Yes, you can make baby back ribs smoked on your Weber Kettle. And they turn out just as tender, juicy, and absolutely delicious as smoked ribs from an offset smoker.
Why You Should Try This Weber Kettle Smoked Baby Back Pork Rib Recipe
- The bold, smoky pork rib flavor – The incredible smoky, fatty pork essence of these baby back ribs can be achieved on a Weber Kettle with just a few steps and little complication, just as if we smoked them on an offset smoker.
- Only five ingredients – The five simple, economical, easy-to-find ingredients are probably in your refrigerator and pantry right now!
- Prepping is incredibly easy – Slather on the yellowmustard, coat the baby back ribs in rib rub. In two hours add BBQ sauce, then spritz with apple juice. Only four steps!
- A simple three-hour smoking process – On the grill grate for 2 hours, maintaining moderate heat and smoke, wrapped in aluminum foil for 1 hour, back on the grill grate, out of the aluminum foil, and back on the grill grate for 15 minutes. Done! Eat!
Ingredients For Weber Kettle Smoked Baby Back Pork Ribs
- One rack of baby back pork ribs
- ½ cup yellow mustard
- 1 cup of your favorite rib rub
- 1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
- 1 cup apple juice in a spray bottle
- Charcoal briquets
- Small smoking wood chunks (see “chop the wood chunks” below)
Directions For Weber Kettle Smoked Baby Back Pork Ribs
1. Set up your Weber Kettle for indirect smoking – Fill your charcoal chimney fire starter with charcoal briquettes, and when ready, empty the chimney in the center of the charcoal grate. With tongs, move the charcoal to both sides of the Weber Kettle, creating two equal piles. Add three more charcoal briquets and one piece of wood to each pile. Before returning the grill to the Weber Kettle, place an aluminum loaf pan filled halfway up with water between the two piles of charcoal.
2. Wipe off the moisture and remove the membrane – Take a paper towel and remove the excess moisture from the rib rack.Use a sharp knife to separate the clear membrane from the ribs on the underside of the rib rack. Then, using a paper towel to grab the membrane, firmly pull it down and rip it off the rib rack.
4. Apply the yellow mustard and the rib rub – Brush the yellow mustard over the entire rib rack, front and back. Liberally shake on the rib rub over the entire rib rack front and back, then pat it on to make sure it sticks well to the mustard.
5. Place your rib rack on the grill grate – Place the baby back ribs side by side in the center of the grill grate, equidistant from the right and left side piles of coals. Smoke for two hours, maintaining moderate heat; maintain smoke by adding a few charcoal briquets and wood chunks every 30 minutes or as needed.
6. Wrap in foil with BBQ sauce – Take your rib rack off the grill grate and place it on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Liberally brush the ribs with your BBQ sauce and fold the aluminum around the rib rack to form a tight seal. Place back on the grill grate as before and smoke for one hour. This step will help ensure that your pork ribs are very moist and juicy.
7. Remove the rib rack from the Weber Kettle – Take the rib rack out of the aluminum foil and place it back on the grill grate. Liberally spray the surface with apple juice and let rest on the grill for 15 minutes with the lid closed.
8. Cut and serve – Slice the rib rack between the bones to create individual pieces, and serve with more BBQ sauce or your favorite dipping sauce.
Variations and Substitutions For Weber Kettle Smoked Baby Back Pork Ribs
- Other pork rib rubs – I like to mix an equal blend of Kebsa or Kabssah (a Middle Eastern seasoning) and mesquite rib rub on my baby back ribs. This is the rib rub I used in this recipe. But here are many varieties of pork rib rubs on the market today for you to experiment with and try out.
- Try a different type of pork rib rack – I like using baby back ribs to smoke with because they are smaller and easier to handle, have incredible flavor, and have a shorter smoking time. But there are two the other types of pork ribs besides baby back ribs. They are spare ribs and St. Louis style ribs, both delicious and easily available. Both other pork rib variations are a bit bigger, so longer cooking time will be necessary.
- Small wood chunks or prepackaged wood chips – Just likeusing an indirect smoker, you are truly adding wood smoke flavor to your baby back ribs by burning wood. But with your Weber Kettle, the wood is placed on top of your briquets. The wood type and size are totally up to your discretion. Store-bought wood chips will do just fine. You can also soak your wood chunks or chips in water to create more smoke; just be sure not to put out the charcoal with too much water.
Tips and Tricks For Weber Kettle Smoked Baby Back Pork Ribs
Use a Weber Kettle hinged grilling grate – The hinged portion of the grill grate on both sides lifts up so you can add more charcoal or wood chips as you need to. This is an incredible game changer because you don’t need to lift the entire grill grate off the Weber Kettle every time you need to add more fuel.
Chop the wood chunks into smaller pieces – As with any whole wood smoking, especially offset smoking, wood chunks are the preferred size of wood to smoke with. But because the Weber Kettle is smaller and you have less space to work with, smaller pieces of wood are required. I simply use my campfire hatched to chop the chunks into smaller pieces that easily sit on top of my charcoal pile.
Use an aluminum loaf drip pan – Try this trick – it really does work! Place an aluminum drip pan halfway filled up with water between the two piles of charcoal. As the Weber Kettle does its spectacular job and creates heat intense enough to cook your baby back ribs, having an aluminum loaf pan with water ensures that your precious and delicious baby back ribs will stay tender and moist.
How do you know when the baby back ribs are done – If the baby back ribs are “fall off the bone tender,” then your ribs are overcooked, mushy, and lacking in flavor. If the baby back ribs are undercooked, they are tough and chewy because the fats and collagen have not had the proper time to melt into the meat. You want your baby back ribs to have a slight tug and pull when you bite into it and pull it from the bone. The meat should be tender and juicy, full of meat and fat flavor with a little “give” as you chew. Here are three methods to check when your baby back ribs are finished:
1. Check the temperature with a meat thermometer. Place the thermometer probe between the bones into the largest piece of meat. The thermometer should slide into the meat very easily. The temperature should be between 195 and 205 degrees.
2. Pick up the ribs vertically with a pair of tongs. If the entire rib rack bends like it wants to do a backflip, then your baby back ribs are most likely done.
3. Take a wooden skewer and slide it into the meat between the bones. If the skewer slides in very easily, then they are most likely done. If you feel resistance or struggle to push the skewer in, then they are not done.
Weber Baby Back Ribs
Equipment
- 1 Weber Kettle Grill
- 1 Hinged Grill Grate
- 1 Aluminum Drip Pan
- 1 Tongs Long BBQ tongs
- Charcoal briquets
- Small smoking wood chunks see “chop the wood chunks” above
Ingredients
- 1 rack baby back pork ribs
- ½ cup yellow mustard
- 1 cup of your favorite rib rub
- 1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
- 1 cup apple juice in a spray bottle
Instructions
- Set up your Weber Kettle for indirect smoking – Fill your charcoal chimney fire starter with charcoal briquettes, and when ready, empty the chimney in the center of the charcoal grate. With tongs, move the charcoal to both sides of the Weber Kettle, creating two equal piles. Add three more charcoal briquets and one piece of wood to each pile. Before returning the grill to the Weber Kettle, place an aluminum loaf pan filled halfway up with water between the two piles of charcoal.
- Wipe off the moisture and remove the membrane – Take a paper towel and remove the excess moisture from the rib rack. Use a sharp knife to separate the clear membrane from the ribs on the underside of the rib rack. Then, using a paper towel to grab the membrane, firmly pull it down and rip it off the rib rack.
- Apply the yellow mustard and the rib rub – Brush the yellow mustard over the entire rib rack, front and back. Liberally shake on the rib rub over the entire rib rack front and back, then pat it on to make sure it sticks well to the mustard.
- Place your rib rack on the grill grate – Place the baby back ribs side by side in the center of the grill grate, equidistant from the right and left side piles of coals. Smoke for two hours, maintaining moderate heat; maintain smoke by adding a few charcoal briquets and wood chunks every 30 minutes or as needed.
- Wrap in foil with BBQ sauce – Take your rib rack off the grill grate and place it on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Liberally brush the ribs with your BBQ sauce and fold the aluminum around the rib rack to form a tight seal. Place back on the grill grate as before and smoke for one hour. This step will help ensure that your pork ribs are very moist and juicy.
- Remove the rib rack from the smoker – Take the rib rack out of the aluminum foil and place it back on the grill grate. Liberally spray the surface with apple juice and let rest on the grill for 15 minutes with the lid closed.
- Cut and serve – Slice the rib rack between the bones to create individual pieces, and serve with more BBQ sauce or your favorite dipping sauce.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
