Smoked Boneless Beef Rib Roast

This recipe would be the talk of the table on Easter Sunday…

Boneless Rib Roast
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: American
  • Buy a whole boneless ribeye roast. You don't have to buy prime beef. Choice will do just fine. And be careful -- some of these roasts are labeled "prime rib" but that label has nothing to do with the grade of beef. What they call it on the label and the grade are two different things. So you can actually buy a "prime rib roast" that is choice or even select grade beef. One of the big stores like Sam's Club should have choice boneless ribeye roasts available.
  • I think choice boneless ribeye roasts are around $7/lb and true prime roasts run much higher at $25 to $35/lb.
  1. Preheat your smoker to 300 deg. Use your favorite flavor of wood.
  2. Trim the fat cap off - trim it down to about 1/8"
  3. You'll end up with a teardrop shaped piece of meat. This will cook unevenly. So take some butcher's twine and truss it up every two inches so the whole roast is round. Use a surgeon's knot - just like a square knot but with 3-4 loops in the inside which helps you to pull it tight. A regular square know will just slip.
  4. Apply a generous coat of your favorite rub..
  5. Stick a thermometer probe on a wire into the center of the roast and smoke it at 300 deg to an internal temperature of 125 for rare, 135 for medium rare and 145 for medium. I prefer 135 as 125 is too pink for me and at 145 and over and it starts getting tough. A large roast cooked to 135 deg internal will take only about 2.5 hours to cook.
  6. Remove strings, let rest for 30 minutes, and slice about ½" thick.
  7. Reheating tip - be careful when reheating leftover slices. If you get them too hot, they will start to get chewy. So just warm them up being careful not to get them too hot. Warming them in a warm au jus sauce would work nicely.
  8. Speaking of au jus, you can buy commercial au jus at your local grocery. Or you can catch the drippings from your roast using a foil pan and the liquid from the resting period (just let it rest in the foil pan). Strain and seperate the fat off with a fat seperator and you have your au jus.