Pork ribs cooked in the slow cooker are fall off the bone delicious. The rub and caramelized sauce make these the BEST at our house. Everyones favorite dinner.
We were having a send off meal for one of Taylor’s friends from California, Kenz. She doesn’t get a lot of Southern food in California and I wanted to give her a little taste of North Carolina before she left, so I went with slow-cooker ribs. These start in the refrigerator with a rub and then you place them in a slow-cooker with pineapple juice and seasoning and let them cook all day. When they’re tender, you slather a doctored up bbq sauce all over them and let the sauce caramelize under the broiler in the oven. The end result is fall off the bone ribs with a slightly sweet bbq sauce cooked into the ribs but not dripping off. They were still a little messy but worth every bit of sauce we got on our faces.
I used 5 lbs of ribs and it was enough to feed 6 adults. Now for the taste. These are AWESOME. When I say you have to try them, I really mean it. If you’re going to splurge and eat ribs I think you will agree that this version is worth every calorie. It has just a hint of spice from the jalapeños and a slightly sweet flavor from the honeyed bbq sauce. For the bbq sauce, I used Rufus Teague Honey Sweet. Taylor thinks it’s one of the best things I make, and Kenz will have a hard time finding anything this good in California. Now that she is part of the Curry clan, she will have more opportunities to try out Southern food.
What is nice about this method of cooking ribs is you can just forget about them all day, no basting or anything. I waited to caramalize them until we were ready to sit down at the table. The problem with something this good, is it’s hard to hold everyone off while you are taking photos.
Adapted from Southern Living May 2015
PrintSlow Cooker Ribs
Pork ribs cooked in the slow cooker are fall off the bone delicious. The rub and caramelized sauce make these the BEST at our house. Everyones favorite dinner.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 8-12 hours
- Total Time: -26147772.5333 minute
- Yield: 6-8 1x
- Category: Entree
Ingredients
- RUB
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons cumin
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon onion salt
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- RIBS
- 2–3 lbs baby back pork ribs
- ½ cup pineapple juice
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- BBQ SAUCE
- 1 cup tomato based BBQ sauce, Rufus Teage Sweet Honey
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 ½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir together all of the rub ingredients.
- Rinse slabs of ribs and pat dry with paper towels. Remove the thin membrane from the back of the ribs by slicing it and then pulling it off. Reserve 1/2tablespoon of the rub. Sprinkle remaining rub on both sides of the ribs. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 8-12 hours.
- Combine pineapple juice, vinegar and garlic and reserved rub in a 6 quart slow cooker. Cut the slab of ribs in half and stack in slow cooker. Cover and cook on High for 1 hour. Reduce to Low and cook for 4-5 hours or until tender.
- SAUCE:
- Stir together all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Boil for 1 minute. Remove and cover to keep warm.
- Preheat broiler with oven rack 10 inches below the heat. Remove ribs from slow cooker and place in a single layer in a foil lined jelly-roll pan. Brush both sides of ribs with the BBQ sauce and broil for 2-3 minutes on each side until caramelized. Serve with remaining sauce.
- Can easily be doubled.
I smoke most of my ribs but this looks like a great recipe to try in our cold winters. Thanks.
The Old Fat Guy
It’s also great if you are busy and need to be able to forget about them while they cook.