How to Smoke a Perfect Holiday Prime Rib Roast

Prime rib is one of our favorite things at Grillaholics. I mean, think about it…it’s like a steak…but more.

What’s not to love?

Aside from tasting delicious, a prime rib is the perfect non-turkey protein to build a holiday meal around. While they’re traditionally roasted in an oven (and definitely delicious), we like to smoke ours.

Not only does this give your guests something new to experience, but it creates an incredibly rich, smokey flavor that is traditionally not found in prime rib. Today, we’re gonna take you through the ABC’s of doing such a project — it’s a great way to upgrade the Thanksgiving festivities this fall!

What is a Prime Rib?

A “Prime Rib” is actually called a “rib roast”. The entire cut contains seven ribs, and weighs around 25–30 lbs.

Consider this: ribeye steaks are taken from the rib roast. So, what you’re essentially getting with a rib roast is one, giant ribeye. Although it can be a bit pricey, a beautiful, whole prime rib is a sight to behold. It’s important to remember that ‘prime’ here doesn’t refer to the grade of meat — that’s ‘prime’ as in ‘primal’, however misleading that may be.

With that being said, GET PRIME GRADE BEEF! It’s going to make a huge, huge difference. The main source of flavor in a prime rib is marbling (aka fat), and prime graded beef is going to have much more marbling than choice. With a prime rib, you really are only going to get the flavor of the beef, so you want that beef to be high quality.

If you can, get your butcher to remove the bones from the rib before you take it home. Not only could this save on some of the purchase price, but it’s also going to simplify the cooking process — you won’t have to work around clunky, giant rib bones.

On to Smoking the Darn Thing

Now…onto the fun part. For best results, we’re gonna opt for a reverse sear-style method.

We’re going to liberally season and smoke the rib first, before blasting it with high heat to get that nice crust on the exterior.

Now…at Grillaholics, we like to go more ‘rare’ than not. But, when we’re entertaining friends and family, we realize some accommodations must be made.

For a medium-rare, we suggest about 40 minutes per pound at 225 degrees. You’ll also want to allow a solid 30 minutes of rest time. We know that’s a lot, but all those muscle fibers need some time to relax. All in all, a prime-rib is a time-consuming sort of operation, but it’s worth every minute. You’ll want to pull it from the smoker before it reaches your desired temperature, though. It’ll continue cooking off heat, and the sear is going to raise its internal temperature by a few ticks.

Once you’ve finished smoking the rib, blast it over high heat on a grill or large griddle.

This is going to give you that signature, dark brown crust. Let it rest for a good half hour, and you’re all set!

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