat cooks until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees. Use a digital meat thermometer to get an accurate reading.

If you have a grill with indirect grilling or two-zone grilling, you'll be able to make the juiciest and most tender pork riblets to impress your friends with. Set your grill for 225 degrees Fahrenheit, and put your favorite rub on the riblets. Place them on the indirect zone bone down. Cook them at this temperature for about three hours.

Take the riblets and place them in a foil packet with apple cider vinegar, seal the foil packet and place back on the grill for one hour. After an hour, remove the riblets from the foil packet and slather both sides with your favorite barbecue sauce. Be generous with the sauce, as this is where most of your flavor will come from.

Place the riblets straight onto the indirect zone of the grill and cook for about 30 minutes until the barbecue sauce begins to caramelize. After 30 minutes, put the pork riblets onto the grill's direct heat and sear them for about 30 to 40 seconds to crisp them up. Remove the riblets from the grill and let them rest for about 15 minutes so the juices can reabsorb into the meat, making them juicy and tender.

When you want pork riblets to serve as a tasty appetizer for your next gathering, save time and make your day a bit easier by ordering the pork riblets through the Instacart app. Once you place your order, an Instacart shopper will pick out the best pork riblets and have them delivered to you within the same day!