Pellet Grill Ribs

Enjoy greatly flavored BBQ with ease. Smoky, sweet, and get punched in the mouth with flavor from these Pellet Grill Ribs. Low and Slow. You can do it on the pellet grill. 

I recently got a pellet grill and I wanted to see if I could pull off some of my favorite smoker recipes on the pellet grill. When I was researching the different pellet grills, I found that some offered a "super smoke" feature at a low temperature and others advertised that the lower the temperature you set the grill to, the more smoke the grill will generate to give you that classic bbq smoking taste. In my house, we love yummy, juicy, tender ribs. So I decided to start with that my first time cooking on the pellet grill.

Rubs for Ribs

What type of rub to use? Whatever I am in the mood for. I have a few classic rubs that I enjoy. One of my favorite ingredients in a rub is smoke paprika. Mix equal parts of smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and half a part of salt for an easy rub.  A tablespoon of each should provide enough rub for an entire rack of ribs. I will sometimes make a larger batch of rub and store it in a ziplock or small container for later use.

Feel free to make up your own recipe. Try adding brown sugar for a sweeter bark or even some honey. I typically keep away from cooking the ribs with a wet bbq sauce. We can add a sauce when we serve them for another explosion of flavor. But this is up to you. Experiment and have some fun.

How to Make Pellet Grill Ribs

Step One: I always like to start by cleaning any large chunks of fat that have still remained through the butcher and packing process. I will also remove any silver skin that might remain as well. If we don't the silver skin tightens while cooking and can make any piece of meat very tough to chew, so just remove it if you see it. If this is a full rack of spare ribs, I will typically also cut it down to more manageable-sized pieces. If you have a smaller pellet grill, you want to make sure it will fit on your rack, so you may also need to cut it in half or thirds.

Step Two: Sprinkle with rub seasoning and massage it in. make sure to work it into both sides as well as the edges. Once the ribs are prepared, go fill the pellet grill with pellets and preheat the grill to 225°F.

Step Three: Cook the ribs. Once the grill reaches 225°F, place the ribs in the pellet grill. Cook at 225°F unwrapped for 3 hours. Then place the ribs on a piece of foil along with a tablespoon of apple side vinegar(or bourbon) and wrap the ribs ensuring the liquid doesn't pour out. I used foil but you can use butcher paper as well. Place them back on the grill for 2 hours. After that, remove the foil and place them back on the grill for 1 more hour.

Step Four: Once the ribs have cooked at 225°F for 6 hours, remove them from the grill, re-cover and rest for at least 20 minutes. As you slowly open the foil, the aromatic smoky steam will envelop your senses and you will immediately feel incredibly hungry. For a nice presentation, go ahead and slice the ribs into sections and serve with your favorite BBQ sauce. I recommend offering quests something sweet and something spicy to make sure you have something for everyone. Whether you are using spare ribs or baby backs, these smoked pork ribs will fall right off the bone. Enjoy!

Tips for Cooking Spareribs

This process of cooking ribs, 3 hours unwrapped, 2 hours wrapped, 1 hour unwrapped is referred to as a 321 cooking. So these were technically Traeger 321 ribs. This process is very common in BBQ, especially if you are looking for an easy way to manage the cooking time.

If you are having trouble getting the rub to adhere to the ribs, try first coating them with yellow mustard or honey. This will add stickiness to the surface to better hold the rub.

What to Serve with Pellet Grill Ribs

We served these with our Smoked Cheesy Potatoes but they are also great with Smoked Jalapeno Poppers, Grilled Broccoli, Foil Packet Potatoes, or a Pecan Crusted Goat Cheese salad.

Whatever your favorite bbq ribs recipe is, try cooking it on the pellet grill. There are so many wood pellet flavor options as well. If you like cherry, hickory, or any other wood, they have those options. Find your favorite flavor and have some fun using your pellet smoker to make smoked ribs.