Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs

Finally.

I made a batch of baby back ribs in my crock pot that I think are blogworthy!!!

I won't go into how picky I am about slow cooker recipes.  About how I refuse to sacrifice taste for convenience;  to sacrifice texture for the supposed ease of throwing everything into one pot and hoping that it's edible.  

No, I won't go into how I have a love/hate relationship with my crock pot.

I'm just going to say that these ribs have earned a permanent spot in my dinner rotation.

Today's Playlist

• "Never Let You Go"...Third Eye Blind
• "Scar Tissue"...Red Hot Chili Peppers
• "Lump"...The Presidents Of The United States Of America
• "Icky Thump"...The White Stripes
• "Rivers Of Babylon"...Sublime
• "Last Nite"...The Strokes
• "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"...The Beatles
• "Sixteen Saltines"...Jack White

Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs (2 to 4 servings, depending upon your appetite!)
Printable recipe

• 1 full rack (about 3 lbs) pork baby back ribs

Dry Rub Ingredients

• 1/2 cup brown sugar (light or dark, use what you have)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Sauce Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 8 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce (usually found near the hot sauce in the condiment aisle)
• 1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup brown sugar (light or dark, use what you have)

1 tablespoon cornstarch & 1 tablespoon cold water, for thickening the sauce

Gather your ingredients.

This is probably the most time-consuming part, but pulling everything out of the pantry before you get started saves lots of time in the long run.

Throw the dry rub ingredients into a small bowl.

Stir with a fork to combine.

Place the rack of ribs onto a board or your counter.  Turn it over.  There is a membrane underneath the ribs.  I like to score the membrane so that you can easily separate the ribs after they've cooked.

After you've scored the ribs, rub half the dry rub onto the bottom of the ribs, then flip it and rub the top with the remaining dry rub.

Arrange the rack in your slow cooker by curling it around the sides of the pot.

Next, prepare the sauce.  I like to prepare my sauce in a large measuring cup, because the handle on the cup makes it easier to pour the sauce after it's prepared.

Start by measuring the dry ingredients--the ground black pepper, ground ginger and onion powder.

Stir with a fork to combine.

Crush in the garlic.

Add the sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, honey, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar.

Stir to combine.

Pour about 2/3 of the sauce (about 2 cups) over the ribs in the slow cooker.  I used a 2 1/2 quart slow cooker for this.  Flip the rack of ribs so that its completely saturated with the sauce.  Save the remaining sauce--you are going to use it to create a thickened sauce to brush on your ribs after they've cooked.

Cover the crock pot and cook on LOW for 6 to 7 hours.  The ribs will cook more evenly if you flip them about halfway through the cooking (very carefully!  they're hot!), but if you forget to flip them, don't worry--they're very forgiving and no one will ever know.

When the ribs have finished cooking, take the sauce that you've saved and put it into a (2-quart) saucepan.

Stir the cornstarch and the cold water together; after it's combined, stir it into your reserved sauce in the saucepan.

Heat the sauce over medium heat and bring it to a boil, whisking constantly, until it thickens.  When the sauce thickens, turn off the heat.

Remove the ribs from the crock pot and place onto a foil-lined baking sheet or a broiling pan.  (Discard the sauce that is in the crock pot.)

Pour about half of the thickened sauce from the saucepan onto the ribs.

Brush the sauce onto the ribs until they are well-coated.   You can serve the ribs now!

However, if you want to kick it up a notch, put them under your broiler for a couple of minutes, until the sauce starts sizzling and the edges start to get a bit crispy and charred.

Using a sharp knife, slice the ribs and serve them with the extra sauce for dipping.

Enjoy!