Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs

With the super hot weather these days, I wasn’t going to use my stove or oven to prepare dinner… and it was even way too hot to go out and fire up the grill. So how is dinner going to get on the table? By using the slow cooker/crockpot! On the menu were these Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs. It doesn’t get any easier than this – 4 ingredients slow cooked to perfection. And if you’re feeling ambitious, you can make homemade BBQ sauce from scratch to use in place of store bought sauce!

Most people may associate slow cooker/crockpot cooking for the fall and winter months. I happen to like using my slow cooker all year round… especially on hot summer days when you want to avoid using the stove and oven, as well as sweating around a sizzling grill under a blazing sun. This recipe is ridiculously simple – place your favorite cut of ribs (I used country pork ribs), your favorite BBQ sauce, a few cloves of minced garlic and a pinch of dried oregano all in a slow cooker. Let it work it’s slow cooking magic and dinner is ready in a few hours with minimal effort.

However if you want to be a little more active in the kitchen, you can make a wonderful BBQ sauce from scratch to use over your ribs. The Neely’s BBQ sauce is a perfect balance of sweet, tart and a lot of depth of flavor using common pantry ingredients!

2-3 pounds country pork ribs
2 cups prepared BBQ sauce (recipe follows)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Place the pork, BBQ sauce, garlic and oregano into a crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

2 cups ketchup
1 cup water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
5 tablespoons light brown sugar
5 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1/2 tablespoon ground mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat to simmer. Cook uncovered, stirring frequently, for 1 hour 15 minutes.