| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 6 hr 45 min |
| Prep: | 45 min |
| Inactive: | 2 hr |
| Cook: | 4 hr |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 racks baby back ribs (about 3 pounds each)
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- Kosher salt
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1 apple, quartered
- 1 cup apple juice or cider
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- Vegetable oil, for brushing
Instructions
- Prepare the ribs (see below). Combine the brown sugar, chili powder, paprika, cumin, mustard powder and 2 tablespoons salt in a small bowl. Rub the ribs all over with the cut sides of the lemon and then the spice mixture and place in a large roasting pan or resealable plastic bag. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Meanwhile, soak the wood chips in water 1 hour, then prepare your grill for smoking, filling the smoker box with one-quarter each of the wood chips and apple.
- About 30 minutes before smoking, remove the ribs from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature. Meanwhile, combine the apple juice, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar in a small spray bottle. Shake to mix.
- Once the grill reaches 250 degrees F, lightly brush the grates with vegetable oil and place the ribs on the cooler side of the grill, meat-side up. Spray with the apple juice mixture. Close the grill and let smoke 1 hour.
- Replenish the smoker box with another one-quarter each of the wood chips and apple. Flip the ribs so they’re meat-side down with the opposite edge of the racks closer to the smoker box. Spray with the apple juice mixture; close the grill and let smoke 1 more hour. Repeat this process every hour until the ribs are dark brown and tender and the meat starts to shrink away from the bones, about 2 more hours. Remove the ribs from the grill and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.
- How to prep your ribs:
- Position the ribs meat-side down. Insert a paring knife under the membrane that covers the back of the rack. Loosen the membrane with the knife. Grab the membrane with your fingers and peel off completely.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 1173 |
| Total Fat | 82 g |
| Saturated Fat | 27 g |
| Carbohydrates | 22 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 17 g |
| Protein | 87 g |
| Cholesterol | 313 mg |
| Sodium | 1320 mg |
Reviews
The first step is removing the membrane there super chef. Soaking wood chips only produces carbon and leaves unwanted black residue on your meats, yuck. Spraying liquids on your ribs truly is unnecessary as it cannot penetrate the meat, obviously. Fruits might impart a slight hint of something if you wrap your ribs in tinfoil for the last hour with BBQ sauce but other than that is a waste of good fruit. Consider taking that lemon and zesting it before juicing it. Both juice and zest can be frozen for later use. If you want to step up your rib game, keep it simple stupid. Also get a real smoker of some sort cheap skate.
I’ve done these a few times now. As I mentioned in a reply to someone else’s comment below, I use the charcoal snake method in my sideways barrel style grill and it works perfectly. The snake method is where you have 2-3 rows of charcoal briquettes lining the circumference of the fuel area of your bbq. Mine is a barrel on its side and is long so takes 1/3 to 1/2 a bag of briquettes. I do three rows: two on the bottom and one on top.
The ribs come out great after about 4-6 hours of smoking, depending on the rack. For beef ribs, it’s 5-6 hours; for pork baby back ribs, it’s about 4ish hours.
I’ve made these in the oven a few times instead of smoking and they are delish! Same temp, same times. Works perfectly!
Love it
You do not say how much charcoal to use !! Do you use 1/2 the starter box and then add after 1 hour or 2??
Not a easy recipe to follow
sorry
Great
Great
Very helpful. Easy peasy!
Question, what do I do with the quartered apple?
I made it without using the lemon and it was still fantastic! My family loved it and my picky eater oldest daughter actually ate a whole quarter rack. Definitely going to make it again.