Winter Glühwein Spareribs

If you’re looking for a barbecue recipe perfect for cold winter days, these Winter Glühwein Spareribs are exactly what you need.

These ribs are marinated overnight in a flavorful glühwein marinade and then slowly smoked until tender. The warm spices and sweetness of the cranberry-glühwein sauce make this dish perfect for a winter barbecue with friends and family.

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For this recipe, we used smaller baby back ribs, ensuring they weren’t too thickly cut. Before marinating, we removed the membrane and cut the ribs into single portions. This way, they’re perfect for serving as a snack and cook faster.

You can leave the ribs whole if you want to serve them as a meal. In that case, you should use the 3-2-1 method, but remember that they’ll take a bit longer to get tender.

The ribs are marinated overnight in a glühwein marinade, made with ready-made mulled wine enhanced with honey, brown sugar, orange zest, and cinnamon. Just the aroma of this marinade will tell you something special is coming.

After marinating, we coat the ribs with a dry rub to add flavour. Layering flavour is the key to this recipe.

We place the ribs on a wire rack to make them easier to handle and ensure they don’t fall through the grill grates.

After a few hours in the smoker, the ribs look fantastic, but we take it a step further by tossing them in a glaze made from the reduced marinade.

This glaze caramelizes beautifully, creating a sticky, irresistible coating.

We serve these winter spareribs with a couple of sauces and a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds for a fresh, tangy kick.

Are you going to try these Winter Glühwein Spareribs? Let us know in the comments how they turned out! Even better, snap a photo and share it on Instagram. Don’t forget to tag us @bbqhelden so we can see your creation.

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Ingredients

4 racks of baby back ribs (not too thickly cut)
50 g (about 4 tbsp) unsalted butter

For the Marinade and Glaze

250 ml (1 cup) ready-made glühwein
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Dry Rub

1.5 tbsp brown sugar
3 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp granulated onion
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp chipotle pepper

Cranberry-Glühwein Sauce

200 g (7 oz) cranberry sauce
100 ml (1/2 cup) glühwein
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp honey
Pinch of salt

Spicy Orange-Mustard Sauce

4 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp fresh orange juice
Pinch of chipotle pepper

Instructions

Heat all marinade ingredients in a saucepan, then let cool to room temperature.
Remove the membrane from the ribs and cut them into single-rib portions. Marinate the ribs overnight in half the marinade.
Reduce the remaining marinade into a thick glaze.
Remove the ribs from the marinade, pat dry, and coat generously with the dry rub. Place the ribs on a wire rack and smoke them indirectly at 150°C (300°F) for about 2–3 hours until tender. In the meantime, you can make the sauces.
Once tender, toss the ribs into a baking dish with the cooked-down marinade and butter. Return to the smoker for 30 minutes, allowing the glaze to caramelize into a sticky coating.

The Cranberry-Glühwein Sauce:

Combine all sauce ingredients in a saucepan, bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until thickened.
The sauce will thicken further as it cools.