With this step-by-step recipe, you can make mouthwatering Baby Back Ribs in a Traeger smoker, too! Rub the pork ribs with a simple dry seasoning, smoke and bake until fall-apart tender, and baste with your favorite BBQ sauce. So good, you can’t stop eating them!
With a wife who is a talented cook and a master in Japanese food, I sometimes forget that I should help out more in the kitchen. So one of the goals I have set out to achieve is to lend Nami a hand whenever I can. It’s also a reminder to the kids that ‘Hey, Daddy can cook too!”.
Since my cooking expertise leans toward barbequing, I’ve been studying some recipes that would earn approval from my family. They can be a tough crowd, but they have always loved our friend John’s smoked baby back ribs recipe which I cook regularly. It was time for a new surprise.
Today I’m excited to share our family’s new favorite – Traeger Baby Back Ribs inspired by Franklin Barbecue in Austin.
Visiting Franklin Barbecue in Austin
Over the past few years, I’ve attended conferences in Austin, Texas and I always make it a point to hit up a few renowned Texas barbecues spots when I’m there. I’ve tried the smoked meats at the popular Salt Lick and Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que. The meats were juicy and tasty, and they did live up to their reputations.
Until last year, when we started to receive a flood of recommendations from readers on the famed Franklin Barbecue, I knew I had to make a visit there. In the city where you can find plenty of great smoked meat, why are people willing to wait three hours starting at 8 am (the restaurant opens at 11 am) just for some meat? What is the hype all about? I was too eager to find out.
It was a Thursday and I arrived at 12:30 pm, the line was out the door and down the side of the building but it doesn’t seem too long. Is it my lucky day? The lunch hour rush should be over soon and I can enjoy my food promptly. As I waited patiently, an hour went by and it felt like the line had come to a halt. Luckily, the restaurant has folding chairs for customers to sit on while waiting so I didn’t have to stand the entire time.
Another hour went by, the staff came out and greeted the train of people. They were letting us know they can’t guarantee what meat will be available by the time it’s our turn, but we should be able to get some food. WHAT??? Out of food? My hunger was attacking me by the minute and it was getting harder and harder to wait.
Finally, at 2 pm, I got through the restaurant’s door. Oh no, the line continued inside with 30 people ahead of me and at the same moment, it’s officially announced. Turkey has sold out.
The Brisket at Franklin Barbecue
At 2:19 pm, it was finally my turn at the counter and I got a brisket sandwich and sausages along with the potato salad. By this time I was famished. I took my food tray to a table and poured the BBQ sauce on the brisket.
I took a giant bite of the brisket sandwich, OMG, is this what heaven tastes like? The brisket more or less melted in my mouth, it had a perfect amount of smoky flavor and the seasoning was just perfect. The house BBQ sauce had the perfect amount of sweetness, saltiness, and tanginess that mixed in with the fatty brisket. The two-hour wait, it was well worth it. Unfortunately, it was all over in 5 minutes. I should have gotten two brisket sandwiches and take one with me for later.
I have to say Franklin Barbecue exceeded my expectations!
Back Home Testing and Tasting
Inspired by the life-changing experience at Franklin’s Barbeque, after returning from Austin, we purchased a Traeger smoker from Costco (much cheaper than most retailers) and Aaron Franklin’s two cookbooks, Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto and Franklin Steak: Dry-Aged. Live-Fired. Pure Beef.
His cookbooks are really well written. They’re not stuffed with 100 recipes that most readers would never make. Instead, most of the contents educate the readers on meat, wood, fire, and the science behind seasoning, barbeque, grilling, and all aspects of cooking meat. They’re my new bibles for grilling and I highly recommend both books for anyone who loves barbeque.
Traeger Baby Back Ribs with Franklin BBQ Sauce
The first recipes we tried from the cookbook were Franklin’s spare ribs and barbeque sauce. Both were really good. The BBQ sauce alone is worth purchasing the book for. Our family absolutely loved the spare ribs but the proportion of meat to bone is much less than baby back ribs. We ended the meal hungrily and wanting more meat to eat.
In case you weren’t aware, spare ribs and baby back ribs are connected to each other on a pig. They are like the human rib cage, with large bones on the chest side (spare ribs) and smaller bones on the back (baby back ribs).
We then had the idea of cooking with a similar method on baby back ribs! That would be the best of both worlds. Time to test recipe!
After many tests and trials, we are really happy with the recipe below. If you never smoked meat before and have always wanted to try, this is a foolproof method with an incredible result! Best of all: the ingredients are simple and what you probably already have in the kitchen. The basic steps are:
- Make dry rub (mostly salt and pepper).
- Season meat and set aside for 1 hour.
- Smoke for 2 hours.
- Brush the sauce and smoke for 30 minutes.
- Wrap in foil and bake for 1-2 hours.
- Rest for 30 minutes and eat!
Easy right? Now let’s make it!
What is a Traeger smoker?
We shared smoked turkey breast (also inspired by Franklin’s recipe) over the holidays and talked about why we like the Traeger smoker. The short answer is the Traeger works pretty much like an electric oven, set the temperature and cook the food.
It is so easy to use and on average, we cook with it once every two weeks to test different meats. Unlike a barbeque grill, Traeger doesn’t burn food easily as it cooks with indirect heat. We would not recommend it for searing a thick steak since it doesn’t get as hot as a gas or charcoal grill, but it’s perfect for cooking chicken, pork shoulder, and other thick cuts of meats that require some time to cook.
We have the junior size smoker which can fit up to 3 racks of ribs (feeds 6-8 people).
Recommended Wood Pellets
For wood pellets, we find the Traeger branded ones have less flavor than Lumber Jack brand (same price on Amazon). Our go-to Lumber Jack pellet is an oak-hickory-cherry blend that goes well with almost all types of meat.
Tips for Traeger Baby Back Rib
Love baby back ribs? You have to give this recipe a try! It’s our family’s favorite and our daughter requests it at least once a month. There are no fancy ingredients required and the prep time is very short. Here are some tips based on our meat-smoking journey:
- Use 16-mesh black pepper for seasoning, the flavor is much more consistent and powerful than regular black pepper.
- If you don’t have apple cider vinegar, substitute with apple juice or white vinegar.
- Franklin’s BBQ sauce is not a “sweet” profile; it’s more tangy and acidic. It’s up to each person’s preference on what their favorite BBQ sauce flavor is. We’ve used Sweet Baby Ray BBQ Sauce for the ribs and it turned out really tasty as well.
- Take extra care not to puncture the foil while wrapping. We’ve had that happen before and the ribs didn’t turn out as tender.
- Based on Franklin’s recommendation, the meat side of the rib should be on the hotter side of the grill. For our Traeger, the bottom side of the grill is hotter. However, when we smoked with the meat side down, the bark got stuck on the grate and we lost some precious meat. So we smoke with the meat side up.
These smoked baby back ribs are perfect for entertaining, and win the best cook award in the family! They are seriously finger-licking good, so get the napkins ready.
Looking for other Traeger recipes? How about mouthwatering reverse sear steaks or smoked turkey breast for the next gathering?
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Traeger Baby Back Ribs
Ingredients
- 2 racks pork baby back ribs
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar (divided; 1–2 Tbsp for the mister, 6 Tbsp for the smoker)
- 2 cups your favorite BBQ sauce (we used Franklin’s BBQ recipe from his cookbook); we also like Sweet Baby Ray‘s brand)
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (divided)
- 4 Tbsp honey (divided)
- 4 Tbsp brown sugar (divided)
For the Dry Rub (enough for 3–4 racks)
- 2 Tbsp 16-mesh ground black pepper (I get mine from Amazon)
- 1 Tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients and equipment you need.
To Prepare the Dry Rub
- To a glass jar, add the dry rub ingredients: 2 Tbsp 16-mesh ground black pepper, 1 Tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, 1 tsp onion powder, and 1 tsp garlic powder).
- Close the jar and shake well. I highly recommend using a maraca sifter for even sprinkling.
To Prepare the Ribs
- Remove the membrane from the back of 2 racks pork baby back ribs by pulling it down with a paper towel (it‘s slippery). We usually ask the butcher to do this when we purchase the ribs. Add 1–2 Tbsp (15–30 ml) apple cider vinegar to a mister and spray the meat to wet it.
- Evenly sprinkle the dry seasoning all over the meat, starting with the bone side and including the edges. Let the meat rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
To Smoke the Ribs
- After 45 minutes, start preheating the Traeger smoker to 275ºF (135ºC).
- Create a metal cup with aluminum foil (I used a measuring cup as a mold) and pour the remaining 6 Tbsp (90 ml) apple cider vinegar inside.
- Once the Traeger reaches 275ºF (135ºC), place the ribs on the rack, meat side up, along with the cup with the vinegar. Smoke for 2 hours.
- Meanwhile, make 2 cups your favorite BBQ sauce. We made a BBQ sauce using a recipe from Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto cookbook.
- After 2 hours, use the mister to spray the apple cider vinegar on the ribs.
- Use a brush to apply BBQ sauce on the meat side of the ribs.
- Smoke for another 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, flip the ribs over. Mist more vinegar on the meat.
- Brush the BBQ sauce on the ribs again. Smoke for an additional 15 minutes.
To Bake the Ribs
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 275ºF (135ºC). Prepare 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil for each rack of ribs (leaving plenty of room to wrap the ribs).
- For each foil sheet, cut up 1 Tbsp unsalted butter into 4 pieces and spread it on the aluminum foil. Drizzle the foil with 2 Tbsp honey and 2 Tbsp brown sugar.
- Mist with apple cider vinegar and pour some BBQ sauce on top. Make the same aluminum sheet with butter, honey, sugar, apple cider vinegar, and BBQ sauce for the other foil sheet.
- Take out the ribs from the smoker and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Lay a rack of ribs, meat side down, on the mixture on each foil sheet.
- Spray the bone side with vinegar and brush with BBQ sauce.
- Carefully wrap the meat without puncturing the aluminum foil.
- Seal the end of the aluminum foil so moisture can’t escape.
- Place the ribs on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 2 hours.
To Serve
- Take the ribs out of the oven and rest in the foil for 20–30 minutes. Enjoy the ribs with your favorite BBQ sauce.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to 1 month. To reheat the ribs, preheat the oven to 250ºF (121ºC) for 30 minutes or until warmed through.
Notes
- Heavy-duty aluminum foil
- Brush
- Glass jar
- Mister (optional)
- Maracasifter (optional)
Equipment
- Heavy-duty aluminum foil
- Brush
- Glass jar
- Mister (optional)
- Spice shaker (optional)
How would you adjust the recipe if you were using St Louis Pork Spare Ribs? Thank you!
Pretty much the same way. I actually started testing this recipe on St. Louis style ribs but the family prefers the meatier baby back ribs. The difference in cooking St. Louis style ribs is instead of smoking for 2 hrs, smoke for 2.5 hrs and then 15 min on each side.
Wrap and cook/smoke for another 2.5 – 3 hrs depending on the size of your ribs.
Is there any reason not to leave the wrapped ribs on the Traeger at 275? That way you don’t have to heat up your kitchen.
Hi Ashraf,
The primary reason is to save on wood chips. Since the ribs are already wrapped it doesn’t make a difference whether it’s the oven or the Targers. We’ve also noticed that the oven temperature is more consistent than a Traeger at 275 and results in more tender ribs.
For us, if we make 2-3 ribs we’ll use the oven. If we’re making 6 ribs or more then we use the Traeger.
I followed the recipe exactly and I found the ribs to be overdone. They were beyond fall off the bone and lacking some in flavor because it cooked out. Next time I will reduce the total cooking time from 4.5 hrs to 4 or maybe 3.5. I will report back. Otherwise the flavor was nice.
Hi Wesley,
Thank you for your feedback. Depending on the size of the baby back ribs the cooking time will vary. Glad you liked the flavor!
Is it safe to let the ribs sit at room temperature for an hour?
Yes, it’s not a problem. Plus you’re cooking it for 4+ hours afterwards so that’ll kill any bacteria.
Excited to try. But why wouldn’t you wrap and put back in the traeger that’s already set at 275? It cooks like the oven and you’d get more smoke. Is it just to save on pellets?
Hi Paul,
The smoke doesn’t matter anymore after wrapping in foil. It also saves the pellets. This is our family’s favorite ribs recipe so we hope you’ll enjoy it as well. Takes about 6 hrs total.
What do you do with the cider you had in the smoker for 2 hours? Maybe I missed it 🙂
Just toss the cider. There should only be a tiny bit left. The acid in the cider helps flavor the ribs.
Hi, I only have an oven. Can I just oven bake instead of smoke? If possible, what’s e steps n duration? Thank you.
Hi Joanne,
What I would recommend is season the ribs the same way. After 1 hour, wrap the ribs up in aluminum foil with honey, butter, brown sugar, and a bit of hickory liquid smoke (https://amzn.to/3ifniyD). Bake in oven at 250 F for 2.5 – 3 hours (depending on the size of the rib) with the meat side down. You can place the ribs in a pan in case the liquids leak.
Take the ribs out and increase the oven temperature to 350 F. Place ribs on a pan and brush bbq sauce on both sides of the ribs. Bake for 25-30 min.
Let us know how it turns out.
Just made these by far the best I have ever smoked. Recipe very easy to follow. Thank you. Do you think you could do a brisket like this?
Hi Mike,
Thank you for the awesome feedback. We will have a brisket recipe on the blog very soon. Stay tuned!
By far the best recipe for ribs I have ever tried. This one is a keeper!
Hi Amanda,
Thank you for your kind comments! Our family loves this ribs recipe as well and the best part is it’s not hard at all!
What is 18 gm pepper and 9 gm salt converted to rsp. Thanks
18 g pepper is roughly 8 tsp
9 g kosher salt is roughly 3 tsp
Oh man, your world just changed.
Sweet Baby Ray’s (SBR) BBQ sauce is a good place to start. When you are ready …
Try “Texas BBQ” sauce, tomato based, organic, form Trader Joes (TJs). It is TJs branded. Another sauce to try is their “Carolina BBQ” sauce, mustard based, also TJs branded. It is not a mouthful of mustard. It is a sweet sauce, like SBR’s, but much broader flavor profile, we think both/either of those TJs sauces are better than SBR.
There is a newer company at this end of the bridge, in Berkeley; LOUBIER. Their sauces and rubs are easy to find in the East Bay. Their website has as a store locator for your end of the bridge. Their Mild BBQ Sauce is good. Their Hot BBQ Sauce is a little too hot for our liking. If you like spicy, go for the hot. Overall, the flavor profiles of Loubier products is complex in a very good way. They are starting to get popular, now. Definitely worth a try. I use Loubier’s All-Purpose rub when I grill pork loin chops or grill bone-in pork chops.
https://loubiergourmet.com/
TJs Texas BBQ, or TJs Carolina BBQ, or Loubiers Mild BBQ – we use one of those three sauces on pork ribs. We never went back to SBR.
And then there is a great sauce out of Canada called House of Q’s “Slow Smoke Gold”, a mustard BBQ Sauce. Not like TJs Carolina sauce mentioned above, this one is more like mustard-mustard. It is good to use as a pre-rub to get the rub to stick to the rib meat. It is also a really good alternative for regular old mustard on sandwiches. Just smear some Slow Smoke Gold on a bun, pile on some BBQ rib meat and enjoy. I order it from All Things BBQ out of Kansas.
https://www.atbbq.com/
All Things BBQ has great videos on using pellet grills and grill techniques, in general.
Hi Joe,
Thank you for the detailed recommendations. We haven’t tried TJ’s sauces but have actually tried Loubier recently and liked it as well. However, our family still loves Franklin’s original sauce the most. It has a unique tangy taste that cuts through the fatty ribs. It also has plenty of flavors and goes really well with the ribs. The best part is it’s super easy to make.
Please include the following 3 answers in one comment box.
Where are you from? Los Angeles CA
How did you find JOC?crusing around on Facebook
Tell us what you’d like to see more of on Just One Cookbook in 2020. Examples: Japan travel tips? Baking recipes? Any feedback is truly appreciated (we will take notes to improve JOC!). I just enjoy the Japanese recipes and would love to see many more and a little more off the dinner menu. I’m not a great baker so… tips?
Hi Darryl,
Could you please leave your comments at the giveaway post?
Where are you from? Hacienda heights CA
How did you find JOC?crusing around on Facebook
Tell us what you’d like to see more of on Just One Cookbook in 2020. Examples: Japan travel tips? Baking recipes? Any feedback is truly appreciated (we will take notes to improve JOC!). I just enjoy the Japanese recipes and would love to see many more and a little more off the dinner menu. I’m not a great baker so… I really try but I just don’t have that knack, tips?
Namiちゃん, I never thought the Treager world would intersect with the Japanese cuisine world, but you did it! Your recipe is spot on; you do need a Treager grill, but if you have one the results will come out perfectly. Texas BBQ is one of the treasures of American cuisine, and this recipe will surely satisfy. I make it myself regularly to rave reviews. Thanks for sharing and promoting this very delicious American style of cooking!
Hi Bill,
Our family loves smoked meat and we’re always testing new recipes on the Traeger. The https://www.justonecookbook.com/shio-koji-chicken/ recipe was originally developed on the Traeger but since most people do not have a smoker, we modified it for the oven.
Try it on the Traeger, it’s amazing!
Is there any reason not to leave the wrapped ribs on the Traeger at 275? That way you don’t have to heat up your kitchen.
Hi Karen,
You can continue to heat the wrapped ribs in the Traeger at 275. We don’t do so to save on the wood pellets and there’s no additional benefit in the smoker since it’s already wrapped.
You might want to get a simple rib rack. It holds the ribs sideways. Google “rib rack”. Mine is similar to the Walmart one but you could pay more and get the Traeger one.
Hi Charles,
Great suggestion, we have a Traeger junior so it only holds a half rib rack. Will buy one and test out. We’ll add it to the post if it works. We’re not sure how the ribs will turn out cooking vertically.
Hi Charles,
We tried the rib rack but do not recommend it if you plan to sauce the ribs. It’s difficult to sauce with the ribs standing vertically.
The good part is we were able to fit 3 ribs and there are still some space to smoke veggies and corn.
My mouth was watering just looking at the pictures. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Hi Theresa,
Thank you for your kind comments. If you love baby back ribs we highly recommend giving this recipe a try.