This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through links. I will only recommend products that I have personally used! Learn more on my Private Policy page.
We love smoke in my family but I mean the healthy kind.  We love to cook using the smoker.  I have said this before but I must have lived some prior life in the South.  I not only love smoking my food but I love so many of the trimmings.  As a matter of fact, my family must have been with me too.  They love smoke as well.  Now if you are reading this post about these Smoked Beef Short Ribs and you hail from the South, you probably don’t think this is such a big deal.  But I tell you that the vast majority of Northerners are not fans of smoke.  I feel like I have seen  many a Southern restaurant or BBQ restaurant fail in Chicago.
Now back to the Smoked Beef Short Ribs. Â I would say the secret to good smoked meats is not to do too much. Â I like dry rubs and I like to baste the meats as well. For this slow cooked meat, I only applied a dry rub. Â They cooked on the smoker for more than 3 hours. Â The spices, the smoke create such a deep, rich flavor and texture. Â Yum.
Ingredients:
- 2 double beef short ribs (find the long bone – not sure what you call this particular style)
- 2 – 3 tbsp each smoked paprika and seasoned salt
- 1 tbsp each annatto (achiote molido) and Mexican Chili powder
Directions:
Combine the spice mixture and rub generously on the ribs. Â Set aside for 30 minutes. Â Meanwhile, prepare your smoker to 225 degrees. Â I used cherry wood for my smoking. Â The cherry wood chips get soaked in water for 20 minutes before added to the smoker. Â For you real BBQ’ers, I use chunk wood charcoal for my heat. Â Now here is where the recipe gets difficult. Â Put the ribs in the smoker and come back when complete. Â I also cooked some chicken at the same time so when I came to take the chicken off the smoker, I upped the heat to 275 degrees for about half the cooking time.
Serve and enjoy!
@ Tammy – Peter I hope you don’t mind me commenting on smoking in an apartment setting. I too live in an apartment and use a gas bbq. I would like to suggest a “smoker box” that you can get at Walmart, Home Depot, etc. for about $10. Basically it’s a metal box with a lid that you can put inside your gas barbecue. It’s only about 10″ by 3″ but you can get about 45 min to an hour worth of smoking from each “fill up”. Very safe, and from my experience, the box hasn’t warped so it holds the embers and chips in nicely. Anywhooo, hope that helps.
Trevor, thx for chiming in. I love to have dialogue in the space. Tammy, trevor knows what he is talking about. So I hope that really helps you.
Peter these “short” ribs look “long” on flavor. Mouth watering! And I agree with what you said about Northerners not really embracing the smoked style of barbecue. Toronto is about the size and population of Chicago (and not much further north), yet there’s maybe 4 or 5 smoke house style barbecue places…. yet some “impostors” like St. Louis Ribs or Tony Roma (don’t know if you have those franchises in Chicago) thrive with such heartless mediocre bbq fare. Anyway, enough of my rant but really it’s all your fault for displaying such delicious looking short ribs to compare everything by. 🙂
So you share my experience. Yes, I have seen those places. Chicago does have a few really authentic BBQ places but only a few.
Peter, I live in a condo where I can only have a gas BBQ – nothing else. Can this be done in the oven and if so, what temperature should I use and for how long?
Appreciate your response. Thank you.
Short ribs can be cooked in an oven or better yet braised. That means having a liquid in your pot and then slow cooking on the stove top or in the oven. To get the smoke effect you would need an indoor smoking tray. Easy to find an inexpensive. Don’t know though, if it would create too much smoke in the condo.
If braised or in the oven, would you say 325 degrees for about 4 hours? Thank you. Tammy
The short ribs look fabulous, Peter! We are very new to smoking meats…just a few months into it right now, and have been working on trying different techniques and recipes. The last brisket that we made had such a wonderful flavor with the rub that I made, but we just can’t get the right temperature with the duration!! It was so dry!!
I’m printing this up and we’re heading to our cabin this weekend, so I’m thinking I’m going to go look for some short ribs tonight, and we’ll enjoy your recipe Saturday night!!
Awesome post! Thanks so much for sharing..
Give me the address and I am on my way up to your cabin for some good food. The hardest thing about smoking is regulating the temperature. once you get that done, it is very forgiving. good luck.
Haha! It’s always an open invitation! I’m looking forward to trying this…I’ll report back!
I love the short ribs. We are smoke lovers too. Nothing better than meat that falls off the bone and tastes rich with layers of flavor.
Me too. But so many people just think of pork ribs. This is a great change up.