Man oh man, do we love ribs. Fall-off-the-bone tender, a little hot, a little sweet—there’s nothing better than a well-done half rack. Except maybe a well-done full rack. They’re delicious, they’re cost-effective, and they’re easy to make—ribs are basically the perfect meal. Their only problem is that they take time to execute well, and let’s face it—we’re busy men. Time is something we never have a lot of, and that usually means ribs are a rarity in our diet.
Enter, the Crock-Pot, God’s greatest gift to man. That’s a bit dramatic, but seriously, slow cookers are the shit. You can put all the stuff you want to eat inside, them come back in 6 hours and eat dinner. We love them. So imagine our excitement when we found out you can put ribs in a slow cooker.
Crock Pot Short Ribs
Who doesn’t love a solid short ribs recipe? We love this one for a couple reasons: One, it’s definitely a change up from the typically sweet BBQ recipes you’ll usually find. This one focuses more on tangy tomato—kind of like a Georgian or Carolinian-style sauce. Toss the beef short ribs in the crock-pot (the recipe uses boneless short ribs, but you’re a purist, so you’re going bone-in) with a little red wine vinegar, a little ketchup, some mustard, and a couple spices. Set the slow cooker to high and leave it for three hours (or until tender). That’s basically all that stands between you and delicious ribs for dinner. Recipe
Fall-Off-The-Bone Crockpot Ribs
This recipe demonstrates just how easy it is to get some solid crockpot ribs without so much as an ounce of hassle. She uses a standard rub of salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder, and paprika, then tosses the ribs into the crockpot with nothing else but a heaping helping of barbecue sauce between every slab. Eight to ten “Low” hours later, and you have near-perfect ribs. To make them perfect, the recipe calls for one more topcoat of barbecue sauce on each slab, followed by a few short minutes in your oven’s broiler in order to get the ribs nice, crispy, and caramelized. Recipe
Crockpot BBQ Ribs
Another vote for the classic BBQ ribs, this recipe is similar to the Fall-Off-The-Bone ribs above, but the seasoning and cooking methods are a bit different. The recipe calls for mustard, garlic, garlic salt, and regular salt for four to six hours on high. Then slather on your favorite BBQ sauce and let cook for an additional two hours. The results are the perfect traditional BBQ ribs, and we imagine it comes from the lack of any wet seasoning for the initial four to six hours of cook time. Recipe
Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs
The biggest problem with cooking ribs (or anything, for that matter) in a crockpot is that it’s difficult to get things crispy on the outside and tender on the inside—as perfect ribs should be. This recipe calls for the standard pre-sauce rub of salt, steak seasoning, and a little brown sugar (to help the meat crisp), but takes it a step further, by suggesting you line the crock pot with the racks of ribs—meaty side facing the pot. By doing so, the ribs aren’t slow-boiled in the pot, and actually tend to caramelize on the pot’s walls, making for the perfect BBQ rib rack we all know and love. Recipe
Crockpot Coffee Ancho Chile Short Ribs
We had to include one more short ribs recipe in this lineup, especially one as delicious-sounding as this. Dried ancho chilies (seeds and stems removed), lime juice, raw honey, brewed coffee, a lot of garlic, and some vegetable broth, all thrown into a crockpot with a few pounds of delicious beef short ribs (again, bone-in). Place the delicious concoction in in the pot for six to eight hours on low, and allow the magic to happen. There’s a little more prep time with this recipe—like softening the chilies and pureeing all the ingredients for the rub—but it’s more than worth the tiny bit of extra effort. Recipe
Slow Cooker Bone-In Beef Ribs
The more we searched and scoured for these recipes, the hungrier and hungrier we became. The best part about this recipe is that it’s probably one of the laziest on the list and involves the least amount of prep and effort, but yields one of the best results. There is only one real step here: Place some bone-in beef ribs into a slow cooker with a generous amount of salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and then let the crockpot do its thing on low for eight hours, and then on high for another four. The ribs release their own delicious juices (that you’re more than welcome to baste over the ribs before serving!), and cook up perfectly. Recipe
Dry-Rub Baby Back Ribs
We’re big fans of a simple dry rub barbecue rib, and if you are, too, then this recipe is perfect in damn near every way. Incorporating brown sugar, chili powder, salt, cumin, white and cayenne pepper, sugar, and even a little oregano, the rub is a little sweet, a little savory, with just enough spicy kick to satisfy your capsacin craving. After seasoning, place the ribs up against the walls of the slow cooker and set the temperature to low. Then, don’t come back for at least eight hours, though some of you might have as long as ten. No need for any sauces or honey or anything like that. The less interference on this one, the better. Recipe
Slow Cooker Hawaiian-Style Ribs
Right off the bat, let us tell you that these things are just as incredible as the title implies. For a second, just close your eyes and imagine this flavor train—hoisin sauce, pineapple juice, fresh ginger root, some sesame oil, scallions, and toasted sesame seeds. If it sounds like heaven, that’s because it absolutely, positively, 100-percent is! After the complete cook time (8.5 to 10 hours), you’ll have yourself some ribs unlike anything else you’ve ever experienced before. Like if you could eat surfing. Recipe
