I came across this idea of cooking ribs in the crockpot on of course Pinterst.  The new mecca for food, crafts, clothes you wish you had and your dream wedding. It will suck you in with all the delicious food and normally I just pin these foods and say I am going to make them and rarely go back.  But seeing this idea I just knew I had to make them. So I went out and if you know me personally you know that I hate grocery shopping so the fact that I decided to go just to buy ribs is saying something! The pin I came across lead me here and I used her recipe as inspiration to create the ribs to my liking.

BBQ Crockpot Ribs

2-3 lbs Pork Loin Back Ribs

1 1/2 – 2 cups BBQ Sauce – use your favorite store bought or homemade sauce

Chili Powder

Sage

Onion Powder

Garlic Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

**Now I didn’t put measurements of the spices because truthfully I am a firm believer of trust your taste buds and eyes which means apply to your liking, some people like more chili powder some like less. I eyeballed it to my tastes and I would say I used 1 tablespoon on each slab of ribs of everything except the garlic salt, this I would say is only 1/2 tablespoon per slab.**

The night before gather up your spices and unpackage your ribs; leave the membrane on to help keep things together. (the long slow cooking will make this tender and perfectly fine to eat) On a large cookie sheet lined with tin foil apply the seasonings to your liking on both sides, be sure to rub it the seasonings into the meat; you want everything nicely covered. Once you have seasoned the ribs to your liking cover your tray with tin foil and refrigerate until you are ready to put them in the slow cooker.

The next morning get your slow cooker out and unwrap your ribs. For this recipe I am using a 6 qt oval crockpot. You are going to then place you ribs with the meat against the stoneware standing on end thickest part on the bottom (mine where pretty much the same thickness so I just stood them up with the meat against the outside). There will be a hole in the middle of the crockpot this is ok. Also it is ok if they over lap a little but try to keep them all against the stoneware as much as possible. Once you have them in the crockpot take your favorite BBQ sauce and pour the sauce over the top of the ribs to it runs down the back and front of each slab. It is ok if not every section of the meat is covered.  Just make sure you have a nice ring of sauce across the rib tips that are pointing up.  While things heat up the sauce will melt down and through the ribs making everything delicious. You will also notice that towards the end of the cooking time the sauce will fill the empty space in the center and be bubbling away.

At this point you are ready to go, just put the lid on and set to low and cook for 6-8 hrs. I first checked on them at about 6 hrs because my crockpot runs hot and decided to let them go to 7 hrs, which turned out perfect. You should see that the meat is pulling away from the bones especially on the ends of the rack.  I pretty much use this tip no matter how I cook ribs.

Once your ribs have cooked up all nice and tender remove them gently from the crockpot with tongs, mine were so tender that they did come out in pieces. Once out of the crockpot baste them with a little extra sauce and serve.

I dished mine up with a side of oven roasted asparagus; which is one of my go to side dishes because it is so simple. Place asparagus on a tin foil lined baking sheet drizzle it with olive oil and season with garlic salt, onion powder and dill. (adjust seasonings to your favorite flavors) Put the pan under the broiler on high for 3 -5 mins, watch carefully to not over cook.  The asparagus should be bright green and still a bit firm which gives it a nice bite.

I hope you take the chance and give this recipe a try, don’t be scared to use your favorite spice rub that you picked up at your local grocery store or if you have a tried and true spice rub mix that you make break that out for these lovely crockpot ribs. Cooking should be fun and recipes are just guidelines.