Rotate your phone for full version
BBQ Smokers, Pig Roasters, Chicken Cookers, and Grills From Meadow Creek

Welcome

I'm Lavern Gingerich, advocate for Meadow Creek barbecue equipment and editor of StoryQue magazine. Take a few minutes to discover our blog, recipe library, StoryQue Magazine, and revolutionary barbecue equipment. You can find us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

The Handbook for Choosing Your Meadow Creek Smoker or Grill

This full-color guide is packed with charts, photos, and articles to help you determine if Meadow Creek is a good fit for you and choose the model that fits your presentation, cooking style, menu, and crowd size goals.

First Name
Email

What You'll Get

Share with your friends:

How to Smoke Baby Back Ribs

July 14th, 2015

Smoked_Rib_1

Smoked Ribs Recipe PLUS Beginner Tips for the Most Amazing Pork Ribs

Smoked rib recipes are a dime a million. YouTube and Google are jam packed with information on how to smoke ribs. Unfortunately, most of the recipes out there don’t make it easy to master the timing of a smoked rib, and a beginner would never realize the learning curve that’s involved in mastering amazing ribs.

No doubt about it, pork ribs can be quite tricky to master. If you’re not careful, one time your ribs might be the most amazing ribs you could dream of eating; other times they will be over smoked and dry—or undercooked with the thickest parts still clinging hard to the bone.

In this article, I reveal my tips for getting consistent results, along with step-by-step instructions and mouth-watering photos to get you on the right track and cooking some of the world’s best ribs this weekend!

3 Elements of Amazing Barbecue

There are three main parts to creating great barbecue: 1) environment: consistent heat and smoke, 2) ingredients: meat and flavor profile of the rub and sauce, and 3) timing.

For this recipe, I used my Meadow Creek SQ36 offset stick burner, but any smoker will work if you can control the environment.

I’m going to focus mostly on the other two elements of a great rib—ingredients and timing. While I can give you specific ingredients to use, I don’t think there is a magic time formula that works across the board. Instead of hard fast rules such as the popular 3-2-1 timing, I’ve chosen to share some guiding principles that will help you quickly master amazing ribs.

Common Challenges

Rib racks are quite thin, which means they are easier to mess up than a pork butt or other big hunks of meat. Besides, parts of the racks can be 25% bigger than others. In a perfect world, each rack would cook uniformly from one end to the other and all the racks would finish at the same time, but it doesn’t always work that way.

As long as you are aware of what’s happening, you can make adjustments as needed, such as leaving some of them on longer or putting them in a different part of the smoker. Just be aware that if you treat them all the same, you might end up with some ribs on the table that are perfect and others that are still a bit bouncy. Not dangerous to eat, but a true disappointment. Some of this can’t be fixed by reading an article on the internet; it’s part of the skill of cooking amazing barbecue.

In this recipe, we will foil the ribs for part of the cook. There is a debate over wrapping ribs in foil, but I think there are a couple distinct advantages of wrapping, especially for beginners. First, especially on a charcoal/wood fired smoker, it’s easy to over smoke the ribs and dry out the ends. If you follow my suggestions in this article, these challenges will not be an issue. Second, foiling speeds up the cooking and helps those thicker racks get done quicker—helpful for avoiding bouncy ribs. Skipping the wrap is fine, but be prepared for a rack to take an extra 30 minutes because it’s thicker or just plain stubborn. It never happens in the recipe, but it happens in real life.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Without further ado, let’s get right into it!

Ribs_Trimmed

1. Some of the baby backs I get have extra layers of meat and fat in certain places. If necessary, trim them up a bit to keep them a more consistent thickness and to remove any loose flaps of meat or fat.

pulling_membrane

2. Remove the membrane on the back of the ribs. I use a catfish skinner but you can also use a butter knife to loosen it and then a paper towel to grip and pull it off. It probably won’t come off as easily as some people make it sound, but it will make a better rib if you remove it.

seasoning_ribs

Ribs_Seasoned_2

3. With a shaker, sprinkle the entire surface (including edges) of the ribs with my homemade rib rub. One batch of the rub should be enough for three racks of baby backs. Let them sit a few minutes until the rub turns into a wet glaze.

Meadow_Creek_SQ36_Smoker_Firing

4. Get your smoker running at 225–250 degrees F. I fire my Meadow Creek SQ36 Smoker with about 8 pounds of charcoal briquettes and a chunk or two of wood. The firebox vents are open about 1.5 inches and the stack is about halfway open. On Meadow Creek’s larger smokers, you’d want to keep the stack open while cooking, but the SQ36 maintains a more consistent temperature with it only halfway open.

Meadow_Creek_SQ36_Ribs_Butts

5. Put the ribs in the smoker meat side up. Leave them there until they turn dark from the smoke. It will probably take 3 to 3.5 hours. This will depend on how much smoke your smoker makes.

The SQ36 holds up to 6 racks of baby back ribs on the main grate, but that’s pushing it. The second tier grate will hold another 6 racks in a pinch. You might have to trim the ends off depending on the size of the racks, and then rotate their position in the smoker as they’re cooking if you make it this full because of restricted air flow.

Ribs_Wrapping

rack_wrapping

6. Individually wrap the ribs in aluminum foil. Add some brown sugar and barbecue sauce to the top side of the ribs before closing them.

Ribs_Unwrapping

Smoked_Ribs_Test

7. Set them back in the smoker until the meat is tender. (No smoke is required for this stage.) This will take about two hours depending how long you smoked them before wrapping, how hot your smoker is, and how much meat the butcher left on the ribs. Each rack might not even get done at the same time. You’ll have to open the foil pouch and determine whether they are ready.

Warning: This is the most tricky part. Sometimes the bend test won’t work with baby back ribs because of how thick they are. One easy way to tell they are done is by pulling on a bone as shown above. Or poke into the meat with a knife to see if it’s loose on the bone. Usually the meat pulls back on the bone and about 1/4” of the bone ends will be showing.

A lot of people feel pressured to cook competition style, thinking that fall off the bones ribs are a moral issue. But who are we cooking for anyhow? If you want your ribs to fall off the bone, that’s completely fine. Foiling will steam and tenderize the ribs, so just remove the foil once they are tender enough for you. I personally like to cook them in the foil until the meat can easily be peeled off the bone, but while it’s still tight enough to support its own weight when picked up.

Ribs_Ready_to_Wrap

8. Remove the ribs from the foil and put them back in the smoke for 20 minutes to let things tighten up. This would be a good time to slather more sauce on the ribs.

Baby_Back_Ribs_Sliced_1

9. Remove the racks from the smoker and lay them on a cutting board bone side up. Slice them between the bones and serve.

Smoked_Rib_1

Smoked_Ribs_2

10. Take a moment to admire your work, then dig in!

Baby_Back_Ribs_Sliced_2

Smoked_Ribs_4

Try this recipe the next time you’re smoking ribs and let me know how it goes. Leave a comment below or email me with your questions or feedback.

Sizzling regards,

Lavern Gingerich

PS. Looking for a smoker to cook all those tasty ribs? Meadow Creek has an excellent line of charcoal/wood fired smokers for backyard parties and hungry crowds. Explore the Meadow Creek Smokers in our online store.
 
 

Tags: , , , ,

4 Responses to “How to Smoke Baby Back Ribs”

  1. Rich Tittle Says:

    I tried your rib recipe and the ribs came out awesome. I’m definitely a rookie-smoker. I used my smoker, which as far as I know, is about the cheapest smoker you can buy (Brinkmann Smoke n’ Grill; I think I paid about $39 for it at Home Depot). I used hardwood chunk charcoal and pecan wood for smoke. The main problem I found was temperature control. I used a digital thermometer attached to the grill itself, and it took a lot of opening and closing the small metal door to add more fuel when the temp went down or try to cool it down when it got too hot. But with the aid of a couple, three cold beers, I managed fairly well. Makes for a long day and I started a little late (2P), so the ribs weren’t ready until about 7:45P, but based on your recipe I was prepared for the long haul and like I said they came out delicious. Thanx for the guidance. Oh, and my girlfriend and I liked your rub, as well.

  2. Lavern Says:

    Well, thanks for your kind words! That’s great to hear and I’m glad you took the time to share your experience.

  3. Don pearson Says:

    Enjoy reading others wins and not so win cookouts. We have all had them if we do it and just not talk about it. I’m 72 years old, been cooking on wood since a boy at home on the farm. Different times, different cooking methods. Every time I take the meat off the grill, it still makes my heart pump on the anticipation of will they like it, is it cooked to their taste, will I like it as I feel I’m the hardest to please. To me the most important part is to love what you do and how you do it. But I must say, with my 35 year old cooker, my 60 years plus experience, every time I read one of your publications I learn something new, something old that I had forgotten. Love it!!! Good bar-b-q is definitely a gift from heaven and I’m not saying it should be worshiped but I would venture to say, if you are bar-b-Qing and you are reading the Good Book at the same time, laying the Good Book on top of a good recipe is a proper and safe as any place could be. They sure have a lot in common. God bless and keep up the great work

  4. Lavern Says:

    Thanks, Don, for your kind words and sharing your experience! 🙂

Leave a Reply

Credit Cards We Accept
Struggling to choose the right cooker for your needs? Check out our Meadow Creek cooker comparison charts. If you would like to discuss your dream cooker over the phone, call Marlin toll-free at (877) 602-1568 to get some good, friendly advice. Or if you're close by, come visit our display lot in Pikeville, Tennessee to check out these fine barbeques! We offer a 30-day money back guarantee on all our Meadow Creek barbeque equipment (except the Ultimate Catererssorry, too much risk). Please realize that we (Yoders Smoky Mountain Barbecue) are a dealer for Meadow Creek. This promise applies only if you buy from us. If for any reason you are not happy with your unit, you may return the cooker to us within 30 days of the delivery or pickup date, and we will refund the purchase price minus the shipping and handling. You are responsible to pay the return shipping.
What did you think of the videos? Meadow Creek makes some amazing smokers, pig roasters, chicken cookers, and grills. All this equipment is made in the Amish Community of Lancaster County, PA. The talented craftsmen at Meadow Creek hand-make each unit. They seriously go the extra mile to make sure youre smoked pink. What really puts the sauce on the brisket is all the revolutionary features and options that make barbecue fun and easy, and even a money-machine, if BBQ is your business.
Integrity: Meadow Creek cookers are made in a culture of Godly ethicshonesty, diligence, and fairness. Whether its a Shoo-fly pie or a barbecue smoker, you will be treated right.
Stainless Steel Grates: Every Meadow Creek barbecue cooker comes standard with non-rusting stainless steel grates. This eliminates the hassle of scrubbing rust and the danger of possible rust contamination on your meat.