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How Do You Smoke Costco Ribs on a Traeger Grill?
Costco sells pre-cooked, pre-sauced, and raw ribs. All of which can be smoked on a Traeger wood pellet grill, though the cooking time can vary.
A temperature range of 225 to 250 degrees is ideal. Though you will want a shorter cooking time for pre-cooked and sauced ribs of half an hour or so to caramelize the sauce and warm them through.
Raw ribs need a much longer smoking time of 3 hours at 225 to 250. Then two more hours wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum foil, and then another hour with the foil open and your preferred sauce applied to let it caramelize onto the rib meat.
It’s important to note that the cooking time for ribs on a Traeger can vary depending on the type of ribs and even the degree of doneness of the pre-cooked ribs. The goal is to cook them until the meat in the thickest part of the ribs reaches an internal temperature of 190 to 205-degrees.
Can You Smoke Costco Ribs?
Costco sells raw ribs as well as pre-cooked ribs with a spice rub or sauced with Kansas City-style barbecue sauce. While you can indeed smoke all three of these ribs on a Traeger grill, the technique and cooking times do vary.
What Temperature Do You Cook Ribs on a Traeger?
A temperature between 225 to 250 degrees is best for cooking ribs on a Traeger grill. Though the cooking times vary by the type of ribs to reach an ideal temperature between 190 to 205-degrees.
For pre-cook and sauced ribs, you want to target the low temperatures around 225-degrees for 30 to 45 minutes. You want to give the ribs enough time to warm through to the bone, while also caramelizing the sauce without burning it
For pre-cooked ribs that have a seasoning rub, you want to target a temperature around 225 degrees. 25 to 40 minutes should be sufficient to warm them through while replicating the exterior of a classic “Memphis Dry.”
You could also take the same pre-cooked ribs and smoke them for 30 minutes at 225 degrees, mopping them with a brown sugar and vinegar sauce to finish them in Lexington-style barbecue.
When smoking raw ribs on a Traeger, you want to hold to 225 degrees for 3 hours to infuse the meat with a smoky flavor. Then you can wrap the ribs in heavy-duty aluminum foil for 2 hours at 250-degrees to finish them as the touch of collagen in the ribs renders them into succulent, juicy gelatin.
As the internal temperature in the thickest part of the rib meat approaches 180-degrees, you want to open up the foil and sauce them liberally. Turn the heat down to 225-degrees to let the sauce slowly caramelize for another 45 minutes to an hour or until the rib meat reaches 200-degrees.
Where Should You Insert a Temperature Probe into the Ribs?
Inserting an instant-read meat probe thermometer directly between two ribs in the center of the rack usually works best. The goal is to sample the temperature from the thickest part of the rib meat without actually touching the bone.
If your rack has a particularly thick section of meat on one end, which sometimes happens with baby back ribs, you should insert the meat probe thermometer there.
How Do You Know When the Ribs Are Done Cooking?
Ribs are best when they are loose on the bone, but not falling off the bone. This is usually a temperature of 190 to 205-degrees in the thickest part of the rib meat.
Should You Let the Ribs Rest After Smoking?
Lightly tenting ribs in heavy-duty aluminum foil for 7 to 10 minutes after they come off the smoker will let the gelatin and natural juices redistribute back into the meat. Just be careful not to let the aluminum foil touch the sauce.
Final Thoughts
The raw, pre-cooked, and pre-sauced ribs sold at Costco can all be smoked in a Traeger wood pellet grill. Though the cooking time can vary for each method.
You want to set your Traeger grill for a temperature between 225 to 250 degrees. Pre-cooked and sauced ribs might only take half an hour or so to warm the meat through and caramelize the sauce.
Raw ribs will need a much longer smoking time to cook them through and make them tender. This typically starts with 3 hours exposed to 225-degrees smoke, followed by two more hours wrapped in aluminum foil, before finishing off the last hour with the foil opened and your favorite sauce mopped on top.
Ultimately the cooking time for smoking ribs on Traeger will vary depending on the type of ribs and even the degree of doneness of the pre-cooked ribs. The most important thing is to cook them until the meat in the thickest part of the ribs reaches an internal temperature of 190 to 205-degrees.
Robert is a certified Pitmaster, with over a decade of experience in smoking the best meats you’ll ever feast upon. He also has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio. When he’s not researching technical topics, he’s most likely barbecuing in his backyard.