Saucy Smoked Beef Ribs

A rack of saucy smoked beef ribs on a grill.

Serve these tender, melt in your mouth Saucy Smoked Beef Ribs at your next backyard barbecue. The mesquite smoked ribs are finished with a sweet and sassy homemade Kansas City style barbecue sauce that will have everyone licking their fingers and reaching for more!

If there’s one thing I love, it’s beef in the smoker. If you have time, these low and slow beef ribs are a relaxing way to spend day. However, sometimes a quick smoke can be just as tasty. Try these Best Smoked Meatballs, ready in just over an hour. Both beef recipes are great with a side of Chipotle Pinto Beans with Peaches.

A hand dipping a smoked beef rib into a stainless steel dipping container filled with barbecue sauce.

Want to save this recipe?

Enter your email below and get this post sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I’ll send you my weekly newsletter featuring the newest and best Dish ‘n’ the Kitchen recipes every week!

Save Recipe

Disclosure: This post is made possible by Alberta Beef Producers & Crosby’s Molasses. All opinions and experiences are my own.

Saucy Smoked Beef Ribs

These Beef Ribs smoked with mesquite are the crowning glory of any barbecue. They are, in a word… truly memorable. The low smoke temperature and long smoking time result in incredibly tender and juicy meat with a pronounced smoke ring. There’s no mistaking the wonderful flavour of the mesquite smoke enveloping the melt-in-your-mouth meat.

Speaking of mesquite, this unique wood is also used in the creation of chipotle peppers, which are essentially mesquite smoked jalapeños. Their mild, smoky heat is delicious with beef… and strawberries!

A jar of barbecue sauce sits in front of a raw rack of beef ribs.

While these BBQ beef ribs are delicious on their own, the final application of barbecue sauce elevates them to another level. The strawberry chipotle barbecue sauce is inspired by the sweet, smoky, tangy, and slightly spicy flavours of Kansas City style sauce.

In the tomato-free sauce, strawberries provide sweetness (along with brown sugar), a touch of acidity (with apple cider vinegar), and a base for the aromatics and spices. The final key ingredient is fancy molasses. The bittersweet notes in the molasses balance out the sourness of the strawberries, rounding out the sauce in the most wonderful way.

Ingredients required to make saucy smoked beef ribs.

Ingredients for Saucy Smoked Beef Ribs

Please note that quantities for the first four ingredients (for the beef ribs) are not exact. In other words, measure them with your heart. For this reason, it is very easy to double the recipe to smoke as many ribs as will fit into the smoker.

As a guide, the amount of mustard depends on how large the rack of ribs are, and how much coverage you want. Feel free to use the rib process photos as a guideline for how the ribs should look before they go in the smoker.

  • Beef Back Ribs
  • Yellow Ballpark Mustard
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Olive Oil
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Smoked Paprika
  • Garlic Powder
  • Cinnamon
  • Strawberries
  • Apple Cider Vinegar
  • Crosby’s Fancy Molasses
  • Chipotle Peppers in adobo
  • Brown Sugar
  • Worcestershire Sauce
Ingredients required to make strawberry chipotle barbecue sauce with molasses.

In this homemade sweet and tangy barbecue sauce, tomatoes are replaced by strawberries. They provide a touch of sweetness, along with acidity and body. Strawberries marry well with smoked Spanish paprika and smoky chipotle peppers which also bring a little spicy heat.

The acidity level of the strawberries, combined with the apple cider vinegar can be intense but helps to keep the meat juicy and tender. Adding fancy molasses to the barbecue sauce tones down the acidity in the sauce and provides a unique sweetness (along with the brown sugar).

The final flavour notes are those of umami, provided by the aromatics (onion and garlic) and Worcestershire sauce.

A brush sits in a jar of barbecue sauce surrounded by strawberries, garlic and a package of fancy molasses.

What are Beef Back Ribs?

Beef back ribs come from the area located just behind the shoulder of the cow. They are the long bony portion that is removed from prime rib roasts. Back ribs are generally 6-8 inches long with a curved bone. A full rack of beef back ribs contains 9-12 ribs (similar but larger than a rack of pork ribs), depending on how the butcher cuts them.

Most of the meat is removed to go along with prime rib roasts, leaving a small layer of meat on top of and in between the rib bones. Back ribs cook quicker than meatier ‘short plate’ or ‘brisket on a stick’ ribs which come from the 6-10 lower rib area (behind the brisket).

A side view of a smoked beef back rib showing the vibrant smoke ring.

Feel free to use this beef ribs recipe to smoke back ribs, short plate ribs, or beef short ribs, adjusting for time as needed.

How to Make Strawberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce

While it is not critical, I do encourage you to make the Strawberry BBQ sauce a day or so ahead of time This allows the flavours to come together, creating a more uniform flavour. However, feel free to make the sauce once the ribs are in the smoker to reduce prep time.

To make the BBQ sauce, drizzle olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add diced onions and cook over medium heat, stirring often until the onions become soft and translucent. Add minced garlic and sauté for another minute.

Barbecue sauce process photos the first showing uncooked barbecue sauce ingredients in a saucepan and the second showing cooked chunky barbecue sauce.

Next, add the dry spices (smoked paprika, garlic powder, and cinnamon) to the onions. Allow them to sauté for another minute or two. Deglaze the saucepan with 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, then add the chopped strawberries and chipotle peppers. Finally, add the molasses, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar.

Stir the mixture well and allow it to simmer over low heat until the strawberries release juices and the mixture reduces by half or slightly more (about an hour). Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. Allow the chunky barbecue sauce to cool, then process in a blender until smooth. Refrigerate overnight.

A brush coated in homemade barbecue sauce.

When all is said and done, you’ll have 4 cups of this versatile barbecue sauce. Use your new favorite barbecue sauce on everything from grilled burgers and meatballs to pork chops, pork tenderloin, and grilled chicken.

How to Smoke Beef Ribs

Prepare the smoker or pellet grill to reach a temperature between 250 F – 275 F.

Preparing the Ribs

Next, remove the membrane (or silver skin) on the back side of the ribs. Removing the membrane is important for several reasons. One is that it can act as a barrier to rubs (or mustard) and salt, making it difficult for the flavours to penetrate the meat. Also, during the smoking process, the membrane becomes tough and is unpleasant to chew.

A photo showing how to remove rib membrane using a paper towel.

To remove the membrane, place rack beef ribs on a clean work surface, bone side up. Use a spoon to loosen a piece of membrane large enough to grab on to. Next, place a piece of paper towel around the membrane edge and use it to pull the membrane back and off the entire length of the ribs.

Discard the membrane. Trim rib fat from the meaty side, if needed (some fat is great because fat equals flavour!)

Spread the mustard over both sides and ends of the ribs. Season liberally with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Process photos showing how to coat beef ribs in mustard, salt, and pepper.
A hand places mustard coated ribs into a smoker.

The 3-2-1 Method for Smoking Beef Ribs

Many beef rib recipes follow the ‘3-2-1 Method’ which outlines a three-hour smoke period followed by two hours of wrapped time and one last hour of cooking time with applied sauce. Use this method as a guide only, as meat can vary in so many ways the affect cooking time.

Ribs may be ready to wrap earlier (or later) or require less time in paper wrapping. Though it is difficult to measure temperature while ribs are wrapped, a general two hours cooking time is reasonable. Finally, apply the barbecue sauce and take the ribs off when the sauce has become shiny and sticky. It may not take an entire hour to do so.

Place ribs on smoker grill, meaty side up. Add a few handfuls mesquite wood chips/pellets to the smoker. Smoke at 250 F – 275 F until they reach an internal temperature of 165 F – 170 F (3-4 hours).

A rack of beef back ribs about to be wrapped in paper.

Wrap the ribs in unwaxed butcher paper then return them to the smoker. Smoke for another 2 hours at 250 F – 275 F or until they reach approximately 195 F – 200 F). Use this temperature as a guide only as texture and tenderness are much more important.

Remove ribs from paper and slather with Strawberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce. Return the smoker and cook for another 30-45 minutes more cooking time (or until the sauce is cooked and the ribs are sticky).

Serve hot with extra BBQ sauce for dipping.

A platter holding a cut rack of cut smoked beef ribs, roasted potatoes, and barbecue sauce.
Pinterest image featuring a brush applying barbecue sauce to a rack of smoked beef ribs and another photo of a single beef rib being dipped in more barbecue sauce.

Hi! I’m Bernice Hill and I’ve been the sole recipe developer, photographer, and writer at Dish ‘n’ the Kitchen for the past eleven years. It is my pleasure to share easy to follow recipes that are delicious, nutritious, and approachable for the whole family.

If you make this Saucy Smoked Beef Ribs recipe, please leave a recipe rating and/or comment describing your experience. Don’t forget to share your photos and tag me on Instagram. I hope you like this recipe!

Yield: 4 - 6 servings

Saucy Smoked Beef Ribs

A brush applying barbecue sauce to smoked beef ribs on a grill.

Serve these tender, melt in your mouth Saucy Smoked Beef Ribs at your next backyard barbecue. The mesquite smoked ribs are finished with a sweet and sassy homemade Kansas City style barbecue sauce that will have everyone licking their fingers and reaching for more!

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Additional Time 7 hours
Total Time 8 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 5 lbs full rack of Beef Back Ribs (7-8 ribs)
  • 1/2 cup Yellow Ballpark Mustard*
  • Salt*
  • Pepper*

FOR THE STRAWBERRY CHIPOTLE BBQ SAUCE (makes about 4 cups)

  • 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
  • 1 medium Onion; finely chopped
  • 2 Tablespoons minced Garlic
  • 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
  • 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
  • 1 1/5 lbs Strawberries (about 5 cups chopped)
  • 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1/3 cup Crosby's Fancy Molasses (unsulfured)
  • 2-3 Chipotle Peppers in adobo; chopped
  • 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Salt

Instructions

FOR THE STRAWBERRY CHIPOTLE BBQ SAUCE*

  1. Drizzle oil in a medium saucepan and cook diced onions over medium heat until softened. Add minced garlic and sauté for another minute.
  2. Add smoked paprika, garlic powder, and cinnamon to the onions. Allow to sauté for another minute or two.
  3. Deglaze onion mixture with apple cider vinegar, then add the chopped strawberries and chipotle peppers.
  4. Finally, add the molasses, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar.
  5. Stir mixture well and allow to simmer over low heat until the strawberries release juices and the mixture reduces by half or slightly more. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed.
  6. Allow the chunky barbecue sauce to cool, then process in a blender until smooth. Refrigerate overnight.

FOR THE BEEF RIBS

  1. Prepare the smoker to reach a temperature between 250 F - 275 F.
  2. Begin by removing the membrane on the back side of the ribs. Place ribs on a clean work surface, bone side up. Use a knife to loosen a piece of membrane large enough to grab on to.
  3. Next, place a piece of paper towel around the membrane edge and use it to pull the membrane back and off the entire length of the ribs. Discard the membrane. Trim rib fat from the meaty side, if needed (some fat is great because fat equals flavour!)
  4. Spread the mustard over both sides and ends of the ribs. Season liberally with salt and pepper.
  5. Place ribs on smoker grill, meaty side up. Add a few handfuls mesquite wood chips/pellets to the smoker. Smoke at 250 F - 275 F until they reach an internal temperature of 165 F - 170 F (3-4 hours).
  6. Wrap the ribs in unwaxed butcher paper then return them to the smoker. Smoke for another 2 hours at 250 F - 275 F (until they reach approximately 195 F - 200 F, though this temperature is a guide only and the texture & tenderness is more important.
  7. Remove ribs from paper and brush with Strawberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce. Return the smoker and cook for another 30-45 minutes or until the sauce is cooked and the ribs are sticky.
  8. Serve hot with extra BBQ sauce for dipping.

    Notes

    NOTE: These are not exact quantities for mustard, salt, and pepper. The amount depends on how large the rack of ribs are and how much coverage you want. Measure them with your heart and use the rib process photos as a guideline for how the ribs should look before they go in the smoker.

    *Make the BBQ sauce a day ahead to allow flavours to marry OR make it while the ribs cook.

    **Nutritional calculation is based on 6 servings of ribs plus ALL of the barbecue sauce even though you'll only use a portion of the sauce.

    Nutrition Information:

    Yield:

    6

    Serving Size:

    1

    Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1204Total Fat: 68gSaturated Fat: 27gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 35gCholesterol: 335mgSodium: 1044mgCarbohydrates: 42gFiber: 4gSugar: 35gProtein: 102g

    Nutritional calculation was provided by Nutritionix and is an estimation only. For special diets or medical issues please use your preferred calculator.

    Did you make this recipe?

    Share your dish pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag @dishnthekitchen (or #dishnthekitchen) in your post or story! Rate this recipe and leave a review to share your experience with others!

    26 comments

    1. nancy

      I LOVE ribs! We made this over the weekend for our daugher’s bbq and everyone kept coming back for more! The sauce is so friggin delicious!

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        Wow, I’m so happy your guests loved these ribs! Thank you for trying out this recipe Nancy.

    2. Moop Brown

      I love ribs in the summer and this recipe for them looks incredibly tasty and tender.

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        They sure are. Thankyou for stopping by!

    3. Ramona

      This recipe looks super delicious, I’m definitely going to be making these soon! We love having BBQ’s and these are perfect for that. Thank you for sharing this recipe!

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        Thank you Ramona and happy grilling!

    4. Loreto and Nicoletta

      I love ribs, yours look incredible. Fall off the bone good. Love the smoke and seasoning! So yummy, gotta try these! ❤️

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        Thank you both. They are delicious and seasoned simply so you can taste that amazing Alberta beef.

    5. Ann

      Ribs are always a crowd pleaser! I made these on our traeger and they turned out great! Thanks for the recipe share!

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        Good to know! I don’t have a Traeger (yet) but I designed this recipe to be flexible across most brands of smokers.

    6. NATALIA

      This recipe looks like an absolute showstopper that’s perfect for any BBQ or grilling event. I can imagine the tender beef ribs just falling off the bone and the flavors bursting with every bite!

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        You have described them to a T. Thanks for stopping by Natalia.

    7. Carrie Robinson

      I just love some good smoked ribs! 🙂 That BBQ sauce is the perfect balance of sweet & smoky- bet it would be awesome on chicken too.

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        Yes it sure is! We barbecued some chicken thighs for dinner one night just so we could try it out. I think it would also go really well on pork.

    8. Marie-Pierre Breton

      Oh my God! I’m salivating in front of my computer… These look to die for! I’m looking forward to going back to Canada this summer to get some lovely BBQ and my brother is a pro meat smoker, going to ask him to make me these ribs! Yummy!

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        Really? wow, that would be so cool to smoke meat professionally. I just had my very first authentic Texas bbq brisket at a new place in town and it was absolute perfection.

    9. Kathryn

      These smooked beef ribs were perfect! They were so easy to make with your instructions and they were incredibly tender. Will make again because they were so delicious!

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        That is so great to hear Kathryn. I really try to make my recipes easy to follow… and as delicious as possible!

    10. Sean

      Ribs are my summer go to and these were amazing. Smoking these gave them the perfect flavor and my family couldn’t get enough.

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        I love to hear this Sean. Thank you for letting me know.

    11. Lily Ernst

      Wow, best ribs ever! The homemade bbq sauce is an extra step but so worth it. I slow-cooked my ribs in the oven as we don’t have a smoker. It was phenomenal!

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        Yes, even if you just make the BBQ sauce, it’s so worth it. We had it one chicken a few nights ago and it was delicious. It will also be amazing with pork.

    12. Karen

      This was a really great post with excellent information and helpful tips. I made exactly as instructed and they turned out perfect. The ribs were perfectly tender and the seasoning was perfection! Will make again soon!

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        I love to hear this Karen! I really try to make the instructions as clear as possible because many people shy away from smoking recipes thinking they are difficult. They aren’t complicated, all you need is smoke and time!

    13. Gloria

      My grandkids love ribs. We are having them for the weekend, and this will be dinner. They will be thrilled.

      Reply

      1. Bernice Hill

        Wow, I’d say you have very lucky grandchildren! My kids always loved ‘meat on the bone’ too.

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Skip to Recipe