Perfectly Smoked Prime Rib Recipe (2024)

Published: May 3, 2021 · Modified: Dec 7, 2023 by Will · This post may contain affiliate links.

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There is nothing better than a beautifully smoked prime rib with a side of mashed potatoes along with some creamy horseradish and au jus for dipping. It's time to fire up those smokers and make this succulent master piece!

Why this recipe is AMAZING

Prime rib is delicious when baked in the oven, but add natural smoke flavor to that meat and it takes this prime rib roast to the next level. By keeping it simple with the seasonings, the meat has a chance to really shine through. Let's get to it!

Buying the meat

Prime rib roast is a cut of meat that comes from the ribs of the cow. A rib roast is where the popular rib eye steak is cut. You are essentially buying several rib eye steaks that have not been cut yet.

When buying prime rib roast, don't let the word 'prime' at the beginning fool you into thinking every cut of beef for sale is of Prime beef rating. It is possible to buy a rib roast with a beef rating of 'choice' or 'select' which will have less marbling of fat.

Most local grocery stores or butchers will carry rib roast and are commonly cut to order when it comes to weight. It is also possible to buy prime rib roast 'bone in' or 'boneless'. Either way produces a great finished roast and bones are easily trimmed before or after cooking if you buy a bone in rib roast.

How much to buy?

Having a dinner party and trying to figure out how big of a prime rib roast to buy? Figure about 1lb of uncooked prime rib per person. So if you are having a dinner with 8 people total, buy an 8lb prime rib roast.

How to Make Smoked Prime Rib

I'm going to show you step by step how to smoke the perfect prime rib which is the absolute BEST meal for Christmas, New Years, or any important occasion!

Prepping the prime rib

Most prime rib will come already trimmed to about ¼" of fat along the outside of the roast. If not, you will want to use a sharp fillet knife to trim the fat. Don't cut off all the fat, that is where great flavor resides! You don't want too much though, so trim to ¼" thick.

I like to keep it simple when it comes to seasoning prime rib. Rub a light coating of olive oil or mustard as a base and then sprinkle liberally with a 50:50 mixture of kosher salt and coarse black pepper. Adding a little thyme also gives a nice flavor and look to the finished roast.

The smoker

I use a RT-590 Recteq pellet smoker when smoking prime rib, but any stick burner (traditional wood burning smoker) or pellet smoker will do. Traeger also provides several different pellet smoker models to choose from. Pre-heat your smoker to 225°F and clean the grates.

Smoking the rib roast

Maintaining 225°F in your smoker is the perfect temperature to get a great smoke flavor into the meat. Expect about 40 minutes a pound when smoking, so a 6lb prime rib roast will take about 4 hours to smoke.

***However, the max amount of time a roast should take is about 6 hours*** Once you reach a 9lb roast, the cooking time does NOT keep increasing the heavier the roast.

Sear

The next step is to choose whether you want to sear or reverse sear your prime rib. Either way is fine, a reverse sear will give you more of a smoke flavor to the finished prime rib.

For this prime rib I seared the roast in my oven BEFORE smoking for 15 minutes at 450°F. Simply line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and stand the rib roast, bones down, on the tray. 15 minutes will give it a nice crust. Then transfer to your smoker to finish.

Reverse Sear

A reverse sear is when you smoke the meat first and then perform the high heat treatment at the end of the cooking. This will add more smoke flavor to the meat as you don't have the crust from a regular sear encapsulating the meat from the smoke of the fire.

Once the meat reaches 10°F below your desired doneness, remove the roast from the smoker and increase the temperature to 450°F. Once temp is reached, place the rib roast back on the grill and finish cooking for several minutes until the desired internal temperature is reached.

Finished temperature

Most pellet smokers will come with thermometers that will plug into the smoker and can be placed into the meat for a constant temperature reading. If you don't have one of these, an inexpensive digital meat thermometer is a great investment. I use these for just about everything I smoke. I highly recommend adding one to your grilling arsenal.

I like to pull the roast from the smoker at 130°F IT if I sear before smoking or 120°F if I am going to reverse sear. Allow to rest on a cutting board for 20-30 minutes for the juices to redistribute before carving.

Slicing

There are two ways to slice a rib roast when serving. The first is to slice between the bones for a large 1.5" cut of beef to serve. Slice this way with the roast resting upright on the rib bones. Each serving will include a bone when slicing this way.

The second is cutting the rib bones from the meat and discarding them before slicing into individual servings. The bones will be cut off together, running a large long knife just above the top of the bones. With the roast resting on the meat, rib bones up.

Once the bones are separated, the meat can be sliced into however thick pieces you desire. ½" to 1 ½" is best when serving.