I love smoking ribs. I usually Smoke Pork Ribs but this time around I wanted to try my hand at beef ribs. My local grocery store had a special on Country-Style Boneless Beef Ribs, so I took the opportunity to give it a shot. As a result, I embarked on an adventure to create perfect Smoked Country Style Beef Ribs.

Unlike baby back ribs where you usually eat them right off the bone, this type of rib is usually sliced and served with your favorite sides. I decided to make a salad with my smoked beef ribs.

The process for making these ribs is almost identical to smoking pork ribs. Apply some Dry Rub and smoke till they are done. The important part of smoking ribs is keeping them moist during the cooking process.

To keep the meat moist, you can either wrap them (Texas Crutch) or spritz them with some liquid during the cooking process.

Texas Crutch

Texas Crutch basically refers to a cooking method used to speed up the cooking process and help retain moisture in smoked meats. Usually it involves wrapping the meat when it hits the “stall” (around 160°F) with butcher paper or aluminum foil.

How to use Dry Rub

Before you apply your dry rub to your meat, make sure you pat your meat down with a paper towel to remove as much moisture as you can. Next, you need a binder to help the dry rub stick to the meat. This is optional. Many suggest you don’t need a binder but I like to use one. You can use olive oil or yellow mustard as a binder.

Once the binder has been applied to the meat, liberally apply the dry rub all over the meat. Make sure you take the proper precautions to not cross-contaminate! I suggest you use one hand to apply the dry rub and the other to rub the dry rub into the

Serving Suggestions

Once the meat is done, you can serve it with sides like coleslaw, baked beans, or roasted vegetables. Or you can even add them to a salad like I did.

I often get asked about the cool trays I use when grilling. They are from Cuisinart and come in a pack of two – one red and one black. The idea is to use the red one for the raw meat and the black one for when the meat is cooked. This prevents cross-contamination. Here’s a link to the Grill Trays I use.

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Gather your Ingredients

You will need the following ingredients to make this Smoked Country Style Beef Ribs recipe. For ingredient amounts please refer to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Country-style Boneless Beef Ribs
Olive oil or Mustard – for a binder
Dry Rub – your favorite seasoning

How to Make Smoked Country-Style Beef Ribs

If necessary remove any excess fat or silver skin from the ribs.
If you are using a binder, lightly coat the ribs with olive oil or mustard.
Liberally apply your favorite BBQ rub to all sides of the ribs. Pat the rub into the meat to ensure it sticks.
Preheat your smoker to 225°F.
Place the ribs directly on the smoker grates and smoke the ribs for about 3-4 hours, or until they reach an internal temperature of around 160°F.
Now you have two options: wrap or spritz. If you are going to wrap your ribs (texas crutch) remove the ribs from the smoker and wrap them tightly in butcher paper or aluminum foil. Add a bit of liquid (apple juice, beef broth, beer, etc.) inside the foil for extra moisture. Return the ribs to the smoker and continue cooking until the internal temperature reaches 195-205°F, about 1-2 hours.
If you are not going to wrap the ribs, simply leave them on the grill and spritz with your choice of liquid. I like to spritz every hour or so. This helps the ribs become tender and juicy.
If you like saucy ribs, brush your favorite BBQ sauce on them during the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Once the ribs are done, remove them from the smoker and let them rest for about 15-20 minutes then slice and serve.

More Recipe Ideas

Printable Recipe Card