15 October, 2020
The Best Smoked Pork Ribs
These smoked ribs are the result of lots of trial and error with various cooking times/temps, rubs, sauces etc. and I believe these ribs are as good as it gets. This recipe can be used with baby backs, St. Louis style, or pork spare ribs, but you will need to vary the cooking times accordingly. I prefer baby backs, so I’m using them here, but if you use St. Louis or spare ribs, you may need to wrap them mid-cook in foil and/or follow the 3-2-1 method (3 hours unwrapped in the smoker, 2 hours wrapped in foil with butter and apple juice, 1 hour unwrapped). Pro tip: try 2-2-1 instead for St. Louis ribs. This recipe uses Chris Lilly’s 6 time championship rub. Also note, this recipe involved coating the ribs in yellow mustard to help adhere the rub, which admittedly sounds very strange, but I promise there will be no mustard flavor to these ribs due to the magic of BBQ.
Ingredients:
1-3 racks of baby back ribs
1/4 c dark brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c paprika
1/3 c garlic salt
1/3 c kosher salt
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp oregano leaves
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp black pepper
1/2 c yellow mustard
1 bottle Rib Candy Apple Cherry Habanero glaze
STEP 1:
Preheat smoker to 250 degrees.
STEP 2:
Remove membrane from ribs.
STEP 3:
Combine all dry ingredients to create the rub.
STEP 4:
Coat ribs evenly with yellow mustard on both sides, and apply rub evenly.
STEP 5:
Place ribs directly on the rack in the smoker. Maintain a constant temp of 250. Ribs will be done when the meat pulls back from the bone about 1/2″. Monitor the color during the cook. If they become too dark you may need to wrap in foil with apple juice and butter. During the final half hour, brush with the glaze and return to smoker to set the glaze, 15min. per side.