It may be hard to believe but up until last year I had never owned or used a slow cooker. I know, crazy isn’t it! Well, one taste of these Slow Cooker Ginger Beer Barbecue Baby Back Ribs has made me a slow cooker convert!
If they were any easier to make they’d make themselves, and as for flavor……these baby back ribs were fall off the bone delicious!
Lisa has always loved Baby Back Ribs and I must admit grilling is not one of my specialties. And while using a slow cooker to make ribs would make any grilling aficionado cringe, I gotta say it’s my go-to style for cooking ribs and other meats that require long cooking times.
Being a guy and with the whole boys and their toys stigma, I opted for the Ninja 3-1 Slow Cooker. I went with this model not only because it sounded really cool, but because of the oblong size, the positive reviews and the fact that I can sear the meat in the cooker before using the slow cooker function ( I haven’t used it yet, but thought it might come in handy)
Just to be clear, Ninja isn’t asking me to say these things and I’m not being compensated in any way, this is just me sharing a product I use and like. Of course, if Ninja happens to read this post and wants to send me more toys, I wouldn’t mind!
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did and feel free to have fun with the recipe swapping out with your favorite beer or soda.
If you love your slow cooker you might also enjoy these recipes:
- Tangerine Sticky Ribs
- Slow Cooker Guinness Beef Ribs
- Chicken Merlot
- Wild Boar (and pulled pork sliders)
Slow Cooker Ginger Beer Barbecue Baby Back Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 rack baby back ribs cut two pieces
- 2 cups barbecue sauce I used Sweet Baby Rays
- 12 ounces ginger beer or your favorite premium beer
- 1 tbsp Montreal steak seasoning for ribs
- 1 slices orange leave the peel on
Instructions
- rinse the ribs under cold running water, pat dry with paper towels
- season the tops of the ribs with Montreal seasoning according to taste and place into slow cooker. Be careful too much seasoning will make these very peppery.
- add barbecue sauce, ginger beer and orange slices into the slow cooker
- turn on slow cooker to high setting and cook for 4 hours and 30 minutes for very tender ribs, 5 hours for fall off the bone ribs.
- turn off the slow cooker and remove the cooking liquids and place in saucepan over high heat to reduce the sauce until it thickens, about 10 minutes.
- Spoon some of the sauce over the ribs and if you want them to caramelize place them under the broiler for a few minutes.
- Serve up your deliciousness with your favorite sides!
Nutrition
Bob c
Chef, want to make these ribs tonight, I will be using a Ninja slow cooker, recipe says cook on high. Do you mean High stove top or high slow cooker mode on the ninja?
Chef Dennis Littley
hi Bob
High on your Ninja slow cooker mode. That’s the slow cooker I have too.
Amanda
Will two racks of ribs cook in amount of time? I want to try these tonight, sounds amazing!
Chef Dennis Littley
As long as they both fit in your slow cooker without overstuffing it, the cooking time shouldn’t be affected.
Lisa
My new go-to recipe for ribs! These were so easy and delicious. I didn’t have ginger beer so I substituted a can of Guinness, and used KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce. Fall off the bone fork tender. This is a keeper!!
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks for the feedback Lisa, I’m very happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe, ribs cooked this way are a wonderful thing! I made some last night for a small family gathering using regular beer and they were wonderful!
GailLLC
I have some confusion about “ginger beer.” Are you referring to beer that has ginger in it, or the brewed (and amazing!) versions of the soda pop commonly called ginger ale? Being a soda-style ginger beer aficionado but not someone who typically has beer around, I’m hoping it’s my type because these ribs sound awesome! Sweet Baby Ray’s is our go-to bottled BBQ sauce, too. Thanks.
Chef Dennis Littley
Ginger beer is more of an adult ginger ale with a more robust flavor, but you can use regular ginger ale or your favorite beer instead. Enjoy the ribs!
Annamaria @ Bakewell Junction
Chef Dennis,
Your ribs look finger-licking good. Pinning.
Annamaria
Chef Dennis Littley
Thank you Annamaria, they were delicious!
GERRY SJODIN
Hi Chef,
Gonna be trying this for sure – sounds delish
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks Gerry, hope you enjoy the ribs!
Liz
Yum – thank you!
Chef Dennis Littley
Glad you like it Liz!
Tommy A Canyon
Excellent on game meat,Elk, Deer, Javalina, any rib meat. Enjoyed it very much.
Chef Dennis Littley
I’m sure it would be great on game meat Tommy, thanks!
tina collins
so very good just can;t belive it there just so good.
Chef Dennis Littley
Thanks Tina!