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My Slow Cooker Pork Ribs with Bourbon BBQ Sauce are fall-apart tender and so easy to make in your crock pot! With only 10 minutes of prep, you can set these pork ribs to cook at noon and have a delicious dinner ready at the end of the day. Perfect as a family meal or a crowd-pleasing dish on game day!
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Best Crock Pot Pork Ribs
Of all the dinners I make for my family, ribs are among my favorite! I love cooking up a rack of ribs for dinner, and on busy days when it seems almost impossible to find the time to put a meal on the table, these easy slow cooker pork ribs are a perfect solution.
Complete with an amazing bourbon BBQ sauce, my recipe for crock pot ribs is not only simple to make, it’s so tasty you’ll want to lick the plate! Plus, the meat is fall-apart tender, so if you have any leftovers you can shred them to make some incredible pulled pork sandwiches.
If you have more time on your hands, try setting these ribs up to cook at the beginning of the day and let them go for 8 hours on low for the ultimate tender ribs – but 4 hours on high will make beautiful, fall-off-the-bone ribs, too!
FAQs about Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs
On high heat, slow cooker pork ribs will be ready to eat after 4 hours in the crock pot. However, you can leave them in the slow cooker on low heat for up to 8 hours to develop the flavor even further.
To avoid burning the ribs and to add flavor and moisture, you should cook pork ribs in a liquid. In the case of my recipe for crock pot ribs, a bourbon BBQ sauce mixture is used as the liquid.
You can cook ribs for too long. If the meat becomes too tender, it is likely overcooked. I recommend cooking crock pot pork ribs for no more than 8 hours on low heat and no more than 4 hours on high heat.
You do not need to sear pork ribs before slow cooking. Instead, you can sear them after cooking them in the crock pot by using your oven broiler at the end of the cooking process.
Slow Cooker Pork Ribs Ingredients
- half rack of spare ribs
- paprika
- ground cinnamon
- garlic powder
- dried oregano
- salt and pepper
- bourbon
- barbecue sauce of your choice
- brown sugar
How to Cook Ribs in the Slow Cooker
- Place paprika, cinnamon, garlic powder, oregano, and salt and pepper in a small bowl, and mix. Using a knife, carefully remove the membrane from the ribs. Spoon the rib rub onto the pork ribs, and use your hands to coat them on both sides with the seasoning.
- Place ribs in slow cooker. Combine barbecue sauce, bourbon and brown sugar. Add ¾ of the barbecue sauce mixture to slow cooker with the ribs.
- Cook on high 4 hours, or low 8 hours. Once cooked, set oven to broil at 300°F. Remove ribs and place on tin foil lined baking tray. Spoon over 4 tablespoons of the rib sauce from slow cooker. Baste with half of the remaining barbecue sauce. Set in oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until sauce starts to caramelize.
- Place remaining barbecue sauce and leftover juices into a small bowl for dipping. Cut ribs into pieces and serve. Garnish with a little parsley if desired. Enjoy!
Pork Rib Recipes Tips
- Use your favorite barbecue sauce! I love Sweet Baby Ray’s hickory and brown sugar.
- Cook for 8 hours on low for the ultimate tender ribs, but 4 hours on high is perfect too!
- No slow cooker? No problem. You can slow cook ribs in the oven. Slow cooker ribs will end up slightly softer than oven-baked ribs, but both methods work great. Oven pork ribs are great if you’re especially short on time as they take only 3 hours to make.
- I sometimes like to experiment with the rub recipe and often use the rib rub I use for my baby back ribs recipe.
Oven Pork Ribs Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250°F. Rub pork ribs with the rib rub.
- Wrap ribs in tin foil. Place in oven and cook 2 to 2.5 hours.
- Remove from oven and discard juices. Baste with the rib sauce on both sides.
- Place back in oven for 30 minutes, basting every 5 minutes until sauce is sticky. Using a meat thermometer, the internal temperature should read 145°F when they are done cooking.
- Cut ribs into pieces and serve. Use a spoon to carefully scrape remaining barbecue sauce into a serving dish for dipping. Enjoy!
What to Serve with Pork Ribs
Best Ribs Recipes
- Air Fryer Baby Back Ribs
- Baby Back Ribs on the grill are amazing
- Grilled Beef Short Ribs
- Korean Braised Short Ribs
- Slow Cooker Beef Short Ribs
Try more of my favorite Sunday dinner recipes and slow cooker recipes like Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats!
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Slow Cooker Pork Ribs with Bourbon BBQ Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Slow Cooker or oven
Ingredients
- 4 lbs spare ribs half rack
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup bourbon
- 2 cups barbecue sauce of your choice
- ¼ cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Place paprika, cinnamon, garlic powder, oregano and salt and pepper in a small bowl, and mix. Using a knife, carefully remove the membrane from the ribs. Spoon the rib rub onto the pork ribs, and use your hands to coat them on both sides with the seasoning.1 tablespoon paprika, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, 4 lbs spare ribs
- Place ribs in slow cooker. Combine barbecue sauce, bourbon and brown sugar. Add ¾ of the barbecue sauce mixture to slow cooker with the ribs.¼ cup bourbon, 2 cups barbecue sauce, ¼ cup brown sugar
- Cook on high 4 hours, or low 8 hours. Once cooked, set oven to broil at 300°F. Remove ribs and place on tin foil lined baking tray. Spoon over 4 tablespoons of the rib sauce from slow cooker. Baste with half of the remaining barbecue sauce. Set in oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until sauce starts to caramelize.
- Place remaining barbecue sauce and leftover juices into a small bowl for dipping. Cut ribs into pieces and serve. Garnish with a little parsley if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- Preheat oven to 250°F. Rub pork ribs with the rib rub.
- Wrap ribs in tin foil. Place in oven and cook 2 to 2.5 hours.
- Remove from oven and discard juices. Baste with the rib sauce on both sides.
- Place back in oven for 30 minutes, basting every 5 minutes until sauce is sticky. Using a meat thermometer, the internal temperature should read 145°F when they are done cooking.
- Cut ribs into pieces and serve. Use a spoon to carefully scrape remaining barbecue sauce into a serving dish for dipping. Enjoy!
jerseygirlcooks says
These ribs look fantastic! And that sauce!
thatskinnychickcanbake says
Cannot wait to try this BBQ sauce!
Christie Campbell says
Anything with bourbon is delicious in my book!
Trang says
This sounds absolutely delicious, and I love that it’s made easier by cooking in the slow cooker too!
Tara says
Such gorgeous ribs! That bourbon bbq sauce sounds incredible
H.A.G. says
Ribs are perfect football food! I love this slow-cooker, oven finish method too- very easy!
mgewrites says
These look sooooo crazy good!! 🙂
kylie says
Made these so many times. Delicious, fall off the bone ribs and the sauce is on point. Must broil to get that char
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much, Kylie! We are so glad you enjoy them!
Jordin Webert says
Can you sub something for the bourbon?
Em Beitel says
Hi Jordin! Thank you for your question! You can substitute rum, brandy, cognac, or any other kind of whiskey for bourbon in this recipe – alternatively, if you want to leave out the alcohol, you can use ginger beer. It has the same sort of vanilla flavor.
Jordin Webert says
My ribs turned out so good following this recipe! They were super tender and my family’s favorite part was the sauce. My grandpa said we need to make these again. Thank you for this great recipe!
Em Beitel says
Jordin, that’s awesome! We’re so glad you and your family enjoyed these ribs!