These Slow Cooker Country Style Ribs are tender, flavorful, and incredibly easy to make with just a few pantry staples. Cooked low and slow, they turn an affordable cut of pork into a comforting, family-approved dinner that tastes like you spent hours in the kitchen — even on a busy weeknight.
Why You’ll Love these Country Style Ribs!
My entire family loves it when I cook BBQ ribs for dinner. This ribs recipe requires minimal effort but tastes amazing with a handful of simple ingredients. The slow cooker makes this country ribs cook until they are fork tender. The meat literally falls off the bone.
Once you cook ribs in your crock pot you’ll never go back to the way you were cooking them before. Slow Cooker Country Style Ribs is simple to make but everyone will think that you have been working hard in the kitchen all day long.
If you love making Easy Slow Cooker Recipes as much as I do, make sure to check out these other delicious recipes. Crock Pot Ribs with Coke, Slow Cooker Baby Back Ribs, Slow Cooker Beef Ribs and Easy Crockpot BBQ Ribs Recipe are just some of my favorites.
Recipe Snapshot
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 8–10 hours (low)
- Budget-Friendly: Yes. Simple pantry ingredients
- Method: Slow Cooker + optional broil
- Freezer-Friendly: Yes
- Best For: Busy weeknights, family dinners, BBQ-style meals
- Family-Tested: Kid-approved, repeat recipe
Ingredients
Budget Tip: Country-style ribs are often cheaper than baby back ribs and go on sale frequently — stock up and freeze for easy slow cooker meals.
- Country Style Bone-In Pork Ribs – Use any cut of meat
- Brown Sugar – See The Best Brown Sugar Substitutes if you are out
- Chili Powder – If you are out check out The Best Chili Powder Substitute
- Salt and Black Pepper – You can use kosher salt as well
- Favorite BBQ Sauce – You can use sweet baby ray or make Homemade Barbecue Sauce
Scroll to the recipe card for the full recipe details.
How to Cook Country Style Ribs in the Crock Pot
Step 1 – Put the country style pork ribs in your favorite crock pot.
Step 2 – Then you whisk all the other ingredients together. This sauce mixture is so good that you will not miss the smoky barbecue sauce in this recipe.
Step 3 – Pour the sauce over the ribs.
Step 4 – Then cover and cook the ribs in the slow cooker for 8-10 hours on low heat.
Step 5 – Once they have been slow cooked, place on a baking sheet. Broil the ribs on a baking pan for approximately 5-10 minutes to caramelize the sauce.
Step 6 – This process bring out the best flavors in this recipe. You may also put them on the grill for 5-10 minutes instead of using the broiler if you prefer.
Step 7 – Season with salt and pepper then serve with your favorite side dishes.
What is the Difference between Country Style Ribs and Spare Ribs?
Country style pork ribs are cut from the shoulder of the hog and the very end of the pork loin. These ribs are similar to pork chops in flavor.
Spare ribs come from the rib section of the hog and have a slightly different flavor. Either type would taste great in this recipe. So you may substitute with spare ribs in you prefer them over country style ribs.
The sauce in this recipe would go great with other cuts of pork as well. I usually buy what’s on sale.
How to Serve Ribs
The country style ribs are a great addition to your family’s BBQ or a tasty weeknight meal. We love to serve easy side dishes for a complete meal idea. I always make these CrockPot Mashed Potatoes Recipe or Garlic Butter Rice with a side of this Boiling Corn on the Cob Recipe and Green Beans with Bacon Recipe.
It makes for the perfect combination and always a crowd favorite. For other options try this Quick & Easy Baked Beans or Baked Mac and Cheese Recipe. If you are making boneless country style pork ribs add Traditional Potato Salad Recipe or Best Macaroni Salad Recipe as a delicious side dish.
This Homemade Cornbread Recipe is another delicious options and taste even better making from scratch. For more side dish ideas, see Best Sides for Ribs.
These ribs are the bomb, it was a great hit with my family
So tender, well do it again
Very tender, great taste.
-Linda B
Frequently Asked Questions
This best slow cooker country style ribs recipe cooks in the crock pot on low for 8-10 hours. You can also cook country style ribs slow cooker on high for approximately 6-8 hours.
I prefer to cook low and slow as I think they are more tender. But you can cook them on high to shorten the cooking time if you need to. Cooking times vary depending on how many ribs you are slow cooking.
This crock pot country style pork ribs is freezer friendly. Simply place all the ingredients in a freezer bag and then freeze. When you are ready to use, allow the meal to thaw in the refrigerator, and then follow the directions. If you love easy freezer meals, also check out the Lazy Day Cooking Club.
Store your leftover ribs in an airtight container then place in the fridge. These ribs will last about 4 days if stored properly. These ribs make a great lunch the next and reheat easily in the microwave.
Slow Cooker Country Style Ribs
Ingredients
- 3 lbs country style pork ribs
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups ketchup
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup spicy brown mustard
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
See how we calculate recipe costs.
Instructions
- Place the ribs in the crock pot.
- Combine all the ingredients in small bowl.
- Stir to combine.
- Pour over the ribs.
- Cook on low for 8-10 hours.
- Place the ribs on a cooking sheet, lined with foil.
- Spoon sauce over the top.
- Broil (or grill) for 5-10 minutes or until it begins to brown.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Recipe Tips
- Homemade Barbecue Sauce – We love making our sauces from scratch because you can control the ingredients. Making Homemade BBQ Sauce saves time, money and taste even better on these ribs.
- Cooking Ribs – For the best results we recommend cooking the ribs on low. It helps to tenderize the meat which results the most flavorful ribs.
- Cooking Spray – Feel free to spray the slow cooker with cooking spray if you have problems with the meat sticking.
- Instant Pot – If you prefer, these ribs can be made in the instant. Place the ribs in the instant pot with 1 cup of water and add in your sauce ingredients. Then cook the ribs for about 15 minutes on high press and do a natural release for about 10. Then broil the ribs in the oven for a caramelize the texture.
Substitutions and Additions
This recipe is delicious just as it is however you can add a few additions if you would like.- Liquid Smoke – Liquid Smoke is a delicious addition to add smokey flavor
- Add Seasonings – Garlic Powder, cumin, onion powder, and paprika are great to add
- Onions – Slice up an onion and add it in the beginning of the slow cooking in a single layer.
- Change the Meat – Pork chops, pork shoulder or a pork roast would work in this slow cooker recipe. Great idea for making amazing pulled pork for your friends and family. Feel free to make this recipe with boneless ribs as well. The cooking time will still be the same.
Nutrition Facts
More Slow Cooker Pork Recipes
Make sure to leave us a comment if you try this Crock Pot Pork Ribs Country Style Recipe. We love hearing from you.
Fall off the bone awesomeness. We enjoyed these fantastic ribs along with steamed rice, broccoli, and dinner rolls. My wife kept commenting how tender these were and that she’s never had ribs fall off the bone so easy. Thank you so much for sharing.
Excellent recipe. I’ve never made country ribs before. First, I used bone in ribs and they turned out delicious. Today, I’m using boneless ribs and expect the same result. Thank you!
Nicole – Thank you so much! I’m thrilled you enjoyed it!
All of the Eating On A Dime recipes are creative and great tasting, not to mention easy to follow.
I’m so happy it turned out great. Thank you for the kind words!
Curious ….if you use the Ip, no water is added?
Linda – I would add in 1 cup of water as well to the Instant Pot to ensure that it comes to pressure. I’ll update that note in the recipe. Thanks!
These look amazing! I just finished watching the video but I didn’t see you put the brown mustard in?
Going to make these soon!
These ribs are the bomb, it was a great hit with my family
So tender, well do it again
Very tender, great taste.
Linda – I love hearing that! Thank you so much for sharing and for the positive review! I love this rib recipe too!
I haven’t made these ribs yet, but wondered if you could help me figure out what would be the time and temperature of these ribs if I made it in the oven.
I haven’t tried it yet but I would cook them at 300 degrees F covered in foil for approximately 2.5-3 hours until the ribs are tender. I hope they turn out great!
These were soooo good! I had to improvise just a little as I wanted to reduce the sodium and I was short a few things. I used 2.5 lb BONELESS country style ribs, espresso rub in place of the chili powder (rub had chili powder in it), replaced 1/4 cup of the ketchup with 1/4 cup espresso balsamic vinegar, used reduced sodium Worcestershire, added 1/2 tsp liquid smoke and cut the salt down to 1/8 tsp. When you add sugar (brown sugar, ketchup), you don’t really miss the salt. They came out really good. I’ll be making these again!
Thanks for sharing – Your substitutions sound amazing and I’m so glad it still came out delicious!