Crock Pot Ribs

Crock Pot Ribs are seasoned with a dry rub and basted with barbecue sauce for a flavorful, easy dinner recipe that's perfect on busy weeknights!

Course Dinner

Cuisine American

Keyword Crock Pot Ribs, slow cooker ribs, st. louis style ribs recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 9

Total Time 9 10

Servings people

Calories 553.2kcal

Author Blair Lonergan

3 lbs. St. Louis-style pork ribs (or substitute with baby back ribs or country-style ribs)
1 ½ cups barbecue sauce, plus extra for serving
2 teaspoons liquid smoke, optional

Spray a slow cooker with cooking spray.
In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, chili powder, salt, cumin, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder. Set aside.
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more as needed, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder
Prepare the ribs by removing the shiny, thin membrane that covers most of the backside of the ribs. To do so, use a knife or fingernail to pry up a corner of the thin membrane from one edge of the ribs. Grab that with a paper towel (for grip) and slowly pull it up. Once a good portion of the membrane is free, you should be able to pull the rest off in one quick motion.
3 lbs. St. Louis-style pork ribs
Pat the ribs dry and rub the seasoning mixture onto both sides of the ribs. Place ribs in slow cooker.
Pour barbecue sauce and liquid smoke (if using) over the ribs. Cover and cook on LOW for 9-10 hours.
1 ½ cups barbecue sauce, plus extra for serving, 2 teaspoons liquid smoke, optional

Play with the seasonings in your homemade dry rub to suit your tastes. Spicy additions like cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes will add some heat. Cinnamon or cocoa powder adds a depth of flavor that plays well with the smoky flavors of BBQ. Mustard powder adds a bit of a tang that pairs well with just about any BBQ sauce.

While we prefer St. Louis-style ribs, you can also use this recipe with baby back ribs and country-style ribs. If using baby back ribs, decrease the cooking time to 8 hours on LOW to account for the smaller ribs.

If you can't find St. Louis-style ribs at your store, you can use pork spare ribs and trim them to be St. Louis ribs. There's a great tutorial on how to trim your own spare ribs at home.

We like Stubbs Original Barbecue Sauce which is slightly spicy and not too sweet, but you can use any barbecue sauce that you prefer. You can also make your own barbecue sauce at home or try a homemade BBQ sauce with Coke or even root beer!