3-2-1 Smoked Ribs

Fall-off-the-bone tender pork ribs have never been easier than with my 3-2-1 Smoked Ribs Recipe! Paired with Carolina BBQ, they're an instant hit!

Course Main Course, Main Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword 3-2-1 smoked ribs, 321 smoked ribs, smoked ribs recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 6

Total Time 6 5

Servings servings

Calories 399kcal

Start by preheating the smoker to 225°F, and fill a small spray bottle with apple cider vinegar. Peel the silver membrane off the ribs by gripping them by the corner and pulling it off, then season the ribs with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
1 rack Baby back ribs, Apple cider vinegar, 2 Tablespoons Coarse salt, 2 Tablespoons Black pepper, 2 Tablespoons Garlic powder
Place the ribs in the smoker, and let them smoke for 3 hours. Spritz them once every hour or enough to keep the ribs moist.
After the 3 hours are up, remove the ribs from the smoker and wrap them in foil. Then return them to the smoker to cook another 2 hours without spritzing.
While the ribs cook, prepare the BBQ sauce. Add the brown sugar and apple cider vinegar to a small pot over medium heat, then bring it to a boil until the sugar is fully dissolved.
2 cups Apple cider vinegar, 2 Tablespoons Brown sugar
Add the rest of the sauce ingredients to the pot and stir until well incorporated. Simmer for five minutes, then remove from the heat until the ribs are cooked.
2 Tablespoons Ketchup, 1 Tablespoon Hot sauce, 1 teaspoon Crushed red pepper, 1 teaspoon Garlic powder, 1 teaspoon Black pepper, ½ teaspoon Salt
After the ribs have cooked the additional 2 hours, remove the foil and coat them in the homemade BBQ sauce. Cook one more hour, uncovered.
Carolina BBQ Sauce
Remove the ribs from the smoker, then coat one last time with BBQ and let rest 5 minutes. Slice, and serve!

- Hickory pellets add a delicious flavor to the ribs, but any fruit pellets will taste great.

- If you want to save on pellets, you can take the ribs out of the smoker for the two hour portion and cook them in the oven at 225°F instead.

- When wrapping the ribs, make sure to wrap them tightly! If they're not tightly wrapped, they can dry out and lose flavor.

- Don't worry if the BBQ sauce looks thin! Carolina BBQ sauce is a vinegar-based sauce and will be thin and tangy vs sticky and sweet.

- If you like your ribs with a little more chew, lower the wrapped cook time to 1 hour, and the second smoke time to 20 minutes.