Slow Cooker BBQ Country Ribs

Yum Shopping on a strict budget this week so these country style pork ribs at $1.00 per pound caught my eye while perusing around the meat department at the grocery store. I hadn't yet tried ribs with BBQ sauce in the crock pot so I decided to give it a go. The package had six ribs and some were very meaty so I lucked out in that area. The weight was a bit over 3 pounds and cost me $7.00.

The BBQ sauce was $2.99 and I only used a small amount and will have the rest for other meals. I chose to do the dish with a recognizable national brand rather than to make my own so that everyone can see that it doesn't cost lots of money for a meal like this. If you are only two people you can split the ribs up and either freeze them for a week or do a different recipe another night.



I don't own a fancy new slow cooker that allows you to brown in the slow cooker so I seared the country ribs on the stove top first. Then once I added a few things to the slow cooker with the pork it did its' own thing over a period of about six hours and I feel I could have let it go a full eight hours which does make this a good dish to have slow cooking while you are out at work.

• 3 lbs. country pork ribs
• shortening (for searing the ribs)
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup apple sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays)
• cooking spray

1. Get a wide pan hot over medium high heat and add in enough shortening to coat the pan.
2. Salt and pepper to taste all sides of the ribs.
3. Sear each side for about 1 1/2 -3 minutes. Three minutes for the side with a fat cap to render off some of the fat. When seared moved to a waiting plate.
4. Spray the bowl of the crock pot with cooking spray for easier clean up.
5. Add in the ribs, the apple sauce and water and just a little of the BBQ sauce.
6. Cover. Cook on low 6-8 hours.
7. When the ribs are cooked you can just pour in the rest of the BBQ sauce and coat the ribs and cook for a little longer, or transfer to a foiled lined baking sheet and glaze the ribs and put under the broiler for a few minutes to make the glaze adhere.

If you want baked potatoes to go along with the ribs, wash each potato and wrap individually in foil. Place the tightly wrapped potatoes on the bottom and the ribs over those. I have a large crock pot so I was able to do them in with the ribs. My husband thought the crock pot "baked" potato were the best potatoes he's ever eaten.