How to Smoke Spare Ribs

If it’s on your agenda to create the perfect summer meal, whether it’s for yourself or a family and friends barbecue, then smoked spare ribs should be at the top of your grocery shopping list. Despite what you might think, learning how to smoke spare ribs is relatively straightforward, especially if you’ve had some experience with smoking meats. 

Continue reading this guide to learn key tips for successfully smoking spare ribs, and find an easy-to-follow recipe below to get started.

What are Spare Ribs?

Spare ribs come from the midsection of a pig, usually around the belly area. As you might guess, spare ribs have a decent amount of fat content, more so than the similar-but-not-the-same baby back ribs, which come from closer to the loin area and are generally leaner because that area gets exercised more. But fat content is good when it comes to ribs. If you’ve ever tried pork fat, you know what we mean. But even if you don’t like biting into pork fat, it’s the fat on spare ribs that keeps it tender and adds a generous amount of flavor when the ribs are cooked on low heat slowly, like what’s achieved with the smoker.

As a result, spare ribs are best known for being the star of the barbecue show and a go-to protein when visiting a steakhouse or barbecue restaurant. They’re often slathered in delicious barbecue sauce or a spicy rub and then grilled, smoked, or braised.

Key Tips For Success

Take note of the following tips to help you smoke spare ribs:

• Try not to peek. Spare ribs get their best results when you let them smoke without interruption. Opening the smoker door or lid repeatedly makes it difficult for the smoker to maintain its heat and moisture balance, which affects the end result. If possible, leave the ribs alone while they smoke to perfection. Use a leave-in meat thermometer with a connected mobile app so that you can check the temperature without opening the smoker.
• Low and slow is key. Cooking low and slow — meaning cooking with low heat over a long period of time — is the best way to smoke spare ribs. A low and slow cook tenderizes the ribs and boosts flavor while preventing them from drying out. Make sure you have at least a few hours to spare when smoking ribs.
• Don’t forget the sauce. Although saucing your spare ribs is optional, it’s a great way to add some flavor and moisture to them. Add your favorite barbecue sauce to the ribs during the last 30-45 minutes, which is enough time to let the sauce caramelize. Then, let them rest at room temperature for another 5-10 minutes.

Prepping the Spare Ribs

Spare ribs need a little preparation before getting seasoned and smoked. The good news is that it only takes a few minutes to get them ready.

The most important part of preparing spare ribs is to remove excess fat and the membrane that’s essentially connective tissue, which helps to keep the ribs connected to the animal. First, look for any fat chunks on the ribs. Avoid slicing and dicing your way through any fat on the ribs. Instead, look for excessive fat along the sides of the ribs that you can remove. Next, look for the membrane along the bone side of the slab of ribs. It looks like a translucent sheet of white covering the underside of the ribs. Slide the blade of a sharp knife underneath the membrane to carefully remove it.

Next, sprinkle salt all over the rib meat. Then, let the ribs sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. After this time, you can apply seasoning or a rub. Skip this step if you plan to marinate your spare ribs.

Seasonings, Rubs, and Marinade Ideas

There are three primary ways to bring out extra flavor in your spare ribs: seasoning, rubs, and marinades. There’s no one right method out of the three, as any of them can enhance the natural flavoring of spare ribs. Learn more about each to help you decide which one you want to use.

Seasoning is good if you have just a few herbs and spices, like salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper, you want to add to spare ribs. Simply sprinkle on the seasonings you like best, completely covering all meat portions of the spare ribs. You can begin smoking the ribs immediately after seasoning them.

Rubs usually incorporate several herbs and spices and cover the ribs more. To create a rub, combine all your chosen seasonings together. Rubs for spare ribs often include paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder, to name a few, but you can experiment with whatever seasonings you like best. Brush the ribs with a light layer of olive oil and then spread the rub along the ribs with your fingers, being sure to cover the rib meat entirely. Then, get ready to smoke.

Marinades work best when you have some time to marinate your ribs. Marinade works itself into the meat over time, infusing flavor and keeping the meat moist and tender when smoking. Mix your marinade — try this pork steak marinade, for starters — and add it and the ribs to a food storage bag, ensuring that the ribs are covered entirely by the marinade. Then, let the ribs marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours, but preferably overnight. Remove them from the marinade and pat them dry before adding them to the smoker.

Prepping the Smoker

Before jumping into our spare ribs recipe below, take a few minutes to prepare your smoker.

Most importantly, make sure it’s clean, especially the grates. Scrape any reside off the grates to prevent particles and residual flavor from getting into your ribs. A thorough cleaning will also keep your ribs from sticking to the grates. If your smoker grates tend to stick to food, rub a light layer of olive oil on them.

Next, add a pan of water to the smoker. Some smokers include a water pan, but if yours doesn’t, just fill a heat-safe pan with water to place in your smoker. This keeps the ribs moist while cooking. Also, add your wood chips now before preheating the smoker. 

Finally, make sure your air vents are working properly, as you may need to adjust them during the smoking process. Open vents create a faster burn and more heat, while closed vents lower the heat and increase smoke inside your smoker. You want a good balance of the two, but if you notice a lot of flame, you’ll need to close the vents more to reduce heat. 

Your last step is to preheat the smoker to 225 degrees, although you can boost it up to 250 degrees if you want your ribs to take a little less time. 

Best Wood Chips or Wood Pellets

Wood that gives off the smells and flavors of barbecue sauce, like mesquite and hickory, is generally the most popular option for smoking spare ribs. They add the tell-tale flavors you expect from ribs and burn rather slowly, allowing you to get that deep, smoky flavor that works so well with spare ribs.

However, fruity woods also pair well with spare ribs. For a lighter smoke flavor, use apple, cherry, or peach wood chips or pellets.

Steps to the Smoking Process 

Most of the smoking process for spare ribs doesn’t require your help, as you can essentially let your ribs smoke for hours without needing to do anything. Here are the tasks you need to handle:

1. Prepare the smoker: Follow the tips above to prepare your smoker by cleaning it, adding your water pan and wood chips, and preheating the smoker to 225 degrees.
2. Smoke the spare ribs:  After adding the spare ribs to the smoker, let them cook for 3-4 hours. Other than monitoring the vents to ensure proper airflow, there’s nothing else you need to do to smoke your spare ribs.
3. Add sauce (optional):  If you want to add barbecue sauce to your ribs, do so once they’ve cooked for 2 ½-3 hours. Remove the ribs from the smoker, brush on the sauce, and place them back in the smoker to continue smoking for 30-45 minutes. 

Smoked Spare Ribs Recipe

Follow this easy smoked spare ribs recipe to learn how to smoke spare ribs like a champ. Feel free to swap the spices for your favorite rib rub. 

Ingredients

• 1 rack of spare ribs
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ⅛ cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the smoker to 225 degrees.
2. Remove the membrane from the bone side of the ribs.
3. Brush the spare ribs with a light layer of olive oil.
4. Combine all other ingredients to create a rub. Season the spare ribs with the rub, making sure to cover all sides of the meat.
5. Place the ribs bone side down in the smoker and smoke for 3-4 hours.
6. If desired, slather the spare ribs in your favorite barbecue sauce when 30-45 minutes of smoking time is left.
7. Remove the ribs from the smoker. Wrap them loosely in foil and rest and room temperature for 10-15 minutes before serving. 

Summing Up: How to Smoke Spare Ribs

In short, smoking spare ribs takes about 3 to 4 hours and doesn’t require a lot of work on your part other than preparing the smoker and trimming and seasoning the ribs. Expect the whole process to take no more than 6 hours from start to finish. Once you have the hang of smoking spare ribs, start experimenting with different seasonings, rubs, or marinades to switch up the flavor profile and excite your palate each time.