Worlds Best Dutch oven BBQ Ribs

Best Dutch oven barbequed rib's you'll ever taste!

Barbecue ribs in a Dutch oven! Could this ever be as good as smoked ribs? Rubbed ribs? Smothered in sauce ribs? I will wager these ribs will make you think twice about doing them any other way. It took me almost a year to perfect this recipe. Trial after horrible trial, really, I had to eat every one of those ribs until this recipe was perfect! It’s tough work and someone must do it…

I had tasted BBQ'd ribs in a Dutch oven a couple of years ago. Quite a surprise tasted like BBQ, very juicy and falls off the bone tender. Resolved to duplicate this incredible meal outdoors and with the same style, flavor and finesse, I set to work. My original plan was an exact duplicate of the original recipe, which tends to change at every attempt unless you follow a written recipe.

A 12” Dutch oven was my first choice of pots. Cut my ribs in half and layer them. This seemed to result in an uneven coating of BBQ sauce so I switch to a 14” with the same results. Stacking the ribs was not what I was looking for; do not get me wrong, the ribs were awesome every time.

Cabela’s had my solution, an oval Dutch oven which they call a “Oval Roaster/Griddle”. You can see the roaster in the pictures below and I will do a thorough review in my next post. I will also be sharing my rub and Dutch oven equipment, so stay tuned…

After many enjoyable trials and maybe a couple of errors, here you go:

Ingredients: 

1 – Rack of ribs (Trimmed, I prefer St. Louis cut)

(New) Honey mustard to coat

Rub of your choice or use one of my favorites: (http://www.cooking-outdoors.com/basic-barbecue-rub.html)

1 – Red Bell Pepper

1 – Yellow Bell Pepper

1 – Red Onion

1 – Bottle of BBQ Sauce (I use Trader Joe's Kansas City BBQ sauce)

1 – Bottle of Dark Beer.

1 – 14″ Dutch oven or 1 Oval Dutch oven roaster (Cabela's)

Recipe: 

Wash and trim ribs. Remove skin on back of ribs with a paper towel. Dry completely , apply a light coating of Honey mustard to all surfaces of ribs and coat your ribs with the BBQ rub on all sides. Slice Bell peppers and Onion, place in bottom of Dutch oven.

Sliced onions and bell peppers for Dutch oven ribs

 Place rubbed ribs on top of Bell peppers and Onion.

Best Dutch oven barbequed rib's you'll ever taste!

Pour BBQ sauce on top of ribs, enough to cover thickly.

Pour 1/2 to 3/4 of beer around sides to coat bottom, I usually same some for me, maybe 1/3 of cooks sample.

Best Dutch oven barbequed rib's you'll ever taste!

Cooking time: 

Try to cook at least two hours. Depending on your pot and weather conditions, start out with the basic three up three down formula and work from there. 350  degrees seems to be the best for me. (I’ cover this later also) Cook up to three hrs and you might have to use a spoon to eat your ribs.

Here is my oval roaster sitting on two lid holders. Worked great!

Best Dutch oven barbequed rib's you'll ever taste!

All done and lookin good!! The soupy pepper and onion mess at the bottom is excellent spread on top of the ribs…..

Best Dutch oven barbequed rib's you'll ever taste!

Give this recipe a try and I bet you’ll share this with your friend when they come over for some Outdoor Cooking.

Note: (2012) I have since updated this recipe to include a Honey Mustard binder. Basically you apply a small coating of honey mustard to all surfaces of the ribs before applying your rubs. This will help the rub to stick to the ribs and adds an additional flavor layer that I enjoy.