Traeger Italian Party Ribs with Smoked Olive & Calabrian Chile SauceI’ve been making ribs on my Traeger for years, but like a lot of you, I have been taken by the viral party ribs method. Instead of smoking a whole rack and slicing it at the end, you cut the ribs individually before they hit the smoker. More surface area means more seasoning, more bark and most importantly, a much faster cook time. And like the name implies, it is a hit at parties.
For this batch, I decided to take things in an Italian direction.
The ribs get seasoned overnight with salt, black pepper and fennel seed. If you’ve ever eaten a really good Italian sausage, you already know where this is going.
But the real inspiration came when my buddy Daniel Hare from CR Citrus rolled into town with a jar of his smoked olives.
I had previously made a sauce inspired by the Jazz Sauce at Post Alley Pizza in Seattle—a ridiculous combination of olives, Calabrian chiles, anchovies, pickled onions and garlic. Think spicy puttanesca without the tomatoes. I’d served a version of it with live-fire ribs before, but swapping in CR Citrus smoked olives took the whole idea somewhere else.
The Traeger makes smoking meats easier, while the smoked olives bring another layer of oomph to the sauce. Add the fennel, Calabrian chile, anchovy and garlic and this feels like Stanley Tucci decided to reboot his Eating Italy series in Austin, TX.
Yeah, this works.
If you haven’t tried the party ribs method yet, the big difference is simple: you cut the rack into individual ribs before they go on the Traeger.
That means you’re exposing way more of the pork to your seasoning, heat and smoke. Instead of bark mostly living on the outside of the rack, each rib gets the full treatment.
There’s another benefit: speed. A traditional rack of smoked ribs can turn into an all-day affair. These Traeger party ribs cooked for about two hours unwrapped and another hour wrapped.
Three-ish hours for smoked ribs? I’m listening.
There are plenty of barbecue rubs out there loaded with brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and whatever else you can fit into the spice cabinet.
We’re not doing that.
For these Italian party ribs, I went simple: salt, whole black peppercorn and fennel seed.
Fennel and pork are already best friends. It’s one of the flavors that gives Italian sausage its signature taste, and here it takes the ribs in a completely different direction from your typical barbecue rub.
I like to season the ribs the night before and let them hang out uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. The salt gets a head start seasoning the meat, and the next day they’re ready to go straight onto the Traeger.
Now for the part that really makes this recipe different.
The inspiration for this sauce comes from Post Alley Pizza in Seattle. Their Jazz Sauce got me thinking about the combination of olives, Calabrian chiles, anchovies and garlic with pork.
I made my own version for my Live Fire Grilled Ribs, using more or less equal parts Calabrian chile, pickled onion, Castelvetrano olives and anchovies, along with roasted garlic and a little honey or agave to balance everything out.
This time I had CR Citrus smoked olives, and that’s where things got interesting.
Olives already bring salt, fat and a ton of savory flavor to the party. Smoking them adds another dimension altogether. When you blitz them with funky anchovies, spicy Calabrian chiles, pickled onion and roasted garlic, you get something that lives somewhere between a relish, salsa and an Italian condiment.
And because the olives are already smoked, that flavor echoes what we are doing on the Traeger.
I could put this stuff on a sandwich tomorrow. Assuming there’s any left.
For the sauce, use more or less equal parts smoked olives, Calabrian chiles, pickled onion and anchovies, following the same basic proportions as my original Live Fire rib sauce. Add roasted garlic and honey or agave to taste. Aim for ⅓ cup per ingredient, and you might have a little extra for a sandwich the next day.
This isn’t pastry. Taste the sauce and make adjustments. You want salty, spicy, funky, smoky and just enough sweetness to bring everybody together.
Remove the membrane from the back of the rack if it hasn’t already been removed.
Now instead of throwing the whole rack on the Traeger, slice between each bone to separate the rack into individual ribs.
Coarsely grind the black peppercorns and fennel seeds and combine them with the kosher salt.
Season the ribs generously on all sides. Place them on a sheet pan or wire rack and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat your Traeger to 260°F.
Place the party ribs directly on the grill grates with a little space between each rib. That’s the whole point here—we want heat and smoke getting to as much surface area as possible.
Smoke the ribs for approximately 2 hours.
You’re looking for the exterior to develop good color and bark before moving on to the next stage.
After about two hours, remove the ribs from the Traeger and wrap them tightly in foil.
Return the wrapped ribs to the Traeger, increase the temperature and cook for approximately 1 additional hour, or until tender.
And remember: we’re cooking meat, not setting a timer for a parking meter. If your ribs need a little longer, give them a little longer.
You want them tender and juicy with meat that pulls easily from the bone, but we’re not trying to cook them until they disintegrate.
Remove the ribs from the Traeger and let them rest while still wrapped.
Add the CR Citrus smoked olives, Calabrian chiles, pickled onion, anchovies and roasted garlic to a food processor.
Pulse until everything is finely chopped and comes together into a coarse sauce. Don’t puree the life out of it. You want some texture.
Taste and add honey or agave as needed.
There’s a lot going on here—salt from the olives and anchovies, heat from the Calabrian chiles, acid from the pickled onion, sweetness from the honey and smoke from the olives.
Keep tasting until everything clicks.
Unwrap those rested party ribs and pile them onto a platter.
Serve the Smoked Olive & Calabrian Chile Sauce alongside the ribs and let everybody go to work.
No sticky barbecue glaze required.
You’ve got smoky pork seasoned with fennel and black pepper and this salty, spicy, funky smoked olive sauce cutting through all that richness.
It’s barbecue. It’s Italian-ish. It’s party ribs.
And apparently Stanley Tucci lives in Austin now.
Cut the ribs before seasoning. That’s how you take advantage of all that extra surface area. Get the rub onto every side of every rib.
Season them overnight. You’re basically dry-brining the pork while giving the fennel and black pepper time to do their thing.
Don’t obsess over cook times. My party ribs took roughly three hours total, but ribs vary in size and smokers vary too. Cook for tenderness, not just the clock.
Don’t skip the smoked olives. Regular Castelvetrano olives work—that’s where my original version of this sauce started—but the CR Citrus smoked olives are what make this version of the recipe what it is.
Make extra sauce. Seriously. Leftover smoked olive and Calabrian chile sauce has sandwich written all over it.
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