Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

These Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs are baby back pork ribs that are fall off the bone tender. You cannot go wrong with these and it’s the best slow cooker rib recipe out there! Throw them in the Crockpot and forget about them. The doctored up barbecue sauce puts these barbecue ribs over the top.

The nice people over at Crock-Pot® offered to send me one of their new NFL Crock-Pot® Slow Cookers with my choice of team. They have all of the NFL teams available.

I of course jumped at their offer because I use my slow cooker at LEAST twice a week if not more (especially during this crazy holiday season).

I of course selected to make my Crock-Pot Miami Dolphins themed. We’re huge fans to say the least. I wouldn’t drag four kids by myself to every game if I wasn’t invested in some way. Loyalty or insanity? I may need my head checked.

I thought since I had a Miami Dolphins Crock-Pot I needed some major football food cookin’ inside. Nothing says manly, messy, and down and dirty food like ribs.

Ribs are a little intimidating. My husband worked at a rib joint in college and always told me that ribs were meant to be cooked by a restaurant.

Any attempt to make them would fall short. So I never even tried. But these were amazing. Fall of the bone tender, better than a restaurant amazing.

My husband gave them two barbecue sauce covered thumbs up. He even called them fabulous. My verbiage must be rubbing off on him.

They say if you’re married long enough you start to morph into one person. Apparently that is what’s happening.

 The secret to these ribs is that they are browned in the oven before putting them in the Crock-Pot which allows the fat to render in the oven, rather than in your sauce. Browning brings out a ton of flavor.

You can season them with whatever you want. I seasoned mine with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.This doctored up sauce takes regular ribs up a notch. But if you’re a new cook you can totally just use regular barbecue sauce and still have tender ribs. Promise me you won’t skip the browning step though! 

Here he is. I’m in love.

If you like a crispy skin you can throw these back in the oven to caramelize the sauce. I’ve done it both ways and don’t necessarily prefer one way or the other.

Look at the meat fall off the bone. I could hardly get it out of the Crock-Pot it was that tender.

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Yield: 8 servings

Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

Prep Time:

10 mins

Cook Time:

4 hrs

Ingredients

• 4 pounds pork baby back ribs
• salt and pepper
• garlic powder , onion powder (about 1/2 teaspoon each)

For the Sauce:

• 2 cups of your favorite barbecue sauce
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• optional 1 Tablespoon liquid smoke if you like a smokey flavor
• optional dash hot sauce my bbq sauce was spicy enough already

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place ribs in a shallow baking dish and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn over and bake for 15 more minutes. Drain fat.
3. In a medium bowl combine BBQ sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire, oregano, and liquid smoke and hot sauce if desired.
4. Place ribs in a large slow cooker (at least 6 quart). I curled mine around but you can cut them in half if you need to. Pour sauce on top and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until tender.
5. If you want to carmelize your bbq sauce put them back in the oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Totally your preference though.

Recipe Notes

adapted from Allrecipes

Author: Christy Denney

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American