Best Baby Back Ribs in the Slow Cooker

5 from 5 votes

Best Baby Back Ribs in the Slow Cooker

These ribs will be some of the best you've ever had. The ribs will fall apart right out of the slow cooker, so be warned. Just a little prep work required - make the sauce first to pour some over the ribs at beginning of cooking. Then reduce on the stove-top toward the end of cooking for a thick Asian-inspired sticky sauce.

Prep Time15

Cook Time8

Total Time8 15

Course: Slow cooker

Cuisine: BBQ

Servings: -8

Calories: 536kcal

Author: Good Dinner Mom

Ingredients

2 racks of pork baby back ribs

Dry Rub:

½ cup light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons kosher salt

Sticky Sauce:

1 Tablespoon fresh ginger
2 teaspoons ground pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
6 cloves garlic minced
2 Tablespoons sweet chili sauce, found in the international section of the grocery store
⅔ cup reduced sodium soy sauce, or regular if you don't have the low-salt
⅔ cup balsamic vinegar
⅔ cup brown sugar
½ cup honey
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 Tablespoon hot water

Instructions

Lay the two racks of pork ribs out on a cutting board and make sure that the membrane from underneath the ribs has been removed. If it hasn't, see notes below for how to do this.
Make the dry rub:
Mix together ½ cup light brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon smoked paprika, 2 teaspoons chili powder, 1 Tablespoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon black pepper, 2 Tablespoons Kosher salt. Using your hands, massage the rub into both sides of the ribs, concentrating a bit more on the top, meaty portion of the rack. Let rest while you start the sauce.
Make the sauce:
In a bowl, stir together 1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, 2 teaspoons ground pepper, and 1 teaspoon onion powder. Add 6 cloves minced garlic and mix again. Add 2 Tablespoons sweet chili sauce, ⅔ cup soy sauce, ⅔ cup balsamic vinegar, ⅔ cup brown sugar and ½ cup honey. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
Get ribs in the slow cooker:
Curl the ribs into the slow cooker. To ensure that the ribs cook evenly, lay the racks horizontally in the slow cooker with the "top" or upside of the ribs facing the wall of the slow cooker. The part of the rack where the meat is "thicker" should be on the bottom so it can cook a little faster. Once your rack is in the slow cooker, the bones of the slab will be vertical and the slabs are kind of curled around each other in the cooker.
Pour about 1 ½ cups of the sauce over the ribs and place the remaining half into a small bowl and put in the refrigerator for now.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook at low for 8 hours. (I have cooked them on high for 2 ½ hours and then switched to low for 4 hours with perfect success as well.)
Remove the ribs from the slow cooker and place them on a tin foil lined broil pan or baking sheet, meaty side up.
Remove the sauce from the refrigerator and brush a little more of the sauce on top of the ribs until nice and shiny. Leave ribs alone for a minute while you finish the sauce.
Sticky Sauce:
Heat the saucepan to medium heat and bring the sauce to a boil. Once it starts boiling, whisk the 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of hot water together in a small dish. Stir together and then while whisking in the saucepan, slowly drizzle in the cornstarch mixture. Whisk until it comes back to a boil and then turn to medium low and allow to simmer until it begins to reduce and thicken, about 5-8 minutes. Set aside.
Finish the ribs:
Place the meat under the broiler in the middle of the oven for a few minutes or until it looks sticky and broiled. Be sure to watch it carefully. Allow to rest, tented with foil for 3-5 minutes and serve with the sticky sauce on the side.

Notes

If the membrane under the ribs hasn't been removed, here's how to do it yourself:

At one end of the rack, slide a butter knife under the membrane and over a bone.
Lift and loosen the membrane until it tears.
Grab the edge of the membrane with a paper towel and pull it off.

The membrane may come off in one whole piece, or you may need to remove it in smaller pieces. Here's also a link with photos showing how to remove the membrane from pork ribs.

Nutrition