Smoked Lemon Pepper Ribs: Simple Recipe and Guide

One of my favorite seasonings to use for pork and chicken is lemon pepper. This recipe uses my homemade lemon pepper rub and a super simple salt and sugar brine.

The result is a flavorful bark and perfectly salted meat.

Lemon Pepper Seasoning

There are two options with regards to lemon pepper seasoning for ribs:

• Use a pre-made, commercial rub (no salt – since we’re brining).
• Make your own.

I’m personally partial to making my own lemon pepper seasoning.

If you’re interested in making your own lemon pepper seasoning, you will need:

• 6 – 8 Lemons (enough for 1/2 cup of lemon zest)
• 2 tbsp Black Pepper (16 mesh black pepper or freshly cracked peppercorns).
• 2 tsp Garlic Powder
• 2 tsp Onion Powder

For the above recipe, you want to dehydrate the lemon zest in either a food dehydrator or in an oven set to the lowest temperature setting.

You then want to use a grinder or a pestle and mortar to crush fresh popcorns.

Then combine all the ingredients together.

Preparing the Ribs and Brining

For these ribs, I removed the membrane and removed small bones. I then brined them in salt and sugar overnight in a 2.5% salt solution.

This brine was roughly:

• 1 Gallon of Water
• 1 Cup of White Sugar
• 100g of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt

Since I wet brined these, I rinsed the meat the next day and then simply liberally applied my lemon pepper seasoning to the meat.

Get Your Smoker Ready

My ideal target temperature for smoking ribs is somewhere between 225 – 275F.

I also used a water pan to help with temperature control.

After getting my smoker to 250F, I then placed a pecan and cherry wood chunk on the lit coals.

I then grabbed my rack of ribs and placed them in the cool zone.

Adding More Wood Chunks and Water to the Water Pan

Every 45-60 minutes I added a chunk of pecan and a chunk of cherry wood to the lit coals.

Every 2 hours I refilled my water pan.

Waiting to Wrap the Ribs

All I really care about is waiting for the color to “change” on the exterior of the ribs and for the bark to be set.

With your finger, you can simply dab the surface of the ribs; If there is Lemon pepper seasoning on your finger, the bark isn’t set and needs to continue smoking unwrapped.

Here’s the ribs after 2 hours and 47 minutes:

Here’s the ribs after another hour:

For the sake of this article, I took an internal temperature and it was 181F when I wrapped.

Wrapping the Ribs

While I prefer to wrap my ribs in foil, all I had on hand was Butcher paper so I used that.

I took some water, applied that to where I placing the ribs and then placed them meat side down on the paper.

I then wrapped them up and returned them to the smoker, meat side down.

Checking Ribs for Tenderness

The main thing I use to check for doneness is the feel of the ribs in the paper. Basically I’m bending them in the paper and if they are bending at a 45 degree angle, they’re done.

Here’s an example from my article on bend testing ribs:

While I’m not a big fan of completely fall off the bone ribs, all you need to do to achieve that consistency is to cook them longer in the wrap.

I also didn’t probe these but typically they’re done at my preferred consistency at around 195-203F internal.

If you like fall off the bone ribs, go to around 212F+.

Rest for 15 Minutes and then Slice

All we’re doing now is resting the ribs for 15 minutes so that you can actually pick up the bones.

Here’s these ribs after resting in the paper wrap for 15 minutes:

After resting, flip them over so they’re meat side down and slice between the ribs.

Then enjoy!

Print Pin Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Lemon Pepper Baby Back Ribs

Wet Brined Baby Back Ribs with Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Active Time5 hours hrs 57 minutes mins

Rest Time15 minutes mins

Total Time6 hours hrs 22 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Equipment

• Smoker
• Wood Chunks I used pecan and cherry

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 Rack Baby Back Ribs

Lemon Pepper Seasoning

• ▢ 1/2 cup Lemon zest
• ▢ 2 tbsp Freshly cracked black peppercorns
• ▢ 2 tsp Garlic powder
• ▢ 2 tsp Onion powder

Brine

• ▢ 1 Gallon Water
• ▢ 102.5 g Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
• ▢ 1 cup White Sugar

Instructions

Brining Ribs

• I wet brined these ribs the day before. If you prefer not to, simply apply kosher salt the day before and dry brine overnight.
• To brine, add a gallon of water to a container and add 102.5g of Diamond Crystal kosher salt and 1 cup of white sugar to the container.

  Then mix the soluble ingredients until they're well combined.
• Submerge the ribs in this brine overnight.

Lemon Pepper Seasoning

• I make my own lemon pepper seasoning but if you prefer to use a commercial lemon pepper seasoning, by all means.
• Start by zesting 6-8 lemons until you have 1/2 of lemon zest. Then dehydrate this in a dehydrator or in your oven at the lowest temperature setting.
• With a grinder or pestle and mortar, grind up black peppercorns until you have 2 tablespoons.
• Combine the dehydrated lemon zest, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder in the specified quantities above.

Smoking the Ribs

• Get your smoker to somewhere between 225 – 275F.
• Remove membrane from the ribs.
• Apply lemon pepper rub to the ribs and then place on your smoker.

  Add a chunk of pecan and cherry or your preferred hardwood. I also used a water pan so I added some water to the reservoir.

  Add new wood chunks every 45-60 minutes and replace water in water pan every 2 hours.
• Wait for the bark to set or until you're happy with the exterior.

  Simply take your finger and dab the bark of the ribs. If the rub sticks to your finger, they need to go longer.

  For me, this took 3 hours and 37 minutes.
• Wrap the ribs in either foil or butcher paper and return to the smoker.
• I prefer to use the bend test to determine when the ribs are done (read above to see what I mean). That's usually between 195-203F internal.

  If you prefer fall off the bone ribs, go to around 212F internal.
• Once they're done, rest for 15 minutes.
• Once rested, flip the ribs over so that the meat side is down and then slice between the ribs and then enjoy!