Whether you are a smoked meat aficionado or just a backyard griller, you will love this easy recipe for big, beefy, Smoked Beef Short Ribs.
Beef short ribs, sometimes called plate short ribs, are among the richest and most flavorful cuts of beef and are ideal for smoking. Like beef brisket, these hearty and meaty beef ribs need to be smoked low and slow until they are fall-off-the-bone tender.
While these ribs do take time and patience, you will be rewarded with the most tantalizingly succulent smoked beef short ribs you could ever ask for. And if you don’t have time to smoke these ribs, you might want to check out my recipe for oven-baked Boneless Country Style Ribs.
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Ingredient notes:
- Beef Plate Short Ribs or Chuck Short Ribs – you will need one full plate or rack of ribs with 3-4 bones.
- Kosher salt, ground black pepper, and garlic powder – these simple seasonings are all you need to enhance the beef flavor.
- Beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, and apple juice – come together to make a flavorful mixture to add flavor and to spritz on the meat while smoking to keep it from drying out.
- Equipment – you will also need charcoal or fuel for your covered grill or smoker, pink butcher paper or aluminum foil, an instant-read or leave-in meat thermometer, and wood for smoking.
Step-by step-directions:
- Use a sharp filet knife and trim off most of the fat on the top and any silver skin. Do not remove the membrane on the bottom of the ribs.
- Combine the salt, pepper, and garlic powder and sprinkle generously over all sides of the ribs.
- If you use a Big Green Egg, add a generous layer of charcoal and light the fire. Preheat the Egg to 250 degrees F. Add a large chunk of unsoaked wood, about three inches square, then add the plate setter, legs up, and the cooking grid.
- To set up other grills or smokers, follow the manufacturer’s directions for indirect cooking or smoking and preheat to 250 degrees F. Add wood as specified by the manufacturer. The goal is to have a consistent temperature and a steady thin stream of pale bluish-gray smoke.
- Set the rack of beef short ribs on the grate, meat side up. If you have a leave-in instant-read meat thermometer, insert it into the thickest part of the meat, not touching the bone, and close the lid.
- Combine the beef stock, apple juice, and Worcestershire sauce and place in a spray bottle. Set aside.
- Let your ribs cook for about three hours. Lift the lid and spritz the ribs with the beef stock mixture. Add more charcoal or wood if needed. Plan to spray the meat every hour until it reaches 150 degrees F. as measured by your meat thermometer.
- When the meat reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees, remove it from the smoker and place it in the middle of a large (about 3 ft x 3 ft) piece of unwaxed pink butcher paper. Fold over both the left and right sides of the paper towards the middle. Then tightly fold the meat and paper over and over on itself until it’s a nice tight package and completely sealed.
- Place the wrapped ribs back in the smoker seam side down, and reinsert the meat thermometer. Continue cooking until they reach an internal temperature of 200 to 205 degrees F. Make sure the thermometer is in the thickest part of the meat, not touching the bone, as measured by a meat thermometer.
- Remove the wrapped ribs from the smoker and place them in an insulated cooler. Let them rest for at least one hour before unwrapping and serving.
Recipe FAQs:
Besides the size of the ribs and the taste, beef ribs have much more meat on them than pork ribs.
There are many variables, but you should plan on between eight to ten hours to smoke your beef short ribs and allow them to rest before serving.
Beef has a bigger and bolder flavor, and it can benefit from stronger woods such as hickory and mesquite. I usually use oak because it’s readily available where I live, but pecan, cherry, and other fruitwoods or a combination of woods can also be used.
When a large cut of meat is cooked low and slow, as in smoking, the “stall” is when the temperature quits rising or “stalls” after the first few hours of cooking. I’m not going to go into the science of it, but the stall can last for hours. You can shorten the stall by wrapping the meat in butcher paper when it stalls, as I have done in this recipe.
Generally, somewhere between 225 and 275 degrees F. works best to cook the meat’s interior without drying out the exterior. This recipe was tested by keeping the smoker at a consistent 250 degrees F. If your temperature is lower, it will take longer, and if it is higher, it won’t take quite as long.
I like to serve these hearty beef short ribs with my smoked baked beans, summer pasta salad, creamed potatoes, southern fried cabbage with bacon, broccoli slaw with ramen noodles, broccoli salad, tomato pie, cherry tomato pie, or fried sweet corn.
Sharon’s tips:
- While your meat is cooking, let the smoke do its magic. Resist the urge to lift the lid and peek. Continually lifting the lid makes it harder to control the temperature. It lets the heat and smoke out, which means it will take longer for your meat to cook properly.
- While it’s pretty easy to find regular single short ribs at the grocery store, most stores don’t have plates or racks of beef ribs out for purchase. But many times, they do have them in the back that aren’t cut up yet. I usually shop at Publix and have never had a problem getting them. Ask your butcher.
- When purchasing your meat, you can use either beef plate short ribs or a rack of chuck short ribs. Do not use beef back ribs for this recipe; they do not have enough meat to smoke, and what meat there is will dry out too quickly.
- If you don’t have unwaxed butcher paper, you can use aluminum foil. However, it will not allow any more smoke to penetrate the meat. I found my butcher paper on Amazon.
- A good meat thermometer makes all of the difference in cooking meat. It ensures that it will come out perfectly cooked every time. Although you can use an instant-read thermometer, a leave-in thermometer works best. It keeps you from having to continually lift the lid to check the temperature.
- We have a Signals BBQ Alarm and Thermometer, which is great. It’s a leave-in model that constantly measures the meat’s temperature and the grill at the grate. It also connects to my phone via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, so I can just set it and forget it.
More recipes for your Big Green Egg or smoker:
Here are a few more popular recipes: Smoked Queso Dip, Smoked Shrimp, Smoked Turkey, and Smoked Ham with Spicy Peach Glaze.
For more menu ideas, check out all of my recipes cooked on a grill or in a smoker.
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make this recipe, please leave a comment and give it a star rating. I would love to know how you liked it!
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Smoked Beef Short Ribs Recipe
Equipment
- Covered grill or smoker plus fuel, wood for smoking, pink or peach butcher paper, instant-read or leave-in meat thermometer
Ingredients
- 4 pounds Beef Plate Short Ribs or Chuck Short Ribs 1 full plate or rack with 3-4 bones
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 cup beef stock
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup apple juice or water
Instructions
- Use a sharp filet knife and trim off most of the fat on the top and any silver skin. Do not remove the membrane on the bottom of the ribs.
- Combine the salt, pepper, and garlic powder and sprinkle generously over all sides of the ribs.
- If you use a Big Green Egg, add a generous layer of charcoal and light the fire. Preheat the Egg to 250 degrees F. Add a large chunk of unsoaked wood, about three inches square, then add the plate setter legs up and the cooking grid.
- To set up other grills or smokers, follow the manufacturer’s directions for indirect cooking or smoking and preheat to 250 degrees F. Add wood as specified by the manufacturer. The goal is to have a consistent temperature and a steady thin stream of pale bluish-gray smoke.
- Set the rack of beef short ribs on the grate, meat side up. If you have a leave-in instant-read meat thermometer, insert it into the thickest part of the meat, not touching the bone, and close the lid.
- Combine the beef stock, apple juice, and Worcestershire sauce and place in a spray bottle. Set aside.
- Let your ribs cook for about three hours. Lift the lid and spritz the ribs with the beef stock mixture. Add more charcoal or wood if needed. Plan to spray the meat every hour until it reaches 150 degrees F. as measured by your meat thermometer.
- When the meat reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees, remove it from the smoker and place it in the middle of a large (about 3 ft x 3 ft) piece of unwaxed pink butcher paper. Fold over both the left and right sides of the paper towards the middle. Then tightly fold the meat and paper over and over on itself until it’s a nice tight package and completely sealed.
- Place the wrapped ribs back in the smoker seam side down, and reinsert the meat thermometer. Continue cooking until they reach an internal temperature of 200 to 205 degrees F. Make sure the thermometer is in the thickest part of the meat, not touching the bone, as measured by a meat thermometer.
- Remove the wrapped ribs from the smoker and place them in an insulated cooler to rest for at least one hour before unwrapping and serving.
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