Smoked Beef Ribs on a Traeger Pellet Grill

Learn how to smoke a beef ribs on a Traeger pellet grill following our detailed instructions and recipe below!

Smoked Beef Short Ribs are amazingly fun and delicious BBQ and especially easy to cook on a Traeger pellet grill.

Jump to:

• Purchasing the Ribs
• Trim the Beef Ribs
• Rubs
• Choosing Wood Pellets
• Start the Grill
• Cooking Temperature
• Cooking Time
• Target Internal Temperature
• The Texas Crutch
• Resting the Ribs
• Slicing and Serving
• 📖 Recipe

Purchasing the Ribs

Make sure to go to a real butcher shop, not your local chain store, and buy an uncut, thick, meaty, square looking slab of beef short ribs, sometimes called plate short ribs.

You DO NOT want Crosscut, Korean-style, or Flanken Cut, as this style of butchering cuts across the bones leaving you with tiny segments of bone surrounded by meat.

Great for braising and korean style grilling, and while it is POSSIBLE to smoke them on the Traeger if they are butchered this way, they are harder to deal with and not as fun to eat or present as a full sized beef rib.

You also DO NOT want Beef BACK ribs.  These come from the upper "back" of the cow and are leaner and longer and don't hold up as well to low and slow smoking. They are exactly where your ribeye steaks and prime rib roasts attach.

Beef Short Ribs, what we want, are well...shorter...and have the meat primarily ON TOP of the bone vs. beef back ribs that have the meat in between the bones.

What you want ideally is an UNCUT 3 bone slab of Beef Short Ribs that weighs about 5-7 lbs uncooked.

This is perfect for smoking on the Traeger pellet grill.

Trim the Beef Ribs

A rack of beef short ribs is likely not going to have a thick fat cap like you would find on a beef brisket or pork butt.

So, you don't have to do too much trimming other than to remove the small layer of silverskin you'll see running over the top.  Make sure to remove this so your seasoning can actually make contact with the meat below it.

Use a good sharp boning knife like our favorite from iMarku.

Also, make sure to leave the membrane on the bottom of the beef short ribs INTACT.

Unlike our pork ribs where we remove the bottom membrane, on beef ribs we need to leave this membrane in place.

If you remove the bottom membrane the beef ribs can fall apart from each other and then the beef can separate from the rib bones as well.

This will leave you with an unpresentable mess rather than a nice intact rack of smoked beef ribs.

Rubs

Unlike our Traeger Smoked Pork Ribs, which pair well with sugary BBQ rubs, beef roasts and beef ribs are usually better suited for more straightforward salt and pepper style seasoning.

You can add a little cayenne for extra heat or garlic and onion powder for additional flavor, but go easy on the rubs that are heavy in sugar content.

We are big fans of Bad Byron's Butt Rub Seasoning on smoked beef, especially brisket and chuck roast because it is heavy on flavor, and has no sugar.

We use it exclusively on the Hot and Fast version of our Pellet Grill Brisket, because we don't want any sugar to burn.

Use only a small amount of cooking oil to help the rub adhere, if any at all.

There is a LOT of fat in these smoked beef ribs that will melt out and help form the beautiful bark we are looking for without the need for additional fats and oils.

Be generous with the amount of rub you put on.  Then you can wrap the beef ribs in plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator until you are ready to smoke them.

This can even be done the night before to save some time the next day and to let the salt in the rub fully penetrate the beef ribs.

Choosing Wood Pellets

Now it's time to choose the right wood pellets to smoke your Traeger beef ribs.

Mesquite and hickory will give a very aggressive smoke flavor and should not be used on long smokes like this.  Save them for your quick sub 1 hour cooks like with seafood and steaks.

Alternatively, you can also go for a milder smoke flavor by choosing oak or fruitwood pellets. Pecan, apple, beech, alder, and cherry all give great results on beef ribs.

Don't forget you can mix them up too to create your own custom blend.

That's one of the great things about a Traeger pellet grill!

For a straightforward smoke right out of the bag, we are big fans of Bear Mountain Red and White Smoky Oak Pellets

For the best results, store your unused pellets in a sealed room temperature container like this 20 lb pellet container rather than in the Pit Boss hopper outside.

Traeger pellets do not last forever, but will definitely last a LOT longer if stored indoors in a quality airtight container.

Start the Grill

In order to cook ANYTHING well on a Traeger pellet grill, you need to first have a basic understanding of how a pellet grill works.

***Completely New to Using a Traeger Pellet Grill?  No Worries!****

We've previously covered how to start a Traeger, how to season a Traeger, how to change the pellets in a Traeger, amd even how to troubleshoot a Traeger that won't ignite.

We also recently compared our two favorite Traeger models head to head if you're in the market for a new Traeger or to upgrade your old one.

Or hop over and check out this Complete Guide to Understanding How a Pellet Grill Works first if you are interested in learning more.  We'll be here when you get back!

Add your Hardwood Pellets

First, you add hardwood pellets into the side hopper.

The Traeger pellet grill automatically feeds these small wood pellets via an auger mechanism to a fire pot where they are burned up, providing both heat and smokey flavor.

The pellet grill automatically controls the flow of pellets depending on your temperature setting so that you maintain an even temperature throughout the entire cook.

How to Start up the Traeger

There is a specific start up process for the Traeger brand pellet grills you can read all about in depth here if you aren't sure how to fire it up the first time.

Otherwise, here is the basic process for how to start a Traeger before throwing on your food:

• Plug in the grill.
• Flip the power switch to ON and turn the dial to "Smoke".
• You will hear the fan kick on and the auger start to move and begin to kick pellets into the fire pot.  Your fire rod will begin to heat up as well.
• Leave the lid open for about 5-7 minutes until you start to see white billowing smoke come out of the grill.  This happens when the pellets are first igniting.
• Once a smoke is being produced, close the lid and change the temperature dial to your desired temperature setting.
• Allow about 10-15 minutes to preheat the grill.
• While you are waiting, make sure you've got the drip pan in place and the grease bucket hanging to catch any grease that comes out during the cook.  Use a grease bucket liner to minimize cleanup later.
• Put your grates on if they aren't already in place.
• Using a good bristle free grill brush, clean off the grill grates if there is any leftover stuck on food from the last cook.
• When the pellet grill comes up to temperature go ahead and put on your food!

Cooking Temperature

Set the temperature to 275°F after preheating and let the Traeger stabilize at this temperature.

While you CAN smoke beef ribs at 200-225°F, we are going to speed up the process just slightly, we've found without losing any moisture at this slightly higher temperature.

Cooking Time

Place the beef ribs in the Traeger cooking chamber with the bones pointing left and right, not front and back.

Put the thicker end to the right if there is one, which is normally the hotter side of a Traeger pellet grill.

Always use insulated bbq gloves when rotating or moving the beef ribs around.

You may need to rotate the rack of beef ribs 180° every hour or so to get even cooking and make sure the bones pull away evenly on both sides.

Smoked Beef Ribs will take about 60-75 minutes per pound on a Traeger pellet grill at 275°F.

So a 5 lb rack of beef short plate ribs may take 5-7 hours.

However, you must always cook to temperature, not to time.

Target Internal Temperature

We are going to wrap our beef ribs in butcher paper when they hit about 180°F internal temperature.

This will ensure a nice crusty bark forms before we wrap.

Then we will continue cooking until they reach 200°F internally, much like a beef brisket.

Smoked beef short ribs are best served when cooked to 200°F internally, then allowed to rest.

You'll want to monitor the internal temperature of the beef ribs as they progress through the cook.

If you don't yet own an instant read thermometer, it's going to be hard to really know exactly when the ribs need to be wrapped or when they are done cooking on the Traeger.

You'll want a good leave in probe thermometer like the Thermopro as well as a second instant read thermometer to spot check as you get close to pulling the beef ribs off the grill.

If you don't yet own an instant read thermometer, ThermoPro makes a good one of these too.

While we have used and recommended ThermoPro for years, lately we have also become big fans of the MEATER leave in thermometer.

It is extremely accurate and has an incredible 165 foot bluetooth range and works right with your smartphone so you don't need to carry a separate controller around with you like many other remote thermometers require.

It's got a great free app that is constantly being updated and even has an algorithm to predict how much longer your type of meat will take to cook based on cooking temperature, target temperature, current internal temperature.

It's like a GPS for your meat!

The Texas Crutch

One way to speed up your cooking time and increase your Traeger smoked beef rib tenderness is by using a tried and tested barbecue technique known as the "Texas Crutch".

Don't worry, it's not complicated.

Typically, we wrap big cuts of meat like brisket and pork shoulder in foil but for beef ribs, where we are trying to keep that nice crusty bark intact, we are going to wrap in pink butcher paper instead.

Pink butcher paper still tenderizes the meat without fully steaming it, which will cause us to lose that nicely formed bark.

That's also why we are waiting until the beef ribs hit 180°F before wrapping.  This gives us extra time for that bark to stiffen and set up on the meat.

So be patient and wait for them to hit the right temps.

Beef short ribs aren't cheap, and you don't want to go through all of this just to end up with mushy meat because you rushed it.

After wrapping in the pink butcher paper, replace your thermometer, or spot check with an instant read, and place the ribs back on the Traeger, and let them continue to cook.

Leave the beef ribs wrapped until they get to your target temperature of 200°F and then remove them from the smoker.

With pink butcher paper, you can leave them wrapped right like they are while they rest for about 30 minutes.

We like this kind from Meat Hugger because it comes with a built in dispensing box for easy tearing and cleanup.

Resting the Ribs

Just like we let our beef roasts and steaks rest before slicing them, we need to let this massive piece of meat rest for a little while before slicing into the individual ribs.

Give the smoked beef ribs about 30 minutes to rest and let the meat relax and the juices redistribute before slicing.

You can leave the ribs right in the butcher paper to help keep them moist while they rest.

Slicing and Serving

The easiest way to slice your smoked beef ribs is to turn them upside down so you can see the bones and slice evenly between them

Make sure to use a good meat slicing knife so that your slices cut cleanly and don't pull and tear at that now delicate smoked beef rib meat.

We are big fans of the Mercer Granton Edge Slicer.  It works great for slicing meats like brisket and ham.

Unlike pork ribs, you'll find that sometimes a SINGLE smoked beef short ribs is enough to feed a hungry adult.

Especially if you serve it along with some of our famous sticky smoked sweet potatoes, smoked asparagus, or balsamic smoked carrots.

Enjoy!

📖 Recipe