Tender, juicy, fall-off-the-bone baby back pork ribs that are finger-lickin' good! With just 5 minutes of active prep, your slow cooker does all the work in creating ribs that your friends and family will beg you to make over and over!
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time5 hourshrs
Total Time5 hourshrs5 minutesmins
Course: Slow Cooker
Cuisine: American
Keyword: best slow cooker ribs, cooking ribs in Crockpot, dry rub for ribs slow cooker, dry rub ribs in slow cooker, easy slow cooker ribs recipe, how to cook ribs in Crockpot, how to slow cook ribs, pork ribs in slow cooker, slow cooked ribs, slow cooker BBQ ribs, slow cooker pork ribs, slow cooker ribs
Servings: 4
Calories: 345kcal
Author: Averie Sunshine
Ingredients
1rack baby back pork ribsabout 3 to 4 pounds; mine were 4 pounds
⅓cuplight brown sugarpacked
1tablespoonsmoked paprikause chili chipotle powder for a smoky kick
2teaspoonsfreshly black peppermake sure it's freshly ground
1 to 2cupsbarbecue sauceI prefer a thick, molasses-based sauce like Baby Ray's
2tablespoonswater
Instructions
Optionally, flip the ribs over and take the skin off the bone. Start at the side of the ribs where they taper off. At the edge, you will see there is a thin layer of skin over the ribs. You can sometimes pry it up with your finger or you can take a paring knife and run it along the bone right under the skin just to get a small flap up so you can get a grip on it. It is slippery so I suggest using a paper towel to help leverage your hold on the skin; it will then pull off easily. You can skip this step of taking the skin off. This helps with tenderizing but some people skip it.
Cut the ribs in half between two of the bones; set aside.
To a small bowl, add the brown sugar, paprika (or chipotle), black pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, optional cayenne pepper, and whisk together to create the dry rub; set aside.
To a separate small bowl, add 1 cup of the barbecue sauce, 2 tablespoons of water to thin it slighting, and stir to combine; set aside.
Lay one of the half racks of ribs into the slow cooker, meat side up.
Evenly sprinkle half the dry rub on top.
Evenly drizzle half of the barbecue sauce mixture on top.
Add the other half rack of ribs on top, meat side up.
Evenly sprinkle the remaining rub.
Evenly drizzle the remaining barbecue sauce.
Cover with the lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high 3-4 hours; however I recommend cooking on
low to prevent the ribs from drying out. Tip - You know the ribs are done when you pierce the meat with a fork between two bones and there is no resistance.
Allow the meat to rest for about 15 minutes before serving. Or optionally, continue onto step 15 and broil the ribs to create a thicker, stickier glaze* (See Notes for more info).
To optionally continue with broiling the ribs - Adjust the oven rack to the second-highest position and preheat your broiler to high.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Very carefully lift the ribs out of the slow cooker, one half at a time, and place them on the lined sheet pan.
Optionally, brush them with additional barbecue sauce if you like them extra saucy, about 1 cup; or leave them as is.
Broil for a few minutes, until the outside of the ribs is bubbling and caramelized. Keep watching at all times because they can burn very fast!
Allow the ribs to rest for about 15 minutes before serving. Extra ribs will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
*You can omit the broiling step as well as adding more bbq sauce if you don’t love extra saucy ribs.At times, my family prefers just enjoying the ribs straight from the slow cooker because sometimes cooking the ribs longer, i.e. under the broiler, can cause them to dry out some.BUT, with the broiler you do get that sweet sticky glaze that everyone loves on the outside of ribs.It's your decision to broil or not. However, if you’re broiling, my vote is to add extra bbq sauce (about 1 cup), but again it’s up to you.