Traeger Baby Back Ribs Inspired By Franklin Bbq

With a wife who is a talented cook and a master in Japanese food, I sometimes forget that I should help out more in the kitchen. So one of the goals I have set out to achieve is to lend Nami a hand whenever I can. It’s also a reminder to the kids that ‘Hey, Daddy can cook too!”. Since my cooking expertise leans toward barbequing, I’ve been studying some recipes that would earn approval from my family. They can be a tough crowd, but they have always loved our friend John’s smoked baby back ribs recipe which I cook regularly. It was time for a new surprise. Today I’m excited to share our family’s new favorite – Traeger Baby Back Ribs inspired by Franklin Barbecue in Austin.

Visiting Franklin Barbecue in Austin

Over the past few years, I’ve attended conferences in Austin, Texas and I always make it a point to hit up a few renowned Texas barbecues spots when I’m there. I’ve tried the smoked meats at the popular Salt Lick and Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que. The meats were juicy and tasty, and they did live up to their reputations. Until last year, when we started to receive a flood of recommendations from readers on the famed Franklin Barbecue, I knew I had to make a visit there. In the city where you can find plenty of great smoked meat, why are people willing to wait three hours starting at 8 am (the restaurant opens at 11 am) just for some meat? What is the hype all about? I was too eager to find out. It was a Thursday and I arrived at 12:30 pm, the line was out the door and down the side of the building but it doesn’t seem too long. Is it my lucky day? The lunch hour rush should be over soon and I can enjoy my food promptly. As I waited patiently, an hour went by and it felt like the line had come to a halt. Luckily, the restaurant has folding chairs for customers to sit on while waiting so I didn’t have to stand the entire time. Another hour went by, the staff came out and greeted the train of people. They were letting us know they can’t guarantee what meat will be available by the time it’s our turn, but we should be able to get some food. WHAT??? Out of food? My hunger was attacking me by the minute and it was getting harder and harder to wait. Finally, at 2 pm, I got through the restaurant’s door. Oh no, the line continued inside with 30 people ahead of me and at the same moment, it’s officially announced. Turkey has sold out.

The Brisket at Franklin Barbecue

At 2:19 pm, it was finally my turn at the counter and I got a brisket sandwich and sausages along with the potato salad. By this time I was famished. I took my food tray to a table and poured the BBQ sauce on the brisket. I took a giant bite of the brisket sandwich, OMG, is this what heaven tastes like? The brisket more or less melted in my mouth, it had a perfect amount of smoky flavor and the seasoning was just perfect. The house BBQ sauce had the perfect amount of sweetness, saltiness, and tanginess that mixed in with the fatty brisket. The two-hour wait, it was well worth it. Unfortunately, it was all over in 5 minutes. I should have gotten two brisket sandwiches and take one with me for later. I have to say Franklin Barbecue exceeded my expectations!

Back Home Testing and Tasting

Inspired by the life-changing experience at Franklin’s Barbeque, after returning from Austin, we purchased a Traeger smoker from Costco (much cheaper than most retailers) and Aaron Franklin’s two cookbooks, Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto and Franklin Steak: Dry-Aged. Live-Fired. Pure Beef. His cookbooks are really well written. They’re not stuffed with 100 recipes that most readers would never make. Instead, most of the contents educate the readers on meat, wood, fire, and the science behind seasoning, barbeque, grilling, and all aspects of cooking meat. They’re my new bibles for grilling and I highly recommend both books for anyone who loves barbeque.

Traeger Baby Back Ribs with Franklin BBQ Sauce

The first recipes we tried from the cookbook were Franklin’s spare ribs and barbeque sauce. Both were really good. The BBQ sauce alone is worth purchasing the book for. Our family absolutely loved the spare ribs but the proportion of meat to bone is much less than baby back ribs. We ended the meal hungrily and wanting more meat to eat. In case you weren’t aware, spare ribs and baby back ribs are connected to each other on a pig. They are like the human rib cage, with large bones on the chest side (spare ribs) and smaller bones on the back (baby back ribs). We then had the idea of cooking with a similar method on baby back ribs! That would be the best of both worlds. Time to test recipe! After many tests and trials, we are really happy with the recipe below. If you never smoked meat before and have always wanted to try, this is a foolproof method with an incredible result! Best of all: the ingredients are simple and what you probably already have in the kitchen. The basic steps are: Easy right? Now let’s make it!

What is a Traeger smoker?

We shared smoked turkey breast (also inspired by Franklin’s recipe) over the holidays and talked about why we like the Traeger smoker. The short answer is the Traeger works pretty much like an electric oven, set the temperature and cook the food. It is so easy to use and on average, we cook with it once every two weeks to test different meats. Unlike a barbeque grill, Traeger doesn’t burn food easily as it cooks with indirect heat. We would not recommend it for searing a thick steak since it doesn’t get as hot as a gas or charcoal grill, but it’s perfect for cooking chicken, pork shoulder, and other thick cuts of meats that require some time to cook. We have the junior size smoker which can fit up to 3 racks of ribs (feeds 6-8 people).

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Tips for Traeger Baby Back Rib

Love baby back ribs? You have to give this recipe a try! It’s our family’s favorite and our daughter requests it at least once a month. There are no fancy ingredients required and the prep time is very short. Here are some tips based on our meat-smoking journey: These smoked baby back ribs are perfect for entertaining, and win the best cook award in the family! They are seriously finger-licking good, so get the napkins ready. Looking for other Traeger recipes? How about mouthwatering reverse sear steaks or smoked turkey breast for the next gathering? Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.