Beef Back Ribs – Prime Rib on a Stick

I just never get tired of smoked beef back ribs or as I call them.. “prime rib on a stick”. There is nothing more beefy and more delicious that you can cook in your smoker not to mention they are easy to prepare and cook in less than 4 hours in most cases.

Because of the super rich beef flavor, I recommend that you try these with my original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub) to add a touch of sweetness to the crust on the outside.

Oh.. and cook up plenty of these because they will go quick.

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 4-5 hours
• Smoker Temp: 225-240°F
• Meat Finish Temp: 180-190°F
• Recommended Wood: Cherry/Oak

• 2-3 racks of beef back ribs
• Jeff's barbecue sauce (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled sauce)
• Yellow mustard
• Jeff's original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub)

Remove the ribs from the packaging and rinse them well under cold water.

Trim away any excess clumps and lumps of fat.

Get hold of the thick skin on the bone side of the beef ribs with a paper towel and pull it clean off. This is not easy so just do the best you can. These things get easier with practice.

You will notice that I placed the ribs into large foil pans for the prep work. This is to contain the mess.

I normally use mustard for a sticky base before adding the rub but I decided to use my barbecue sauce (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled sauce) as a base on half of them.

After the fact I can tell you that there was something just a little more special and more flavorful with the ones that used the sauce instead of mustard.

It worked like a charm in mixing with the rub and creating a beautiful paste on the ribs.

Apply the sauce/mustard first then sprinkle about ¼ cup of Jeff's original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub) on top and work it into the top and sides of the ribs with your hands.

This is the mustard as a base with the original rub.

And this is Jeff's barbecue sauce as a base with my original rub (Purchase formula here | Purchase bottled rub).. the awesome smell of the rub and sauce on the ribs was intoxicating and at this point, I couldn't wait until the beef back ribs were finished cooking!

When you're done, set the ribs aside and go get the smoker ready.

Set up your smoker for cooking at about 225-240°F using indirect heat.

I used an equal mix of cherry and oak but you can use any good smoking wood that you have available.

If your smoker has a water pan, fill it up with water to keep the air inside the smoker nice and humid thereby reducing the drying effect of heated air.

Once the smoker is ready to go, place the ribs directly on the smoker grate or you can use the Weber Grill pan or Bradley Racks to make it easy to move them to and from the smoker.

This version of smoked beef back ribs will take about 4-5 hours depending on the thickness and how much connective tissue there is. I usually check for tenderness and don't necessarily go by the meat temperature on these but these read in at about 180°F when they reached the tenderness that I wanted.

I recommend checking them after a couple of hours at 225-240°F and see where you are.

Once they are finished, place them back in the pan with a piece of foil placed loosely over the top or you can just lay them on a cutting board with foil loosely tented over the top.

Let them rest for about 10 minutes then slice them up and go to town on them bad boys!

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