Hot Honey Ribs Recipe

two racks of hot honey ribs on butcher paper

4.80 from 5 votes

Hot Honey Ribs Recipe

Whether Baby Backs or St. Louis style cut, this Hot Honey Rib Recipe is going to be your new favorite way to smoke ribs. Slightly sweet, mildly spicy, sticky, and packed with flavor after a hot honey glaze.

Prep Time15

Cook Time5

Course: Entree

Cuisine: American, BBQ, Barbecue

Servings: racks

Author: Mary Cressler

Cost: $24.00

Equipment

Aluminum Foil

Ingredients

2 racks baby back ribs (Alternatively you can use spare ribs, or St. Louis cut. Silver skin trimmed and remove membrane along bone.)
¼ cup Dijon mustard (Or yellow mustard if that's all you have.)
½ cup Ultimate Dry Rub
1 cup hot honey
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Rib Spritz

½ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup water

Instructions

Prep: Prepare smoker for indirect cooking targeting 275 degrees Fahrenheit using a fruit wood. Coat the top and bottom of each rack of ribs with mustard and liberally apply the seasoning (2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard and 1/4 cup of dry rub per rack).
Smoke for 3 hours: Place the seasoned ribs into the smoker uncovered. After one hour spritz the ribs every 30 minutes until 3 hours have passed. By then the bones should start to poke out of ribs which indicates it's time to wrap.
Wrap and Continue Smoking 2+ hours: Place a large sheet of aluminum foil on a cutting board. Remove each rib from the smoker and place on the foil. Top the ribs with ¼ cup of honey and 2 tablespoons of butter (on the meat side). Wrap the ribs tightly and place the ribs top/flesh side down back in the smoker and continue cooking for 2 hours.
Remove: Remove from the smoker and unwrap the ribs. You can expect a fair amount of liquid from the honey and the rendered fat. Apply the remaining honey to both ribs, slice, and serve.

Notes

Hot Honey Portions: Use 1/2 of the honey for wrapping and be sure to reserve the other 1/2 to glaze when the ribs are done.

If using Spare Ribs or St. Louis Cut Spare Ribs plan six hours roughly using the 3-2-1 method.

Optional: You can spritz the ribs to get more smoke flavor. Combine the following in a food safe spray bottle.

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

How to Spritz: After the first hour of smoking, spray the top of the ribs liberally with the mixture. Do this every 30 minutes until you wrap the ribs.

Nutrition