How about some Smoked Baby Back Ribs! If you like your ribs tender and sticky then this is the recipe for you. For this recipe I used my horizontal smoker,
the Char-Griller Smokin Pro and the 2-1-1 method for smoking ribs. You might of heard of the 3-2-1 method which is good for cooking spare ribs, they take a bit longer to cook, however for baby back ribs we only need the 2-1-1 method. The 2-1-1 method refers to the cooking times in hours for each part of the method. You want to keep your cooking temperature around 225 degrees through out this process.
2 – Cook ribs uncovered for 2 hours with smoke and heat.
1 – Wrap ribs in foil and return to the smoker and cook for 1 hour, with just heat. No need for smoke after this point. This part will steam the ribs and make them very tender.
1 – Remove the ribs from the foil and then return to the smoker to cook with just heat for 1 hour. So the ribs can continue to cook and firm up so they are not to mushy.
If you don’t have a smoker but have a grill you can also try cooking the Baby Back Ribs using the Indirect Grilling Method. This method is easier and doesn’t require quite as much work.
If you are smoking Spareribs check out our article 3-2-1 Smoked Spareribs in the Pit Boss Vertical Pellet Smoker.
Ingredients
• 3 racks of Baby Back Ribs
• 1 bottle of your favorite BBQ Sauce
• Dry Rub
Kansas City Style Rib Rub
| • 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup paprika • 1 tablespoon black pepper • 1 tablespoon salt |
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder • 1 tablespoon onion powder • 1 teaspoon cayenne |
Items used to make this recipe
| • Large Serving Platter
• Smoker • Knife • Cutting Board |
• Tongs
• Paper Towels • Charcoal |
Recipe
First of all we need to prepare our ribs. So remove them from the packaging one at a time and next we need to peel the membrane off the back of the ribs.
Peeling the membrane off the ribs is an important step that you do not want to skip. You will need a couple of things to do this, a sharp knife and some paper towels.
With the tip of your knife you want to get under the membrane covering the back of the ribs and pull it up a bit. It is sometimes easiest to try right next to one of the ribs. I always check around the rib and see if there is already a section of the membrane that has started to pull off.
Once you have a piece of the membrane pulled from the bone. Take a paper towel and grab the membrane and pull it off. If you are lucky you can get the whole thing at once. But that is unlikely to happen. Keep working on it until you get all of the membrane off.
Next you will need to mix up your rib rub. You can use the Kansas City style rib rub that I have listed above or you could purchase a rib rub from your local super market. I always make the one above and make extra and store it in an old mayonaise jar. That way I won’t have to do it next time. Once you have your rub mixed together begin rubbing it into the surface of your baby back ribs. You can apply some to both sides of the rib.
Now it is time to get our smoker ready to go. You will want to start your charcoal and when it has ashed over transfer them to the side fire box of your horizontal smoker. This is when a chimney starter comes in handy. you can start the coals in the chimney starter and when they are ready just dump them into your side fire box.
Once your smoker has reached temperature which is 225 degrees. Then place your baby back ribs onto the grill as shown. You want to maintain the temperature at 225 degrees for the entire cooking process.
Now it is time to add in the smoke. Open up the side fire box and throw on some hickory chunks to start the smoke process.
For these baby back ribs we are doing the 2-1-1 method. So we cook the ribs uncovered with smoke for the first 2 hours. Then wrap the baby back ribs in aluminum foil and let them cook for 1 hour. This method makes the ribs really tender. After the 1 hour of cooking them in the foil remove them from the foil and let them cook on the grill for 1 more hour. After the end of the 4th hour the ribs should be ready to go. You can check for doneness by how much the ribs have pulled back off of the bone. You want it to be at least a half inch or so.
If you like your ribs sticky then in the last 30 minutes the ribs are on the grill you can choose to sauce them with your favorite BBQ sauce.
There we go some great Smoked Tender Sticky Baby Back Ribs! Be sure to have some extra napkins on hand, you will need them.
Enjoy!
For an in depth look on how long it takes to Smoke Baby Back Ribs check out our new article.
For this recipe I used the Char-Griller Smokin Pro, you can check it out at Amazon.com. I highly recommend the Char-Griller Smokin Pro. It is a great smoker to start out with.
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