A two bone, french cut prime rib, slathered in a garlic and herb paste and then mounted on a rotisserie spit. The prime rib roast is slow roasted forming an epic flavor crust until it reaches beautiful medium rare. This is a fairly simple process and thus this rotisserie prime rib recipe should remove a lot of that anxiety from cooking such an expensive cut of meat.

Rotisserie Prime Rib Recipe — GrillinFools Images ©

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I know, I know. Beef is expensive. Prime rib even more so. What if you blow this, right? I’m here to tell you that this is not at all hard to do and that a rib roast, particularly on a rotisserie, is very forgiving and quite easy to grill.

On the notion of beef prices being so high, let me help you save some money and still score some tasty steaks.

Also, here’s a recipe to smoke a prime rib on kamado charcoal grill.

Additionally, here’s a prime rib roast I smoked on Christmas Eve on a pellet grill. Roast beast, if you will.

Finally, here’s a standing rib roast done on a standard box type charcoal grill.

Rotisserie Prime Rib Recipe Ingredients

2 teaspoons of coarse ground pepper
2 teaspoons of coarse salt
3 heaping tablespoons of fresh chopped rosemary
2 heaping tablespoons of fresh chopped thyme
2 teaspoons of jarlic (jarred garlic)
1/4 – 1/3 cup of vegetable oil
1 French cut, bone-in prime rib, with two bones and approximately 6.5 pounds
Aluminum foil

In terms of this rotisserie prime rib recipe ingredients, indeed these are all approximations.

If you go with a smaller sized two bone roast, there might be a little garlic and herb paste left over.

If you go with a three or four bone standing rib roast, there may not be enough.

No worries, if you have some left over, add a little more of that paste toward the end of the cook. If you need more, make up a second batch.

How to Make this Rotisserie Prime Rib Recipe
Remove the thyme and rosemary leaves from the stems and chop them fine. Combine in a bowl with the salt, pepper and oil. Skewer the prime rib with the rotisserie spit and mount on the cold grill. Season the prime rib with salt and slather with the garlic and herb paste, rotate the spit and apply on the other sides. Light the grill and turn on the rotisserie, leaving the grill open to slowly bring the prime rib up to temp. After about 30 minutes, close the lid. Once the rib roast hits your desired doneness, remove the rotisserie spit from the heat and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. Slice and serve.

Let’s get a look at the star of this show, that standing rib roast:

Herbs

Initially, the stems need to be removed from the sprigs of thyme and rosemary:

And then chop the thyme and rosemary fine:

Then combine the finely chopped herbs with the jarlic (jarred garlic), salt, pepper and vegetable oil:

Give it a good stir to blend thoroughly:

Then, bust out that rotisserie spit:

Pro Tip #1 ~ Align that rotisserie fork to be at the edge of the rotisserie burner so the prime rib is centered in front of the burner for even cooking.

Pro Tip #2 ~ Spray down the rotisserie spit and the forks with a little oil (the spray stuff work) to make clean up MUCH easier. That baked on stuff that is so hard to clean off will slide right off with a little warm water and wipe with a sponge or dish cloth.

Pro Tip 2a ~ Spray the spit and forks over the grass so you don’t get oil all over your deck and then track it into your house.

Time to skewer the prime rib.

I went between the bones, but you could go through the center of the meat, but you might need to remove the grill grates:

Prime Rib Rotisserie 28 | GrillinFools — GrillinFools Images ©

One note, getting that rotisserie fork down between the bones was a little tricky. Be patient there. You’ll get it.

Then, mount the rotisserie spit on the cold grill:

Indeed, you read that right. The grill should be off. We are going to slowly bring the temp up on this.

I bet some of you are wondering, “But why didn’t you season and slather the prime rib before skewering it?”

Because the biggest component of the garlic and herb paste is oil. Nobody wants to try to skewer an oiled rib roast.

Trust me here.

Season and Slather

Because the meat to crust ratio is pretty high, feel free to load up the outside with flavor. Despite there being a good amount of salt in the garlic and herb paste go ahead and salt the standing rib roast:

And don’t worry if you slather it first and have to apply the salt over the garlic and herb paste:

Once you slather the top with the garlic and herbs, use that rotisserie to rotate the roast:

I know you are eager to get that grill lit and start roasting this thing.

Spark up the Rotisserie

Wait.

One step first.

That last “ingredient” is just aluminum foil. Wrap that around the bones before you turn the burner on.

Ask me how I know it’s vital to do it in that order?

How I know is I turned the burner on first (see that orange burner in the back) and thought it would be no big deal to wrap that foil around the bones without burning my hands. Nope.

And being stubborn, I kept at it to get the foil around there despite the pain in my hands! Learn from me being a stubborn idiot.

Add Smoke to the Rotisserie Prime Rib Recipe

But what if you want to add some smoke? I didn’t, but you could absolutely do that. I stole a page from these rotisserie pork ribs I did on this same grill.

A couple chunks of smoke wood next to the rotisserie burner will give you some smoke action:

Pork Ribs on a Rotisserie — GrillinFools Images ©

After 20-30 minutes, the prime rib is warming up nicely, albeit slowly which is by design and the color is darkening up on the vegetation:

So let’s close the lid and take it the rest of the way.

After about 15 minutes with the lid closed we are getting some browning:

This will form a nice flavor crust all the way around, but if you want to kick it up a notch, here’s the time to do it.

All you have to do is stop the rotisserie with the flat side of the prime rib facing the rotisserie burner.

WARNING ~ If you leave this there too long, this is where you can wreck this roast.

DO NOT walk away to go to the bathroom or get a beverage. And only leave the rotisserie stalled for a couple minutes.

If you time it well, the crust will be fantastic:

And it got even better:

Once the rib roast reaches your desired doneness, remove it from the grill (some heat resistant gloves would be a good idea) and allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes.

Here’s a handy temp guide for steak to know what to shoot for:

Steak Temps

Rare Steak Temp: 120F-125F
Medium Rare Steak Temp: 130F-135F
Medium Steak Temp: 140F-145F
Med. Well Steak Temp: 150F-155F
Well Done Steak Temp: 160F or more, but seriously, just order the chicken

This is our prime rib resting:

Allow the prime rib to rest for 10-15 minutes and then slice:

Rotisserie Prime Rib Recipe Recap:

This is so easy, and at the same time a wonderfully elegant meal. This could be the centerpiece of the fanciest of holiday meals. And don’t be afraid to go heavy on the seasoning and the garlic/herb paste. That’s a lot of meat and it is very hard to over season it.

If you have any questions or comments about this rotisserie recipe, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

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

Additionally, you can follow us on our GrillinFools Facebook page, Instagram, and YouTube feeds

Finally, below the recipe card you will find lots more pics of the process.

Prime Rib Recipe Card

Prime Rib Rotisserie 62 | GrillinFools — GrillinFools Images ©

Print Recipe

Rotisserie Prime Rib Recipe

In this Rotisserie Prime Rib Recipe we slather the rib roast with a garlic and herb paste, before slow roasting it on rotisserie to a glorious medium rare.

Course: Entree, Main Course, Prime Rib, Steak

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Beef, Beef Prime Rib, Christmas Dinner, Christmas Supper

Keyword: Beef, Beef Prime Rib, Black Garlic, Bone In, Bone In Prime Rib, Coarse Ground Pepper, Coarse Salt, Flavor Crust, French Cut, Fresh Herbs, Fresh Thyme, Garlic and Herb, Garlic and Herb Paste, Gas Grill, Jarlic, Jarred Garlic, Medium Rare, Medium Rare Steak, Pepper, Prime Rib, Prime Rib Recipe, Prime Rib Roast, Rib Roast, Ribeye, Rosemary, Rotisserie, Rotisserie Burner, Rotisserie Spit, Sear, Spit, Standing Rib Roast

Servings: People

Equipment

aluminum foil

Ingredients

2 teaspoons Coarse ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Coarse salt
3 tablespoons Fresh rosemary Heaping
2 tablespoons Fresh thyme Heaping
2 teaspoons Jarlic AKA jarred garlic
1/4-1/3 cup Vegetable oil
1 French cut, bone-in prime rib with two bones Approximately 6.5 pounds

Instructions

Remove the stems from the thyme and rosemary and finely chop. Add the herbs, salt, pepper, jarlic and vegetable oil to a bowl and blend thoroughly
Spray the rotisserie spit and spit forks with vegetable oil
Skewer the prime rib and mount the spit on the cold grill. Season the top of the standing rib roast with salt and the garlic and herb paste. Using the rotisserie, rotate the prime rib 180 degrees and season and slather the other side.
Turn on the rotisserie and the rotisserie burner but leave the lid open to allow the prime rib to come up to temp slowly.
After 20-30 minutes, close the lid on the grill. After 60 minutes, check the internal temp to get a gauge as to how much farther it has to go.
Once the prime rib reaches the desired doneness, turn off the rotisserie an the burner and use heat resistant gloves to remove the prime rib from the grill and allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes.
Remove the rotisserie and the forks and carve.

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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