The perfect smoked baby back ribs have been eluding me for a long time now. I have yet found a rub or sauce that makes them perfect. I get them to the perfect tenderness every time, but the flavor has not been there for me yet. This recipe just might be the one for me.
Rub Ingredients:
- 1/2 C Sea Salt
- 1/2 C Sweet Paprika
- 1/2 C Turbinado Sugar
- 8 t Chile Powder
- 2 T Garlic Powder
- 2 T Onion Powder
- 2 T Freshly Ground Black pepper
- 2 T Dry Mustard
- 3 t Ground Oregano
- 2 t Cayenne
- 2 t Ground Cumin
- 2 t Celery Salt
Sauce Ingredients:
- 1/2 C Cider Vinegar
- 1/2 C Vegetable Oil
- 3 T Ketchup
- 4 T Honey
- 1 T Sriracha Hot Sauce
- 2 T Dry Rub
- 3 t Yellow Mustard
Instructions:
- Prepare the sauce by whisking together the sauce ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl
- Put in air tight container and refrigerate
- Prepare the dry rub by mixing together the rub ingredients in a bowl, make sure the ingredients are well mixed.
- Put a good coat of the rub on the ribs
- Smoke at 225 with 2/3 apple wood chunks and 1/3 cherry wood chunks, use indirect heat if using a grill, use indirect heat.
- With approximately 1 hour left (your best guess), place a layer of the sauce on the ribs.
- Ribs are done once you reached the desired tenderness.
Results:
These ribs had a great flavor to them. I usually cook them until the are pull tender, where it is just a slight tug to get the meat to separate from the bone. The one thing I probably did wrong with these ribs, is that I put on way too much rub, I need to learn to take it a little bit easier on the rub when it comes to ribs. Sauce had a great flavor to it and the only thing I will change next time is maybe a bit more honey. Besides less rub, I will probably take out the Chile powder all together and add another 2 tablespoons of the Dry Mustard. If you try these, please let me know what you think.




Jason, I too look for the ultimate rib combo and I’m content to keep on trying!
This rub sounds good and in fact, I’m prepping some ribs today.
I hope you’ll add photos to you site.
Cheers!