Slow Cooker Country Style BBQ Ribs
I have a serious foodie crush on barbeque ribs. My favorite have always been pork ribs. They are so tender, fall apart in your mouth, juicy and tangy and saucy. Yessum! Love me some ribs.
This dish was The Man Child’s (My bonus child) favorite, growing up. I have a photo of him when he was 8 years old, sitting at the kitchen table with a huge grin and a face covered in BBQ sauce. It still makes me smile just thinking about it.
I typically buy about 3-4 pounds of Country Style ribs for this dish so that we can have lots of left overs. This is one of the few dishes that actually tastes just as good reheated as it does fresh out of the slow cooker. I just had the last two ribs for lunch today. I love BBQ slathered lunches, don’t you?
For my slow cooker, I have to put this on the low setting for 8 or 10 hours even though they’re ready in 4-6 hours. Cooking them on one of the only two low settings I have renders a much more tender, moist rib. If I cook it on high for 4-6 hours (the only settings I have on high on my slow cooker), they get tough and resemble the sole of my beach flip flops. Even covered in BBQ sauce, flip flops are NOT tasty food. When you’re making these, they will release a fair amount of fat and juices into the crock pot, so I don’t use a ton of sauce while they’re cooking. You’ll need about 3 cups of sauce total. About 1-1/2 cups for the ribs while they’re cooking and the same amount to brush on the ribs right before serving.
I used my recipe for BBQ sauce but added a tsp. of yellow mustard to it as a nod off to South Carolina. They like their mustard down here. I’m not a huge fan of yellow mustard, but my sauce is zesty and sweet enough to handle it. 🙂 To give these ribs an extra layer of flavor, I sear them in a wicked hot skillet first, and then lay them on a layer of chopped onions in the slow cooker. Oh you guys are going to love these! Share in the comments below what you’d serve along side these.
These are completely boneless country/spare ribs- click HERE to see an image if you’re unfamiliar with this particular cut of meat.
- 4 pounds of pastured country style (boneless) pork ribs
- 3-4 cups homemade BBQ sauce (links to my recipe in the post above)
- 1 large onion, diced medium
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp. ground mustard
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- Salt and Pepper
- Remove pork from package and pat dry with paper towel. Season liberally on all sides with unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Dice onion and put in the bottom of the slow cooker.
- In a small bowl add smoked paprika, cumin, ground mustard, ground ginger, onion and garlic powders and stir to combine. Set aside.
- Preheat a large skillet over medium high heat and add 1TB bacon grease or coconut oil.
- As soon as the fat melts, add 3-5 ribs to the skillet and sear for about 30-45 seconds on each side. (Note- if the meat doesn't want to release from the pan, it's not ready to turn, give it a few more seconds before flipping to sear another side)
- Place seared ribs into the slow cooker on top of the diced onions.
- Continue searing remaining ribs, place in the slow cooker and sprinkle the spice mixture over the ribs, and then pour on about 1-1/2 cups of sauce. No more than 2 cups total. Give the ribs a careful 'stir' to ensure they're all coated with the spices and the sauce. Cover slow cooker and cook on LOW for about 6-8 hours. Ribs are typically done within 5, but I let them go for at least 6.
- Remove ribs from slow cooker and brush with remaining fresh BBQ sauce and serve.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
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Kristine Cocchiarella
Classically trained Cordon Bleu chef turned anti-GMO, pro-organic, food hippie blogger with a passion for REAL food.
16 Comments
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Joyce
I made these ribs and for some reason they came out dry,what did i do wrong. I cooked them on hi for about 3 hrs and low for 2. How do I make them moist
Kristine Cocchiarella
First off, I’m sorry that they didn’t turn out. On occasion I get a batch of ribs that don’t get as tender as the others, so sometimes it’s the meat. However, in my opinion, based on what you have told me yours came out dry because you cooked them on high. These need to be cooked on low for 8-10 hours. When you start out high you seize the meat and these don’t have a ton of fat, so they need to cook low. They are typically done in about 5-6 hours, but I have cooked them for up to 8 on low. Did you brown them on all sides in a skillet first before putting them in the slow cooker? Hope this helps. 🙂
Joyce
Thankyou for the reply.I did cook them on hi ,no I did not brown them first. They had a very good flavor,and I will make them again this 4th..I know they will turn out good this time. /Thanks again
Joyce
Kristine Cocchiarella
Yes, follow the recipe exactly as I’ve written it and they should turn out perfectly. Sometimes pastured pork is a bit tougher than conventional pork and so it needs a lower and slower cooking method vs. high and fast. 🙂 Each time I make this, I buy two packages of ribs. It never fails that at least half of them from one package turns out a bit tougher than the rest. Which means, it’s just the pork…
Jayne
my first attempt at ribs was 2 weeks ago, I placed them in a covered pan and poured a bottle of beer over the top and baked them slow and at a low temp in the oven till done. took them carefully out of the pan, placed them on a cookie sheet, spread Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce over them, baked them at 425 till the sauce got thick and sticky…they were delicious.
Kristine Cocchiarella
Those sound very good! 🙂
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Nicole
OMG! Made these today with your BBQ sauce, amazing! Still thinking about how tasty they were. I used 2 crock pots and made baked beans to serve with the ribs. Also had a garden salad and homemade yogurt popsicles for dessert.
Kristine Cocchairella
This makes me SO happy to hear!! I’m glad you loved them. Now I’m hungry for them!! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by to tell me how they turned out.
Ashley
“oh baby, so saucy!” hahah. I love it! I have a foodie crush on ribs too 🙂
Kristine Cocchairella
I’m terrible, I know. 😉 It’s hard not to have a foodie crush on ribs, though.
Lynsey @MoscatoMom
Ohhh Mike would LOVE this! I have a strange thing about bones – so we never eat ribs… I could do boneless though! PINNING!! rofl
Real Food Girl
Totally buy the boneless Country Style ribs. Your family will love these!