Smoked Rib Recipes – (Spare Ribs – Baby Back Ribs)

rack of ribs

Most people love a good rack of ribs from the grill and wonder why in restaurants they are always so tender and when cooked at home they are sometimes so tough or too much done.

Since I have had a restaurant for many years and every Saturday served ribs I will tell you how I cooked them and give you one of my rib recipes.

3 types of ribs

There are basically three types of ribs that you can use.

  • Spare ribs
  • Baby back ribs
  • Beef ribs

Spare ribs

These are the whole ribs and although affordable they do contain not too much meat

Baby Back ribs

The ribs are from the loin and are smaller but contain the most meat

Beef ribs

Beef ribs are huge and I have to be honest and tell you that I never cooked them. I did eat them however and liked them.

I have a smoked beef short ribs recipe that I share with you.

rack of ribs

Pork Ribs

Pork Ribs are what most people buy and cook on their grill.
Prep Time 1 day
Cook Time 6 hours
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 6 people
Calories 6 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 smoker, grill or pellet smoker
  • 1 Pair Of Tongs

Ingredients
  

  • 1,5 Tbsp Seasoning Salt
  • 1.5 Tbsp Sazon
  • 1 Tbsp Adobe
  • 3/4 Tbsp Oregano
  • 1 Tbsp Garlic powder
  • 1 Tbsp Paprika powder

Instructions
 

Preparing Your Ribs

  • Remove the membrane
  • Rinse the ribs
  • Dry them very well

Seasoning

  • Rub the ribs with olive oil
  • Apply the seasoning
  • Wrap them in plastic foil
  • Keep refrigerated overnight

Smoking Ribs

  • Pre-heat smoker to 225 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Place ribs meat side up
  • Smoke for 3 hours
  • Wrap them in aluminum foil and add 1 cup of apple juice
  • Cook for another hour. Add sauce if you want to.
  • Open the package and cook for another hour open.

Notes

Sazon and Adobe can be found in most grocery stores in the Mexican food aisle.

Nutrition

Calories: 6kcalCarbohydrates: 1gProtein: 0.3gFat: 0.04gSaturated Fat: 0.01gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.01gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.01gSodium: 1925mgPotassium: 24mgFiber: 0.4gSugar: 0.1gVitamin A: 11IUVitamin C: 0.03mgCalcium: 12mgIron: 0.3mg
Keyword bbq sauce,, Pork, Ribs
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Preparation of your ribs

There is one mistake that a lot of people make in the preparation phase of cooking ribs and this is they do not remove the skin from the backside.

If you forget this or never did this your ribs will be tough because that piece of skin will prevent the ribs from becoming tender.

Remove The Membrane On A Rack Of Ribs

Here is a video I found on how to remove what is called the membrane on your ribs. This is the same for all types of ribs.

Sometimes or maybe I should say most of the time it is not as easy as shown in the video and I most of the time use a paper towel to get more grip on that piece of skin because it can be very slippery.

Seasoning

I am a strong believer in keeping the ingredients in any recipe to a minimum and I also believe that only a few people can recognize the separate ingredients unless they are very distinguished in taste.

Here is my recipe to season the ribs and the steps I take.

  • Rinse the ribs in running water.

The reason is that ribs are cut with a saw and there always be little pieces of bone or other parts left. With rinsing, you will remove all these parts.

  • Dry them very well
    You don’t want water on your ribs when you start seasoning them. Dry them well before taking the next step.
  • Rub them with olive oil.

This is in my opinion a step that will help the meat absorb the seasoning better since many spices dissolve in oil and not in water.

  • Season them thoroughly with your dry rub.

Do not be cheap and try to save on dry rub. Coat theme very well and you can even rub it in with your hands. That is what I do.

  • Let them sit overnight.

Wrap them in plastic wrap and let them soak in the seasoning overnight in the refrigerator. I know this is sometimes not easy and if you can’t do it overnight try for as long as you can.

This is all I do to my ribs and the next day I take them out of the fridge to let them come to room temperature before grilling.

Smoking – Grilling Or Roasting Ribs In 6 Steps

One thing, I like to warn you about. Some recipes tell you to boil your ribs before grilling. Please do not do that. You will boil out all the flavor. Boiling ribs is making soup in my opinion.

Although there are 3 ways to cook ribs. Smoking, Grilling, and Roasting in the oven I prefer to smoke my ribs at a low temperature.

Smoking Ribs Low And Slow

I do not have a fancy smoker or pellet smoker at my house and just use a so-called barrel smoker.
Charcoal I start with a charcoal chimney starter <– You can read here how I do that.

But you can also use an electric charcoal starter if you like that better. I did a review of them here on this page.

Here are the steps I take for smoking what I think are great ribs.

  1. I start my charcoal or Wood

When it is lit I move it to the side of my barrel where the air inlet is. This makes it easy to regulate the airflow over the charcoal.

Tip: Use the right type of wood for smoking ribs.

  1. Regulate the temperature to 250 degrees

I like my temperature to be 225 but found that when you put your meat in the smoker the temperature drops. This is why I start with a higher temperature.

  1. Put the ribs on their meat side up

Meat side up is important. It makes the juices run through the meat better. Regulate the temperature to 225 degrees.

  1. Basting with marinade

This is optional and depends if you have marinated or not. If I use a marinade I do this every hour and add some wood chips and more charcoal if needed. You can find an explanation of all wood chips for smoking here.

  1. Wrap them in aluminum foil

The ribs are done when the meat starts to pull away from the bones. Usually after about 3 hours. I wrap them in aluminum foil and add some apple juice since this is a natural tenderizer and let them cook for another hour.

  1. let them rest for at least 10 minutes

Open the aluminum foil and let the ribs rest for at least 19 minutes. This will let the juices flow back into the meat and improve the tenderness of the ribs.

  1. Cut them in the size you want them

Some people cut them in between every bone and others cut multiple bones and let their guests cut them further on their plates. This is a personal preference.

This is how easy it is to make some great fall-off-the-bone ribs. I say fall off the bone but I think the best ribs stay on the bone until you take a bite and then they have to come off very easily.

The seasoning I use for my ribs

Just realized that I forgot to give you my recipe for my smoked ribs. I do not give any sizes like cups or ounces. Just a number that you can use for any measurement.

  • 1.5 seasoning salt
  • 1.5 Sazon
  • 1 Adobe
  • 3/4 Oregano
  • 1 Garlic
  • 1 Paprika

Sazon and Adobe can be found in most grocery stores in the Mexican food aisle.

I hope you like this recipe for ribs and if you need more recipes just look at the menu.

Eddie van Aken

Eddie van Aken has years of experience in running his full-service restaurant and with this came working with using and dealing with all types of kitchen equipment. With his experience, he can find all the pros and cons of grills and add them to the grill reviews he is doing. You can read more on the about page for Eddie van Aken

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