Smoked Beef Back Ribs – How Long at 225F

One of my favorite BBQ Blogs is How to BBQ Right, by The Killer Hogs BBQ Team and my friend, Malcom Reed. If you aren’t a subscriber, get over there and subscribe now. My man knows BBQ. I mean, he REALLY knows BBQ. He was on The Big BBQ Radio Show awhile back and was one of my favorite all time guests.

So this recipe dropped into my inbox from Malcom…and after I wiped the drool from my keyboard I knew was I was cooking that night. No seriously, I had to cook it THAT night. I couldn’t wait. I invited my family over and told them we’d be eating Smoked Beef Back Ribs, for the first time ever.

Prepare and Season the Beef Ribs

So first things first, you do NOT peel off the membrane with these ribs. Leave it on so the ribs don’t fall apart during the cooking process. Also, there’s not much trimming to do.

As you can see from this picture, there is not a ton of fat on these. I did almost no trimming or prep on these whatsoever.

I gave the ribs a light coating of olive oil to help the rub bind to the meat, then a heavy dose of my Award Winning Brisket Rub. I love this rub and think it worked well for these ribs.

If you don’t have a beef rub, you can either try making mine, or if you want to keep it simple, just go with a blend of salt, pepper, garlic and onion.

Let the ribs rest at room temperature for about an hour to let the rub work its way into the meat.

Smoke the Beef Back Ribs at 225F

I smoked the ribs at 225 for about 3 hours using Pecan and Cherry.  The strong flavor of the beef pairs up really nice with the aggressive smoke profile of these woods.

After 3 hours in the smoke I wrapped the ribs to help the fat break down and add more layers of flavor. At the wrap stage, I did a similar mixture to what Malcom does in his recipe – butter, garlic, onion and Worcestershire.  Wrap the ribs tightly in two layers of aluminum foil and cook for another 2 hours.

(If you want a faster cooking recipe then check out this recipe for Smoked Beef Chuck Riblets)

You know the ribs are done when the bone is showing and you can separate the bones with a  light twist. The internal temperature of the beef will be about 195F at this point.

The Result

I didn’t sauce mine – I ate them as is about 30 seconds after this last picture was taken.

They’re quite different than pork ribs, so don’t be disappointed when they’re a different experience. These are a very tasty treat if you want to do something different on your smoker and are a fan of beef as I am.

I loved this and will absolutely be doing Smoked Beef Ribs again.

Smoked Beef Back Ribs at 225F

Beef back ribs are trimmed, seasoned with a dry rub and smoked for five hours until tender and delicious!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 hours hrs

Total Time 5 hours hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Calories 575 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 2 racks beef back ribs
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 c Beef Rub

For Wrap Liquid:

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp minced onion
• 1 tbs Worcestershire

Instructions

 

• Trim any excess fat from ribs.
• Drizzle olive oil over ribs, then sprinkle a good coating of beef rub all over.
• Get your smoker to 225-240 or set up your grill for indirect cooking/smoking.
• Smoke ribs for 3 hours.
• In a piece of aluminum foil, place one rack of ribs meat side down, then drizzle half of wrap liquid mixture on top. Wrap. Do the same with the other rack.
• Place back on smoker, wrapped, for about another 2 hours until bones are showing and you can pull bones apart easily.

Notes

It can be hard to find a nice looking rack of beef back ribs as butchers try to take most of the meat off for use as steaks. There is always still plenty of meat left between the bones.

There is a membrane on the back of these ribs that will not get tender during the cooking process. Some people like to remove the membrane while other people leave it on.

Keyword Smoked Beef Back Ribs