Beef Ribs Recipe

This beef ribs recipe gives you a fall-off the bone tender meat dish.  Combine that with the ease of the slow cooker and it is a winner in my book.  Because remember… it doesn’t have to be hard! 

I have a Chuck Country Style Boneless Beef Ribs today according to the label.  But this beef ribs recipe would work with any style ribs.  Boneless, bone in, even pork ribs would work.  

Ingredients

• Beef Ribs
• Bbq sauce 
• Salt and pepper to taste 
• Oil for browning

First thing you’ll need to do is brown (or sear) your ribs in a little oil of your choice. This is actually an optional step…. sort of.  I don’t recommend skipping it. If you must, you can just put them in the cooker and cook, but I HIGHLY recommend searing them first.  Remember most meats cooked in a slow cooker benefit from being browned first.  And this is definitely the case with this beef ribs recipe. 

Use any oil you choose.  My choice is bacon grease.  I save this from our breakfast bacon in a small jar and it adds so much flavor to many of our meals. Olive or peanut oil works well too.  You can also use vegetable or canola oil (my least favorites). You don’t need a lot of oil or grease.  Just enough to coat the pan with a heavy coating. 

Your best bet is to use a heavy bottomed pan.  I love to use my enameled cast iron pan.  A cast iron skillet works too.  The benefit of the deeper pan is it controls the grease splatters.  Just accept that you are going to have to clean up grease from your stove when you are done.  It is a fact of life when you want great tasting meals.  But the deep sides do help to minimize the mess. 

Sear all sides.   the more sides you can get browned the better.  Meats are sometimes odd shapes so you might not get every bit… but more is good!  The caramelization of that outer surface of meat is what gives the good flavor of the final dish.  

When you are done place your meat in a slow cooker.  This day I am working with 2 pieces of boneless ribs. It’s only about a pound and a half of meat so I’m using my small slow cooker.  If you have more meat just use a bigger crockpot. 

Next you want to add your BBQ sauce.  You can use any flavor BBQ sauce you choose for this beef ribs recipe.  I’ve often just grabbed a bottle of store purchased sauce for convenience.  But a homemade sauce can enable you to really make this your own.  At the bottom of this page I included a really good homemade sauce recipe that I use.  

The barbecue sauce is poured over the ribs in the crockpot, but first you must put it in that pan where you just seared the meat. I say must… you could actually skip this step too but it is these little details that makes for great meals. 

Swirl it around a bit to pick up all that browned goodness left in the pan.  I used about 1/2 cup today and swirled it around the pan and then poured that over the ribs in the cooker.   If you have more meat you may need to use more.  The meat is not covered.  It is just a nice coating.  

It is best to allow this to cook on low for 6-8 hours, but there have been times when I’m later in the day getting this together and I’ve cooked in on high for 4-5 hours. 

Beef Ribs Recipe serving suggestions.  

The meat is now read to serve.  The juices from the ribs will make the sauce thin and runny.  Still tastes great!  But if you might want to have extra bbq sauce to serve on the side with the meat.  

Serving Suggestions:

Serve with potatoes or rice and whatever vegetable you like.  

Options to make it your own. 

• Shake in a bit of liquid smoke to add a smokey flavor. 
• Or add 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes to up the spicyness.   
• Molasses is a nice switch from brown sugar on occasion.  

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Page last updated 1/11/2020