Crockpot ribs are guaranteed to be fall off the bone tender. Learn the secrets for making the best slow cooker ribs including instructions for prepping the meat, giving it a good dry rub, and finishing them off for restaurant quality perfection.
You want your ribs to be fall-off-the-bone tender. The crockpot is a great choice. BUT, how do you go from the ugly mess of the slow cooker to beautifully caramelized fall of the bone ribs?
If you just throw ribs and bbq sauce in a slow cooker for 8 hours, you’ll get some fall-off-the-bone ribs, but they’ll be kind of funky and unappetizing. The bbq sauce won’t have caramelized at all, and the liquids in the meat will have produced a really runny bbq sauce liquid.
We find the crockpot to be the easiest method to cook ribs and it is my go-to method, especially when cooking for a crowd. Combine the ease of the crockpot with my easy secret tip and you’ll have yourself some pretty dang amazing ribs.
THE SECRET TO CROCKPOT (SLOW COOKER) RIBS
- Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs. See the video for an easy demo. Just slide your fingers around the side to loosen it up and rip it right off.
- Give the ribs a dry rub. This step is optional. Some people like a good dry rub first for additional flavor.
- Put your ribs in the crockpot. Lather them with barbecue sauce. You can use a homemade sauce like my Raspberry-Chipotle Barbecue Sauce for ribs or a store-bought bottle. Just remember to save a little bit for later.
- Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. The more racks in the pot, the longer you’ll need to cook.
- Gently remove the racks and lay them out on a foil lined baking sheet. Add more barbecue sauce on top.
- Broil under a broiler for 3-5 minutes until the barbecue sauce starts to bubble and caramelize. Alternately you could wrap them in foil and throw them on a heated grill for the same effect. I sometimes do this for crowds and picnics. This keep the ribs warm until ready to eat and makes it easy to pass out portions. Enjoy!
What kind of ribs should I use to make slow cooker ribs?
This recipe and method will work best with pork ribs including: baby back ribs, spare ribs, St. Louis style ribs, and country style pork ribs. For beef short ribs try my slow cooker short rib recipe or my recipe for classic braised beef short ribs. If you have a smoker we also highly recommend these Smoked Beef Ribs.
Can I finish my crockpot ribs on the grill instead of the oven?
Our secret to crockpot ribs is to caramelize the ribs under the broiler setting in your oven. Another option is to put them on the grill to get that extra caramelization. If you choose to use the grill, put them straight onto the grill (or onto a piece of aluminum foil) over high heat (500 degrees). Brush them with additional barbecue sauce and then close the lid. Let them grill for about 3-5 minutes, until the sauce starts to bubble and caramelize.
PRO TIP: One of the best tips for making ribs in the crockpot is to use a crockpot liner. These BPA-free plastic bags line your crockpot, making clean up a breeze! No more scrubbing out caramelized, burnt on sauce! They are awesome. You can find them in your grocery store near things like aluminum foil and plastic bags. They are a huge time saver.
Tried this tonight. Came out absolutely amazing .
Hello, I made a huge mistake and put the ribs in the slow cooker on high for 8 hours instead of low. I’m assuming they are going to be overcooked, is there any fixing this big mistake or is the mean ruined?
It really depends on their size. You can’t fix overcooked ribs. They are hard to overcook though. But they could be burned.
I’ve never had much luck with ribs until this recipe. My husband and son each took a bite and made a “mmmmm” sound. Glad these are easy because I’m sure I’ll be making them again!
Making these ribs today for me and m fiancé for our 4th of july dinner, ive made ribs in the crock pot before and they always turn out delicious. I love cooking in the crockpot as where I live gets very hot already and adding the heat of an oven or stove makes it worse…….thank you for your awesome recipe!
I have a family recipe for ribs that everybody loves but I’d like to adapt it to the crock pot to make a large quantity for the Fourth of July. Basically, I marinate the ribs for 1 hr in a sauce of soy sauce, garlic, pineapple juice and a little sugar, than bake them still in the sauce at 400 degrees for an hour. They caramelize but the marinade never thickens. How can I do this in the crock pot?
Add the ingredients to the crockpot with the ribs. Then just follow the instructions here.
Why is it necessary to put the ribs in the oven after it’s been cooked in slow cooker? What does the oven do for the ribs?
If you read the post or watch the video I cover that. It’s kind of the whole point of the post 🙂
I’ve made your slow cooker ribs multiple times. My family loves it and I love how easy it is! Thanks for making dinner so quick, simple and delicious!
These were amazing and easy.
I have never made ribs before and they turned out just as I remember them as a kid. My grandparents would take us out to dinner and I would always order BBQ ribs. Other than that, I cannot recall having them much, until now! These will be a regular dish at our house.
I put them in the crock pot on low at 10:30 am and took them out about 4:45 pm then put them in the oven on low broil for about 5 to 7 min. They were falling off the bone, but I like them that way. Less mess.
Thank you for sharing this recipe, Rachel.
Tried this yesterday, and I’m thinking it probably makes sense for crockpot owners to somehow “calibrate” their units so as not to overcook (or undercook) food. I pretty much had the same amount of ribs as in the video, and because I got started somewhat late in the day, they only cooked for 7 hours on the low setting.
The top rack had achieved “off the bone” goodness, but by the time I got to the rack at the bottom of the crockpot, it was obvious the meat had been overcooked (it wasn’t just “falling off the bone” it had already fallen off–though the rib meat was still good [grin]).
Which points to perhaps a need, somewhere during the cooking process, to rotate the meat, no?
In any event, it’s all good. Thanks for the clear instructions and great recipe.
Hello,
I would like to make 4 racks of ribs, how long should i wait for and what do you reccommed i put on the ribs before the bbq sauce?
Just follow the instructions above. It answers all your questions.
Very Disappointed!! I followed your directions, with the exception that I added a dry rub first, one rack of baby-backs cut in thirds, slathered with Heinz Kansas City BBQ sauce. Set cooker to Low and continued on with my day. After six hours, I could detect a burning smell. I checked meat temp,177-doene enough for me!
Spread onto foil covered baking sheet, more bbq sauce and broiled for 3mins. After 3mins, they started to smoke and were burn’t.. They were kinda dry. Sure, they fell off the bone, so now I have a plate of crispy meat. Oh joy! I prefer to eat ribs still on the bone! Recipe called for 8-10 hours of cook time. Really? At that rate, I’d have only a block of meat to eat!
This why I hate cooking!
It sounds like something is wrong with your slow cooker. It shouldn’t get hot enough after 6 hours to burn ribs, let alone cook them enough to fall off the bone. Have you tested it for temperature?
Well, i have two crackpots and I checked the temperature of both of them and they registered 205 degrees after 8hrs with water in them. Everyone else sure seemed to like your recipe and i followed it.Ribs were freshly purchased too. Maybe your’s cooks at a lower temperature? Even the broil time seemed too long. My best guess as to the problem might’ve been the Heinz BBQ Sauce or the dry-rub, as trivial as that might sound, but they were the only deviations from your recipe