Smoked Prime Rib Recipe

5 from 10 votes

This smoked prime rib roast is the the best way to elevate your next holiday meal, no matter the season! Made on a Pit Boss or Traeger pellet grill (or other electric smoker), this cut of beef is slow cooking at a low temperature until it's a perfect medium rare, juicy, flavorful and pink from edge to edge. It's the ultimate, showstopping holiday dinner dish!

Course: Grilling and Smoker Recipes

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 83kcal

Author: Eden Westbrook

Ingredients

1 6 pound bone-in prime rib roast

Beef Dry Rub

2 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoon black pepper coarsely ground
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 teaspoon ground rosemary

Basting Solution

½ cup worcestershire sauce
¼ cup apple cider vinegar or lemonade
¼ cup good bourbon

Instructions

Fill your pellet hopper with your choice of hardwood pellets.
Stir together all the dry rub ingredients in a small bowl and mix all the basting ingredients together in a spray bottle.
Season the entire rib roast liberally with the dry rub on all sides, you want the entire outside of the roast covered in that dry rub.
OPTIONAL: place the seasoned rib roast on a wire-rack lined baking sheet and let dry brine in the fridge, uncovered, overnight.
When ready to cook, Preheat the pellet smoker to 250 degrees F. Place the seasoned rib roast onto the smoker's grates and stick the probe thermometer right into the center of the roast.
Smoke the rib roast for one hour. Then come back and quickly spray that basting solution all over the rib roast before closing it back up. Spray as often as every hour. It's an optional step, but it adds so much flavor.
Once your probe thermometer reaches 120-122 degrees F for medium-rare (while the meat rests, it'll rise in temperature) take it out. For our 6 pound bone-in rib roast, it took a little over 3 hours to reach an internal temperature 122 degrees F.
Let the smoked rib roast rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing ½ inch steaks with a sharp knife to serve it for dinner.

Notes

how to carve a smoked prime rib roast

If you've got a boneless rib roast, don't worry about carving. Slicing steaks for your guests is all you have to do.

Same with a standing rib roast that has already had the bones carved away but tied on, just snip the twine and remove the bones for gnawing on later.

But if you have a bone-in roast, here's how to carve it:

Hold it so the bones are sticking upward, then take a sharp carving knife and run it down between the bones and the roast. Stay as close to the bones as possible and continue down the bones until you reach the other side.

tips for the best prime rib

Let your roast shake the chill of your fridge off and come to room temperature for an hour before cooking.
Let your prime rib rest after cooking for at least 15-20 minutes on a cutting board under a tent of aluminum foil. This will keep the meat juicy when you cut into it for serving.

Nutrition