Savoring the Sweetness, With a Little Kick: The Ultimate Baby Back Ribs Recipe

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Kaydon

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If you have read my previous post, you will know that for the longest time I have struggled with ribs. It was just one of those things that I could never get right. When I made the decision to pursue competition bbq, I did a bunch of research on different strategies to perfect the ultimate ribs. I am not sure if these are perfect, but they sure are delicious! I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do!

Ingredients

  • One rack of baby back ribs
  • Dijon Mustard for your binder
  • Seasoning of your choice. I made my own that I call “Gotcha” (Mainly salt, pepper, brown sugar, and some spices including paprika and cayenne for a little kick) This seasoning has a small kick to it if you are trying to compare to some of your favorite seasonings.
  • Apple Cider Vinegar for spritzing
  • One stick of butter
  • Handful and a half of brown sugar (probably about a cup if you’re a measurements person)
  • Blackberry jalapeño jelly
  • Your favorite BBQ sauce (optional)

Fire up your smoker or pellet grill

For this recipe I have cooked on both an offset smoker and on a pellet grill. Both times they have turned out delicious. For point of reference, I have a Traeger Ironwood 885 as my pellet smoker and an Old Country BBQ Pecos offset smoker. Fire up whatever smoker you are using to 250 degrees. I usually use post oak, but hickory and mesquite wood also work well.

Preparing the Ribs

Unpackage your ribs and flip them meat side down so that you can remove the membrane. I have found that my ribs are usually more successful and taste better when I remove the membrane from the back of the ribs. If you have never done this before, it is very simple, just grab a paper towel and yank that thing off. If you are buying from your local butcher, you can ask them to remove it for you as well.

After the membrane is removed, apply Dijon Mustard to your ribs as your binder. You don’t need a ton, but just enough to cover your ribs in a thin layer. Applying the binder will allow that seasoning to set perfectly and not fall off.

After your binder is set, it is time to apply your seasoning. Like I said, I use my own seasoning, but this step can be substituted for whatever you would like to use. Apply a heavy coat of your favorite seasoning to the bone side of the ribs and let it adhere (sit) until the ribs look soaking wet. Flip the ribs to the meat side and repeat the same step. You should let these sit no more than 30 minutes per side.

Time to Cook

Once your smoker is at 250 degrees and your ribs have adhered, it is time to throw those things on and get going. I place them meat side up as far from the fire as I can. Second rack on the Traeger, as far away from the firebox as I can on the offset.

In order to keep great moisture on these ribs, I spritz about every 45 minutes to an hour with apple cider vinegar. This is not a perfect science, sometimes I get antsy and I spritz at 30-35 minutes, sometimes I get busy or forget and spritz at a little over the hour mark, so don’t beat yourself up if it is not exact timing.

The Wrap

BBQ is difficult because there really isn’t an exact temperature you are looking for when it comes time to wrap. Different racks cook differently and some cook faster than others. When I wrap I am really just looking for color. I want to see that change in color, they should be starting to turn a mahogany color. When I see this, I know it is time to wrap them in foil. This typically will be somewhere between the 2- 2.5 hour mark. Again it could be longer and there is not a perfect answer, just use your best judgement.

Once you see this perfect color, lay two pieces of heavy duty foil (or one piece of the XL heavy duty foil) down and grab your butter, brown sugar, and jalapeño blackberry jelly. Slice the stick of butter and lay each chunk along the foil about the length of the ribs. Next, take about a handful and a half of brown sugar (probably about 1 cup) and sprinkle it on top of your butter. Finally, take a spoon of your jalapeño blackberry jelly and spoon it on top of the brown sugar (I usually use about half a jar.) The pepper jelly is completely up to you on what you use. I personally have used a local homemade jalapeño jelly that is out of this world and really amplifies the flavor of the ribs. For this recipe I used a blackberry jalapeño jelly. I have also used just your average pepper jelly. All are delicious and give a unique flavor to the ribs.

Once you have your bed of ingredients it is time to lay down the ribs. Set the ribs meat side up on the foil above the bed of ingredients. When you wrap, you will flip your ribs so that the meat side is down, directly laying on top of all of the ingredients. I do this so that the meat is directly soaking in all of these flavors, and it is basically laying in a pool of goodness. Wrap tight and stick back on the smoker meat side down.

Finishing the Cook

Once your ribs are wrapped it’s all downhill from here. If you are in a hurry, you can bump your temp up to 300 or even 325 degrees tp finish them quick. They’re wrapped and sitting in a pool of liquid, you won’t dry them out. If you are not in a hurry, you can let it ride at 250 degrees and cruise to the finish line. So, how do you know when they’re done? Again, there is not a perfect degree that you are looking for. What you are looking for here is a the rib bones to be protruding about a quarter inch out from the meat. This is a good indicator that they are done. If you want to temp them, place your meat thermometer in between the bones, and it should read anywhere between 201-210 degrees. If you like your ribs with a little bite and pull, pull them more towards that low 200’s. If you like fall off the bone ribs, leave them on a little bit longer and the internal temperature will be a little closer to that 210 degree mark.

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Optional Saucing

These specific ribs that I made are not sauced, I am currently working on a bbq sauce for competition that I will use, but I have not perfected it yet and I really just wanted to see how the meat and seasoning tasted stand alone. I do love bbq sauce on my ribs though. If you want to add sauce to your ribs, after you pull them off, unwrap them and let them sit uncovered for about 20 or so minutes. This allows the ribs to stop cooking. Once you have waited the 20ish minutes, grab your own, or your favorite bbq sauce and sauce away. After your ribs are covered in sauce, stick them back on the smoker for about 10-15 minutes. This allows the bbq sauce to stick to the ribs and be a lot less messy when you eat them. The goal is not to continue cooking the ribs, so you don’t want to leave the sauced ribs on there for a long time. This could cause the ribs to get tacky and could ruin all of your hard work.

Enjoy!

You did it! Awesome job! Whether you follow this to a T, or completely ignore me and try something else, I would love to hear about how you cook your ribs, especially if you do competitions. I would love feedback from this recipe, or to learn from what you do and try it out!

Grill On!

Kaydon

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Kaydon
Father of four kids under four years old. Assistant principal of an elementary school just trying to find time to do what I love!
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