Professional Grilled Prime Rib - perfect everytime.

Grilled Prime Rib roast can be very easy to make and you can produce excellent restaurant quality results provided you take advantage of the information and preparation advice offered below.

Let's take the mystery out of making perfectly grilled prime rib with some general background information first...

...or skip the info and jump right to the recipe.

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Most Important Advice First!
You'll be cooking this roast by internal temperature and not by time! This is the most important advice on the entire page. You need a meat thermometer!

I'll provide some approximate cooking times and degrees of doneness based on internal temperatures below but use the internal temperature as your primary indicator when to remove the roast from the heat.

Do this and your grilled prime rib will be perfect everytime.

Prime rib is traditionally cooked rare to medium-rare (see table below)

The internal temperature will continue to increase 5-10F after it's removed from the heat and resting for 15 minutes.

Approximate cooking times at 325F
# of Ribs (weight)	Rare 120-125F	Medium-rare 130-135F
3 ribs (6-8 lbs)	1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hrs	1 1/2 - 1 3/4 hrs
4 ribs (8-10 lbs)	1 1/2 - 2 hrs	1 3/4 - 2 1/4 hrs
5 ribs (10-13 lbs)	2 - 2 1/2 hrs	2 1/4 - 2 3/4 hrs
6 ribs (14-16 lbs)	2 1/2 - 3 hrs	3 - 3 1/2 hrs
7 ribs (16-18 lbs)	3 - 3 1/2 hrs	3 1/2 - 4 hrs

Visual Doneness Chart
Doneness (temp.)	Int. Temp to Remove	Visual description
Rare (120-125F)	Remove at 115F	Bright red center turning pink to the edges
Medium-Rare (130-135F)	Remove at 125F	Center is pink with slight browning towards edges
Medium (140-145F)	Remove at 135F	Slight pink center with more browning to edges - crispier bark crust
Medium-Well (150-155F)	Remove at 145F	Light brown center with darker brown to edges, slight charring on crust
Well Done (160-up)	Remove at 155F	This should be illegal.

Basic Grilled Prime Rib information:

Prime Rib roast is also called Standing Rib roast. The Prime doesn't refer to the USDA grade of beef and in most cases today the grade you'll purchase will be Choice grade (one grade below Prime).

A complete prime rib roast consists of 7 ribs from the shoulder down to the loin. Roasts from the smaller loin end are more tender than from the larger shoulder end.

Select a roast with lots of fatty streaks ("marbling") running through the meat for a juicier roast.

Trim any external fat so it's no more than 1" thick - keep a nice fat cap on the top of the roast - usually 1/4" to 1/3" thick.

Allow the roast to come to room temperature covered with plastic wrap.

Size Selection:
General rule of thumb for grilled prime rib is 1 rib feeds 2 people

3 rib roast should feed 5 - 6 people

4 rib roast should feed 7 - 8 people

5 rib roast should feed 9 - 10 people, etc...

don't buy less then a 3 rib roast as it's too hard to cook evenly.

Pre-cutting the roast:
There's 2 strong opinions when it comes to pre-cutting a prime rib roast (removing the bones prior to cooking)

Opinion 1 suggests either you or the butcher cut the smaller chine (or feather bones) and the larger rib bones from the main roast meat and then tye them back on to the roast with butchers twine to cook with the roast. This is called cradling. I believe this provides only a very minimal benefit when it comes time to carve the roast and may increase some moisture loss.

Opinion 2 (which I strongly believe in and recommend) suggests we keep all the bones intact on the roast before and during cooking. It's very easy to cut the rib bones off along the bone line prior to carving the roast. I also believe that because they are still naturally attached to the meat they better prevent that section of the roast from drying out. I believe that this helps provide a juicier roast.

Whatever option you choose, keep the bones after cooking to either nibble on or use later for soups or stews.

Let's get grilling...

Serves: generally 1 rib for 2 people

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: Cook to internal temperature for desired doneness (refer to chart above)

Indirect Heat: 150F - 200F until roast reaches 125F internal temperature for medium-rare then 500F for 10 minutes.

What you'll need:

1 Prime Rib Roast with 1/4" to 1/3" fat cap on

1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable, canola or flavor infused olive oil

1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh cracked peppercorns

1/4 cup kosher salt

2 tablespoons dried thyme

1 inverted rib rack (optional)

1 remote temperature meter with heat-proof probe (optional)

Step 1:
This prime rib recipe needs a grill setup for indirect heat.

Place an aluminum drip pan the size of the roast under the grate.

Preheat grill to 150F - 200F.

With roast at room temperature rub melted butter (or oil) all over surface of roast.

Rub cracked peppercorns, kosher salt and dried thyme over entire surface of roast.

Insert a remote temperature probe into the center of the roast (recommended) - make sure it isn't touching a bone.

Pre-measure how far to insert the probe by laying it on top of the roast and seeing how much to insert to make sure it's in the center.

Step 2:
Place the roast directly on the BBQ grates (or in an inverted rib rack) over the drip pan, plug in your remote thermometer and set it for the desired internal temperature. Close the lid.

Cook at 150F - 200F until the internal temperature reaches 125F for medium-rare or 135F for medium.

Step 3:
When the remote thermometer reaches your set-point temperature remove the roast from the grill and cover with foil for 30 minutes before you want to serve it to allow juices to redistribute within the meat.

If you're not using a remote probe thermometer then at least 30 minutes before the estimated cooking time is completed (see chart above) open the lid and insert a hand-held thermometer into the meat without touching a bone.

Check every 15 minutes this way until desired internal temperature is reached. When done remove the grilled prime rib from the grill, cover with foil and let rest.

Heat the grill (or your oven) to 500F - 550F.

About 10 minutes before you want to serve the prime rib remove the foil and place the roast back on the grill (or in your oven) and cook at 500F - 550F until the exterior of the roast is well browned and crisp.

Step 4:
Remove the roast from the grill (or your oven).

Lay the grilled prime rib on it's side and carefully slice the meat between the bones and the main piece of meat along the bone-line to remove the bones. Set aside.

barbeque prime rib