One of the iconic American barbecue dishes is, without a doubt, Baby Back Ribs or Pork Back Ribs. So for Independence Day we made this delicious ribs recipe on our Big Green Egg. Fall of the bone, tender ribs – so great! Can’t wait to make this again!
As an added bonus, we got to use the Dual Purpose V-Rack that my husband had gotten for Father’s Day and we’d been wanting to try out. The porcelain coated V-Rack can be used for roasts and poultry or you can flip it around like we did and grill your racks of ribs with it.
Chances are if you are googling a recipe for pork ribs on the Big Green Egg you’ll be inundated with recipes galore and everyone swears their method is the best. Which just goes to show that the Egg is an amazingly versatile smoker that allows you to customize your cooking experience and get great results. We read many a recipe and came up with this game plan to smoke our ribs based on common denominators:
Pork Back Ribs Recipe for The Big Green Egg
- Set up your Big Green Egg for indirect heat with the place setter, light a fresh load of charcoal and preheat to 250F. Note: It’s easy to get the Egg too hot and since it maintains heat so amazingly well, will take a while to cool down once it’s hot. So yes, approach 250F carefully.
- Remove the membrane from the bony side of the rack of ribs by sliding a dinner knife under it and peeling it off with your hands. Some suggest starting at the end, others claim the center is the best start position. It probably depends on each rack of ribs. Ours separated easiest at one end.
- Spread mustard on the ribs and then massage the pork spice rub of your choice all over them. The mustard helps with adherence.
- Fill an aluminum pan with about 1/2in of apple juice and place on the plate setter. Add the grill grate and the V-Rack with your ribs (thick side down). Close the Big Green Egg and let things cook at 250F for 3 hours.
- After 3 hours, remove the V-Rack with grill gloves. Wrap the ribs in aluminum foil, fill the pouches with apple juice and place them on the grill for 45 minutes to an hour.
- Carefully (!!) take the ribs out of their apple juice packages and put them bone side up directly on the grill grate. If you are using BBQ sauce you can apply it now and flip the ribs every 15 minutes or you can wait closer towards the end of the 45-60 final grill minutes to add it. In either case, grill for 45 minutes to an hour at 250F.
- The ribs are done when they pass the “bend test”: Pick up your rack of ribs with tongs on one side and observe how well they bend. If they bend to about 90º easily, they are done.
We had ours with more iconic American sides: steak fries and baked beans. Finger licking good! Enjoy!
