Smoked Ribs

Summer gives people more reasons to spend time outdoors. Longer evenings, holiday weekends, and backyard celebrations create the perfect setting for slow-cooked barbecue shared with family and friends. This Smoked Ribs recipe combines rich smoke flavor, a beautiful bark, and tender texture to create a meal that feels right at home during the busiest season of outdoor living.

Created with Chef Johan Magnusson of Big Swede BBQ, this recipe highlights a simple approach to producing competition-worthy ribs in your own backyard. While great barbecue takes patience, the process becomes part of the experience. As the smoke rolls and the aroma fills the air, anticipation builds with every passing hour.

For this cook, the TrueFlame Grill paired with TrueFlame Stainless Steel Smoker Trays creates the ideal setup for adding authentic wood-fired flavor. The smoker trays make it easy to introduce your favorite wood chips while maintaining the convenience and control of gas grilling. As a result, you can enjoy consistent temperatures and reliable performance throughout the cook without sacrificing the flavor that makes smoked ribs so memorable.

Whether you’re hosting a Fourth of July cookout, spending a weekend by the pool, or simply enjoying a relaxing afternoon outdoors, these ribs bring people together around great food and good company. Once finished, each bite delivers a balance of smoke, seasoning, and tenderness that showcases why barbecue remains a summer favorite year after year.

For more outdoor cooking inspiration, follow TrueFlame Brand Ambassador Johan Magnusson of Big Swede BBQ across social media. You can also find his award-winning rubs, recipes, and cookbooks at BigSwedeBBQ.com to keep fresh ideas coming all season long.

Makes 3 racks

Smoked Ribs Ingredients

• 3 racks of pork spareribs

• Wood chunks/chips - fruit woods like apple and cherry

• Aluminum foil for wrapping

Rubs

• Swimming in Smoke Booty Shake Hot rub

• Victory Lane Cherry Bomb BBQ rub

• Victory Lane Gold Dust rub

• 2 – 2 ½ cups of brown sugar

• agave nectar

Glaze

• Favorite BBQ sauce

• Brown sugar 

• Agave nectar

Smoked Ribs Directions

1. I prefer spare ribs, and the best way to cook them is St. Louis-style. It highlights the prime part of the rib bone and has a richer flavor. Start with large, meaty ribs. Make sure the ribs have no shiners (ribs where the butcher has cut away too much meat, leaving the bones to shine through).

2. To trim ribs St Louis style, cut the rib between the rib bones and where the sternum and cartilage portion begins. Cut along the ribs; you are looking for a uniform, square slab of ribs. Remove the flap of meat on the back of the ribs. With a paper towel, peel the membrane off the ribs. One of the most common mistakes people still make is leaving the membrane on, which makes the rib tough.

3. The next step is to rub the ribs. I prefer using three rubs. The first rub will serve as a good foundation and add great flavor. In this example, I use Swimming in Smoke Booty Shake Hot - it gives the rub a great bite after the cook. The second rub I chose for coloring the rib. In this case, I used Victory Lane Cherry Bomb BBQ rub. Cherry gives ribs and chicken a wonderful color. And don't worry, the ribs won't taste of cherry; most of the flavor disappears during the cooking. The third rub is optimal - I like to use a finishing rub at the end of the cook. In this example, I used Victory Lane Gold Dust, with very high sugar content, so it adds a great sweet flavor at the end. The third rub is optimal; we will achieve enough sweetness in the end with a glaze. 

4. After the rub is applied, press the spices into the meat lightly. Let the rub sit on the rub for 30-40 minutes, not longer. It will allow the salt to penetrate the meat and pull some of the water out (the rib will be searing). But don't let it sit too long.

5. While the ribs are resting, prepare the smoker. I like to cook the ribs at 235 degrees F. I also recommend fruit chunks like apple and cherry. It will give the ribs a light smoke flavor. Let the dirty smoke burn out and when you have a clear blue, very thin smoke coming out of the smoker, you are ready to start cooking.

6. I smoke the ribs for about 2 hours without opening the lid. After two hours, I look at them. What I am looking for is color - I want them to have a nice red/orange color. Don't add more wood chunks - after about two hours, the ribs will not take on more smoke flavor, so adding wood chunks is not beneficial at that stage.

7. When the ribs have a nice color, it is time to wrap the ribs. It is important to complete this step quickly so the ribs don't lose too much heat.

8. Remove the ribs from the smoker. Use two large heavy-duty pieces of aluminum foil for each rib. Sprinkle brown sugar (about 1/2 cup) and agave nectar (or honey, if you prefer) across the length of the foil. Place the ribs down, then sprinkle brown sugar and agave nectar on the back of the ribs. Wrap the ribs very tightly in foil; make sure there are no air pockets. These will cause the ribs to steam and not cook.

9. Return the ribs to the smoker for another 1 1/2 hours or so.

10. Remove the ribs and check for doneness. The bones should be breaking through the meat on the backside, and the ribs should have a significant bend, but should not break when you lift them. When they are done, baste them.

11. I like a mix of BBQ sauce, agave nectar, and some apple juice. I mix 50/50 sauce and nectar, then add some apple juice to thin out the glaze. I baste both sides and, optionally, add the finishing rub here. You could either rewrap the ribs and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or put them back on the smoker. In this case, they were slightly underdone, so I put them back on the smoker to give them some more cooking time.

12. When done, place the meat on a clean cutting board. Carefully slice evenly between each rib bone. What I am looking for in my ribs is a light, not overpowering, smoke flavor, meat that is tender but not falling off the bone (a common mistake: fall-off-the-bone is often way overcooked and less flavorful), and very sweet, balanced by the savory flavors of the rub.

From Brand Ambassador, Johan Magnusson of BigSwedeBBQ.com