Smoked Standing Rib Roast

Around the holidays, there are three dishes I like to prepare on certain days: turkey (smoked or roasted) for Thanksgiving, ham (citrus and honey glazed) for Christmas, and a rib roast for New Years Day. My traditional rib roast recipe is featured in The Heritage Cookbook, but last weekend I wanted to try out a smoked version of this classic dish, which I’m sharing today.

I tested this recipe on my new pellet smoker (full review here), but it would work well on a charcoal or gas smoker setup, too, which I detail at the bottom of this post. Don’t have a smoker? No worries, this is the exact method I make for an oven roast, and I simply put it in the oven at 180F for Step #2. It comes out great that way, too.

Smoked Standing Rib Roast (Gluten-free, Paleo, Primal, Perfect Health Diet, Keto)

Servings: 6
Time: 5 hours + overnight dry brine
Difficulty: Moderate

1 standing rib or sirloin roast (bone-in prefered), about 5 lbs
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp ground mustard (Colman’s prefered)

1. In a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, and mustard. Pat the roast dry, then rub all over with the salt mixture. Place on a plate (suspended over a small wire rack if possible) and refrigerate overnight, uncovered.

2. The following day, prepare your smoker for indirect smoking (more instructions here), with a target temperature of 180F (but up to 200F is fine). Place the roast on the smoker, fatty-side up, and smoke until the internal temperature reaches 125F for a medium (pink all the way through) done roast, or 120F if you’d like it a little bloodier. This part of the process will take at least 3 hours, but up to 5 hours depending on the size of the roast (and whether or not it is bone-in).

3. As the roast gets close to temperature, pre-heat your oven to 450F (up to 500F if your oven will go that high). Place in the oven and roast until the outside is dark brown and crispy, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and rest for 15 minutes, then slice and serve.