The Best, Perfectly Tender Smoked Pork Ribs

Few things are better than spending a summer day slow cooking meat on the smoker. These ribs are simple to make and fall-off-the-bone tender. I use a dry-rub recipe in this recipe. Truth be told though, the spices don’t really matter here. If you don’t have one of these spices in your pantry, there’s no need to rush off to the store. You can sub or omit it (except the salt). The most important ingredient in this recipe is time! No short cuts allowed.

The Easiest Way to Make Perfectly Smoked Ribs

Season your meat.

As a general rule, I like to season any large pieces of meat that I’m going to cook the day before. This allows the salt to penetrate to the interior of the meat. But sometimes I fail to plan ahead, and that’s ok too. I like a dry rub on my ribs and I add the sauce after it comes off the grill. Try it with this delicious homemade Southwest BBQ Sauce or your favorite store-bought one.

Smoke Your Ribs Low and Slow

I use a Traeger Smoker and Grill. I’ve used several different electric smokers over the years and this one is the best! Whatever smoker you are using, prepare, and preheat it to the “smoke setting” (about 180 F) based on the manufactures instructions.

Place the ribs directly on the grill racks, bone-side down, unwrapped, and smoke them for 4-5 hours, spraying (or mopping) every 2-3 hours with a vinegar-water mix (applied cider vinegar, white vinegar or red wine vinegar).

Wrap the Ribs in Foil and Increase the Heat

Wrap the ribs in tin foil and tightly seal the edges. Increase the heat of your smoker to 250 F, and continue to cook for another 3 hours. That’s about 8 hours of total cooking time!

Take a peek at the ribs, the meat should have pulled back revealing the clean ends of the bone and the meat should be soft to the touch. They should look like this:

If you stabbed them with a fork, the fork would pull out easily. If the meat is still firm, it’s not done! Keep going! You can turn the heat up to speed things along and check it in another 30 minutes. Remember, keep the grill closed while cooking as much as possible. Resist the temptation to watch it cook.

Once you are confident that the meat is done, remove it from the grill. Keeping it wrapped, let it rest for about 10-20 minutes. Then it’s ready to serve with your favorite sauce.

If you don’t have a smoker…

If you don’t have a smoker, you can make delicious tender ribs in your oven! Start the oven at 180-200F and bake uncovered for 2 hours spraying midway through with the vinegar-water mix. Turn the oven up to 250 F, wrap in foil and bake for another 3 hours. If you want to add a smokey flavor, you can use smoked salt in place of salt or add some smoked paprika to the spice mix. I’m not a fan of liquid smoke because of the artificial color in it.

Pro Tip for Home Cooks

Whenever I’m going to run my smoker all day, I like to load it up. These recipes can be cooked at the same temperature as these ribs if you want to maximize your productivity. Cook both of these to an internal temp of 140-145F.

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Smoked Pork Ribs

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• Author: Kara Taylor- Home Cooks Guide
• Prep Time: 10
• Cook Time: 8 hours
• Total Time: 8 hours 10 minutes
• Yield: 1 rack of ribs 1x
• Category: BBQ
• Method: Smoker
• Cuisine: American

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Description

These fall-off-the-bone tender ribs are seasoned with a dry rub and a robust smokey flavor.  This recipe features a basic dry-rub recipe.  You could certainly play around the spices or do a wet marinade if you like.  The most important ingredient here is time!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

1 rack of ribs (about 3.5 lbs)

1 T (9 g) Ancho Chili Powder

1/2 T (5 g) Ground Cumin

1/2 T (3 g) Ground Mustard Powder

1 T (9 g) Salt

1 T (11 g) Brown Sugar

1/2 T (3 g) Coarse Ground Black Pepper

1/2 t (1 g) Ground Allspice

1 t (1 g) Dried Thyme Leaves

1/2 T (4 g) Onion Powder

Vinegar-Water 

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Instructions

Make the Dry-Rub

In a small bowl, combine the salt, sugar, and spices.

Rub this all over the rack of ribs.  You should do this at least 2 hours before cooking or up to a day before.

Add a 50:50 mix Vinegar: Water to a spray bottle (my preferred method) or a bowl with a basting brush.

Smoke the Ribs

Preheat your smoker to 180 F. I use an electric Traeger Smoker and Grill which I love!

Once the smoker is up and running, add the ribs directly on the grate.  Do not wrap in foil at this time.  Smoke the ribs at this temperature setting for about 5 hours, spraying or basting every 2 hours or so with the vinegar-water mixture.

Turn the smoker up to 300 F, wrap the ribs in tin foil.  Return the wrapped ribs to the smoker.  Continue cooking for another 2 hours.

Remove the ribs from the smoker and let rest for 10-30 minutes before unwrapping them.

Serve with your favorite BBQ Sauce and enjoy!

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Originally published 6/26/2020