This smoked prime rib roast is the ultimate holiday or dinner party centerpiece. A garlic-herb rub adds big flavor, while low and slow smoking creates a tender, juicy roast cooked to medium rare perfection. Served with a bold horseradish cream sauce, it’s an unforgettable main dish for Christmas, Easter, or any special celebration.

Entertaining outdoors comes naturally for us Californians. Our patios are like an extended living room for us. And in Southern California, this outdoor living room is open for guests all year long.
Although it is December and Christmas is a week away, our grill is still in full operation. A Christmas dinner outdoors? Why yes! And this recipe for Smoked Prime Rib with Garlic and Herb Crust is the ultimate meal to serve during the holidays.
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Recipe highlights
- Simple: A ribeye roast can feel intimidating, especially if you’re new to it, but don’t worry! I walk you through each step so you’ll end up with a juicy, smoky prime rib roast that’s holiday-worthy (or just Sunday-worthy).
- Flavor: Prime rib has incredible flavor all on its own, just a good rub of kosher salt and pepper goes a long way. But my olive oil and herb marinade adds even more depth without complicating things.
- Smoked to Perfection: Cooking the roast low and slow on the smoker infuses it with rich, woodsy flavor and creates a beautiful crust on the outside while keeping the inside melt-in-your-mouth tender.
- Horseradish Cream Sauce: This classic pairing brings just the right kick. My version is creamy, tangy, and the perfect contrast to the rich beef — a must-have on the side.
- Perfect for Entertaining: Whether you’re hosting a casual backyard gathering or a fancy dinner party, smoked prime rib is a show-stopping main dish that always impresses. It looks and tastes like you spent all day on it, but it’s surprisingly hands-off once it’s on the smoker.
Ingredients you need
- Prime Rib Roast: When choosing a prime rib roast, you want the meat to have a lot of marbling and to come from a reputable ranch.
- Extra virgin olive oil:
- Herbs: For the herb paste, I use fresh herbs for the best flavor. I used a combination of sage, thyme rosemary and chives. You can also use oregano, marjoram, cilantro, parsley and/or basil.
- Garlic: I prefer to use fresh garlic for the herb rub for the best flavor.
- Sour cream: This is used to prepare the horseradish cream. You can also use creme fraiche.
- Prepared horseradish: You can use a little or a lot of horseradish, depending on your own personal preference.
- Lemon juice: You can use fresh or bottled lemon juice.
- Salt and pepper
Step by step directions
- Make the herb rub: In a small bowl combine olive oil, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper.
- Trim the roast: If your butcher has not done so, trim prime rib roast of excess fat, leaving only ¼-inch fat around it. If you want the bone to be revealed during the grilling process, trim 1-2 inches of fat from the bone, but leave the bone intact.
- Marinate roast: Place roast on a baking sheet and rub entire roast with herb mixture. Let roast rest on the counter at room temperature for approximately 3 hours.
- Grill the roast. Heat the grill to 250ºF with indirect heat. If smoking the roast, add wood chips, as well. Place the roast on the grill, fat side up. Cook until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 110ºF, approximately 3 hours.
- Increase temperature. Increase grill temperature to 400ºF and continue grilling until internal temperature reaches 125ºF for medium-rare, about 45 minutes.
- Let roast rest. Remove roast from the grill and let it rest 30 minutes before slicing. One of the biggest mistakes most people make when serving up a roast or steak is to carve into too soon after it is done cooking. It is crucial to let your smoked prime rib rest for 20-30 minutes so the juices reabsorb into the roast.
- Prepare horseradish cream. Combine ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use.
Expert tips and recipe FAQs
This rub uses a little extra virgin olive oil and a whole lot of chopped fresh herbs, like sage, rosemary, thyme and chives to make a paste that sticks to the roast. Add in some crushed garlic, kosher salt and pepper and your kitchen will smell like a dream as it rests.
You can also rub the roast down the day before. Simply cover your roast with plastic wrap over the garlic herb rub while it sits in the refrigerator. Then 2-3 hours before you grill your roast, let it sit on the counter ’til it reaches room temperature.
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You want a super juicy and tender prime rib, and this requires some low and slow grilling. Although I love cooking over fire in a more primitive setting, I defer to my husband for techniques on smoking and grilling meats. It’s his latest obsession!
We use our Big Steel Keg for our smoked prime rib. Using a mixture of mesquite hardwood charcoal and regular briquettes we brought the temperature of the pit to 250ºF. My husband also soaked some pecan wood in water and we used that for additional smoky flavor.
You can grill your rib roast like this until it reaches an internal temperature of 125ºF for medium rare. Or you can grill it until 105-100ºF, then crank up the grill temperature to 400ºF so you can create a crispy crust around the roast.
We love using our CyberQ BBQ guru to regulate the pit temperature with its little fan, during this time. We receive text or email messages giving us updates on the pit and the meat temperature while it cooks.
Prepare prime rib roast in the oven. You can also prepare this roast indoors, although you will be missing out on some serious smoky flavor. I have posted the recipe on how to prepare a boneless rib roast in the oven here
Or try another boneless rib eye roast recipe, served with a luscious sauce made with balsamic syrup, red wine and caramelized shallots.
If you are all about the crispy crust, then you have to try my deep fried prime rib roast. And don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: Store any leftover steak in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days. Do not reheat steak in the microwave, but sauté chopped steak in a hot pan with a little butter or olive oil.
TO FREEZE: You could also freeze leftovers, but I suggest not to do this as the texture does change when frozen and thawed.
The Prime Rib is also known as a standing rib roast. As the name suggests, it comes from the back of the upper rib section of the steer. It includes a total of seven ribs and the meat is marveled and is super tender and moist. Because the muscles aren’t heavily used, the prime rib is extra tender, and the fat keeps it extra juicy. You can get the roast bone-in or boneless.
The ribeye steak is cut from the prime rib before it is cooked. It is the best part of the prime rib, but in a smaller portion.
My 3-rib roast weighed about 9.5 pounds and took about 3 hours for it to reach 110ºF. Then about another 45 minutes of additional heat to finish the crust.
Smoked Prime Rib Roast with Herb Garlic Crust and Horseradish Cream
Ingredients
PRIME RIB INGREDIENTS
- 10 pound 3-rib Prime Rib Roast
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon chopped sage
- 1 tablespoon chopped thyme
- 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
- 1 tablespoon chopped chives
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
HORSERADISH CREAM INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup prepared horseradish
- 2 tablespoon chopped chives
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine olive oil, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper.
- If your butcher has not done so, trim prime rib roast of excess fat, leaving only ¼-inch fat around it. If you want the bone to be revealed during the grilling process, trim 1-2 inches of fat from the bone, but leave the bone intact.
- Place roast on a baking sheet and rub entire roast with herb mixture.
- Let roast rest on the counter at room temperature for approximately 3 hours.
- Heat the grill to 250ºF with indirect heat. If smoking the roast, add wood chips, as well.
- Place the roast on the grill, fat side up. Cook until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 110ºF, approximately 3 hours.
- Increase grill temperature to 400ºF and continue grilling until internal temperature reaches 125ºF for medium-rare, about 45 minutes.
- Remove roast from the grill and let it rest 30 minutes before slicing.
- While roast is cooking, prepare the horseradish cream. Combine ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Slice roast and serve with horseradish cream.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
Prime is my very favorite special occasion treat! This recipe is going to be the one I try out next, delicious!
Wilhelmina, my family really loves prime rib. What’s not to love, right?!
This is such a perfect recipe for holidays and family parties! That herb garlic crust is epic!
Thanks, Liz! The herb garlic crust really is something special!
Great job on behalf of Harris Ranch. Recipes and photos look great. Looking forward we should plan on doing something in advance of grilling season. Steaks for grilling concept.
Hi Brad-
Thank you for reaching out. We love Harris Ranch and your meats are always top quality. Hope you have a fabulous 2019 and looking forward to working with you all again!
Laura
This looks terrific! Love a standing rib roast, and yours looks superb. Thanks. And Happy Holidays!
Dang, woman! This looks and sounds amazing! I’ve heard wonderful things about Harris Ranch. Thanks for the review and for the fantastic recipe!
This looks like an incredible new recipe to try for the holidays. I love Harris meats and we are lucky a small produce market in town carries quite a few different cuts of their meats.