Delicious smoked spare ribs with a honey sriracha kick. Prepared with homemade BBQ rub, butter baste, and sweet glaze, there’s flavor packed into every bite of these barbecue pork ribs.
These delicious smoked pork spare ribs are prepared with my go-to pork rub and cooked in an incredible honey and sriracha glaze to create the perfect blend of sweet and heat. I put sriracha on everything so I wanted to use it in a sauce without letting it be too sweet. I think I’ve managed to do that here.
Spare ribs are great for barbecue because they contain more fat and connective tissue between each bone, making them richer and more flavorful than, say, baby backs.
This recipe cooks the ribs in three distinct stages: First the initial smoke, then a quick foil wrap to help bring them up to temperature, and then finally cooking at a slightly higher temperature to set the glaze. However, this is different from the 3-2-1 method in that I keep the foil stage shorter to stop the ribs from going mushy, and instead give them a bit more time exposed to smoke at a lower temperature to build up that bark and flavor. A little butter baste, regular spritzing, and a filled water pan help ensure they don’t go dry.
Preparing the Ribs
A quick word on preparing these for the smoker. Trimming the last few bones from the thin end, along with some of the thicker edge of the rack, will help these cook more evenly. However, it’s perfectly fine just to smoke these as they are.
Also, common advice is to remove the membrane (the layer of silverskin found on the underside of the rib rack) prior to smoking. I find it doesn’t make a huge difference, but some people prefer it without so I’ve included it below.
If you do want to trim the ribs:
- On a chopping block, turn the rib rack over so the bone side faces up. You should see the membrane covering the entire side of the rack.
- Slide a blunt kitchen knife under the membrane, then grip it with a dry paper towel and pull it away from the ribs. Ideally it should all come away in one go, but it often doesn’t so you might need to repeat this a few times to remove it all.
- With a boning knife, cut off the 4 ribs from the thin end of the rack. These are called riblets and can either be cooked separately or discarded.
- Still with the boning knife, trim the long side of the rack to make a neat rectangle.
- Trim off any excess fat along the ribs (no need to be too precise here – just the obviously scrappy parts). Then pat dry with paper towels.
Quick Tips
- I recommend seasoning your ribs and then letting them sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before smoking them. This will help them cook more evenly, and also allow them to “sweat” and better soak up the flavors of the rub.
- While it’s often best to go by internal temperature with meat, the bone-to-meat ratio in ribs can make this hard so I tend to go by texture and appearance. Pick them up in the middle of the rack with a pair of tongs: if the ribs are tender enough to bend well in the middle and crack a bit along the bark, these are good to go.
Smoked Honey Sriracha Spare Ribs
Ingredients
- 2 racks pork spare ribs
- vegetable oil for binder
- 2 tbsp butter melted
Rub
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp paprika
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
Spritz
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup apple juice
Glaze
- ½ cup honey
- ¼ cup sriracha
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp butter
Instructions
- Using a boning knife, trim the four last bones off the thin end of the rib rack. Then, square off the long sides of the rack to form a neat-ish rectangle.
- Use a blunt knife to prise the membrane off the underside of the ribs from one end of the rack, then use a sheet of kitchen paper to get purchase on it to peel it away.
- Pat the rack dry with kitchen paper. Apply a thin layer of oil to the rack, then combine the rub ingredients and coat both sides of the ribs evenly (keep any leftover rub for the foil wrap later). Leave the rack to sit for 30-60 minutes at room temperature.
- Fire up your smoker to 225-250°F (107-121°C)
- Lay the rack, rib-side down, on the smoker grates and cook for 1 hour. Brush a little melted butter on the ribs, and then smoke for another hour.
- At the 2-hour mark, combine the spritz ingredients in a food-safe spray bottle. Spritz the ribs lightly every 30 minutes.
- Once the ribs have been smoking for a total of 3 hours, place them on a sheet of foil. Place any leftover rub and butter in the foil, then wrap tightly in the foil (I double wrap for good measure). Smoke for 1 more hour.
- Combine the glaze ingredients in a saucepan over medium-low heat until fully dissolved.
- Unwrap the ribs and brush the glaze on the topside of the rack. Increase the heat to about 275°F (135°C) and smoke for 1 more hour, until the ribs pass the tongs or toothpick test (see notes).
- Remove the ribs from the smoker. Wrap in foil and rest for 10-20 minutes before serving, either as the whole rack or sliced into individual bone pieces. Drizzle any remaining glaze over the ribs for extra flavor.
