Smoked Reverse-Sear Prime Rib
Difficulty
4/5
Prep time
2 hrs
Cook time
3.5 to 4 hrs
Inroduction
About this Recipe
By: Jonathan Foos
We make this delicious prime rib every Christmas and Easter, and it is always a hit. The prime rib roast is extremely flavorful, tender, and juicy – and it also will look as good as it tastes.
Ingredients
Prime rib
1, 4-Bone (about 8lbs) bone-in prime rib
4 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
5 cloves garlic – mashed into a paste
Your favorite beef rub (we recommend either Green Mountain Grill Beef Rub or Traeger Prime Rib Rub)
Creamy horseradish (to serve with the prime rib).
Red wine au Jus
4 cups beef stock
2 cups red wine
1 sprig fresh rosemary – with the leaves finely chopped and the stem removed
1 stick butter
Salt and pepper
This recipe is for bone-in prime rib. Cooking the prime rib with the bone will not only increase flavor, but it also creates for a stunning presentation.
When selecting your prime rib roast, you will need to decide what cut of prime rib roast you want to make. You have two options – the “large end” (known as the “chuck” cut), or the “small end“(known as the “loin” cut). You can make a delicious prime rib with either cut – read below to decide if you should work with a “large end” or “small end” prime rib roast.
The “large end” of a prime rib roast has additional fat pockets. This cut of mean will be more flavorful than the small end (because of the extra fat). However, the downside of this cut is that it is often less tender than the small cut. Some people also prefer having a leaner piece of meat over having the extra fat.
The leaner, “small end” roasts have less fat – making them less flavorful than the large end roasts. The small end roast is typically more tender than the large end roast. Additionally, some people prefer the small end because it is a leaner piece of meat.
The au jus is optional, but it really compliments the prime rib. I highly recommend also serving the prime rib with a creamy horseradish. You can look up recipes if you want to make your own, but I have found that there are many great creamy horseradish sauces available at the grocery store.
Large (chuck) end
More fat, more flavor, less tender
Small (loin) end
Leaner, more tender
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1 – Prepare the meat
Note: I prefer to prepare and rub the roast the day before I cook it. You can do it right before you cook it as well.
- Trim any excess fat from the roast.
- (Optional) French-trim the roast. This keeps the bone attached to the roast, but it exposes much of the bone – giving your prime rib a very impressive presentation.
To learn how to french-trim the roast, watch below:
Step 2 – Apply the rub
- In a small bowl, mix the mustard, worcestershire, and mashed garlic together.
- Coat the roast completely with this mixture (except for the exposed bone).
- Apply a generous amount of your rub to the roast – making sure to to get the rub in every nook and cranny of the roast.
Step 3 – Start your wood pellet grill
- When you are ready to cook your roast, keep it out at room temperature for 1 hour before cooking.
- Start your wood pellet grill to 200 degrees. Once the grill has reached its temperature, place the roast directly on the grill (bone side down).
- Cooking at this low temperature will allow the roast to soak up a good amount of smoke from the grill.
- Cook the roast at this temperature for 2 hours.
Step 4 – Turn up the heat
Calculate your cook time for your roast. The roast will take 16 minutes per pound, minus 1 hour. So take the number of pounds that your roast is, multiply it by 16 minutes, and then subtract 60 minutes from that number to get your cook time for this step.
- Take the roast off the grill and put it on a large roasting pan (bone side down).
- Turn up the grill to 350 degrees.
- Once the grill has reached temperature, put the roast back on the grill.
- Cook the roast for the amount of time you calculated above.
- Note: move to the next step when the roast is at 110 degrees in the center.
Step 5 – Sear the roast and start the au jus
The roast will be done when it hits 125 degrees in the center. Before it gets to this point, you want to sear the outside. This will give it a nice crust while keeping the roast nice and juicy on the inside. The goal is to get a nice even sear on all sides without burning the roast.
- Take the roast off the grill and place onto a baking sheet and cover with foil.
- Turn up the grill to 450 degrees.
- While the grill heats up, you can cook the au jus.
- Take the roasting pan you used and place it on two burners on your stove set to high heat. Add the stick of butter and mix it with the drippings in the pan. Use a wooden spoon to loosen up the drippings from the roasting pan.
- Once the drippings are loosened and mixed with the butter, remove the pan from heat and add them to a medium sauce pan, along with the beef stock, red wine, and rosemary. Whisk together and cook for about 20 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t stick or burn.
- Once the au jus is finished, place it in a bowl or gravy boat for serving.
- Once the grill reaches temperature, place the roast directly on the grill, fat side down.
- Cook the roast fat side down for 5 to 10 minutes. Watch out for flareups! If you have a flareup, remove the roast from the grill, let the flareup die down, and then go to the next step.
- Turn the roast onto one of its sides and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.
- Flip the roast onto its other side and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.
- The roast is done (medium-rare) when it reaches 125 in the center.
Step 6 – Let the roast set and then carve
- Once the roast is finished cooking (it has reached 125 degrees and has a nice sear), immediately remove it from the grill.
- Place the roast on a cutting board. Make sure to use a cutting board with a deep well so that the juices don’t run off the board.
- Cover it loosely with foil.
- Let the prime rib set for 20 minutes.
Step 7 – Carve and serve the prime rib
- Cut the bones off the prime rib. Make sure to cut as close to the bone as possible so that you don’t remove any meat with the bones.
- Once you have removed the bones, you can slice the prime rib into pieces of whatever thickness you choose.
- Pieces toward the outsides of the roast will be medium to medium-rare. Pieces in the center will be medium rare.
- Serve the prime rib with the au jus and (optional) creamy horseradish on the side.
