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Our delicious Sweet and Spicy Smoked Pork Ribs are going to be the talk of the neighborhood after your next summer cookout!
Disclosure: Traeger provided us with a complimentary Pro Series 34 Pellet Grill and accessories for review and recipe development purposes. All opinions are 100% our own.
Hey everyone, this is Jack. Go grab a pile of napkins because you’re going to need them after digging into these outstanding Sweet and Spicy Smoked Pork Ribs! When Martha told me a few weeks ago that Traeger had contacted us about developing a recipe using one of their Pro Series wood pellet grills, without hesitation, I replied, “Sign us up!!”“Good barbecue comes from experience, and experience comes from bad barbecue.”
Truer words were never spoken, and I bear witness to that. Living in New England all of my life, smoking meat is not something I grew up doing, and only recently have we started to see a number of smoked meat houses and restaurants opening up here in Massachusetts. So, our recipe for Sweet and Spicy Smoked Pork Ribs took us three weekends to perfect. I don’t mention this to scare you off, but more to reassure you that some learning curve is to be expected before you make perfect smoked ribs or other kinds of meat, especially if you’ve never done it before.- Slow Cooker Honey-Garlic Baby Back Ribs
- White Barbecue Sauce Pork Ribs
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We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Sweet and Spicy Smoked Pork Ribs
Prepare all ingredients the day before, that way you can wake up early and start cooking without worrying about time for prep.
Allow plenty of time for smoking and cooking the meat – depending on the size of your ribs, the cook time might be longer than anticipated.
Ingredients
2 racks of St Louis style pork ribs
Pre-rub
1 cup Korean Chili Paste (GOCHUJANG)
2 tablespoons dry mustard
½ cup soy sauce
Dry rub
1 ¼ ounces dried apple slices (available in most supermarkets)
1 tablespoon ginger powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon dry mustard
Moisture pans
6 cups apple juice
6 cups water
Spritzer
1 ½ cups apple juice
1 ½ cups cider vinegar
Foil wrap
2 sticks butter, softened
2 ounces dry mango
½ cup water
1 cup agave
½ cup apple juice
½ cup cider vinegar
BBQ sauce
1 very ripe Anjou pear
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 tablespoons agave
½ teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons tomato paste
¼ cup apricot jam
Other
Sesame seeds
Chopped scallion tops
Instructions
Peel the thin film from the back of the ribs by grabbing with a paper towel and pulling off. Discard the film and keep the ribs refrigerated while you prepare the other ingredients.
Mix the pre-rub by combining the three ingredients. Set aside.
Prepare the dry rub by placing dried apple slices in a food processor and process until ground fine. Add all of the remaining spices and pulse a few times to combine. Set aside.
Place two disposable aluminum pans in your smoker and divide apple juice and water between them.
Combine the apple juice and vinegar and fill a spritzer.
Fill smoker pellet hopper with apple wood pellets.
Start smoker and raise heat to 250 degrees F. That temperature will be maintained for the entire cooking process.
Lay out the two rib racks on a sheet tray and smear both sides of both racks with the pre-rub.
Sprinkle the dry rub on both sides of both rib racks, saving most for the meat side.
Place both prepared rib racks on the upper rack of your smoker, meat side up, above the moisture pans and set timer for one hour.
While ribs are cooking prepare the foil wrap. Start by dicing the mango and place in a small sauce pan with water and cook to soften. Place in a food processor along with softened butter and agave and puree to a smooth consistency and stir in apple juice and vinegar. Set aside. Cut off six pieces of 18” wide foil twice as long as a rib rack. Set aside.
After the first hour of cooking, spritz ribs and continue to spritz every 30 minutes for two more hours (total of three hours so far)
Remove ribs from smoker and place meat side up on the foil and slather with the foil wrap sauce. Turn over and seal each rack with the meat down. Seal the foil tightly (three foil sheets per rib rack).
Place back in smoker and let cook untouched for two hours.
While ribs are cooking, add the pear to a food processor and puree until smooth. Add all remaining sauce ingredients to the pear and process to combine. Set aside.
After the two hours, remove ribs from foil and discard foil and liquid.
Brush both sides of ribs with the BBQ sauce and place meat side up on the top rack back over the moisture pans and give each rib rack a spritz. Save a little BBQ sauce to serve with ribs.
Cook for at least one hour and up to 90 minutes or until the rack breaks in the center when lifted with a pair of tongs. During this 60-90-minute final cooking, spritz every 15 minutes.
Once you determine the ribs are tender, carefully remove and top with sesame seeds and scallions. Let rest for five minutes then slice between each bone and serve with the reserved BBQ sauce.
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If I won the grill, I would definitely try Family Feasts Sweet and Spicy ribs!!! 5 STAR!!!
★★★★★
I have wanted a Traeger for so long. If I won, the first thing on the grill would be a big Texas beef brisket!
★★★★★
I need a grill!! And I would definitely make these ribs 1st!!
Although I have not made this recipe yet, I am confident that is will be great. A few years ago I was given a Traeger portable grill. It has a limited cooking space, but I have been able to reduce Traeger recipes to fit the cooking space. Each recipe I have tried came out excellent. I have always wanted to upgrade my Traeger, but am still working on the small one. I will be making this recipe soon.
Would like to win for my wife. She has been to cookouts using the grill, we must have one she says. The pork ribs look mighty fine, we would have to start with the sweet and spicy smoked pork ribs.
Smoked Striped Bass with fresh garden vegetables
Thank You. What a wonderful opportunity to win the grill. The first thing I would have to make would be the mentioned recipe, SWEET AND SPICY SMOKED PORK RIBS. They look delicious. On looks alone I would have to rate the recipe 5 stars. Win or lose I have a new recipe.
I would make a sweet treat! How COOL to ” bake” without having to turn on the oven in this summer heat…especially here in this Las Vegas heat.
Definitely would make A Family Feast’s Sweet & Spicy Smoked Pork Ribs! Thanks for sharing your delicious recipes!
I would smoke a nice 7lb brisket and make a smoked brisket sandwich on Texas toast topped with Cole slaw