Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Country-Style Pork Ribs

Tender and inexpensive pork ribs cook to succulent perfection in a sweet yet tangy sauce right in your slow cooker.

One of the most requested recipes on my Facebook crock pot recipe group is for brown sugar chicken. Every recipe I’d seen for this looked absolutely scrumptious.

Most things “chicken” also seem to work with pork so I decided to try which was pretty much the standard recipe for the chicken.

I was not disappointed! This was truly delectable. I used low-sodium soy sauce in this and the taste was fine.

The pork infuses with the sauce and the flavor is even more intense if you thicken that sauce and make it into a gravy and serve it over the top of the ribs.

Intensely flavorful

To keep the fat down, I trimmed as much visible fat as I could off the pork. Country-style ribs are a well-marbled cut of pork. But you could always make this a day ahead–it would probably infuse with more flavor if you did–refrigerate and skim off any congealed fat.

This would definitely work with any style chops too. With thicker chops (over 1/2 inch thick) the cook times probably would be the same as for the ribs, but if you have thinly sliced chops, then the cook time would have to be reduced.

If you use thinner chops, keep an eye on it and don’t plan for a long cook time, even at low. The times I give for this are only approximate as I tend not to buy thin chops so I’ve never cooked them by this or any other method.

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Country-Style Pork Ribs

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

8 hours

Total time

8 hours 15 mins

Author: Judith Hannemann

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2-3 lbs country-style pork ribs*
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
oil for browning
Sauce:
⅓ cup soy sauce
¾ cup pineapple juice -OR- lemon-lime soda (i.e. 7-UP)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
½ cup brown sugar
For Gravy (optional):
2 tbs cornstarch
¼ cup water

Instructions

*Any variety of pork chops may be substituted, but if using thin chops (less than ½-inch thick), cook time will need to be adjusted down--approximately 4 hours LOW, 2 hours HIGH.
Trim ribs of any excess fat.
Heat oil over medium-high heat in a heavy skillet.
Mix the salt, pepper and garlic powder; sprinkle over pork.
Brown pork well on both sides; place in crock of a 5-6 quart slow cooker.
Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl and pour over pork.
Cover and cook on LOW 5-6 hours, HIGH 3-4 hours--times are approximate as each cooker will cook differently.
If a thick sauce is desired, remove ribs to a serving plate and keep warm in a 200 degree F oven, turn cooker to HIGH (if you cooked on LOW), and heat until sauce begins to bubble. Mix the cornstarch and water and stir into sauce, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Cook for 5 minutes.
You can return the ribs to the crock pot to coat with sauce if desired. Otherwise, ladle sauce over ribs on serving platter.
Serves 4.