With these easy-to-follow steps, you too can make mouthwatering smoked baby back ribs in Traeger! These ribs are rubbed with a simple dry mix and smoked until fall-apart tender then basted with a homemade BBQ sauce. So good that you can’t stop eating!

Traeger Baby Back Ribs Inspired by Franklin BBQ

INGREDIENTS

• 2 full rack of pork ribs
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar (120 ml)
• 2 cups your favorite BBQ sauce (480 ml; We used Franklin’s BBQ recipe from his cookbook)
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (divided)
• 4 Tbsp honey (divided)
• 4 Tbsp brown sugar (divided)

Dry Rub:

• 18 g coarse ground black pepper (16 Mesh)
• 9 g kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt) (Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt)
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Gather all the ingredients and equipment you need.
   

To Prepare Dry Rub

1. Add dry rub ingredients in a jar (18 g black pepper, 9 g kosher salt, 1 tsp onion powder, and 1 tsp garlic powder).
2. Close the jar and shake well. I highly recommend this Maracasifter for sprinkling dry rub on ingredients evenly.

To Prepare Ribs

1. Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs by pulling it down with a paper towel (slippery!). We usually ask the butcher to do this when we purchase the ribs. If the meat is dry, add 1-2 Tbsp (15-30 ml) apple cider vinegar in a mister and spray the vinegar to wet the meat.
2. Evenly sprinkle dry seasoning on meat including the edge, start with the bone side first. Let the meat rest for 1 hour at room temperature.
3. After 45 min, pre-heat Traeger to 275 ºF (135 ºC).
4. Create a metal cup with aluminum foil and pour 6 Tbsp (90 ml) apple cider vinegar inside.
5. Once Traeger is at 275 ºF (135 ºC), place ribs meat side up along with the apple cider vinegar cup. Smoke for 2 hours.
6. Meanwhile, make your favorite BBQ sauce at this time. We made a BBQ sauce using a recipe from Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto cookbook).
7. After 2 hours, mist apple cider vinegar on ribs.
8. Brush on BBQ sauce on the meat side.
9. Smoke for 15 min.
10. After 15 minutes, flip ribs over, mist on the meat.
11. Brush the BBQ sauce on the ribs and smoke for 15 min.
12. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 275 ºF (135 ºC). Prepare 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil for each rib (leaving plenty of room to wrap the ribs).
13. For each rib, cut up 1 Tbsp of butter into 4 pieces and spread on aluminum foil. Drizzle 2 Tbsp honey, add 2 Tbsp brown sugar.
14. Mist with apple cider vinegar and pour BBQ sauce on top. Make the same aluminum sheet with butter, honey, sugar, apple cider vinegar, and BBQ sauce for the second rib.
15. Take out the ribs from the smoker and transfer to the baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
16. Lay the rib meat side down on the mixture.
17. Spray the bone side with vinegar and brush BBQ sauce on.
18. Carefully wrap the meat without puncturing the aluminum foil.
19. Enclose the end of the aluminum foil so moisture can’t escape.
20. Place the ribs on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 2 hours.
21. Take the ribs out and rest in the foil for 20 to 30 minutes. Enjoy the ribs with your favorite BBQ sauce.

https://www.justonecookbook.com/traeger-baby-back-ribs/