3-2-1 spare ribs

ribs-spare · verified system recipe · Classic competition method — hand-curated

Pit temp
225°F
Pull at
195°F
Total time
~6.0 hr

Phase timeline

180m
120m
60m
Smoke (bare)Wrap (foil + butter + brown sugar + honey)Sauce + settotal: 6h 0m

Step-by-step

  1. 1. Smoke (bare)

    ~180 min

    225°F pit, hickory. Membrane removed. Heavy mustard slather under rub for adhesion.

  2. 2. Wrap (foil + butter + brown sugar + honey)

    ~120 min

    Tight foil pack, ribs meat-side down. Tenderizes and braises.

  3. 3. Sauce + set

    ~60 min

    Unwrap, sauce, return to grate. Bite test at the end: clean tug from the bone but not falling apart.

Rub
Paprika + brown sugar + salt + pepper + garlic powder + onion powder
Wrap method
foil_with_butter
Minimum rest
10 min

📐 Scale for guests

Target weight
4.0 lb
1 lb/guest
Cuts needed
1
~5 lb per cut
Cook time / cut
6h 0m
+ 10m rest

Each cut cooks at its own rate — even if you double up, plan the same hours. For very large crowds, run multiple cuts in parallel and stagger by 30 min.

🎯 Adjusted for your pit

Sign in to see times adjusted for your specific pit (warmup time + temp bias).

Want SmokeStack to predict when this cook will be done, alert you on temp breaches, and adapt the recipe to your pit?

Sign up free →