If you have some experience in smoked baby ribs, you know that the ribs need to be grilled over a small fire for an extended time to serve the best taste. Most recipes go for 225 degrees F of smoker temperature, and that’s a rule of thumb.
However, raising the fire some degrees will not affect the final result, yet you can cook ribs faster.
So, how long to smoke ribs at 250 in an electric smoker? If you maintain a steady smoker temperature of 250 degrees F, expect to cook them for five hours.
We’re so excited to share with you our tips on how to cook back ribs at 250 or even 275 degrees without destroying their taste and control the timing as well.
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What Is The Best Type Of Rib?
There are multiple sorts of ribs you should know before cooking. However, to focus on the purpose of this article, we’ll stick to everything around pork ribs rather than beef ribs.
However, even within one meat category, there are still differences.
The first to mention is back ribs. People cut back ribs from the spine’s top. You can quickly identify them thanks to the visible curvature alongside the rack’s length.
Back ribs get another name, “baby backs,” since they’re pretty small compared to spare ribs. Thus, they don’t contain much meat like spare ribs. Instead, what they have is plenty of leaner.
Meanwhile, spare ribs are present in the belly alongside broad, flat racks. They contain high-fat content, and their bones also have a lot of meat.
If you remove the soft cartilage from the racks, spare ribs turn into St. Louis ribs.
One thing to note is that spare ribs take far longer to grill than a rack of back ribs of a similar size. Therefore, should you replace one kind with the other, remember to adjust the cooking time and the recipes accordingly.
In particular, you’ll need to increase the grilling time by about 50% when replacing spare ribs with baby ribs (at a similar temperature).
So, that means if your baby back recipe requires a grilling time of four hours, it’ll take you around six hours to complete cooking when changing to spare ribs.
How Long To Smoke Ribs At 250 In Electric Smoker?
Though the standard temperature level for smoking ribs is 225 degrees, slightly increasing it helps speed up the grilling process.
A rack of back ribs weighing three pounds will take five hours to smoke well at 250 and between three and four hours at the temperature of 275 degrees F.
For a similar-weighed rack of spare ribs, the job will take around six hours at the temperature of 250 degrees or five hours if you ramp it up to 275 degrees.
How To Smoke Ribs In An Electric Smoker?
It is tricky for beginner grillers to smoke ribs at a higher temperature range. However, as long as you have a good electric smoker on hand, we’ll help you serve evenly smoked food via the below guide sections.
How To Smoke Ribs at 250 Degrees?
After bringing the baby ribs home, trim off its silverskin, the grey membrane running along the rack’s bone side.
You can ask the butcher to help you do this step, yet it’s so straightforward that you can get rid of it yourself with a sharp blade.
Also, trim off excess fat if you find any. Finally, use some paper towels to pat your back ribs dry.
Next, apply a thin coating of Dijon or yellow mustard, so the BBQ spice rub will have something to hold upon.
You can purchase a rub from a grocery store. But if you prefer homemade ingredients, a mixture of pepper, cumin, brown sugar, salt, cayenne pepper, and smoked paprika is also excellent.
The next step is to set the smoker at 250 degrees. Once it heats up to the proper temperature, place your unwrapped baby ribs rack on the smoking grate, then close the smoker lid.
Leave it to cook for about two hours. The meat will get soaked with a smoky flavour during this process.
After that, take the rack out and prepare a double coat of thick aluminium foil. Then, drizzle the foil with a decent amount of melted butter and honey.
Place your baby ribs on the prepared foil and wrap them firmly to generate a seal. Put them back in your smoker, then cook for two hours more.
After that, you can unwrap the foil and place the ribs rack back to your smoker for the last smoking hour. In the final 30 minutes, it’s optional to apply any favourite BBQ sauce if you wish.
When the 5-hour process ends, take your ribs out and leave the meat 15 minutes to rest.
Lastly, divide your rack into single ribs and serve them to the table with additional side sauce.
How To Smoke Ribs at 275 Degrees?
The same preparation step goes for this section: slowly peek the silverskin away and trim excess fatty parts if necessary.
Similarly, use some paper towels to pat your baby ribs dry. Then, coat them with Dijon or yellow mustard and apply your favourite seasoning spice rub.
Set your smoker at 275 degrees. Place the rib rack and close the smoker lid once it achieves this temperature and emits nice smoke.
Cook the meat for one hour, then flip your rack over and cook for one hour more. After that, take the rack frame out and prepare a double coat of thick aluminium foil.
Put your rack bone inside the foil, then wrap it firmly around your ribs. If you notice any rib that tends to poke out, cover it with another foil layer.
Return the wrapped rib rack to the smoker, letting it cook for two more hours. After this four-hour process, your baby rib meat should be ready to serve a delicious smoky taste.
But you can cook it for one more hour to achieve the “fall-off” myth - the meat falls off the bones when you gently apply pressure.
In the final 30 minutes, add your BBQ sauce of choice if you wish.
After leaving your meat 15 minutes to rest, separate the ribs into single ones and serve them hot with side BBQ sauce.
The Bottom Line
Smoking ribs requires time and patience. Most veteran grillers have to take online lessons to figure out the best recipe, the best type of smoker and how to smoke perfect ribs racks.
That said, you shouldn’t be tempted to increase the degrees too high, or else your meat won’t deliver that desirable tender texture.
To have excellent timing control during cooking, learn how long to smoke ribs at 250 in an electric smoker as described above.
After all, a slow and low fire is the secret behind smoked rib success!
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