Kansas City-Style Barbecue Ribs Recipe

By
Joshua Bousel
a photo of Joshua Bousel, a Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Joshua Bousel
Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.
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Updated August 09, 2018
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Top photo: J. Kenji López-Alt, all others Joshua Bousel

You didn't actually think two weeks of smoking lessons was going to end without a rib recipe, right? Now that you're armed with smoking know-how, it's time to start you off in proper fashion with a few racks of these killer Kansas City-style ribs.

Like Kansas City-style sauce, the rub tips the scale in the sweet direction, but gets enough chili powder and pepper to create a spice that balances it out. Once the rub is applied and these hit the smoker at 225 °F, you grab a beer and wait until they're nice and tender.

In the last half hour, brush on a layer of Kansas City-style sauce. It only caramelizes slightly and produces the thick, sticky layer of sauce that defines the style of these finger-lickin' good ribs.

Recipe Details

Kansas City-Style Barbecue Ribs Recipe

Active 90 mins
Total 6 hrs
Serves 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

For the Rub:

  • 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

  • 1/4 cup paprika

  • 2 tablespoons white sugar

  • 2 tablespoons celery salt

  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt

  • 1 tablespoon granulated onion

  • 1 tablespoon granulated garlic

  • 1 tablespoon chile powder

  • 1 teaspoon ground white pepper

  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

For the Ribs:

Directions

  1. Mix together the brown sugar, paprika, white sugar, celery salt, kosher salt, granulated onion, granulated garlic, chili powder, white pepper, and black pepper in a small bowl to make the rub.

  2. Remove the membrane from the back of the rack, and trim the ribs of excess fat. Rub each rack liberally with the rub. Wrap ribs in foil or place in a large container and store in the refrigerator over night (optional).

  3. Remove the ribs from the fridge while preparing the smoker or grill. Fire up smoker or grill to 225°F, adding chunks of smoking wood chunks when at temperature. When the wood is ignited and producing smoke, place the ribs in the smoker or grill, meat side up, and smoke until the ribs have a slight bend when lifted from one end, about 4-5 hours for baby backs or 5-6 hours for spare ribs.

  4. In the last 1/2 hour of cooking, baste the top of each rack with barbecue sauce and continue smoking. Remove from the smoker, slice, and serve.

Special Equipment

Smoker or grill

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
670Calories
30gFat
79gCarbs
22gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6
Amount per serving
Calories670
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 30g39%
Saturated Fat 9g44%
Cholesterol 97mg32%
Sodium 4110mg179%
Total Carbohydrate 79g29%
Dietary Fiber 4g14%
Total Sugars 63g
Protein 22g
Vitamin C 1mg7%
Calcium 117mg9%
Iron 4mg24%
Potassium 776mg17%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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