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Beef ribs, trimmed and seasoned before going on the smoker where we use not only wood to impart that smoke flavor but also chunks of onion and cloves of garlic placed directly on the coals for a very unique and tasty smoke. Then, the beef plate ribs were foiled with red wine and beef stock and finished up in the kamado grill to a tender and juicy 204F. These are Onion and Garlic Smoked Beef Ribs.
What is the best way to cook beef ribs on the smoker?
For me, the best method is to skin the membrane off, trim any thick fat, season, smoke, wrap in foil with some savory liquid until they get north of 180F (final temp is a bit of a debate), and serve. This process is outlined below with picture by picture, foolproof instructions. This method is pretty standard, until we introduce the garlic and onion. That takes the tried and true method to another level that really puts this over the top.
*** Editor’s Note:
If you are looking for a corporate team building event, why net let me and my team teach your team how to grill these ribs either in person or virtually over video conference. This knowledge something your crew can use for years to come ***
Beef ribs are becoming more and more popular. We’ve cooked beefies a variety of ways here on the website for those of you lucky enough to have a source for these big ribs, also known as beef plate ribs or plate short ribs. I’m not sure why they are called “short” because these are the biggest ribs you can find to grill. And with these ribs, we are going to smoke them with wood but also onion and garlic. That’s right, we are going to toss chunks of onion and entire cloves of garlic into the fire to impart roasted garlic and onion flavor. This also works for pork ribs (and just about any meat).
Next, let’s talk about where to get beef plate ribs, aka brontosaurus ribs:
If video is your thing, scroll down to the bottom and check out the video we made of this cook that I posted to our YouTube channel and please subscribe.
The hardest part of making amazing beef plate ribs is finding the whole ribs. Most butchers/meat cutters slice them across the bones which are usually too thin to add any smoke flavor before they are done, or cut into little cubes of beef rib deliciousness.
Those cubes are amazing, but there’s just something about the monster beef plate ribs – it’s almost like brisket on a stick!
Call Around
The trick here is the trusty cell phone: make a few calls, it will take a little planning to find some whole plate ribs. I got these at my local warehouse store.
Actually, I didn’t see any in the case, so I asked one of the guys in the white coats if they had any.
He said he just got some in and hadn’t processed them yet. I got them cheaper because he didn’t have to do any work to them:
This is how the beef ribs arrive at the store.
Also, that pic doesn’t do the ribs justice, they just don’t seem very big.
Don’t worry, they will in a little while.
Oh, one more surprise about these ribs:
Yeah, that was unexpected, but greatly appreciated. So much so I bought three packages of these.
Each package comes with two slabs with three bones each.
This cook is only one-half package to show the process.
How to Trim Beef Ribs
A paper towel is your friend
First things first: we have to prepare the slab of beefies.
Let’s start with skinning them just like we do with pork ribs, but it’s not so clean and easy as pork.
Then, grab some paper towels, they help with beef ribs too:
While it takes about three seconds to skin a slab of pork ribs, beef ribs take a lot more work.
So much so, most people use a knife and carve the membrane off.
Although I rolled up my proverbial sleeves and got to work pulling that membrane back:
It looks a lot easier than it was. It took a few minutes to get that layer of fat and membrane away from those bones. The paper towel is invaluable
What’s left on the back of those beef plate ribs is thicker than what is on the back of pork ribs, even after I took that thick layer off. You can carve that off if you would like. May I suggest a filet knife?
I’ll see you in 10 minutes when you’re done.
I decided to save some time and grabbed a knife with a sharp point and scored it:
That took 10 seconds.
Now for the other side, the meat side of the slab.
Trim the Fat
That filet knife will do here, or in my case a sharp chef’s knife.
Thus, don’t try this with a “kinda” sharp knife:
Considering this is prime grade, do your best to carve along the thin layer between fat and meat, without taking any meat with the fat.
It’s hard to not carve a little meat off, and this was not very much, but it still hurt my soul just a bit:
Check out that marbling!
I think we’re about done carving:
Truth be told, my OCD could keep me carving every tiny bit off that chunk of beef.
Try not to be as compulsive as I am.
Indeed, it’s OK to leave those little bits of fat, they will melt away.
Smoke rolling
Look at the side of this slab for that gorgeous marbling and my cooker ready to go in the background:
Now that our slab is ready for seasoning, let’s get to the actual recipe.
Onion and Garlic Smoked Beef Ribs Ingredients:
- 2 slabs of beef ribs, 3 bones each
- Salt
- Your favorite beef BBQ rub
- 2 whole onions, chunked into eighths
- 2 whole heads of garlic, broken into 3-4 clove clumps
- Your favorite smoke wood (we used pear wood)
- Heavy duty aluminum foil
- 3/4 cup red wine
- 3/4 cup beef stock
Beef Plate Ribs Prep
First up, flip the slab over to the bone side (the side we scored with that sharp knife after removing the thick fat layer).
Then, hit the bone side with some coarse salt and your favorite beef seasoning.
Why do we season the bone side first?
To make sure the natural concave of the bones holds the meat (and seasoning) up off the cutting board and thus does not necessitate a reapplication of the seasoning.
Then flip the ribs over and season the meat with salt and beef seasoning side:
Let’s not forget the ends and sides:
Pour some salt and rub onto the cutting board and then dab those outer edges right on that seasoning:
Now let’s prep our grill with coals on one side and nothing on the other, which is called two-zone or indirect grilling.
In this case, we have the charcoal chimney on the side that will not have any hot coals.
How long does it take to make smokes beef ribs?
At 300 degrees, these ribs took about 3.5 hours to smoke. Things happen a little faster because of the foil. If not foiling, then the cook time will increase. But a lot of things can increase or decrease the smoking time. The size of the slab, the amount of fat in the ribs, the outside weather conditions, heat of the fire, type of cooker, etc. Which is why it is important to cook to temp rather than time. the temp is 203F-210F.
I have coals on one side and a plate setter/heat deflector on the other side.
My ribs go on the side with the deflector:
The smoke wood and the fresh onion and garlic go right on the coals:
The onion and garlic give the faintest of blue smoke. If you only smoke with the onion and garlic (and you can if you would like) you will barely be able to see the smoke, but you will definitely smell it! And blue smoke is where it’s at.
Two-Zone Grilling Hack
Notice that setup above – there is nothing covering the side of the grill with the coals. That’s so I can add more garlic and onion as needed. When is it needed? When I can no longer smell the garlic and onion. I may not be able to see the smoke, particularly with the wood smoking so profusely, but I can smell it.
Speaking of that garlic and onion, some are wondering what kind of onion?
Red/purple? Yellow? White?
Sure. Any of those will work.
To prove the point, we used some of each of those:
Also, don’t worry about taking off the skins or paper on the outside, it will burn up and smoke in the cooker.
Thus, save some time and leave that stuff on:
Target temp inside the kamado is 275-300°F:
The garlic and onion burn up pretty fast. Therefore, about every 30 minutes you will have to add more.
A couple chunks of onion and maybe six cloves of garlic are all that’s needed.
Watch the bones to know when these are getting close to being done.
Here we are about 45 minutes later.
Look how far the bone is poking out on these smoked beef ribs already:
10 minutes later:
Another 20 minutes later and, boom!
Pro Tip ~ Garlic and onion need to be added a lot more frequently than smoke wood
Thus, make sure to keep the most wonderfully smelling smoke rolling throughout the cook and keep adding garlic and onion:
Time to wrap
We were only about 2.5 hours into the cook when we went ahead and wrapped them in the heavy duty aluminum foil.
Basically we are looking for great pull back exposing the bones and that bark the color we like.
Check and check!
Watch the bones because the bones know
Did I mention that the bones on the other end of the slab are poking out too?
Let’s grab a metal baking sheet with a lip around it and that secret grilling tool aluminum foil.
The reason for the baking sheet pan is so the wine and beef stock don’t spill over the side.
I laid down three layers across the baking pan and two more perpendicular with a good 18 inches of foil sticking out on each side.
Additionally, I pushed the foil into the edge of that lip around the outside to create a shallow basin and set the slab of smoked beef ribs down bone side down:
The reason that the heavy duty foil is a must here is because those bones will poke right through cheap foil and we don’t want to put the ribs meat side down or it will turn that amazing bark into mush.
Then, pour in the wine and beef stock:
Feel free to use beef broth if you would like. We did and both were fantastic.
Then wrap up the foil around the top of the smoked beef ribs loosely:
Next, carefully transfer the foiled beef ribs back to the cooker:
These will be ready go in an hour or less, at which point we pulled the beef ribs off the kamado:
Time to unwrap (think of it as Christmas in the summer).
We aren’t guessing at this and just assuming our smoked beef ribs are done.
Thus, be sure to use a probe thermometer to check the temperature.
In this case we are spot on at 204°F:
We let these rest for a good 30 minutes.
They could rest even longer, if necessary, particularly if left in the foil.
Knife or sword?
With these giant ribs, I had to get a proportional knife that could handle them in short order:
Big ribs need a big knife.
Yeah, that’s a two-handed handle on my carbon steel blade for these smoked beef ribs.
Finally, let’s slice and see how they turned out:
Wait for it…
Please, WAIT for it!
WAIT FOR IT!!
Wasn’t that worth the wait?
Smoked Beef Ribs Summary:
OK, this is one of those mea culpa disclaimers at the end. We cooked these to 204°F and the probe thermometer went in and out of the meat like butter. The meat from the third rib in the rack slid right off the bone after we sliced it. No tug, no bite – just gravity. The meat itself, however, was not pillowy soft like we expected fall off the bone ribs to be. My theory for this is because these ribs were prime rated, meaning that extra marbling worked against us. We probably could’ve taken these ribs to 214°F.
Seriously. Check out a cross section of some of the meat:
We need that fat to liquefy, and had we gone another 10°F, that fat would have rendered out. If this happens to you, simply wrap back in the foil, add a little more liquid and let the ribs cook a bit longer. It happens. In fact,
I sliced some of these beef ribs and fried them in a pan with some sunny-side-up eggs for maybe 5 minutes, and they were pillowy soft.
Smoked Beef Ribs are a Winner
All that being said, the flavor profile was absolutely amazing. The savory of the rub, plus that sweet smokiness from the wood and the sultry of the onion and garlic that penetrated the meat all came together into a beautiful mélange. Thus, I would do these again in a heartbeat. Also, if you really want to make the neighbors jealous, toss a couple chunks of onion and garlic onto the fire. The smell is mesmerizing, indeed.
If you have any questions about these smoked beef ribs, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.
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Smoked Beef Ribs Recipe Card
Onion and Garlic Smoked Beef Ribs
Equipment
- 1 Heavy duty aluminum foil
- 1 baking sheet The baking sheet should have an edge around it
Ingredients
- 2 slabs Beef ribs each slab has three bones
- 4 tbsp Coarse salt divided
- 8 tbsp Your favorite BBQ rub divided
- 2 Onions halved and quartered
- 2 Ears of garlic separated into four or five chunks of garlic
- 1.5 cup Red wine divided
- 1.5 cup Beef stock divided
Instructions
- Skin the ribs on the bone side and then score the remaining fat
- Trim the fat and silver skin from the meat side
- Season bone side first with salt and your favorite BBQ beef rub
- Repeat the seasoning on the meat side
- Prepare the grill for two zone grilling with hot coals on one side and the meat on the other
- Target temp inside the grill is 275-300
- Slice the onions in half and chunk up into quarters
- Separate the ears of garlic into 3-4 clove chunks
- Add smoke wood, a couple chunks of onion and 5-6 cloves of garlic to the hot coals
- Add the ribs to the side with no direct heat
- Keep adding onion and garlic as soon as you can't smell the onion and garlic (about every 30 minutes)
- Once the bark on the ribs looks just how you want it and the bones are poking out a ton, remove from the grill and prepare the foil
- Set down the baking sheet and lay three sheets of foil, layered partially over each other, across the pan with 18 inches of foil on each side
- Rotate 90 degrees and lay down two more sheets of foil
- Push the foil up against the inside of the lip of the baking dish
- Set the ribs bone side down on the foil and add the wine and beef broth
- Wrap up the foil loosely on top of the ribs and place the foil packet back on the side of the grill with no direct heat
- After an hour, check the temps
- If north of 204, they should be done (prime grade beef ribs can go to 210 or even 214)
- Let the ribs rest outside the foil for at least 30 minutes
- Slice and serve
Video
More Smoked Beef Ribs Pics
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