Rib Bend Test: What it Means and How to Do it

Grab your rack of ribs from one end with a pair of tongs at about the 5th rib (essentially less than half way).

You then pick the ribs up and allow them to bend at this rib.

If the ribs bend at a 45 degree angle or more, they are considered done.

That’s it.

Here’s ribs bend testing at 174F:

As you can see, the ribs are barely bending, if at all.

However, the ribs have great color and the bark has set. At this point the ribs have taken on more than enough smoke.

These are great visual indicators that it’s time to wrap the ribs and speed up the cook time.

Here’s the ribs at roughly 202-204F throughout the entire rack:

As we can see, the rack bends at roughly a 45 degree angle when held at the 5th rib.

Combining this bend test with a tear test will tell you when the ribs are done.

The tear test is fairly straight forward.

With the bone side up, simply tear a bone away from the meat, if the tear is clean – meaning no meat is attached to the bone when you tear it – it’s considered done.

You can also use your temperature probe to poke the meat between the bones. It should feel like it’s gliding through like hot butter.

Can you Bend Test “Fall Off the Bone Ribs”?

No.

The reason this isn’t possible is because ribs that are smoked until they’re fall off the bone will quite literally tear under their own weight.

For lots of people who do barbecue, “fall off the bone” ribs are considered overcooked.

Rather, you should be able to hold the rib, take a bite, and the meat should pull cleanly off the bone.

Again though, I’m not you – if you prefer fall off the bone ribs, leave them wrapped longer and cook them well beyond 205F; Somewhere like 210F-213F is more appropriate.

You could also use the tear test – you should be able to pull a bone easily off the back of the rack if they’re fall off the bone style.