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My husbands trusty rotisserie prime rib is smoky, tender, and delicious – it is the top-most requested dish we make for holidays, and he’s sharing his simple method that he perfected so you can make a perfect smoked rotisserie prime rib!
This recipe is designed for a spit attachment for a smoker or grill, like a Big Green Egg or Kamado Joe – but can be used in any rotisserie.
Don’t want all the extras in a recipe post? We provide a skip to recipe button in the top left corner, as well as a clickable table of contents, just below, to help make this page easier to navigate.
At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe – my goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
I want each reader to walk away with a solid knowledge of each recipe, with all of the tips I’ve gathered from extensive testing of each recipe. I also answer questions my friends and family have asked about my recipes, to help everyone better understand the processes we use – and why!
Table of contents
If you love ribeye roast or prime rib – you’re going to LOVE this recipe.
We’re taking classic tender, delicious prime rib and knocking it out of the park with flavor with this rotisserie prime rib – with a perfect crunchy crust cooked to a perfect medium rare.
This prime rib is similar to our Easy Prime Rib – but with an even more delicious crunchy crust, thanks to the way the rotisserie lets the roast’s fat melt and self-baste as it cooks.
We used our kamado joe (to see our model, click here) with the rotisserie attachment.
If you have a Traeger grill and rotisserie, Big Green Egg, or other grill and automatic rotisserie attachment, this recipe will knock your socks off!
Serve this juicy, tender prime rib up with horseradish, take it over the top and pair it with our Broiled Lobster Tails, our light and fluffy buttery soft dinner rolls, garlic butter roasted potatoes, or perfect creamy keto mashed cauliflower – or one of our knockout side dishes, and you have a meal nobody will forget anytime soon!
Tips to Perfect Rotisserie Prime Rib
How to tie prime rib. While my Easy Prime Rib and Best Ever Ribeye Roast recipes are designed to be fantastic without tying, it is absolutely essential to tie your prime rib roast for this recipe to keep it together on the rotisserie.
To tie a prime rib, tie 4-5 tight knotted loops around the roast, using a good quality kitchen twine.
Don’t worry much about how your roast looks tied – focus on making your roast tightly squeezed together.
When your roast is tied together tightly, insert the rotisserie attachment forks into your roast, and you’re ready to get it over the grill!
When you’re ready to serve, simply cut away the twine with kitchen scissors.
What rotisserie to use. We used our Kamado Joe with the rotisserie attachment – but any large outdoor grill or smoker you can user with a rotisserie attachment will work. To find our Kamado Joe, click here. For the rotisserie attachment for Kamado Joe (some egg shaped smokers also can work with Kamado attachments) click here. We prefer using a high quality lump charcoal – for the Cowboy Lump Charcoal we use, click here.
This rotisserie prime rib recipe was designed to be easy enough for even beginner cooks – but there are a few tips we found to help you get perfect delicious prime rib, every time you make it.
Bring roast to temperature before roasting. For the most tender, delicious meat, it helps to have your roast at room temperature before cooking. Since a prime rib is large, it takes about 1 1/2 – 2 hours to bring the meat to room temperature. We like to season the prime rib and leave, covered with a bit of plastic wrap or a kitchen towel (don’t worry about wrapping tightly) on the counter until the meat isn’t so cold.
Season prime rib properly. For us, there is nothing better than a salty, crunchy crust on the prime rib. To make sure you’re getting a salty, flavorful crust, you need to use the right salt. We’re calling for kosher or Celtic salt in this recipe – because the crunchy, coarse salt brings the best flavor and is lower in sodium. If you use table salt, reduce the amount of salt by half. If you’d like a bit of a spicy kick for your prime rib, we really, really, really love the smoky-spicy flavor of Aleppo pepper sprinkled over prime rib. Use 1-2 tbsp, according to your tastes.
Let prime rib rest. Prime rib absolutely needs to rest before slicing so that the juices can re-absorb back into the meat. If you slice your prime rib too soon, all of the juices will run out, leaving your roast tough and dry. For a large cut of meat, resting the prime rib should take 30-40 minutes. Place a sheet of foil, tented, over the roast and let it sit until ready to carve.
What temperature to cook prime rib to. It is essential to this recipe to have a high quality meat thermometer – we prefer ThermoWorks meat thermometers because they are quick, ultra-reliable, and last a long time.
- Prime rib is best medium rare – which will take about 2 hours 20 minutes rotisserie time.
- For each of these cook times, you will actually be looking for 10 degrees under your target for when you pull the roast off the grill…. because it will continue to cook as you tent it in foil.
- The temperature below shows when to REMOVE prime rib from rotisserie – it will cook another 10 degrees while tented with foil.
- For rare prime rib, the temperature should be 105-110 degrees.
- For medium rare to medium prime rib, the on-spit temperature should be 110 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
- For well done prime rib the on-grill temperature should be 130 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit.
- You can adjust your cooktime based on those temperatures – and remember the sides will be closer to well done while the middle will be much more red/pink – so you can still serve everyone a slice they prefer.
Recipe FAQs
For a perfect medium rare (blushy pink) throughout, remove your prime rib from the rotisserie at 110 degrees internal temperature and tent with foil for at least 30 minutes.
Let prime rib roast cool and rest at least 25 minutes before carving. We prefer 30-40 minutes.
For rotisserie prime rib, we find a grill temperature at 350 degrees to be ideal for prime rib and standing ribeye roasts.
What to Serve With Prime Rib
Prime rib is a delicious hearty meal – and great for holiday dinners, Sunday suppers – or even a decadent dinner party! To see more of our side dishes, please click here.
And if you’re looking for keto side dishes that will knock your socks off, please check out our keto side dish recipe archives.
Our favorite easy dishes that pair perfectly with this rotisserie prime rib are below:
- Brown Sugar Bacon Wrapped Scallops Recipe
- Garlic Chinese Style Green Beans
- Easy Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe
- The Best French Onion Soup Ever
- Perfect Sauteed Mushrooms
- Garlic Butter Roasted Potatoes Recipe
- The Best Easy Rice Pilaf
- The Best Easy Keto Mashed Cauliflower Recipe
- Perfect Creamy Mashed Potatoes Recipe
- The Best Easy Broiled Lobster Tails Recipe
- Easy Blueberry Peach Cobbler Recipe
- Cherry Danish Cheesecake Bars Recipe
Easy Rotisserie Prime Rib Recipe
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The Best Rotisserie Prime Rib
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 prime rib roast, about 5 pounds (bone in or boneless)
- 1 tbsp fresh cracked pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons kosher, Celtic, or other coarse salt (reduce if using table salt – we prefer coarse salt for this recipe)
- 2 tbsp Italian seasonings or Aleppo pepper, optional
Instructions
- Remoive roast from refrigerator and tie tightly, using 4-5 loops of kitchen twine.
- Season roast well.
- Let roast come to room temperature, about 2 hours.
- Ready your grill – bring grill temperature to 350 degrees, using high quality lump charcoal.
- Insert rotisserie forks into prime rib roast.
- Place roast into rotisserie attachment for egg-shaped grill, Traeger grill, or other outdoor rotisserie.
- Cook roast over charcoal for 2 – 2 1/2 hours, until internal temperature is 110-115 (for medium rare). Go off temperature, NOT time. Keep grill temperature around 350 as you cook, adjusting as needed to maintain temperature.
- Remove prime rib from rotisserie and tent, loosely, with foil until meat rests for 30-45 minutes.
- Slice and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Sweet C’s Favorites
If you love this easy recipe as much as we do, be sure to check out our other reader favorite recipes!
These tried and true reader favorites are full of flavor your family will love.
I bought a Ronco rotisserie when they first came out. I love it, it is the only way we do our Prime Rib Roast at Christmas. Comes out FANTASTIC every time.