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These baby back ribs were so good and I cannot wait to share this recipe with you. Having a little knowledge about this cut and in turn how to cook it can go a long way. Ultimately, you need patience and time for these to turn out amazing. Back ribs (or loin ribs) come from the top of the pig’s rib cage and sit just below the pork loin (thus the name loin ribs). They are shorter and fatter than their counterparts Spare ribs. As with any cut of meat you plan to smoke, knowing the mass and density of the meat is important. Ribs are a much smaller cut and leaner so to cook them right you need a lower temperature and longer time. I will walk you through my process below and explain the steps along the way. Now sit back, grab an ice cold IPA, and enjoy this post for Big Green Egg Baby Back Ribs.
Big Green Egg Baby Back Ribs
Ingredients for this recipe are simple: yellow mustard, BBQ rub, and of course the baby back ribs!
Trim any excess fat and remove the membrane from the bone side of the ribs.
Apply a small amount of mustard as a binder for the BBQ rub then generously season the front and back of the ribs with the rub. For this cook, I used one of my favorite rubs Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust
.
For this cook I preheated the Big Green Egg to 225° and used 2 chunks of hickory wood and 2 chunks of apple wood.
I placed the ribs inside and had an aluminum drip pan sitting on top of my ConvEGGtor
to catch the drippings.
Leave the ribs alone for the first hour. After that check on them every hour and spritz with a mix of apple juice and apple cider.
Between 4 – 5 hours start checking the ribs to see if the meat has pulled back from the bone and they pass the “bend test“.
Now bump the temp to 275° and pour some BBQ sauce on the ribs. Using a brush apply evenly to the surface of the ribs. Let the sauced ribs cook in that higher temp for 10 minutes or so until the sauce sets.
It is time to slice these beauties and serve!
Big Green Egg Baby Back Ribs
Ingredients
- Baby Back Ribs
- Yellow mustard
- BBQ rub
- 1 c apple juice
- 1 c apple cider vinegar
- Hot sauce
- Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Preheat your Big Green Egg to 225° using 3 - 4 chunks of smoking wood
- As the grill comes up to temp start prepping your ribs
- Pull the membrane off the bone side and trim excess fat and loose ends
- Put a small amount of yellow mustard on the front and back of the ribs and spread evenly to create a binder for your rub
- Apply the rub front and back until evenly coated
- Place the ribs in the Big Green Egg and leave alone for the first hour
- After that check on the ribs every hour and spray with a mix of apple juice, cider vinegar, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce
- After 3 hours bump the temp to 250°
- At the 4.5 hour mark check the ribs to see if the meat has pulled away from the bone and the ribs pass the "bend test" if so move on to next step and if not wait 30 minutes and check again
- At the 5 hour mark (or when your ribs pass the previous step) glaze with BBQ sauce and bump temp to 275°
- Let the ribs sit in the BIg Green Egg another 10 minutes until the sauce sets
- Pukl, slice and enjoy!
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I bet your boy is way to smart! He know your wel spot and used it to get you created these haha! I can’t wait till my boys come up withthese challenge haha
Nice one
He sure did motivate me!
So are the ribs fall off the bone this method or with a little tug?
My family says every method I have had so far renders the ribs into mush or more of the consistency of pulled pork.
You can go a little longer for fall off the bone. But for this cook they needed a little tug. Great ribs!
Do you leave the ribs in the rack when you do the temperature change and when you glaze them do you lay them directly on the cooking grid with the converter still in place or do you remove it?
I did not leave the ribs in the rack. Put them bone side down right on top of the grill grid. Left the egg setup using indirect heat.
Can you use just one rack of ribs and still use this method!
Absolutely!
Would you say using the rib rack changes how the ribs are cooked (cooked evenly, etc) vs cooked laying flat during the entire process?
Ron that’s a great question. I believe it distributes heat more evenly but more importantly smoke. I have some ribs both ways and find little difference. So, you are good either way.
Made these tonight. By far the best ribs I’ve ever had!
Thanks Ron! Appreciate your comment.
What was the internal temperature of the ribs when you pulled them? Did you wrap them when in foil?
Not sure about temp as I cook ribs by feel not temp. And yes, I used foil when wrapping ribs.
I used this method with ribs from Publix. I live in Florida. And the ribs came out horrible. The ribs you have in the pictures are half the size of the ones they offer around where I live. I might have to go to local butcher but it’s the CUT of the ribs as well as the method of cooking. While this seems to be a good method (why I chose to use it in first place) it all depends on the cut and size of ribs also. I can never find thin ribs like you have displayed.
Since this post, I have cooked at least 1000 ribs in all shapes and sizes. The one thing I can echo is… every cook is different and any recipe (including this one) is a reference not a specific set of instructions. As you know, you have to cook with your 5 senses as that is the only way you will know when BBQ is done. Thanks for the comment and the follow.
You probably cooked St. Louis ribs not baby back
Ok
You cooked St. Louis Style ribs and that’s a different ball game. Not as good IMO.
This is the Car Wash Mike Method which has been on the Green Egg Forums for ages. It’s a tried and true way to smoke great ribs. You should credit Mike, may he RIP.
Thanks for the call out. Had I got this from Mike and the boards I’d certainly credit him. Keep Eggin’ on brother!
These look amazing! I’ve never started the ribs at 200 but will try. I’m throwing 2 racks on for mothers day. If I cut the racks in half to create 4 mini racks, will that impact the time of the cook?
No, it will not impact the cook time at all. Thanks for checking in 🙂
This is my first attempt at the baby backs on the egg. I’ve been using the egg for 10 years. I’m very spoiled about baby back says I have never had any better than MichelBob’s in Naples. First of all, unlike many other recipes this was very straightforward. One step, no significant basting or marinating or prep work. Some of the others that I found were very offputting. These require literally about two minutes of prep work, takeoff the membrane, slather on some mustard and rub. That’s it. With the Bbq Guru I was able to keep the temp pretty good. These were as good as MichelBob’s. They were absolutely falling off the bone and terrific flavor. Kudos
Kind words my friend! Thanks for taking the time to write that.