Baby-Back Ribs

I love ribs! I love ribs! I love ribs!! I have a recipe in my white recipe box (I have a white one, a blue one, and a red one) for baby-back ribs. I have no idea where I got it, but we absolutely love it! I've tried several other recipes and there just hasn't been one that's been able to beat today's recipe. The dry rub is perfect and the sauce is perfect. It just can't be beat!

I usually make this recipe in the oven and they turn out fabulously. But this last time, I thought I'd try them in the crockpot. They also turned out great. The difference, however, was that the sauce from the crockpot was thinner than when I've made it in the oven. When it's cooked in the oven, the sauce gets a more caramalized, gooey texture to it. But one way to get that same sauce texture using the crockpot is by baking the crockpot cooked ribs for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees to set the sauce on them. Any way you do it, they still tasted REALLY GOOD!!

Here's what you'll need:

4 lbs. pork baby-back ribs

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. seasoned salt

1 t. pepper

1 medium onion, sliced

1 C. ketchup

1 C. chili sauce (not hot sauce, like I used the first time I made this - chili sauce, it is usually sold by the coctail sauce or ketchup in grocery stores)

1/4 C. packed brown sugar

1 T. dried minced onion

1 T. liquid smoke

1 T. molasses

To cook in the oven:

Combine garlic powder, seasoned salt, and pepper; sprinkle over ribs. Place ribs bone-side down in a large roasting pan. Top with sliced onion. Cover tightly and bake @ 350 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Drain fat from pan; discard sliced onion. Brush ribs with half of the BBQ sauce and reserve the other half to eat with, or smother with all the BBQ sauce, like I do. Cover & bake 30 minutes longer or until ribs are tender.

To cook in a crockpot:

Combine garlic powder, seasoned salt, pepper, and an extra Tablespoon of dried minced onion;

sprinkle over ribs.

Arrange ribs in crockpot. In a medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients and pour over ribs.

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or HIGH for 3 1/2-4 hours.

As you may be able to see, the meat just falls right off the bones! Oh, so good!!!