Okay, we are about to reveal the best baby back ribs recipe that anyone can do to wow the toughest crowd. We have spent this whole past year trying to perfect this way of making ribs and we finally have it down. It was a labor of love for sure, but so well worth it. These 3-2-1 Smoked Ribs are to die for and fall off the bone tender. Like, get from your favorite BBQ joint fall of the bone tender! Yes, you can quote me on that! But when you live with a hubby who is passionate about food, and particularly meats, it is important to get your meat recipes right!
We can do the 3-2-1 method now in our sleep, and it is the only way we will ever do ribs for the rest our mortal lives! So if you have a smoker, and a rack of ribs ready to be eaten, follow along with these detailed steps to smoke the perfect ribs!
Step 1: Before the Smoker
First, you prep your meat and turn on the smoker. Set your smoker to 225°. If your smoker has the option, turn on Super Smoke. We are obsessed with our Traeger Grill so that’s our tool of choice but any smoker will work great with these same instructions! We start but flipping over the meat, bone side up and begin removing the silver skin. The silver skin is that really thin membrane. It can sometimes be tricky to do but if you use a paper towel to grip it rather than just holding on with your fingers, you will be able to grip a piece of it and rip it right off. This step isn’t necessary, but we prefer it because that’s less you have to bit through later when chomping into those tender pieces of rib pork meat. Always make sure to completely pat off your meat with a paper towel to get it as dry as possible. Ensure the water/juices are off of the outside of your rib rack will guarantee your binder, mustard, sticks to the meat. This is where we get to the dijon mustard, any mustard will do or if you don’t have it then use oil. Add a thin layer of mustard to the entire rack. Top, sides, bottom, in any cuts or groves in the meat. The mustard will not be part of the flavor of your ribs, so if you normally don’t like mustard don’t worry about this part, you are mainly using it b/c it’s fast, rubs on and sticks really well and helps you make sure you can see that the whole thing is covered. With that being said we usually choose Dijon simply b/c it will give it just a tiny hint of tangy/spice but honestly it probably doesn’t add any flavor.
Now the fun part and where you can get your camera out to get the perfect instagram shot. After you have covered your rack of ribs completely in a thin layer or mustard, or binder, now we get to add the seasoning. We rotate which seasonings we use each time, depending on our mood, but typically stick to Pork focused rub seasonings. You can find a large variety of PORK focused rubs at any grocery store. So whatever rub you choose take it and shake it over the entire rib rack. And do not be shy, you can put it think over your ribs. First times I guarantee you are not putting enough on, even when you think you have. You can tell you did when you see the entire rack covered, top/bottom/sides, with no bare spots showing. By this point your rack of ribs should be looking pretty good, that rub usually gives it a great color, and it’s ready for the smoker.
Step 2: First time on the Smoker
Onto step two. Now we get smoking. You simply throw that rack of ribs on your grill, bone side down, and shut your smoker lid. You’re going to smoke this for three hours without changing the temperature, opening the lid to check on it, you really don’t have to do anything. Some will say you need to open it every 45 mins to spritz the ribs with some apple juice, water or combination of apple vinegar. I’ve done it both ways and on ribs, with this method, I can’t tell a different. So for that purpose, set your temp, throw those ribs on and walk away. This is where you get to relax for three hours and let every think you were slaving away ALL DAY making your famous ribs. That’s almost enough time to watch Gone With The Wind, well I guess if you watch it at 1.25x speed. But seriously leaving the meat in there without opening the lid will only make the meat get a better smoke flavor and that is the whole reason we are doing this. *note: this is really the only step that will get the smoke flavor into the meat, after that you are just cooking the meat and getting it to temp. Smoke only penetrates the meat so far and only for so long in the beginning so this step is crucial for smoke absorption.
Step 3: Second time on the Smoker
Once those puppies have sat out there for three hours open up the lid and bring your ribs inside. Don’t worry about rushing on how fast you do this next step, if it takes you 2 mins or 10 mins it will not matter. Set out a few long piece of heavy duty tin foil, you are going to set the ribs down on top of them. Place the ribs meat side down, this means the exposed part of the rib bones are facing up towards the ceiling. We do it this way for a couple reasons I’ll explain in a minute. With the ribs on the tin foil, start to fold up the sides of the tin foil in preparation of sealing the ribs up tight but don’t close it all the way. Before you fold over and roll the joining tin foil ends over the ribs we need to do a few things first. This is where we are going to drop that butter in. Put the butter in thin cubes and across the bones of the ribs, this isn’t a perfect science the butter will melt and end up at the bottom of the foil soon but putting it on top of the bones ensures they get some of that flavor too. Then add the honey, drizzle it over the ribs, on top of the butter. Next comes the brown sugar, same thing here just sprinkle that across the top of the bones of the rib rack. Now I like to sprinkle some extra seasoning on top of everything but it’s optional. The extra seasoning isn’t going to bind to the outside of the ribs it’s simply going to add to the flavor the ribs are going to be cooking in during this next step. The last thing to do is poor in your apple juice. Yeah, really, just pour it on top of everything. This is why we pre-wrapped up the sides of the foil so that wouldn’t run out all over the place. Now your done with this step’s prep work.
Remember I said I’d explain while the meat goes down on the tin foil and the bones go up. Well here it is. All those juices are going to further cook and more importantly tenderize the meat. So as gravity does its thing, brining everything to the bottom, you want that all going directly into the main part of the pork meat. The ribs have a natural bow to them so if the bones are down the juices will sit below the meat and they wont become as tender. Now here is the most important part. With this step you are not trying to steam the meat. Steaming the meat is not what we are doing that and wont get you the same hearty flavor you are looking for with smoked meat. What we are doing is braising the meat, in the way of cooking it in it’s juices without the air. Extra air in there will cause steam so for this purpose you need to remember this important step, WRAP THE TIN FOIL TIGHTLY around the ribs. Not so tight that you poke the bones through the tin foil, you want it air tight. But seriously wrap the tin foil up tight to avoid any air pockets. This is the second reason why the ribs go meat side down, it’s a lot easy to bring the foil up and over the ribs and then roll it down on top of the bone part of the ribs, when it caves down, without putting a hole in the tin foil Been there, done that, and yes apple juice goes everywhere. So now you’re done with this step, throw it back on the smoker, same temp, and then leave it there for 2 hours. You can go up to 2.5 hours, but do not go shorter, this step really helps break down all the collagen and tough part of the pork meat.
Step 4: Final time on the smoker
Now that it’s been wrapped up and cooking with the tinfoil for over two hours, bring on back inside to pull it out of the tin foil. Open it up, but watch out for hot air, and set your ribs onto a baking pan, cutting board or something you can use to be able to walk it back over to the smoker. This last step is the easiest. Simply take you barbecue sauce of choice and lather it on every inch of those ribs. We are looking to create a glaze on the outside of the ribs and you want that glaze to have time to caramelize, putting it on before you start the last portion of your smoke will do that. Don’t be shy, add as much sauce as you want. And again, an optional step, if you want hit it with a light dusting of your seasoning to give it that same flavor you were looking for. Here is the part where I throw the thermometer in the ribs. Put it down into the thickest part of the ribs, most towards the center of the rack. Make sure you don’t poke it threw to the outside, you want the tip of the thermometer to be in the middle of the meat. Now put it back on the smoker grates meat side up, bones down. That’s it, now you wait. And what are you waiting for? Timing on this step is less important and it’s more important to hit a temperature in your pork.
Pork is safe to eat at 145 degrees but eating ribs at that temperature will have all of your friends running to Taco Bell and if that’s better than your cooking then you’ve got serious issues. So here is where we need to see the thickest part of the ribs hit 195-205. Why the spread? Generally b/c that is the typical range the meat will be fall of the bone and complete tenderized. Remember you have all that collagen and fat in pork ribs that needs to render, or break down, to make it nice and juicy and easy for your teeth to bite right through. So this is why we need to cook this pork to a much higher temp. Normally this takes about an hour, sometimes it can take longer. If you need to speed up the process, have dinner guests showing up, you can up your smoker temperature to get it to cook a bit faster. In that case I’ll throw it up to 275. Since you are cooking the meat faster with higher heat I’d error on pull it once it’s hit 205. If you are cooking the meat slow and low, 225, all the way threw then 195 is a good tempt. Just remember this last step is less to do with time and more to do with internal temperature of the ribs.
Step 5: Get Fooding
Now the best step of the whole process. This is where all your hard work is paid off and you get to show the neighborhood what kind of a BBQ champion you are, even if this is the first time you’ve made ribs. Trust me, follow these steps and it will work. Once your ribs have hit that magical internal temperature of 195-205 pull those puppies off the smoker and shut your machine down. It’s done it’s job and deserves a moment to rest. Place your ribs on a large cutting board and put that directly onto the center of the table. Give the meat a few moments to rest and soak back up those juices, but it doesn’t need more than a few minutes and not to the full extent of cooking a steak. Take a large knife and cut between the bones to split off one or two or three or four rib bones at a time. The fun part is watching the meat fall off the bone as you do this and seeing the juices squeeze out as you press on it. A guaranteed way to wow your family and dinner guests. Top with any additional BBQ sauce you want, serve with our perfectly boiled corn on the cob, and GET FOODING!
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, We earn from qualifying purchases.
3-2-1 Smoked Perfection Ribs
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...These 3-2-1 Smoked Ribs are to die for and fall off the bone tender. Like, get from your favorite BBQ joint fall of the bone tender! Smoked to perfection and so delicious! Finger Lickin' good!
Ingredients
- 1 rack of baby back ribs, thawed
- 4-6 TBLS Dijon mustard
- 1/4-1/3 cup pork/rib rub, we like the killer hogs brand
- 3 TBLS salted butter, softened
- 4 TBLS honey
- 1 cup apple juice
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
Instructions
Set your smoker to 225°. If your smoker has the option, turn on Super Smoke.
Flip over the meat, bone side up and begin removing the silver skin. The silver skin is that really thin membrane on top of the meat.
Completely pat off your meat with a paper towel to get it as dry as possible.
Rub dijon mustard over every part of the meat.
Add seasoning over every party of the meat as well and pat on to stick.
Throw that rack of ribs on your grill, bone side down, and shut your smoker lid. Smoke for 3 hours without opening the lid.
After the 3 hours, open up the lid and bring your ribs inside.
Set out a few long piece of heavy duty tin foil, you are going to set the ribs down on top of them. Place the ribs meat side down.
Drop that butter on top of the ribs in thin slices across.
Then add the honey, drizzle it over the ribs, on top of the butter.
Next top with brown sugar by sprinkling all over. Then sprinkle with a little of the seasoning.
Lastly pour the apple juice over the ribs, and wrap up the ribs tightly with the tin foil with no air pockets.
Throw the ribs back on the smoker, same temp, and then leave it there for 2 hours. You can go up to 2.5 hours, but do not go shorter.
Now that it's been wrapped up and cooking with the tinfoil for over two hours, bring on back inside to pull it out of the tin foil.
Open it up, and take you barbecue sauce of choice and lather it on every inch of those ribs. Put a little more seasoning on top again.
Put the ribs meat side up back on the smoker towards the center of the rack. Put your thermometer probe in the middle of the meat.
Once meat hits a temp between 195°-205°, the meat is ready to be pulled off.
Place your ribs on a large cutting board and let the meat rest for a few minutes to soak up all the juices.
Take a large knife and cut between the bones.
Top with any additional BBQ sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
1. If your smoker has the option, turn on Super Smoke. This will give your meat a smokier taste. --- 2. You can find a large variety of PORK focused rubs at any grocery store.--- 3. We like using dijon mustard as the binder, but any mustard will do or if you don't have it then use oil. --- 4. It is really important to not open the lid after the meat goes in. It is crucial for smoke absorption. --- 5. We love eating the meat when it hits an internal temp of 205°. The meat is most tender at this point. --- 6. Another tip to know if your meat is done, is to look at the rib bones. If they have white speckled spots all over, they are done! And of course if the bone can be pulled out of the meat easily, then it is ready to eat.
