Get ready for the stickiest, smokiest, juiciest smoked pork ribs you’ve ever had! This amazing smoked St. Louis-style spare rib recipe delivers meaty, tender ribs absolutely packed with incredible smoke flavor from apple and cherry wood.
The low-and-slow cooking method is key to achieving competition-worthy ribs with the perfect tender bend and smoky addicting bark. They’re so insanely delicious that you’ll want to throw a party just as an excuse to make them. While the process involves simple tending, the payoff of incredibly scrumptious smoked ribs makes the effort totally worth it. Get those napkins ready!
Ingredients You’ll Need
Jump down to the full recipe card for all the details.
- Pork Ribs – St. Louis-style spare ribs are preferred. Buy the largest racks you can find for most bang for your buck. Cook at least 2 racks at a time for the same effort. Baby back ribs will also work for this recipe.
- Dry Rub or a simple 2:1 ratio of coarse black pepper to Diamond kosher salt. *You will need about 1/4 cup of rub per rack of ribs.
- BBQ Sauce – A homemade barbecue sauce that’s on the sweeter and tangier side is perfect.
How to Smoke Pork Ribs
Low and slow is the name of the game. Ribs aren’t something you want to rush. They’re first going to spend about 3 hours picking up smoke flavors and developing teh bark, then they get sauced and wrapped to cook and tenderize the rest of the way through.
- Prep the ribs – Remove the membrane from the backside, rinse and then season each rack with dry rub or simply kosher salt and black pepper.
- Preheat the smoker – Bring the temp up to 225 to 250° F with apple, cherry or pecan wood for smoke and set up for indirect heat smoking.
- Smoke the ribs – Place the ribs in the smoker bone-side down. After about 3 hours, check the color. If they are nice and brown, it’s time to sauce them up.
- Add sauce – Remove the ribs from the smoker and transfer to a sheet pan using a bar towel to handle the rack. Apply a layer of BBQ sauce on all sides. Place back in the smoker and cook for 15 minutes more.
- Wrap – Remove the racks from the smoker and wrap each rack separately inside heavy-duty aluminum foil. Then put them back into the smoker and continue to cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until they are tender and they register 195-203° F with a probe thermometer.
- Rest – Remove the ribs from the smoker and rest, still wrapped in foil, for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.
How Long to Smoke Pork Ribs?
It will take about 5 hours total to smoke a rack of pork ribs at 225° F. About 3 hours of that is actual smoking; the rest is cooking after the ribs are wrapped in foil. Smoking times vary based on the smoker’s temperature and the size of the ribs. Cook to a temperature of 195-203° F.
Tips for Smoked Rib Perfection
- Give those ribs a good rinse and pat them dry before applying the rub. This ensures no bone fragments are left behind that could ruin your bark.
- Short on smoker space? Use a rib rack to cook the ribs vertically and maximize your real estate.
- Ribs are delicate, so use a bar towel rather than tongs when moving them to avoid damaging that beautiful bark.
- Watch for color more than temperature to know when to wrap. You want a deep mahogany before wrapping.
- After wrapping, you can finish the ribs in the smoker or oven at the same temp – ribs in the oven work great if you don’t have a smoker.
- Let those babies rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing in. This crucial rest allows the juices to reincorporate for next-level tenderness.
What Are St. Louis-Style Pork Spare Ribs?
When you see a rib recipe calling for “St. Louis-style” ribs, that refers to trimmed pork spare ribs that have had the rib tips removed. This gives them a nice uniform, rectangular rack shape that cooks evenly. Spare ribs come from the belly area of the hog, which makes them extra meaty and loaded with delicious intramuscular fat and marbling.
Tools & Equipment Used
- A smoker – Charcoal Kamado like a Big Green Egg, pellet or electric smoker.
- Wood for Smoke – Apple and/or cherry wood chunks or pellets for a pellet smoker.
- Drip pan – The drip pan is filled with water, catches drippings and adds moisture to the air to keep the meat from drying out.
- Rib rack (optional) – Stands the ribs vertically to fit more racks in the smoker.
- Bar towels – Countless uses, but bar towels are the best way to pick up and move ribs in the smoker.
- Heat-resistant basting brush.
- Heavy-duty aluminum foil – For wrapping the ribs after they are smoked and have color.
Sides that Go Great with Ribs
- Potato Salad
- Creamy Coleslaw
- BBQ Baked Beans
- Bread & Butter Pickles
- Macaroni Salad
- Sweet & Tangy BBQ Sauce
More Delicious Recipes to Try
Smoked Pork Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 full rack of pork spare ribs (cleaned)
- canola oil or mustard
- 1/4 cup dry rub (see below)
- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce
Rib Rub (Make about 1/4 rub cup per rack)
- 2 parts black pepper (coarse)
- 1 part Diamond kosher salt
- Whatever other spices you want (paprika, granulated garlic, granulated onion, cayenne, chili)
Instructions
- Prep the ribs: Coat the rib rack in a slather, then evenly coat with about 1/4 cup dry rub.
- Preheat the smoker to 225 to 250° F setup for indirect heat cooking. Use apple wood, cherry, hickory or a combination for smoke.
- Smoke: Place the ribs (bone-side down) in the smoker and smoke without opening the lid for about 3 hours. Check the color. If they look beautifully browned, they are ready for sauce.
- Sauce: Remove the ribs from the smoker and place on a sheet pan. Brush BBQ sauce on both sides of the rib racks. Place back in the smoker for another 15 minutes to 25 minutes to slightly caramelize the sauce.
- Wrap: Remove the ribs from the smoker and wrap them tightly with aluminum foil.
- Continue Cooking: Place the wrapped ribs back in the smoker (or oven) and cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours more, or until they reach the desired tenderness (200-203° F).
- Rest for 20 to 30 minutes wrapped in the foil before serving.
Video
Notes
- The recipe is for a single rack of ribs, but it can easily be scaled up (which I would highly recommend).
- You can use the simple 2:1 ratio of coarse ground pepper to kosher salt for the rub, or go with the full spice rub. Just don’t use both or they will be over-seasoned.
Good stuff.
I used a store bought dry rub “Good Sh*t” with a yellow mustard slather. I cooked up 4 racks of Baby Back ribs in an electric smoker with Apple wood chunks. By the time I took them out of the smoker to do the foil wrap the meat was already pulling back from the bone. I probably could have cooked them a little less but I like when the bone just slides out of the rack. I would definitely recommend this recipe.
Sounds so delicious! Thanks for the great comment. How long did you smoke them for?
5 hours total but I did not sprits every 30 minutes so I could maintain the temp. I did replace my water pan halfway through to maintain moisture though.
I’m fairly new to smoking. I have been grilling since I was young though. I tried your Pork Shoulder and Chicken recipes first. Everything on this site has turned out great. Going to try out your Tri Tip this weekend.
You rock, Doug! I agree about not spritzing too often. There is a trade-off between maintaining temp and spritzing. I believe that maintaining temp is more important and replacing the water pan is super important too if it needs it.
Hi Jason,
Did you cook them on direct or indirect heat on the Big Green Egg? Thanks, Dan
Mmm, it looks amazing! I can smell this perfect fragrance even through the screen. Actually, I’m not a big fan of pork, and my family and friends love chicken or turkey more, but sometimes I vote for preparing a juicy piece of pork in seasonings and with delicious sauce and share it with a big company in a picnic. This is a very good recipe, thank you very much!
Thanks, Ann! Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of pork, the smell coming from the smoker when it has pork inside is just the best. And ribs are just so irresistibly yum for a crowd.
If you love smoked turkey, check out my recipe for that too. 🙂