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Smoked Ribs Recipe – the best smoked ribs that you can make at home. A guide how to prepare and smoke tender pork ribs on an electric pellet grill. Smothered in homemade sugar-free bbq sauce. Served with your favorite salad or side.
Smoking Ribs With a Pellet Grill, using this smoked ribs recipe
In this easy smoked ribs recipe I used St Louis Style Ribs, homemade rub, homemade barbecue sauce and the newest addition in my backyard – my all new Green Mountain Pellet Grill! Thanks to my friends at Green Mountain Grills, who made my dream to own an electric smoker a reality! Their grills are well built and modern, very user friendly and easy to use and create delicious smoked meals.
Green Mountain Pellet Grill
My new Daniel Boone WiFi smoker grill, that you can control directly from your cell phone with the GMG application. I’m in love with this device.
Since I’m still new to smoking and learning, the ability to be able to control and monitor the grill temperature from my phone made things so much easier.
The GMG brand is so worth checking out and outperforms some other electric smoker brands.
Time saving with WiFi Smoker
In certain cases smoking meats takes long hours and you need to know what you are doing and plan your time, unless you want to serve dinner late at night.
I made several things using my new electric smoker like hot smoked salmon, smoked brisket flat and these amazing, mouthwatering Smoked St Louis Style Ribs.
We made St Louis ribs, because I saw them at my local Costco also knowing that my readers love this Oven Baked St Louis Style Ribs Recipe. If you prefer baby back pork ribs, you can use them instead. The two are just different cuts of meat.
How long does it take to smoke ribs in this smoked ribs recipe?
Depending on the smoker temperature and thickness of the meat, it takes between 3.5 to 5 hours to smoke ribs at around 225 F to internal temperature of 185 F.
Smoked ribs temperature.
There are two important temperatures, when smoking ribs.
- Temperature of the smoker, that you can regulate.
- Internal temperature of the cooked smoked ribs, in order for them to be done and safe to eat.
I read several articles on smoking and most people seem to smoke ribs until they reach 200F.
We did try this and the ribs tasted awesome, but my husband said they felt a little dry.
What I found to be a good temperature to smoke pork ribs to:
The second time I made this smoked ribs recipe, I smoked them until they reached 180 F. Then brushed with bbq sauce and wrapped in foil.
Lowered the smoker temp to 185F and let them smoke in foil for 30 more minutes.
The temperature of the ribs had reached 188 F.
The USDA recommends a safe internal temperature for consumption to be 145 F. In my findings, anywhere between 145 and 185F, ribs may be tough and chewy.
Good internal temperature to cook to is 185 F – to 200F.
How to make the Smoked Ribs Dry rub:
To make this dry rub I used spices, salt and brown sugar. It is so easy, you don’t really need to make it in advance. You can also use store bought dry rub instead.
The ingredients for it are: (amounts in recipe card)
- brown sugar
- salt
- black pepper
- oregano
- cumin
- paprika
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- cayenne pepper (optional)
- pork ribs – either Baby Back (cook faster) or St Louis Style
Preparation of the ribs for smoking:
- Choose your ribs from the butcher or purchase in the store.
- Make the dry rub.
- Remove the thin membrane on one side of the ribs. This step is very important, because it makes the ribs take seasoning and sauce well and without the membrane the experience of eating them is more pleasant. (You can sometimes purchase ribs with the membrane removed, but I pretty much always need to do it).
- Use a sharp paring knife and slide it on one side under the membrane and above the bone. Pull to remove the membrane along the rack of ribs.
- Generously rub ribs with the dry rub.
Process of smoking ribs using an electric smoker.
- Start the smoker and set the cooking temperature. I smoked these pork ribs at temperature between 200 and 225 F until the internal temperature was 185 F.
- Place on the pellet grill. Insert the thermometer that comes with the grill. I smoked these pork ribs at temperature between 200 and 225 F until the internal temperature was 185 F.
- Spray with apple cider vinegar or apple juice every 45 minutes, to prevent drying.
- An extra step I took was to remove the ribs from the smoker, brush with bbq sauce (of your choice) and wrap in foil. Then I left them to smoke at 180 F grill temperature for 30 more minutes. This way the ribs absorbed some of the bbq sauce flavor. You can add extra sauce when you serve them.
Smoked Ribs Mop Spray
A mop spray is a liquid, usually containing apple cider vinegar or apple juice and sometimes spices.
It is used to brush or spray the ribs (or other meats) while smoking to keep the meat juicy.
Some mop sprays for other kinds of meat are made with small amounts or soy sauce and also olive oil.
I used just Organic Apple Cider Vinegar in a Misto Spray bottle to spray these St Louis Style Pork Ribs every 40 minutes or so while they were smoking on my electric smoker grill.
Just plain apple juice can be used instead. You can always dilute the vinegar ( apple juice ) with some water.
Bbq Sauce For Smoked Ribs
I recently shared with you my new favorite Keto bbq sauce, that is gluten and sugar-free, also low-carb.
You can use your favorite homemade or store bought bbq sauce.
What to serve these Smoked Pork Ribs With?
How to store smoked bbq ribs?
Store in the fridge, wrapped in aluminum foil for up to 7 days. Reheat in the oven or in the microwave (make sure you remove the foil).
Smoked Ribs recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 4 lb baby back or St Louis Style Ribs
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, optional
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar or apple juice for the mop spray
- 1 cup bbq sauce, or more if needed
Instructions
Preparation of the ribs:
- Choose your ribs from the butcher or purchase in the store.
- Make the dry rub.
- Remove the thin membrane on one side of the ribs. This step is very important, because it makes the ribs take seasoning and sauce well and without the membrane the experience of eating them is more pleasant. (You can sometimes purchase ribs with the membrane removed, but I pretty much always need to do it).
- Use a sharp paring knife and slide it on one side under the membrane and above the bone. Pull to remove the membrane along the rack of ribs.
- Generously rub ribs with the dry rub.
Smoking Process for smoked ribs using an electric smoker.
- Start the smoker and set the cooking temperature. I smoked these pork ribs at temperature between 200 and 225 F until the internal temperature was 185 F.
- Place on the pellet grill. Insert the thermometer that comes with the grill. I smoked these pork ribs at temperature between 200 and 225 F until the internal temperature was 185 F.
- Spray with apple cider vinegar or apple juice every 45 minutes, to prevent drying.
- An extra step I took was to remove the ribs from the smoker, brush with bbq sauce (of your choice) and wrap in foil. Then I left them to smoke at 180 F grill temperature for 30 more minutes. This way the ribs absorbed some of the bbq sauce flavor. You can add extra sauce when you serve them.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Wow Mira! Â These ribs look absolutely phenomenal. Â The hubby likes ribs; Â however, we haven’t made them in eons. Â Wishing you could transport a rack over here. . .and stat!!!
These ribs looks amazing! Thanks for sharing!
An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a friend who had been doing a little research on this.
And he actually ordered me lunch because I discovered it for him…
lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!!
But yeah, thanks for spending time to talk about this subject here on your site.
Thank you! I’m happy to help!
Those ribs looks absolutely fabulous! Love the flavor combinations!
Thank you Lisa! They are worth making!
I made these tonight and they were incredible! Fall off the bone tender and an out of this world flavor
You forgot to either smear a layer of mustard or olive oil all over the ribs first, then add the dry rub and place in the fridge overnight so the spices can penetrate the meat to enhance the flavor. It’s best to use 2 parts coarse black pepper to 1 part salt.
When your ribs are ready to be wrapped, place tabs of butter, more brown sugar, and honey on the foil. The lay the ribs meat side down and complete the wrap. After about another hour, unwrap and brush on your favorite BBQ sauce , cook for another 20 minutes. Take ribs off grill and let rest for about 10 minutes. Enjoy.
Thanks for the tip! I’m still new to smoking and will definitely try this next time!
It’s sound refreshing. Thanks for your recipe. I will try it soon.
A friend recommended this recipe. I followed it and the result was amazing. Thanks for sharing such great recipe….