Trim Spare Ribs to a St. Louis Cut and Remove Membrane
If you need a guide to trimming, follow my guide here.
I prefer to remove the membrane.
If you don’t care, just score the membrane side with your knife or leave it.
Rub for Honey Mustard Ribs?
For this article I was testing a Honey mustard rub that a friend sent me.
However, it’s not super necessary since you’ll be saucing these later with Honey Mustard.
A simple rub of Salt, Pepper, and Garlic works fine.
- 1 Tbsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tbsp
Apply your dry rub to the entirety of your ribs – you can also be rather liberal.
Get Your Smoker to 225-275F
Put the ribs on indirect and smoke with your favorite hardwood.
I used Peach but cherry and pecan are my favorite with ribs.
Checking on the Ribs and Adding New Wood Chunks
Add a new wood chunk every 45-60 minutes.
Wait for the rub to set and for the ribs to be at around 175-180F internal.
Essentially, whenever you’re happy with the exterior of the meat, you can wrap.
For me, this happened after 4 hours.
Wrap the Ribs in Foil with Some Watered Down Honey
In a bowl combine:
- 1/2 Cup Water OR Apple Juice
- 2 Tbsp Creamed Honey OR regular honey
Warm this mixture in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.
If you have a honey mustard rub, add a few shakes to this mixture too.
Add this mixture to the foil wrap (ensure the ribs are meat side down), and then return to the smoker or a kitchen oven set to 275F.
Checking the Ribs for Doneness
Ribs were smoked wrapped for 2 hours.
If you’re a fan of internal temperatures, usually ribs will be bite off the bone in the range of 195-205F.
These were for my Mom who likes them fall off the bone.
So these needed to reach around ~210-213F+.
Saucing the Ribs in Homemade Honey Mustard Sauce
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup Mayo
- 1.5 tbsp Yellow Mustard
- 1.5 tbsp Stone Ground Mustard OR Dijon*
- 2 tbsp Creamed Honey OR Regular Honey
- 1/8 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
*If you have neither of these, just use yellow mustard.
I’d suggest warming the sauce up slightly rather than applying cold sauce to hot meat.
Once the ribs have rested for 10-15 minutes, you can slice the ribs and enjoy!
Honey Mustard Smoked Spare Ribs Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 rack St. Louis Cut Spare Ribs
Honey Mustard Sauce
- 1/2 cup Mayo
- 1.5 tbsp Yellow Mustard
- 1.5 tsp Stone Ground Mustard OR Dijon
- 2 tbsp Creamed Honey OR Regular Honey
- 1 pinch Morton's Kosher Salt
- 1/2 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
SPG Dry Rub for Ribs
- 1 tbsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tbsp Granulated Garlic
Watered Down Honey for Wrap
- 1/2 cup Water OR Apple Juice
- 2 tbsp Creamed Honey OR Regular Honey
Instructions
Prep Ribs and Apply Dry Rub
- If you bought whole spare ribs, trim to a St. Louis Cut – either remove membrane or score it with a knife.
- If you have a honey mustard dry rub, apply to the ribs liberally.If you don't, use a simple rub of Salt, Pepper and Garlic – similarly, apply liberally.1 tbsp Black Pepper, 1/2 tbsp Kosher Salt, 1/4 tbsp Granulated Garlic
Smoked Ribs
- Get your smoker to 225-275F.
- Once at 225F, add a chunk of hardwood – I used peach – and put your ribs on the smoker.
- Smoke the ribs until you're happy with the exterior of the meat. Usually this happens at around 175-180F internal for me. This took 4 hours.
Wrap Ribs in Foil with Watered Down Honey
- In a bowl combine honey with water and ensure the honey is well combined – warm this in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.1/2 cup Water OR Apple Juice, 2 tbsp Creamed Honey OR Regular Honey
- Wrap the ribs in foil and ensure they're meat side down. Before closing the wrap, add your wrap liquid.
- Return the ribs to the smoker or your kitchen oven set to 275F.
- Cook the ribs wrapped until they're at your preferred tenderness. Typically for "bite off the bone" ribs that's 190-205F internal. For fall of the bone ribs that's 205-213F+.
Sauce With Homemade Honey Mustard Once They're Tender
- After they reach tenderness, warm the honey mustard sauce on low and then apply to the ribs while they're resting.1/2 cup Mayo, 1.5 tbsp Yellow Mustard, 1.5 tsp Stone Ground Mustard OR Dijon, 2 tbsp Creamed Honey OR Regular Honey, 1 pinch Morton's Kosher Salt, 1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika, 1/2 tbsp Lemon Juice
- Rest for 10-15 minutes, slice and enjoy!
Recipe Note 7/26/2024: Recently re-tested with SPG as the base – I actually prefer this instead of the commercial honey mustard rub.
2 comments
Ryan C.
Used my regular SPG rub and then used your sauce recipe. Super tasty!
Dylan Clay
Happy to help Ryan!
Honey Mustard is one of my favorites – if you enjoyed that sauce, be sure to check out my “Honey Gold” sauce, here.