Wild Pig Chinese Spare Ribs

Wild swine are a scourge on your hunting ground that should be controlled by any means possible. But they are tasty.

By author of Timber 2 Table Wild Game Recipes Print Recipe
prep time
cook time
4-8
serves
Medium
difficulty

Wild pigs aren’t good for much. They destroy food plots, wreck turkey nests, push deer and other game out of an area, tear up good timber, and are hell on crops. That said, they do taste pretty good. And they make for a fun hunt that is great for the family. 

Wild pigs are perfect for family hunts. Photo by Will Brantley

Wild pigs don’t have as much leisure time as their domestic cousins. Their daily ritual of destroying as many things as possible requires a lot of movement. Because of all this extra exercise, and the fact that they don’t get fed a daily dose of grain from a bucket, a wild pig can be on the lean side. 

The ribs from a wild pig are particularly lean when compared with their barnyard cousins. But they are still pig ribs, and even a skinny pig tastes good. To prevent the ribs from drying out, we use a combination of marinade, sauce, and an extra steaming step that we don’t normally do with standard ribs. 

These ribs are the perfect combination of sticky, sweet, and spicy.

This Chinese-style spare rib recipe, cooked on the grill, is just the thing for the next time you get your hands on a few racks of wild pig ribs. 

(Gear Up for Hog Hunts: Realtree Timber Camo Short Sleeve Performance Shirt)

Ingredients

 

4 to 5 pounds wild pig ribs

 

Marinade/Sauce

 

1 cup hoisin sauce

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup ketchup

​1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup sake

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

Sesame seeds for garnish

Cooking Instructions

Mix the marinade/sauce ingredients. Reserve 1 cup of the finished marinade. Add the ribs to a large zip-style bag. (Tip: Cut the racks into smaller sections to make them easier to marinate and faster to cook.) Pour over all but the reserved cup of the marinade/sauce mixture. Refrigerate overnight. 

Marinate the rib sections overnight.

Fill a large aluminum pan with 1 to 2 inches of water and put it on the cooking grate of your Traeger grill preheated to 300 degrees. Place a wire baking rack or extra grill rack over the pan and add the ribs to the rack. Grill the ribs for 2 hours, basting at least once with reserved marinade.

Start by placing the ribs on a rack directly above a pan of water, brushing with reserved sauce as they cook.

Remove the ribs from the baking rack and remove the water pan from the grill. Reduce the heat to 225 degrees and return the ribs to the grill, placing them directly on the cooking grate. Brush well with remaining sauce. Cook for 3 to 4 more hours, flipping and brushing both sides of the ribs with reserved marinade 4 to 5 times as they cook. 

 

Have a recipe you would like to suggest as a feature? Email us and let us know!

View All Recipes