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Slow Cooker Sticky Asian Ribs with Sticky Sauce are the very best fall of the bone tender ribs you will ever make! Slow cooked to perfection in a sweet and tangy asian sauce. They get slathered right before serving in a finger licking good sticky sauce!
I can hardly contain my excitement over here you guys. My cute friend Carrian, at Oh Sweet Basil just released her new cookbook, Our Sweet Basil Kitchen, and it blowing my mind. It took me so long just to choose a recipe out of it because they are all so delicious! Every single recipe is one that my family would love. We have already made her famous Teriyaki Chicken Casserole and I am pretty sure that I have every page dog eared for our family to try. This is a cookbook you will use for your family again and again!
It was so hard deciding what to make. I
was able to narrow it down to to these Asian Sticky Slow Cooker ribs. Simply because I prefer my ribs cooked in a slow cooker AND our family loves asian flavors. If you haven’t made ribs in your slow cooker yet, you need to drop what you are doing and make this recipe for dinner tonight!! The meat literally falls off the bone because it is so tender.
{Our Sweet Basil Kitchen Cookbook available here}
You start out by creating the most amazing spice rub for these ribs. A little bit of sweet and heat goes into this spice rub and coats the ribs perfectly. You put them in the slow cooker and let it do its magical work on these ribs.
Once these ribs slow cook all day long in a sweet and tangy asian sauce, you remove them broil in the oven for a few minutes. This is totally an optional step but in my opinion a MUST. This gives the ribs a nice crisp edge and makes the sauce nice and crispy on the top.
But the sticky sauce. Holy cow. Carrian sure knew what she was doing when she made this recipe because it was the most amazing finishing touch. It is all about the sticky asian sauce at the end. It is a mix of sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, honey… all of my favorite ingredients. You thicken it up and slather it on the ribs right before serving.
My youngest son is a rib LOVER. He is the pickiest eater but when it comes to ribs and wings he can’t get enough. I knew he would be so excited for these ribs. He said these were the best ribs that he has ever had in his entire life…. (of 9 years ?) and ate half of them!
I would have to agree with him. These are the best ribs that I have ever had in my entire life. I can’t emphasize how badly they need to be made at your house. And don’t forget to get a copy of the Our Sweet Basil Kitchen Cookbook. You will love all of the recipes inside just like we did!
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Slow Cooker Sticky Asian Ribs with Sticky Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 racks pork baby back ribs
Dry Rub:
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
Sticky Sauce:
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce found in the international section of the grocery store
- ⅔ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ⅔ cup balsamic vinegar
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- ⅔ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
- To make the sticky sauce: In a medium sized dish, whisk together the ginger, pepper, and onion powder. Add the garlic and mix again to incorporate. Add sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and honey. Whisk until incorporated.
- Mix the dry rub ingredients together in a small bowl. Remove the membrane and place the ribs into the slow cooker. You can either curl the ribs along the slow cooker or cut them into sections and place on top of each other. Massage the dry rub into the ribs on both sides. Pour half of the sticky sauce mixture into the slow cooker and reserve the rest later for the sticky sauce. Cook the ribs for 6-8 hours on low heat until the meat is tender.
- Remove the ribs from the slow cooker and place them on a foil lines broil pan with the meaty side up. Brush some sauce from the slow cooker on top of the ribs and broil until the edges start to look crisp and broiled. Allow tented with foil to rest while you make the sticky sauce.
- To make the sticky sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, add the reserved sticky sauce to the pan. In a small bowl combine the cornstarch and water plus 1 Tablespoon of the hot liquid. Pour into the sauce pan with the sticky sauce whisk until the mixtures starts to thicken. Remove from heat and brush on top of the ribs. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I love this recipe. When I’m in a hurry I’ll use pork chops. I do the dry rub and refrigerate for a few hours then into the slow cooker for about 3 hours. I remove the chops and use the corn starch and water to thicken the sauce. Once it’s been thickened a little I put the meat back in and cook another 15 to 20 minutes. Served over white rice and sautéed vegetables. Very good!! Thanks for the recipe.
For some reason the ribs were dry on the outside but fall apart tender. Still very edible. The kids didn’t prefer the kick, but I loved it. I’d like to try the rice wine vinegar to see how that alters. I also wouldn’t season the pork with so much, the sauce is what is amazing. Thanks for sharing – fun to try and make a recipe my own after the inspiration!
Thank you for this post. Flippin’ delicious! Halved the recipe (just me and my son) and some steamed vegetables. Easy peasy! Dinner is served! Made these several times and they never disappoint!
Hi
I do not have a slow cooker. Can i cook this using oven?
Yes, this will work great in the oven. Cook at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Checking on the ribs and making sure that they are cooked inside.
Amazing in crock pot. I recently tried this recipe using an instant pot (and cooked using time from the rib recipe that came with the instant pot) then the broiling as well. Still tender and fall apart deliciousness. Even my 6 year old asks me to use this recipe instead of grandma’s!
Wonderfully sticky with a little kick of flavor but not too spicy. Kids will love it and adults will be wanting more. At least that’s how it went in our house!
Balsamic with soy was the key, I added green onions and sesame seeds and did not need the oven, they came right out of slow cooker browned to perfection.
Great recipe! I did use rice wine vinegar instead of balsamic as it is an Asian recipe and balsamic seemed like an odd choice.
Even my favorite 7and 1/2 year old said, “you didn’t follow the recipe!” My husband and I looked at the 6-8 hour cook time and said–at 4 pm, that is too long. So we looked up how to do ribs in the pressure cooker. BIG MISTAKE. the texture of the meat is quite different and the wonder of this recipe was lost.
FYI, the sticky sauce had a fabulous taste even before we heated it up.
we are rescuing the ribs by cooking the cooked ribs in our slow cooker! after 3 hours, the meat is starting to shred with a fork and look like real BBQ ribs. Don’ t waste your great meat with the pressure cooker.
So good and easy. Served them with sesame oil peapods
This is my go-to ribs recipe, the sauce is amazing and they are fall off the bone yummy. I finish them off on the BBQ, and I wouldn’t miss that step for a crispy finish!
Soooo soooo good. The sauce is fabulous and so easy to make!
So delicious. I skipped the broiler but added chopped scallions and sesame seeds to the final stage. Wow! No leftovers tonight.
These ribs were delicious and so easy to make. It only took 6 hours on low for my crockpot to cook the ribs perfectly and I didn’t even have to finish them in the oven. My entire family approved.
I won best tasting and best overall ribs at our family Rib-off competition! Easy and I had all the ingredients on hand!
A permanent recipe in my house. I make a big batch of rub to have ready! YUMMM
on the step when half of the sauce is added to the slow cooker, does it go over the ribs or just sits in the bottom of the cooker?
I like to drizzle it over the ribs and soak them as much as can with the sauce.