Kelly the Culinarian: Cooking with Kelly: The Best Crock Pot Ribs Recipe

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Cooking with Kelly: The Best Crock Pot Ribs Recipe

As previously stated, crock pot recipes are my kitchen's secret weapon. Throw a bunch of stuff in there and hours later, you've faked dinner. It's nearly foolproof, you can't really burn stuff and all the mess is contained in a single place. So much to love.

Anyhow, ribs were on sale at ALDI recently (related: How to shop at ALDI), and I have my brand-new grill, so I figured why the hell not. Except it was roughly 483 degrees when I wanted to make the ribs and I knew I had to pre-cook them low and slow in the oven to get them tender. And ain't nobody got time for that in the heat of the summer.

Instead, I chopped these ribs up into manageable portions and let them cook low and slow in the crock pot. It's funny, between marinated these in vinegar, letting the rub settle overnight, cooking them in beer in the crock pot and grilling them off with barbecue sauce, this was a 24-hour affair ... that took roughly one hour of actual work. And this, folks, is how I feed five people for $10, with leftovers.
Marvel at my cooking, time management and fiscal prowess. 

Perfect Crock Pot Ribs Recipe
1 rack of baby back ribs
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 can of cheap beer (don't use the Zombie Dust for this one)
Your favorite pork rub, or:
3 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon coarse salt
3/4 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne
1 thinly sliced onion
1 bottle barbecue sauce

Trim the fat from the ribs and cut into two- to three-rib portions. Soak in the vinegar for a half hour, the remove and pat dry.

Mix the dry ingredients for the pork rub together or liberally apply your favorite rub to all surfaces of the ribs. Place on a baking sheet and refrigerate uncovered overnight - this helps set the flavors and seal everything in.

In the morning, pour 1/2 of the beer into the bottom of your crock pot. Top with a layer of ribs, and cover those with the onion slices. Repeat the rib-onion layering and top the concoction with the remaining beer. Cook on low for seven hours.



At the end of the crock pot cook time, remove and place on a baking sheet and allow to rest and dry for a half hour.


During that time, preheat your grill to as hot as it goes. Once the ribs are cool, brush with the barbecue sauce liberally.


To finish these off, grill 5 minutes on each side or until a delicious crust forms.

Remove from the grill and cover with more sauce, if any remains, and seal in tinfoil for at least 30 minutes.

6 comments:

Losing Lindy said...

I am coming over next time ;)

Anonymous said...

These look delish!! Saving this recipe.

Maggie W said...

nom nom nom

Mo said...

I love my crockpot. I am making shredded buffalo chicken as we speak. (And I bought all of my ingredients at Aldi, haha).

I've never tried ribs! They look delicious!

Pete B said...

Aldi rules!

Zenaida Arroyo said...

Please invite me the next time you make these.