Grilled Beef Back Ribs

Grilled Beef Back Ribs, simply seasoned, smoked for a few hours in a kamado grill and then foiled. One slab of back ribs had beef broth added to the foil and the other slab of beef ribs had red wine. After an hour or so in the aluminum, they were pulled from the foil and put back on the grill for about 30 minutes to firm up the bark of these grilled beef back ribs.

Beef back ribs are always a letdown. Gave it one more try and glad I did! Never cooked them properly until I followed your recipe. Thank you brother! Absolutely awesome!

       ~ A. Gough (in the comments below)

Lately in my big box club stores, I’ve been seeing beef BACK ribs and have been meaning to do something with them, and finally got the chance.

Since I’d never cooked beef back ribs, I kept it incredibly simple just to see what the deal was with this suddenly readily available cut of meat.

The big dino plate ribs have been available, albeit sporadically for years. As you can see by these recipes:

• Simple Beef Ribs
• Glazed and Blazed Beef Ribs
• Prime Grade Beef Ribs Smoked with Onion and Garlic

For our first attempt with the back ribs, we went real basic. 

Scroll down for the complete, step-by-step, pic-by-pic, foolproof instructions for Grilled Beef Back Ribs.

The Difference Between Beef Back Ribs and Beef Plate Ribs

Beef Back ribs come from just off the spine of the cow and run along the top of the animal. Think of baby back ribs on the pig. The short ribs or plate ribs are from down the side of the cow and are similar to pork spare ribs. The plate/short ribs are MUCH meatier than the beef back ribs and take considerably longer to cook. They tend to be more expensive as well. The beef back ribs have a higher bark-to-meat ratio and thus tend to taste better to me, bite for bite, than the much thicker short ribs or plate ribs.

Grilled Beef Back Ribs Ingredients:

• 2 slabs of beef back ribs
• Salt, pepper, and garlic (SPG seasoning) 
• Aluminum foil
• 6 ounces of red wine or 6 ounces low sodium beef broth

How to Buy Beef Back Ribs

When heading to your local butcher or club store, there are a few things to look for when buying back ribs. First, good marbling of the beef. You want lots of that. Second, big globs of fat on the meat side of the ribs. You want very little of that. Also, don’t go for the most inexpensive slabs in the case. I picked two slabs based on the first two criteria here, although one was significantly smaller than the other slab. Thus, the smaller slab shrank a little too much when completely cooked. The thicker slab was positively divine. Therefore, don’t grab the skinniest slab in the meat case.

Let’s get after this beef ribs recipe

Prepping Back Ribs

Initially, beef baby back ribs, just like any ribs, need to have the membrane removed from the bone side.

At one end of each slab, there was a good deal of thick, hard fat.

Accordingly, trim that thick fat off before skinning the membrane:

While removing the thick, hard fat use a paper towel for grip:

Next, trim off all globs of fat off the meat side (if any) and then season with the salt, pepper and garlic (SPG seasoning).

For any beef ribs recipe, always start on the bone side:

By seasoning the bone side first, when the ribs are flipped over to season the meat side, the natural curve of the bones will keep the seasoned meat off the cutting board.

Conversely, if the meat side is coated with SPG seasoning first, when the ribs are flipped over to season the other side, that rub is going to stick to the cutting board.

Save yourself from having to re-apply.

Then season the meat side:

Step by Step Grilling Instructions:

Next, spark up the grill by lighting some American made Rockwood charcoal and dump it into the cooker. In this case, a kamado grill.

Target temp for the grill is 225F.

With my kamado grill being oval, as a result, I can bank the charcoal to one side and place the slabs on the other.

This is one way to get that two zone or indirect grilling action needed to cook these beef ribs properly. 

The ribs go on the cool side and a chunk of oak wood is placed on the coals.

I have a spacer grill rack that allows me to stack two slabs of ribs on top of each other and still lets air and smoke to flow around the ribs.

Here is the first slab:

Here are both slabs of back ribs on the kamado:

If you can’t find oak wood, check this list of smoke woods and what they pair with to see what woods in your region will work well with beef. 

How to Make Grilled Beef Back Ribs

To begin with, place the skinned and seasoned slabs of ribs in a 225F smoker. Smoke until the ribs reach 150F-170F. Secondly, remove the ribs from the grill and place each slab on a big sheet of aluminum foil, bones side UP (to keep them from poking through the foil). Next, drizzle the red wine or low-sodium beef broth over the ribs and wrap up in the foil. Then place the ribs back on the grill until they are between 185F-205F. Finally, remove the grilled beef ribs from the foil and put back on the grill for 20-30 minutes to firm up the bark. 

On the Grill

Next, close the lid on the smoker/kamado and let the heat and smoke work their magic.

Here are a few pics of the BBQ beef ribs on their way to 150F-170F which is the point when we will foil them in this beef ribs recipe:

Our smoked back ribs have been on the cooker for about 2.5 hours. As a result, we are in our window of 150F-170F.

Time to Foil

Remove the beef ribs from the grill. Afterward, foil the slabs:

What wine should one use to foil beef baby back ribs? It just seemed appropriate!

I have no idea if this wine is any good. In all honesty, I didn’t taste it as we were cooking fairly early in the day; nevertheless, it worked great for foiling the ribs.

We foiled the other slab of BBQ beef ribs with beef broth. Incidentally, we didn’t use low sodium broth.

The beef broth brought an extra saltiness to the ribs. It wasn’t overpowering, although it wouldn’t take much more to make it overly salty.

Hence, we recommend low sodium beef broth if you want avoid the wine. 

Then, wrap up the slabs in the foil and stack them back on the kamado grill:

Another hour and 15 minutes or so in the smoker and our slabs are ready to come out of the foil.

Thus, the beef ribs are between 186F and 198F depending on the thickness of the ribs:

The smoked beef ribs go back on the kamado to firm up the bark. As a consequence of the outside of the meat being soaked in red wine (or broth), it needed to be firmed up.

I flipped these over before closing the lid:

After about 30 minutes the bark has firmed and darkened.

Although, some will look at the bark and think it’s burnt. It’s not.

That is bark and bark is not just good, it’s GREAT!

What is Bark?

Bark is the combination of the seasoning, heat, smoke, and fat that oozes from the meat as it cooks to form a black outer crust. That crust, or bark, is quite literally the tastiest part of all barbecue. 

Here’s a close up of that bark and the bones of the red wine slab.

Indeed, the bones have reddened a bit:

Here’s the other slab of beef ribs coming off the grill:

Finally, the bones tell me the ribs are done (these are the beef broth bones):

After 5-10 minutes of rest, time to slice the super tender BBQ beef ribs.

Thus, the knife went through the meat like butter:

Grilled Beef Back Ribs Recap:

There is an old adage in Texas about grilling beef. “All you need is salt, pepper (and garlic) and some post oak.” That’s essentially what I did here with this beef ribs recipe – SPG seasoning and oak. As a result, I have to say that I prefer these to the the much thicker plate ribs. There is a higher bark to meat ratio with beef baby back ribs. They are also cheaper and cook more quickly than regular beef ribs. Yeah, give me beef back ribs all day long over standard short ribs. 

If you have any questions or comments about these grilled beef back ribs, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

Also, if you could leave us a great review of these BBQ beef ribs with lots of stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ that would be most appreciated!

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Grilled Beef Back Ribs Recipe Card:

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5 from 1 vote

Grilled Beef Back Ribs

We explain the difference between beef back ribs and short ribs before we get to this simple yet amazing Grilled Beef Back Ribs recipe.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time4 hours hrs

Course: Beef Ribs, Entree, Finger Food, Main Course, Ribs

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Barbecue, BBQ, Beef Back Ribs, Beef Ribs, Grilling, North American, Ribs

Keyword: #Smoked, Baby Back Ribs, Baby Bell Peppers, Barbecue Beef Ribs, BBQ Beef Ribs, Beef Baby Back Ribs, Beef Back Ribs, Beef Plate Ribs, Beef Ribs, Beef Ribs Recipe, Beef Short Ribs, Garlic, Indirect Grilling, Kamado, Kamado Grill, Oak, Oak Smoked, Pic-by-Pic, Plate Ribs, Rockwood, Rockwood Charcoal, Rockwood Lump Charcoal, Salt, Short Ribs, Simple Beef Ribs, Slab, Slabs, Slabs of Ribs, Smoked Beef Back Ribs, Smoked Beef Ribs, SPG, SPG Seasoning, Step-by-Step, Two Zone Grilling

Servings: 8 People

Equipment

• aluminum foil

Ingredients

• 2 slabs Beef back ribs
• 4 tbsp Salt, pepper, and garlic (SPG seasoning) Divided
• 6 ounces Red wine Substitute beef broth

Instructions

• Remove any excess globs of fat from the ribs
• Skin the membrane from the bone side of the beef ribs
• Season the bone side of the ribs and then the meat side with the SPG seasoning
• Prepare the grill/smoker/kamado for two zone or indirect grilling with a target temp inside the grill is 225F
• Place the ribs in the grill opposite the hot coals and drop a chunk of oak on the fire
• Close the lid and smoke until the beef back ribs hit between 150F-170F
• Remove the slabs from the cooker and lay on a large sheet of foil bone side up and drizzle the red wine or beef broth over the ribs
• Fold up the foil, completely enveloping the ribs and place back on the grill for 45-75 minutes or until the ribs hit 185F-205F
• Remove the ribs from the foil and place back on the grill for 20-30 minutes to firm up the bark
• Remove from the heat, allow to rest for 5-10 minutes and serve

Video

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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BBQ Grilling

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This article was initially published on: April 21, 2023