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There is nothing better than a beautifully smoked prime rib with a side of mashed potatoes along with some creamy horseradish and au jus for dipping. It's time to fire up those smokers and make this succulent master piece!
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Why this recipe is AMAZING
Prime rib is delicious when baked in the oven, but add natural smoke flavor to that meat and it takes this prime rib roast to the next level. By keeping it simple with the seasonings, the meat has a chance to really shine through. Let's get to it!
Buying the meat
Prime rib roast is a cut of meat that comes from the ribs of the cow. A rib roast is where the popular rib eye steak is cut. You are essentially buying several rib eye steaks that have not been cut yet.
When buying prime rib roast, don't let the word 'prime' at the beginning fool you into thinking every cut of beef for sale is of Prime beef rating. It is possible to buy a rib roast with a beef rating of 'choice' or 'select' which will have less marbling of fat.
Most local grocery stores or butchers will carry rib roast and are commonly cut to order when it comes to weight. It is also possible to buy prime rib roast 'bone in' or 'boneless'. Either way produces a great finished roast and bones are easily trimmed before or after cooking if you buy a bone in rib roast.
How much to buy?
Having a dinner party and trying to figure out how big of a prime rib roast to buy? Figure about 1lb of uncooked prime rib per person. So if you are having a dinner with 8 people total, buy an 8lb prime rib roast.
How to Make Smoked Prime Rib
I'm going to show you step by step how to smoke the perfect prime rib which is the absolute BEST meal for Christmas, New Years, or any important occasion!
Prepping the prime rib
Most prime rib will come already trimmed to about ¼" of fat along the outside of the roast. If not, you will want to use a sharp fillet knife to trim the fat. Don't cut off all the fat, that is where great flavor resides! You don't want too much though, so trim to ¼" thick.
I like to keep it simple when it comes to seasoning prime rib. Rub a light coating of olive oil or mustard as a base and then sprinkle liberally with a 50:50 mixture of kosher salt and coarse black pepper. Adding a little thyme also gives a nice flavor and look to the finished roast.
The smoker
I use a RT-590 Recteq pellet smoker when smoking prime rib, but any stick burner (traditional wood burning smoker) or pellet smoker will do. Traeger also provides several different pellet smoker models to choose from. Pre-heat your smoker to 225°F and clean the grates.
Smoking the rib roast
Maintaining 225°F in your smoker is the perfect temperature to get a great smoke flavor into the meat. Expect about 40 minutes a pound when smoking, so a 6lb prime rib roast will take about 4 hours to smoke.
***However, the max amount of time a roast should take is about 6 hours*** Once you reach a 9lb roast, the cooking time does NOT keep increasing the heavier the roast.
Sear
The next step is to choose whether you want to sear or reverse sear your prime rib. Either way is fine, a reverse sear will give you more of a smoke flavor to the finished prime rib.
For this prime rib I seared the roast in my oven BEFORE smoking for 15 minutes at 450°F. Simply line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and stand the rib roast, bones down, on the tray. 15 minutes will give it a nice crust. Then transfer to your smoker to finish.
Reverse Sear
A reverse sear is when you smoke the meat first and then perform the high heat treatment at the end of the cooking. This will add more smoke flavor to the meat as you don't have the crust from a regular sear encapsulating the meat from the smoke of the fire.
Once the meat reaches 10°F below your desired doneness, remove the roast from the smoker and increase the temperature to 450°F. Once temp is reached, place the rib roast back on the grill and finish cooking for several minutes until the desired internal temperature is reached.
Finished temperature
Most pellet smokers will come with thermometers that will plug into the smoker and can be placed into the meat for a constant temperature reading. If you don't have one of these, an inexpensive digital meat thermometer is a great investment. I use these for just about everything I smoke. I highly recommend adding one to your grilling arsenal.
I like to pull the roast from the smoker at 130°F IT if I sear before smoking or 120°F if I am going to reverse sear. Allow to rest on a cutting board for 20-30 minutes for the juices to redistribute before carving.
Slicing
There are two ways to slice a rib roast when serving. The first is to slice between the bones for a large 1.5" cut of beef to serve. Slice this way with the roast resting upright on the rib bones. Each serving will include a bone when slicing this way.
The second is cutting the rib bones from the meat and discarding them before slicing into individual servings. The bones will be cut off together, running a large long knife just above the top of the bones. With the roast resting on the meat, rib bones up.
Once the bones are separated, the meat can be sliced into however thick pieces you desire. ½" to 1 ½" is best when serving.
What goes with prime rib?
There are some staple condiments that are a MUST when eating prime rib. The first of those being:
Horseradish
Oh yeah, that little spice that's strong enough to clear your sinus. I love it! It can be bought in either creamy horseradish (most popular) or you can go with straight raw horseradish (very strong).
The second MUST is a:
Au Jus
A great flavored au jus (thin gravy that accompanies meat) is for dipping the meat. The easiest way is to buy a packet, just like a gravy packet, and prepare it that way. You will always have enough for everyone and it's great tasting. Easily found in the gravy isle of your local grocery store.
What about side dishes?
Mashed potatoes! Nothing goes better with prime rib than some creamy great tasting mashed potatoes. Cree from Cooking With Bliss has a great Herb Garlic Mashed Potatoes recipe that will pair perfectly with this smoked prime rib.
The other side dish I love to pair with this great tasting roast is asparagus. Check out this roasted asparagus recipe from Jo-Anna from A Pretty Life, it will definitely round out this meal with some healthy greens.
Old Pro Tips
- Place a water pan in the smoker if using a stick burner. It is not necessary when using a pellet smoker
- Rest the meat for 20 - 30 minutes before slicing to allow the juices in the meat to redistribute.
- Remove the bones before smoking and tie back to the roast with twine for aesthetics, remove and discard before smoking, or leave them in and remove before serving. Either way can be done and will not affect the final result of the roast.
FAQ
225°-250° is the best temperature to get a great smoke flavor but not too low that it will take all day long to cook.
No. You won't taste the mustard and it's a low calorie binder. I like to use yellow mustard or olive oil.
Applewood is my favorite. It is not as strong as mesquite or hickory and gives it a nice subtle flavor.
Ingredients
- 8 lbs Prime Rib Roast
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoon black pepper (coarse)
- 1 tablespoon thyme (dried or fresh)
Equipment
Instructions
- Rub roast with olive oil on all sides and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme. Make sure to have an even amount on all sides of roast.
- Place roast bone side down on a pre-heated smoker at 225°F. Smoke until reaching 10°F shy of your desired internal temperature, about 30-40 minutes per pound. Larger roasts over 9lbs will take about the same amount of time as a 9lb roast. Adjust temp between 200° to 250° while smoking if it appears it will finish early or too late. Remove prime rib from smoker, set aside, and increase temperature to 450°F.
- Place roast back on smoker to reverse sear until a nice crust is formed and your desired Internal Temperature is reached (refer to temperature chart in post above).
- Remove and allow to rest for 20-30 minutes. Carve into 1" steaks and plate.
- If searing in an oven before smoking, place roast bone side down on baking sheet in a pre-heated 450° oven on the bottom rack for 15 minutes. Remove and then smoke until your desired internal temperature is reached. Allow to rest for 20-30 minutes.
Pro Tips
- Place a water pan in the smoker if using a stick burner. It is not necessary when using a pellet smoker
- Rest the meat for 20 - 30 minutes before slicing to allow the juices in the meat to redistribute.
- Remove the bones before smoking and tie back to the roast with twine for aesthetics, remove and discard before smoking, or leave them in and remove before serving. Either way can be done and will not affect the final result of the roast.
Nutrition
AMS says
We made a 3.25 lb prime rib on our Rec Tec using this and it was perfect. It came to 120 sooner than I hoped, but it was a smaller piece. That said I followed this to the letter and it was a perfect medium rare with the reverse sear. Coated in yellow mustard and steakhouse rub. Thanks for making this a NYE meal to remember!
Mark says
how many times do you add wood chips to the rib roast?? when I do my turkeys I smoke in the beginning and again in one hour.
Will says
That will work well with the prime rib too. If you are adding wood chips on top of charcoal, hitting it at the beginning of the cook and again after an hour should be good enough. I would stick with that. Let me know how it turns out!
Rick D says
Why remove the bones, the usually come separated and attached with butchers twine. Leave em and take them off before slicing the roast. Later slice between ribs, slather on a good bbq sauce n put them on the grill just enough to caramelize the sauce. Best beef ribs you've ever had.
Chris says
We just used a 3 pound standing rib roast (left the strings on) on, in a char-broil kamander, using very little greenwise lump charcoal, mequite wood chunks, truffle mustard, Himalayan salt, cracked black pepper...and reverse seared it ...it was amazing. Recipe instructions are very easy to follow, just keep track of your smoker temp and thermometer temp after its half way done. Thank you!
Sasha Wellmaker says
Merry Christmas! So I have an 18.59lb ribeye roast. I was figuring about 12 hours to cook with this recipe. I got up at 230am. Preheated the oven to 450, placed the meat in the oven for 15 minutes to sear prior to smoking to have less if a smoky flavor. Then moved the meat to the smoker which was preheated to 225. It was 315am when I put it on the smoker. At 610am the me as was 138 degrees my guests won't be here until 230. I had pulled it off and let it rest. What do I do now? Did it cook so fast because I left the roast in the tinfoil pan? I was trying to keep the juices in but maybe it made it cook faster? Should I cut into the roast to see if it's actually done? Do u put it in the fridge and then heat it up just before my family gets here? If so what temperature? How can I still make it perfect? Please help!
Will says
Oh no Sasha, timing is so hard to get right. I am surprised it cooked that fast, I would have expected no less than 5 hours smoking. If the roast is not a fat wide roast and simply long, this can cut down the cooking time, but I would not expect that much. The aluminum pan should not have effected the time. I would definitely use a different thermometer or cut into the roast to make sure it is finished. If they are not coming for 4-5 hours, I would place in the fridge to prevent the meat from rising in internal temperature any more and then heat back up in the oven. I hope it turns out still tasting fantastic and you have a Merry Christmas!
Sasha Wellmaker says
Thank you! I cut in to it. It's definitely done. At least it's tender. More done that everyone likes. Hopefully reheating it doesn't make it worse. This is a bummer! Any suggestions on reheating? Should I refrigerate or will that make it worse? I read on a different page to keep the oven at 140 and let it stay at that temperature?
Will says
If you haven't put it in the fridge already than it has already raised in temperature all it's going to while resting, so no point in doing it now. If your oven goes that low, then place it in there to keep warm. Otherwise you might have to turn the oven on a couple minutes on low and then turn it off to keep the temperature down since most ovens lowest setting is around 170°F.
Sasha Wellmaker says
Great! Thank you for your help! Merry Christmas!
Sasha Wellmaker says
Thank you and Merry Christmas to you also!
Vinny says
I learned this little reheat trick when I was cooking in this steak house at a novice age. If you put the sliced meat in the oven on a cooking plate, you will use the broiler. Place a leaf of iceburg lettus on top of meat. When the lettiuce wilts which wont be to long take the meat out of the oven. Serve
DES says
You need to cut into it now or get another meat thermometer to check. Hard to believe that it cooked that fast. You can cut into it as well and check. That's a big roast to be cooked that soon. Something isn't right, but not sure at this point. Cut into that roast and check!!
Jason says
I'm going to be a smoking an 18 pound prime rib for Christmas. Im worried about timing and a stall happening. According to what I read above an 18 pounder should be about the same amount of time as a 9 pounder? Is it ok to finish the prime rib 2 hours early and let it rest in a cooler before the reverse sear? Just trying to prevent a stall on Christmas. Thanks in advance
Will says
Definitely. I would pull it about 5 degrees before your desired finished temp as it will keep cooking while wrapped in the cooler. And you are correct, since the prime rib is just longer and not fatter, use the cooking time of an 8-9lb cut of meat. Not 18lbs, that would be too long.
Deb Mitzel says
Do I need to remove from the refrigerator and have the roast at room temperature before smoking?
Will says
I like to season and let it sit at room temperature for about an hour before smoking.
Jeff Spriet says
Your temperature guide is for finished temp. If I'm reverse searing it what internal temp should I pull it off after searing to rest if I want my roast to be medium? Thanks in advance and merry Christmas!
Will says
I would reverse sear to about 130°F to 135°F for medium. It will rise 5°F or so when resting. Merry Christmas Jeff!