Tangy, tender and fall-off-the-bone delicious! All you need are 3 ingredients, plus salt and pepper, for these finger licking good barbecue ribs made easily in your slow cooker.
Here in Austin, you can throw a stone in any direction and hit a good barbecue joint. However, as easy as bought barbecue is to come by, my method of making ridiculously tender, sticky ribs the homemade way is even easier… and absolutely fool-proof!
I have some friends who swear by a day-long smoking process, and others who oven-bake them slow and low, then finish on the grill. Let me just put it this way, I’ve never had a BAD rib. Each method produces fantastic results! But, this mama needs to keep it simple when the hankering for good homemade barbecue strikes.
Enter 3 simple ingredients and your slow cooker!
The addition of root beer gives these ribs a slight vanilla-molasses infusion, which is all the more enhanced with a sticky, spicy barbecue sauce! I love to serve these ribs with corn on the cob and my Southern potato salad… and a thick pile of napkins, of course.
In my experience, barbecue sauce is best added after the ribs are mostly cooked. Otherwise, the sugar in the sauce will burn and you’ll end up with a difficult cleaning job. In this method, simply add a bottle of good-quality root beer to your slow cooker and lay your ribs on top. You can cook them on low (which I recommend) or high, but either way, they come out delicious and tender.
When the ribs are cooked, place them on a large baking sheet and slather with barbecue sauce. Into the oven they go, so the sauce can caramelize and stick to yer ribs (like these ribs will). And then, you’re ready to dig in!
Serve these awesome, easy root beer ribs for your next barbecue or casual summer get-together!
Craving more? Keep in touch on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for new post updates and more. You can also check out my FAQ page, or contact me with any questions or inquiries!
Slow Cooker Root Beer Baby Back Ribs
Yield: Makes about 6 servings
Ingredients:
3 pounds baby back ribs, thawed and trimmed
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup root beer
1 (18 ounce) bottle barbecue sauce
Directions:
Pat ribs dry with paper towels and season generously with salt and pepper.
Pour root beer into slow cooker, then place ribs on top. Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 6-8 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil. Transfer ribs to sheet. Coat ribs with barbecue sauce (more or less, to your taste). Bake until sauce caramelizes and sticks to the meat, 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and brush on more sauce, if desired.
Enjoy!
Adapted from Allrecipes
Oh my goshhh. I totally want these for breakfast!!
This looks SOOOOO good! Perfect for summer time!
I love the idea of ribs with rootbeer! This looks delicious – perfectly sticky and tender.
My slow cooker died :-(
Do you think I could do this on a low temp in the oven?
Georgia — June 15th, 2015 @ 12:51 pm
I suggest you try this oven-baked ribs recipe here, instead
http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2010/06/barbecued-baby-back-ribs.html
These look delicious. Do you really only use 1/2 cup of the root beer? Does it last through the four hours of cooking time? You always have such wonderful recipes. Thank you so much!
Georgia — June 16th, 2015 @ 8:41 am
Oops, should be 1 cup! The recipe has been updated.
Oh these ribs look amazing, really interesting what the root beer does to the flavor, will definitely try this recipe. My husband would love this!!!
Gosh, how I love ribs. My Dad just made the most amazing smoked ribs for Sunday dinner the other night, the only problem?? They take 18hours and actually have to be monitored pretty frequently during that time, these are perfect when you jut want to prep it and then forget about it! Looks delicious!
I would love to make these but I have one problem, my husband and son don’t like root beer. Do the ribs end up tasting like it?
Georgia — June 25th, 2015 @ 1:11 pm
The ribs do not have a strong taste of root beer, but you can use beef broth instead, if you prefer.
I would love to make these but it is just two of us and 3lbs of ribs seems like alot, if i do 1 1/2lbs and cut everything in half will it turn out the same?
Thanks,
Autumn
Georgia — June 25th, 2015 @ 1:11 pm
Yes, you can definitely halve this recipe with good results!
Just want to let you know that I made these for Father’s Day and they were a big hit! Thanks Georgia!
Hi Georgia, love all your recipes! Just wondering if there is a specific barbecue sauce you would recommend for this recipe? Thanks!
Georgia — September 23rd, 2015 @ 12:01 pm
Any will do, but I believe I used Bullseye brand for this recipe.
Hey, Georgia!
I am planning to make this recipe for supper tonight or tomorrow night, but I just have a few questions 1st.
I have 1.662 kg (3.66 lbs I think) of pork side ribs. Will this recipe still work if I cut the ribs up? How much root beer & bbq sauce should I use since it’s more than 3 lbs?
Also, I only have a BBQ sauce called Chicken n’ Rib. Would this taste good or is it too sweet? I don’t want to make it if it’s not gonna taste good!
Thanks!
The ribs might over-cook if cut up, but if you need to cut them up, just cook on low and keep an eye on them to avoid drying them out. I would stick with the same measurements of root beer and BBQ sauce. I’m not familiar with that BBQ sauce, so I would say just use your best judgement and don’t use a sauce you don’t like. Enjoy!
Could you make these with real beer instead of root beer?
That should work fine!
Aw, this was a very nice post. Spending some time and actual effort to generate a great article…
but what can I say… I hesitate a whole lot and don’t manage to get anything done.
Hiya! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask.
Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a blog post or vice-versa?
My site discusses a lot of the same subjects as yours and I believe
we could greatly benefit from each other. If you might be interested feel
free to shoot me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!
Great blog by the way!
I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high-quality articles or weblog posts on this kind of house .
Exploring in Yahoo I finally stumbled upon this web site.
Studying this information So i am satisfied to exhibit that I
have a very good uncanny feeling I came upon exactly what I needed.
I most surely will make sure to don?t forget this website and provides it a look on a continuing basis.
Just desire to say your article is as amazing.
The clearness in your post is just excellent and i can assume you’re an expert on this
subject. Fine with your permission let me to grab your feed to keep updated with forthcoming post.
Thanks a million and please carry on the rewarding work.
Wonderful blog! Do you have any helpful hints for aspiring
writers? I’m hoping to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything.
Would you suggest starting with a free platform like WordPress or
go for a paid option? There are so many options out there
that I’m completely confused .. Any suggestions?
Kudos!
I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout
on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself?
Anyway keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a great blog like this one nowadays.
It is not my first time to go to see this site, i am visiting this website dailly and
get pleasant information from here every day.
There is perceptibly a bunch to realize about this. I think you made certain nice points in features also.
Hi there friends, fastidious paragraph and fastidious arguments commented here, I am truly enjoying by
these.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article author for
your blog. You have some really good articles and I feel I would be
a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like to write some articles
for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine.
Please blast me an email if interested. Thanks!
Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is great, let
alone the content!
Hurrah! Finally I got a web site from where I can in fact take useful
information regarding my study and knowledge.