Summertime Peach BBQ Ribs

• Posted on 30 July 2025
• By Skyler Spartan -Inspired by Heath Riles, edited to try different flavors :)
• 0

Summer is here, and if you’re anything like us, you’re craving sweet, sticky ribs. If you’re looking for a rib that’s a little bit fruity and totally out of the box, you’ll want to try these Peach BBQ Ribs. These ribs impart all the best flavors of peach with a little bit of heat on the back end. The light flavored dessert-like flavors shine through while keeping the rib savory enough to serve at any BBQ. 

Peach BBQ ribs are best cooked on the Green Mountain Grills pellet grill. We used our GMG Ledge, which gives them that ultimate kiss of smoke. This recipe is the perfect addition to any pool party, cookout, family dinner, or work event. Make a game out of it by asking your connoisseurs if they can guess what flavors inspired these racks! It's a safe bet that my Peach BBQ Ribs will be the hottest recipe of the summer.

Peach BBQ Ribs

Ribs are one of our favorite things to cook, and we never run out of new ways to make them. One thing that we like to play around with is our cooking method. We cook ribs hot and fast and low and slow. We think it’s important to master both, as you don’t always have all day to smoke a rack! These ribs are a happy medium, delighting those who like a rib that pulls out all the stops yet doesn’t require hours over the pit.

The Ingredients

Here’s what you need to make a delicious rack (or two!) of Peach BBQ Ribs. 

Heath Riles BBQ Peach Rub. My apple rub features a great mix of brown sugar, apple flavor, onion powder, and black pepper. It’s a great addition to ribs, but you can add it to chicken, pulled pork, or anything else that could use a dash of fruity notes.

Heath Riles BBQ Garlic Jalapeńo Rub. This rub was an instant bestseller, with people using it on everything from chicken wings to popcorn. It’s a great alternative to salt and pepper and has quickly become one of the nation’s top AP rubs. 

Butter, Brown Sugar & Honey. This gives your ribs a rich, moist texture. You can use regular or hot honey if you like; the choice is yours. You’ll be surprised with how much this wrap elevates a simple rack of ribs. 

Sucklebusters Peach BBQ Sauce. Peach BBQ Sauceis made with real peaches. Sucklebusters uses tree-ripened peaches as a base for this light-hearted sauce. The sauce has a sweet and slightly smoky flavor with a slight touch of heat. It's like a lighter version of their Original BBQ Sauce and is excellent on white meats like fish, chicken and pork. Several Competition BBQ cooks use this sauce for glazing ribs before turn-in. Also works well as a finishing sauce or dipping sauce. The light flavor and sweetness of the peaches really comes through with a subtle, but great, BBQ flavor. This sauce is sure to be a favorite. All natural - No Bad Stuff.

The Smoker Setup

Here’s the main equipment I used for this recipe. More of my grilling favorites can be found in the Equipment and Tools section. 

Pellet grill/smoker. We cooked these Peach BBQ Ribs on the GMG Ledge. This pit is incredible because you can use it to grill or smoke. The GMG Ledge has many excellent features, like a pellet sensor, internal cooking light, viewing window, and easy transportation. 

You can’t go wrong with the GMG Ledge, but if you cook large quantities of food you may want to look at the GMG Peak. It’s roomy without taking up your entire patio and ultra-durable, lasting for years!

Pellets. I stoked the pit with BBQr's Delight Hickory Pellets. I love this brand because you get clean smoke with no fillers. It gives the ribs a rich, deep flavor that tastes authentic. 

The Process for Making Peach BBQ Ribs

Here’s a quick rundown of how we put these larger-than-life Peach BBQ Ribs together. 

Fire up the pit. We stoked the GMG Ledge with BBQr's Delight Hickory Pellets and fired it up to 285℉.

Trim the ribs. We trimmed the ribs to our liking, removing fat pockets, membranes, stray pieces of bone, and gristle. We also patted the ribs down, which helps the seasonings stick, even without a binder. To learn more about a foolproof method for trimming ribs, check out this post by Heath Riles.

Add seasoning. Once the ribs were trimmed, we added a layer of Heath Riles BBQ Garlic Jalapeńo Rub and Heath Riles BBQ Peach Rub. We flipped the ribs and repeated the process on the other side, letting the meat sweat in for 10 minutes. 

Start cooking. We set the ribs directly on the GMG Ledge and let them go for around 2 hours, spritzing with apple juice at the 1-hour mark. 

Wrap the ribs. We double-lined a baking tray with aluminum foil and spread enough brown sugar to make a little mound across what would roughly be the length of a rack of ribs, along with 4 pats of butter on top along the mound, and a good drizzle of honey over top of that. Then, we set the ribs over the top, meat side down, and added a little more honey drizzle. Then we wrapped them up tightly.

Keep smoking. We set the wrapped ribs back on the GMG Ledge and let them go for another 2 hours, checking temp between the bones at the 1-hour mark with our Thermoworks Thermapen ONE.

Glaze the ribs. Once the ribs were tender (207℉), we removed them from the pit and let them rest for 20-30 minutes. We laid a cooling rack over a baking tray and gently placed the ribs on top. Then, we brushed them with SuckleBusters Peach BBQ Sauce, ensuring every bit was covered with sauce. 

Finish cooking. We set the cooling tray holding the Peach BBQ Ribs directly on the GMG Ledge and let them tack up for about 15 minutes. The only thing left was to take the ribs off the grill and let them cool before digging in!

The Results

These Peach BBQ Ribs came off the pit with a beautiful mahogany color and that ultimate rib wiggle. The meat was fall-off-the-fork tender and imparted a beautiful balance of fruity and savory notes. 

Serving Suggestions for Peach BBQ Ribs

These ribs are great on their own, but you can always pair them with a side of slaw, crusty bread, or a side salad. 

Storing Leftovers

Leftover Peach BBQ Ribs can be stored in the fridge for up to four days or frozen for up to four months. If reheating from frozen, you may want to add more glaze.