Purple Glaze Ribs

If you like sweet and tangy barbecue, you just might want to give this purple glaze sauce a try. I thought I would change it up just a bit today, so in addition to marinading the ribs in beer and spices before smoking, I’m topping these baby back pork ribs with a special glaze based off of a fantastic recipe that my wife uses for her famous slow cooker meatballs. I’m calling them Purple Glaze Ribs. Man… I love smoking ribs.

There are several different ways to cook these ribs, but i am going to show you how I did it today, and then I will give you a few alternate methods that will also work, at the bottom of the page.

For these Purple Glaze Ribs you will need:

RIBS!
3-4 lbs of baby back ribs
Water and Wood for the smoker (Apple)

FOR THE MARINADE:
2-3 cans of Beer
4 ounces pork rub spices … I bet you can guess what I used. 😉 (make sure they contain onion and garlic)
1 container large enough to hold the ribs
(I used an aluminum pan, but a large zip-lock type freezer bag works great also)

FOR THE PURPLE GLAZE:
1 Cup Grape Jelly
1 Cup Chili Sauce
2 Tbs Brown Sugar
1 Tbs Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbs Garlic (minced)
1 Tbs Lime Juice
1 Tbs Hot Sauce

1) If we want these purple glaze ribs to be truly amazing, we first want to prep our ribs by removing the membrane.

Tip: Removing the Membrane: Rinse the ribs in some cold water. Flip the ribs over so the bottom of the rack is facing up. Use a dull butter knife and insert it right below the hazy white membrane covering the entire bottom of the ribs. Wiggle the knife around a little bit to loosen the membrane. In your other hand, grab the membrane with a few dry paper towels, and once you get a solid grip on it, pull it off the entire bottom of the rack.

2) Season pork ribs heavily with spices coating both sides completely.

3) Add beer! Make sure that your ribs are submerged at least half way. I had to use about 4 cans of beer here.

4) Cover and allow to marinade for at least an 1-2 hours at room temperature (if leaving over night… refrigerate then remove from cooler for the last 1-2 hours)

5) While you are waiting, prep your purple glaze by placing all the ingredients (grape jelly, brown sugar, chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, lime juice and hot sauce) into a bowl and mix well.

6) Prep your smoker with water and (apple) wood. We are going to want to smoke low and slow. We are going to use the 2:2:1 method on these. That means 2 hours directly on the smoker grate, then 2 hours wrapped in foil, then 1 hour unwrapped.

7) Smoke the ribs directly on the smoker grate for two hours at 220 F.

8) Remove from smoker. Mop on your purple glaze sauce covering the entire surface of the meat… wrap the ribs in foil return to smoker to continue cooking for two more hours at 220 F

9) Remove foil. Mop on a fresh thick layer of purple glaze sauce. Smoke (uncovered) for an additional hour at same temp.

10) Near the end of this final hour, pick up the ribs using BBQ gloves or tongs and give them a slight “bend.” If the ribs tear just a little between the bones, they are ready to come out of the smoker. If the ribs refuse to tear at all, you will need some more time. Cooked ribs can range anywhere from very tough to overly tender (“fall off the bone”). Your preference will probably be somewhere in between.

 

Send us a photo of your results!!! Tweet using #TailgateMaster we would love to see how your Purple Glaze Ribs turned out!

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Pork Recipes | BBQ Ribs | Smoker Recipes |  More Tailgating Tips

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