Sweet & Spicy Hawaiian Style Spare Ribs

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If you’re looking for a new rib recipe to try out, these Hawaiian Style Spare Ribs are the sweet and spicy are what you need. Full of bold flavors and spices that is a great alternative to traditional barbecue rib recipes.

Hawaiian Style Spare Ribs? I’m listening!

If you’re reading this recipe I’m assuming you love ribs as much as I do but need a new recipe that’s got some different flavors. At the store the other day I picked up a fresh pineapple and was inspired to make something tropical. I put together a Hawaiian Potato Salad using fresh pineapple grilled spam and roasted Togarashi dry rubbed potatoes. I had a rack of St. Louis style spare ribs in the fridge and decided that would go great with the potato salad. As I was thinking of a sauce to go with the ribs I remembered a spicy Asian bbq sauce I used to make and figured adding some fresh pineapple juice would play Nicely with the Asian flavors.

Spare Ribs or Baby Backs?? 

I’ve always been torn on which team I end up on, spare ribs or baby back ribs. Both are incredibly tasty and you’re not gonna have a bad meal either way. Spare ribs are bigger and meatier and in my opinion require a little more skill to perfect. baby back ribs are a little more tender and more forgiving to cook. St. Louis spare ribs are a happy medium that gives you the best of both worlds. St. Louis spare ribs have the rib tips trimmed off so the rack is squared off having a more uniform shape. The ribs tend to cook evenly and are easier to get the tenderness where you want it.

Hawaiian BBQ Sauce

This is just a quick sauce that I like to use on anything from chicken breasts to Coconut Shrimp. It’s sweet and spicy so it works fantastic on pork, especially ribs. The combination of your favorite bbq sauce with Sweet Thai chili, soy and sriracha is the perfect balance of flavors and the pineapple juice brings it all together.

Hawaiian BBQ Sauce Recipe:

• ½ cup BBQ Sauce (I used Utz Works Honey Q BBQ Sauce)
• ¼ cup Sweet Thai Chili Sauce
• ¼ cup Pineapple Juice
• 2 Tbsp Sriracha
• Juice of 1 Lime
• 2 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Dry Rub (I used Adam Mckenzie’s Double Smoke from Spiceology)

How to cook Hawaiian style spare Ribs.

I used my Camp Chef Woodwind 36 Pellet Smoker for this recipe because it gives me an even consistent cook every time. Since I didn’t have all day to cook these ribs so using the 3-2-1 method wasn’t an option, I needed to cook a little hotter and faster than I normally would. I set the smoker at 275 right out of the gate and smoked the ribs for 2 hours before giving them a light spray of 4/1 mixture of pineapple juice and apple cider vinegar.

I smoked the ribs for another hour and then wrapped the ribs in 2 layers of aluminum foil. Before wrapping I lightly brushed a layer of the Hawaiian BBQ sauce on the ribs and raised the temperature of the smoker to 325 degrees F. After 45 minutes I folded back the edges of the foil creating a tray for the ribs so I could sauce the ribs. I brushed another layer of sauce on the spare ribs and dusted them with a light coat of the dry rub then let the ribs cook for another 15-20 minutes until the sauce had caramelized. 

More Meaty Inspiration

• Smoked Green Chile Pork Tenderloin Fatty
• Smoked Honey Old Bay Wings
• Bacon Burnt Ends Using Slab Bacon
• BBQ Pork Chops w/ Caramelized Apples
• Smoked Eye Round w/ Beef Au Jus

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