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. 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 they come 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 manufacture’s 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 (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! 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.
Chef Tip
Whenever I’m going to run my smoker all day, I like to load it up. The Best Dry-Cured Bacon, and Dry-Cured Ham 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.
Smoked Pork Ribs
- 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
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!
Ingredients
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
1:1 Vinegar-Water
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!
Originally published 6/26/2020. Updated in 2026.
These look so delicious and tasty! I made these for my family and they loved them!
Love the flavors you have used in here. Looks so delicious
The perfect summer recipe ever! Can’t wait to try this one thanks for the recipe!
I am so happy that I have just found your recipe. I was looking for how to make smoked pork ribs. WOW. It seems amazing!
I’m such a newbie when it comes to smoking, so glad I stumbled upon this reliable recipe. 🙂
We made these ribs and they are delicious! They turned out moist and tender.
Our smoker only goes to 275 degrees so we smoked them for 5 hours at 180 then cooked the foiled wrapped ribs at 275 degrees for 2.5 hours. They were perfect. The rub is flavorful but not too spicy.