It seems so long ago now, but how was your Fourth of July? We had big plans to cook on the grill and get in the pool and hopefully pop some fireworks in our cul de sac for the Fourth. Then a few days before the holiday I checked the forecast and it showed rain showers all day. Womp womp. This meant I needed to modify our menu. I had already bought a rack of pork ribs and both my husband and I were looking forward to enjoy some fall off the bone tenderness so I needed a Plan B. I was flipping through the Make & Take cooking magazine and found a recipe for ribs in the broiler and slow cooker. I used my own cooking seasonings but used their instructions. I used my LG Oven’s broiler function for the first time and let it and my slow cooker save the day with a BBQ ribs recipe on a rainy Fourth of July.
Ingredients:
- 1 rack of pork ribs
- Weber Grills Chipotle pork rub (Can probably find in your grocery store’s spice section.)
- 2 bottles of Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce (You can use any sauce you like.)
Instructions:
- Preheat Broiler on oven.
- Rub the ribs on both sides with desired amount of rib rub. I did enough to where I could see the seasoning but not to where it was a thick coating.
- Next cut the ribs diagonally along the bones in 2 rib segments.
- Place ribs on an unheated broiler pan.
- Broil ribs for about 10 minutes to brown turning once.
- Transfer ribs to slow cooker and pour one of the bottles of BBQ sauce into pan and coat ribs evenly.
- Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. I used half of the remaining jar to apply to the ribs once every few hours with a sauce brush while they were cooking. I used the other half to serve with when the ribs were done cooking.
Note:
Using the broiler on my LG (which was super easy to do- just press the button) oven gave the coating of the spices on the outside of the ribs a beautiful crunchy caramelization and then finishing them off in the slow cooker made the meat so tender it was literally falling off the bone. Repeatedly coating the ribs with the sauce as they cooked gave them a delicious depth of flavor.
Cutting the ribs is not hard. It may seem a little intimidating if you’ve never done it before, but get a sharp knife and get bold. I promise you can do it. I channeled my country girl from all those years ago who helped my Papaw butcher our own meat. Even if you’ve never done that, if there is one thing I’ve learned in my 8 weeks in cooking school it is don’t be afraid to try! Just find the direction the bones are running (It will be at an angle.) and simply guide your knife to slice along the bone for every other rib. Even with slicing the meat this recipe is super simple- only 3 ingredients, cut, broil, and let the slow cooker do its work.
I used a Raspberry Chipotle BBQ sauce paired with the Chipotle rub. The Chipotle brought the heat but then the Raspberry brought the sweet and it all paired so well with the tender caramelized ribs. If you can’t find or don’t want to use Raspberry you can personalize the recipe and use any sauce or rub combination you like by using the same broil and slow cooker instructions. In the end, the rain stopped and we were able to watch the fireworks in the cul de sac and had a great indoor BBQ.
