Want the best pork spare rib recipe? Enjoy these gochujang-infused Korean BBQ ribs. They’re sweet. They’re spicy. They’re the perfect BBQ ribs.
If you’ve whetted your appetite with my Korean wings recipe, then it’s high time you moved on to these beautiful smoked Korean ribs.
Not too dissimilar to my smoked short ribs recipe, this Asian take on the American favorite infuses the pork with traditional Korean sauces and seasoning to take the flavors to a whole new level.
If you’re a fan of ingredients like gochujang, hoisin, and soy sauce, then blending them with slow smoked pork ribs is a no brainer.
The ingredients are blended with honey and ketchup, and sprinkled with sesame seeds and scallion greens to give it a beautiful, iconic finish.
They’re sweet. They’re spicy. They’re the perfect BBQ ribs.
Let’s get into what you need to know to make the best Korean spare ribs.
Ingredients for Korean spare ribs
To get these as close to the real thing, I had to use gochujang paste. For the uninitiated, this is a paste that is used in a lot of Korean dishes, but particularly with BBQ meat. It has a beautiful balance of sweet and spicy, and is perfect for these ribs.
If you don’t know where to look, try your local Asian supermarket or foreign food section. Failing that, you can get some here on Amazon.
BBQ Smoked Korean Spare Ribs
Equipment
- Smoker
- Apple wood chips
- Aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 2 racks pork spare ribs
- ½ cup apple juice
For the rub
- kosher salt
- ground black pepper
For the glaze
- ½ cup gochujang
- ¼ cup hoisin sauce
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup Korean rice wine
For the garnish
- sesame seeds
- 4 scallion greens sliced diagonally
- fresh ginger finely gated
- 3 cloves garlic finely grated
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 225°F. Add applewood chips to the smoker box.
- Trim rib racks by cutting ends and removing the membrane off each. Trim off any other excess fat.
- Combine rub ingredients. Apply liberally to rib racks, rubbing on both sides and working into any dips.
- Transfer ribs to smoke grates. Close lid and cook for 2 hours.
- Combine glaze ingredients in a large bowl. Cover bowl in film and put in refrigerator until ribs are ready.
- Remove ribs from smoker. Transfer to aluminum foil and place topside down. Pour ¼ cup of apple juice over each rib rack.
- Wrap foil tightly around ribs and transfer back to smoker. Cook for a further 3 hours
- Remove ribs from foil. Increase smoker temperature to 300°F.
- Use basting brush to cover ribs in glaze. Transfer ribs back to smoker and cook for one more hour.
- Test for meat pulling away from bone. When done, remove ribs from smoker and serve.
- When you see the meat pull from the bone it is time to remove them and serve.
