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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.
Chris, First thing! Thanks so much for the intel. I’ve had my BGE for 21 years now. Still looks great. My daughter and I did a refresh on it back in 2018. I’ve cooked dozens of racks over of the years. I am in the middle of following you rmethod and I will tell you I learned more from your video than I have learn in years. The biggie waiting until the intial white smoke is gone before putting them on. I’ll give you an update when I’m done. Thanks a million!
Timothy thanks for the kind words! I hope the ribs came out great.
Inspiring video and recipe! I’m going to try this TODAY for the first time. This will also be my first time with such and long duration cock on my extra lg BGE. SO wondering how much lump charcoal you start with and did you need to add any additional charcoal or wood chunks during the cook?
Thanks for the positive energy! I typically fill the firebowl 3/4 of the way with lump and nestle 3-4 chunks of smoking wood in with the charcoal. Should last the whole cook. Here is another post where I review my setup: https://thebbqbuddha.com/how-to-set-your-big-green-egg-for-low-and-slow/
Foiling is key!!
It certainly is one way of cooking ribs…
I don’t use a mustard binder. I coat my ribs with the dry rub and vacuum seal them the night before. That gives them a good 15 hours to marinate with the dry rub and juices. Bring to room temperature and on they go.
That’s awesome. I bet they are delicious.
Yo Buddha – love this recipe. Just goes to show less can be more. Followed your instructions to the letter and cooked the best ribs of my life! Even tasted the benefit of adding barbecue sauce during the last 30 minutes of cooking. This is how I will cook ribs forever. Thanks so much for sharing, Dan O’Leary
Kind words Dan. Thank you ?
First time ever doing this and it turned out great! I never thought I could take off a membrane, but your instructions were so easy! I’m new to the BGE, followed your directions to a tee and they came out perfectly! I’m going to try your leg of lamb this weekend. Mine is boneless, so I hope it works. Thanks again!
Thanks for the kind words!
Awesome recipe! Made a couple slabs on the BGE XL today. Family demolished em. Thanks Chris!
Thanks brother! Always good hearing from my Chitown people!!!
I can’t buy the use of smoking wood to get to temp. I believe the coal should be started, smoke is replaced by “sweet blue” smoke. I will use 300 deg. (Doing five racks tomorrow”.)
My first ever baby back ribs on my Kamado grill and they were PERFECT! Your instructions were easy to follow and I learned so much cooking them. The bend test worked, I knew to pull them half hour earlier because they were done. Thanks so much!
What a nice response. Thank you 🙏
These are the best ribs ever. I tried several recipes that dried them out by using a timed method. This was much better. I can do ribs now. Thank you.
You are most welcome 🤗