In partnership with Safeway
With the 4th of July just around the corner, now is the time to get your holiday menu planned and your grocery order set up. With the help of Safeway, you will have an amazing BBQ spread for Independence Day and never have to leave the house to get all the ingredients. This classic Country Rib Sandwich recipe, hot off the Traeger, makes an impressive presentation and is the perfect easy recipe for this summer holiday.
ANOTHER HOLIDAY PRIMED FOR BBQ
You’ve probably seen a theme in my recipes and blogs– holidays + BBQ. They just go great together and there is nothing easier than serving delicious, slow-smoked BBQ to family and friends on holidays. We love to have an excuse to have family and friends over for meals, and doing so on days when nobody has a work conflict makes the time relaxing in the backyard that much better and more special. The 4th of July is no different!
SAFEWAY MAKES IT SIMPLE
As the twins near their 2nd birthday, they’re more opinionated and less inclined to tag along with mom and dad for errands. That makes going to the grocery store pretty difficult, but luckily for us, Safeway makes grocery shopping effortless and easy.
With a few clicks on the Safeway Deals & Delivery App, we’re able to pick out our groceries, add a couple of fun things for the kids (Hot Wheel cars for the win!) and schedule delivery to our doorstep. The ease and simplicity of the FreshPass delivery makes it possible for us to still host family and friends for gatherings while letting our lives be mostly dictated by the twin toddlers underfoot. We get unlimited free delivery on grocery orders through FreshPass and it appears like magic at our house. Country rib sandwiches are on the menu and we didn’t have to leave the house!
SELECT YOUR GROCERIES ONLINE
For this holiday, we checked out the Safeway for U® offerings which included specific deals and coupons based on our shopping and amazing weekly deals from the circular. Fresh produce is king this time of year, so getting a variety of things for the family to enjoy seemed like the perfect addition to our order. This time of year, all four of us cannot get enough of fresh cherries.
We needed some BBQ basics for this one, and it was easy to get all of the things we needed on the app.
DOORSTEP DELIVERY
Once our order was placed through the Safeway Deals & Delivery App, we selected a delivery time for the following morning and went to bed knowing that our grocery shopping was done. With unlimited free delivery for orders over $30, you really cannot go wrong with Safeway’s delivery service. Quick, efficient and you have a personal shopper in your local store putting together your groceries for you!
BONELESS COUNTRY-STYLE PORK RIBS
Every Safeway store has an in-store butcher counter and a butcher on staff to cut meat, especially for you. We ordered a couple of pounds of boneless country-style pork ribs for this dish, knowing that they’d be fresh cut in-store and perfect for slow smoking.
One thing to note– is that a country-style pork rib is not, in fact, a rib. Rather, they are cut from the area where the loin meets the shoulder of the pig, and contain a mixture of light meat and richer dark meat. You can get country-style pork ribs bone-in or bone-out, and for this application, we prefer the boneless version.
KEEP THEM SAUCY
After smoking the country-style pork ribs on the Traeger for a couple of hours, we put them in a pan with brown sugar, more seasoning and BBQ sauce and continued cooking until they were fork-tender.
Safeway has an amazing lineup of store-brand BBQ sauces, and we found that the Signature Select Sweet & Tangy Bourbon BBQ sauce might be our most favorite. It’s the perfect blend of sweet and tangy, with some amazing bourbon undertones. It’s not overly thick or sticky, and lends itself really well to this kind of cooking where the meat is braised in a BBQ sauce mixture after smoking.
HOW TO BRAISE AFTER SMOKING
Once the country-style pork ribs have smoked in the Traeger until an internal temperature of 165*, we placed the ribs in an aluminum pan with brown sugar, butter, more seasoning and about 1/2 a can of Coca-Cola. We nestled the ribs in the pan ingredients and closed the pan up tightly with aluminum foil. Then back on the grill the pan went until the internal temperature of the ribs reached about 204*. This made them fork-tender and perfect for loading up in a big hearty country rib sandwich.
STORE-BOUGHT SIDES TO COMPLETE THE MEAL
To keep this meal as a super-simple and family favorite holiday feast, we relied on Safeway to provide all the other elements for the country rib sandwiches. We got a container of Safeway’s delicious deviled egg potato salad, which could be passed off as homemade by serving in a dish from our kitchen.
Additionally, we served a big bowl of juicy red cherries. These are on sale right now at our local Safeway and they’re sweet, ripe and delicious. The kids can’t get enough of them lately!
And for dessert, we picked up a peach pie fresh from the bakery department. There’s no need to make your own pie when the store bought one was so fantastic. Whether served warm or room temperature, everyone is bound to love this taste of summer on their fork!
PRIMARY INGREDIENTS
- Boneless country-style pork ribs from the in-store Butcher Counter, and fresh-cut by our butcher
- Signature Select Sweet & Tangy Bourbon BBQ sauce
- Signature Select brown sugar
- Lucerne sweet cream butter
- Signature Select Louisiana Hot Sauce
- Coca Cola
- Signature Select Pugliese Artisan Bread
- Signature Select Zesty Dill Pickles
- White onion
- My Smoke Junkie BBQ seasoning
- Signature Cafe Deviled Egg Potato Salad
- Peach Pie from the Safeway bakery department
- Red cherries fresh from the produce department
WHY COOKING COUNTRY RIB SANDWICHES ON THE TRAEGER WORKS
Slow smoked meat is tender, flavorful and juicy and when it’s done on the Traeger, the food is imbued with lots of wood-fired flavor as well. These country style pork ribs, smoked and then braised on the Traeger, are an amazing bite of BBQ. We love how they turn out on the Traeger– fork tender and full of flavor.
As with everything we cook, doing so on the Traeger means our kitchen stays cool and fairly clean, and the resulting meal is something everyone is excited by. In this recipe, we used both a Traeger Ironwood XL smoker grill and the new Traeger Flatrock griddle, showing the diversity of cooking methods all under the same brand. The griddled bread for these sandwiches, right off the Flatrock, is warm, tender and has some amazing flavor.
STEP-BY-STEP
- Preheat your Traeger grill to 225* with the super smoke feature enabled.
- Unwrap the country style pork ribs and season them generously first with an even coating of hot sauce and then my Smoke Junkie seasoning.
- Once the grill is up to temperature, place the seasoned ribs on the grill grates and close the lid.
- Allow the ribs to smoke for 2-3 hours until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165*.
- Prepare an aluminum pan with a layer of brown sugar, butter and about 1/2 a can of Coca-Cola.
- Sprinkle generously with more Smoke Junkie seasoning.
- Place the smoked ribs atop the prepared pan ingredients.
- Tightly wrap the pan with aluminum foil and place back in the grill at 275*.
- Continue cooking about 2-3 more hours, until the internal temperature reaches 204*.
- Unwrap the pan and pour Safeway Select Sweet and Tangy Bourbon BBQ Sauce all over the ribs, turning to coat.
- Place the pan back in the grill, uncovered, for about 15 more minutes until the sauce is heated through.
- Then remove the pan from the heat and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes.
- Preheat your griddle to medium high heat.
- While the griddle heats up, slice the onion into 1/4 inch slices, separating the rings.
- Slice the loaf of bread lengthwise and then coat the cut side with butter or mayonnaise.
- Place the cut side of the bread face-down on the hot griddle and toast the bread until golden brown.
- Put the toasted bread on a cutting board and pile the country pork ribs on the bottom half.
- Top the ribs with slices of pickle and then the pieces of onion.
- Add the top of the bread to the sandwich and secure with skewers or picks.
- Using a serrated knife, cut the sandwich into 4 pieces.
- Serve your country rib sandwiches hot off the Traeger with sides from your Safeway store.
ALTERNATE RECIPES/PRODUCT LINKS
Here are some recipes that you might enjoy trying once you’ve tried these country rib sandwiches hot off the Traeger.
Products used in this cook:
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Country Rib Sandwiches on the Traeger
Equipment
- Traeger Ironwood XL
- Traeger Flatrock griddle
- Aluminum pan
- Aluminum foil
- Cutting board and serrated knife
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless country-style pork ribs from the in-store Butcher Counter and fresh-cut by our butcher
- 1 bottle Signature Select Sweet & Tangy Bourbon BBQ sauce
- 1/2 cup Signature Select brown sugar
- 4 tbsp Lucerne sweet cream butter
- 1/4 cup Signature Select Louisiana Hot Sauce
- 1/2 cup Coca Cola
- 1 loaf Signature Select Pugliese Artisan Bread
- 1 jar Signature Select Zesty Dill Pickles
- 2 white onions
- 1 cup my Smoke Junkie BBQ seasoning
- Signature Cafe Deviled Egg Potato Salad
- Peach Pie from the Safeway bakery department
- Red cherries fresh from the produce department
Instructions
- Preheat your Traeger grill to 225* with the super smoke feature enabled.
- Unwrap the country style pork ribs and season them generously first with an even coating of hot sauce and then my Smoke Junkie seasoning.
- Once the grill is up to temperature, place the seasoned ribs on the grill grates and close the lid.
- Allow the ribs to smoke for 2-3 hours until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165*.
- Prepare an aluminum pan with a layer of brown sugar, butter and about 1/2 a can of Coca-Cola.
- Sprinkle generously with more Smoke Junkie seasoning.
- Place the smoked ribs atop the prepared pan ingredients.
- Tightly wrap the pan with aluminum foil and place back in the grill at 275*.
- Continue cooking about 2-3 more hours, until the internal temperature reaches 204*.
- Unwrap the pan and pour Safeway Select Sweet and Tangy Bourbon BBQ Sauce all over the ribs, turning to coat.
- Place the pan back in the grill, uncovered, for about 15 more minutes until the sauce is heated through.
- Then remove the pan from the heat and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes.
- Preheat your griddle to medium high heat.
- While the griddle heats up, slice the onion into 1/4 inch slices, separating the rings.
- Slice the loaf of bread lengthwise and then coat the cut side with butter or mayonnaise.
- Place the cut side of the bread face-down on the hot griddle and toast the bread until golden brown.
- Put the toasted bread on a cutting board and pile the country pork ribs on the bottom half.
- Top the ribs with slices of pickle and then the pieces of onion.
- Add the top of the bread to the sandwich and secure with skewers or picks.
- Using a serrated knife, cut the sandwich into 4 pieces.
- Serve your country rib sandwiches hot off the Traeger with sides from your Safeway store.
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