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Fall Off The Bone Slow Cooker Spare Ribs

Dorothy Porker
Super easy, spicy slow cooked spare ribs with a home-made dry rub. This recipe includes instructions on how to cook them in the oven if you do not have a slow cooker.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Overnight rub 8 hours
Course Dinner, Main course
Cuisine American
Servings 2

Equipment

  • Food brush, optional
  • Slow cooker OR
  • Oven AND
  • Roasting Tin and Tin foil OR
  • Dutch oven with a lid

Ingredients
  

  • 2 racks ribs uncooked, unseasoned, un-marinated

For the dry rub

  • 1/2 c - 50 gr brown sugar
  • 1 T - 15 gr mustard powder
  • 1/2 t - 7 gr cayenne
  • 1/2 t - 7 gr paprika powder smoked is nice but optional
  • 1/2 t - 7 gr garlic powder
  • 1/2 t - 7 gr salt smoked is nice but optional
  • 1/2 t - 7 gr black pepper

For slow cooking

  • 1/2 c - 120 ml barbecue sauce use your personal favorite brand and flavor

Instructions
 

A day head of dinner

  • You can either cut your racks of ribs into individual pieces or leave them on the rack. They come out wonderful either way. I always halve my racks because otherwise they don't fit my slow cooker.
  • Please note the dry rub is intended for about 1 pound or 500 grams of ribs. Multiply if necessary.
  • Mix 1/2 c - 50 gr of brown sugar with 1 T 15 gr of mustard powder and 1/2 t - 7 gr of each of the following cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, salt and black pepper to create the dry rub.
  • Mix the rubs with the dry rub, coating them evenly. Cover and place in your fridge overnight.

The morning of

    In the slow cooker

    • Thinly coat the spareribs in 1/2 c - 120 ml of your barbecue sauce of choice before placing them in your slow cooker.
    • I like to keep them meat-side down, but anything goes formation wise. Slow cook for 6-8 hours on low.
    • At the end of cooking time preheat your oven grill to 200° C/ 400° F. Remove the ribs from the slow cooker, reserving the liquids and place meat side up on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Lightly coat in slow cooking liquid.
    • Place in the oven for 5 minutes, to get the top of the ribs nice and caramelized, before turning them over and coating them in liquid again, to do the same to the bottom and repeat so both the top and bottom have been hit twice. It’s best to stay nearby to avoid burning.

    In the oven

    • Preheat your oven to 175° C/ 350° F.
    • Be sure to save the marinade.
    • Place the ribs meat side down in a roasting tin on some tinfoil and wrap it airtight, leaving enough room for air and moisture to circulate. Or place them in a Dutch oven with a lid.
    • Cook for 2 hours. Follow your nose! If it appears the ribs are becoming too dry, add some liquid, a broth, stock or dashi will do nicely but water also works fine in a pinch.
    • Open the top of the parcel or remove the lid and turn and baste every 5-10 minutes, with the cooking liquid and leftover marinade, turning them at least 3 times, to caramelize and finish

    To finish

    • Once removed from the oven, let rest covered with tin foil for another 15 minutes before digging in.

    Notes

    Note: I have tried slow cooking the ribs and then caramelizing them a day later, but found them to be a lot dryer then when you heave them straight from the slow cooker into the oven. 
    Keyword dry rub, meat, pork, pork ribs, ribs, slow cooker, slowcooked, slowcooker, spare ribs, spareribs