Texas Roadhouse, a popular chain restaurant that offers some of the best affordable cuts of steak and ribs, has been around since 1993. Part of the reason the chain has been so successful is the way it prepares its dishes. If you’ve ever wondered how the brand nails down its fall-off-the-bone ribs, it’s due to a low-and-slow cooking process that takes three days from start to finish — Chowhound even ranks the ribs as one of the restaurant’s best dishes.
“In our restaurant, we cook our ribs at 200 degrees [Fahrenheit] for about 10 hours,” Zach Mattison, chef and owner of Texas Roadhouse’s Rochester location, told Midwest Access. The chain uses baby back ribs, and the ribs are placed on a drain grate, meaning they sit on a grate that creates space between the ribs and any liquid underneath, such as liquid smoke and water. “It allows us to put a liquid underneath our ribs to keep them nice and moist as they cook without actually submersing them in that liquid,” Mattison says. The result is juicy, tender meat.
How Texas Roadhouse infuses flavor into its ribs
While the low-and-slow cooking process gives the ribs their tender, fall-of-the-bone texture, there are a few ways the restaurant adds flavor — primarily from seasoning. The chain has a few signature seasonings, including its ribs seasoning and its steak seasoning. The former is a blend of spices such as salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, among other things. It’s rubbed into the ribs on all sides in large quantities prior to the ribs being cooked.
When they come out of the oven, they immediately go onto a 450-degree Fahrenheit grill for two minutes per side. It leaves nice grill marks but also adds a charred, caramelized flavor. The ribs are basted with “house-made barbecue sauce we make every single day” while they heat on the grill, says chef Tayor Ness. Both chefs stress the low-and-slow cooking method for the best tenderness, plus a little water to keep the meat moist as it cooks.
