Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper BBQ Ribs are Country Style Pork Ribs, slow cooked in Dr. Pepper, then baked to caramelize the Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce. Only 3 ingredients!
I am what you would call a fair weather winter person. Growing up in the Midwest, it doesn’t seem right to NOT have snow on the ground at Christmastime, but by the time mid-January hits, I am tired of the dreary grey skies and the cold and the white stuff that has now turned a not so pretty white.
I long for long summer days with sunshine and patio sitting and GRILLING.
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My son has been home from college for the last month, and he returns this weekend. I have been letting him get in his dinner requests this week. Yesterday though, I thought I would wing it. I had some boneless country style pork ribs in the freezer, so I defrosted them and decided to have barbecue. My family NEVER argues about barbecue, it’s something I know that everyone will be happy about.
I typically boil my ribs in beer before I grill them. You can find my recipe for those pork ribs HERE. Yesterday though, more white stuff was falling from the winter sky, and I decided dinner would not be getting made on the patio. I tossed the ribs in my slow cooker, and dumped a can of Dr. Pepper over the top.
After they cooked slow all day, becoming so tender I could barely move them to my baking rack, I knew they would be awesome. I transferred them to a rack over a cookie sheet, and brushed them with a combination of BBQ sauce and more Dr. Pepper. The sauce was super yummy! I baked them for 30 minutes to caramelize the sauce, flipping them once and adding more sauce.
Cheesy Cornbread Drop Biscuits – A fluffy and slightly sweet in the middle biscuit, full of flavor with a crisp exterior. They make the perfect pairing to soups and salads.
They were sensational. I served them with hash browns, cheesy cornbread drop biscuits and sweet corn. My husband said “This is the best dinner you have made in a long time!” (He’s partial to the entire menu, so I had no doubt he would be thrilled!) I love making him and his tummy happy!
Did I mention this recipe only requires three ingredients?
What three ingredients do I need to make these Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper Ribs?
- Boneless Country Style Pork Ribs
- Dr. Pepper Soda (Cherry Dr. Pepper is good, too!)
- Barbecue Sauce
Yep! That’s it! The crock pot does all of the work making them tender then you bake them to caramelize the sauce on them before you eat them. You could also do that step on the grill if you aren’t suffering through a freezing January like we are.
I like to buy the boneless ribs. If you prefer the ones with the bone, they work, too! I prefer pork ribs over beef, as I think they just have so much more meat. Plus, pork is seriously economical!
Place the ribs in your slow cooker, and pour a can of Dr. Pepper over the top.
The lid goes on, and you can either cook them on low all day, or you can cook them on high in half the time.
When they are nice and tender, carefully remove them from the crock pot and place them on a wire rack over a foil covered cookie sheet.
Combine your favorite BBQ sauce with some more Dr. Pepper. We love our Sweet Baby Rays!
Brush BBQ sauce on them and bake them for 15 minutes. Flip them and do the same to the other side.
All set!! Don’t they look amazing?
Dig in!!
If you love Dr. Pepper and you love BBQ Ribs — here are a couple more recipes you need to try!
DR. PEPPER BBQ PORK SANDWICHES Make these mouthwatering BBQ Pork Sandwiches right in your crock pot. Pork loin roast, slow cooked all day, making it’s very own Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce. Make sure you grab a napkin!
BBQ Pork Ribs – Boiled in beer until tender, grilled and covered in homemade sauce, these Country Style Pork Loin Ribs are fall apart, finger licking delicious!
CRAZY ABOUT BARBECUE! Grab a napkin, a cold brew and dig in to some All-American Barbecue! Here are 20+ recipe you can make with a bottle of BBQ Sauce!
A Few Other Great Dr. Pepper Recipes:
Let’s Dig in!
Slow Cooker Dr. Pepper BBQ Ribs
Ingredients
- 4.5 pounds boneless country style pork ribs
- 2 cans Dr. Pepper soda, divided
- 3/4 cup BBQ sauce (your favorite, we love our Sweet Baby Ray's!)
Instructions
Place ribs in the bottom of your slow cooker, pour 1 can of soda over them. Cover and slow cook for 7 hours on low or 4 hours on high.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with foil then place a wire rack over the top.
Combine 3/4 cup BBQ sauce with 1/2 cup Dr. Pepper soda.
Carefully remove the ribs from the slow cooker, placing on rack. Brush tops with sauce. Bake for 15 minutes, flip and brush other side. Bake 15 minutes more.
Serve remaining sauce at the table.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
11 ouncesAmount Per Serving: Calories: 1029 Total Fat: 63g Saturated Fat: 22g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 37g Cholesterol: 327mg Sodium: 619mg Carbohydrates: 28g Fiber: 0g Sugar: 25g Protein: 90g
This recipe has been updated from it’s original post … if you followed this old photo here, you are still in the right place! 🙂
If you make this recipe, I’d love to know! Snap a picture, share the photo on social media with the hashtag #AnAffairFromTheHeart – I’d love to see what you made! – Michaela
Never thought about putting BBQ sauce and Dr. Pepper together! These are making me so hungry. Saving for an upcoming BBQ party.
I’m really not a fan of the weather this time of year either, these ribs look like the perfect thing to warm you up!
I’ve heard of using Coca Cola in something like this before, but Dr. Pepper sounds good too- with the extra flavors. Great idea!
These ribs seem almost to easy to be real life. Next time I find Dr Pepper in the house I will certainly try this great recipe! The meat looks so tender and delicious.
My husband would love this recipe. He loves both Dr. Pepper and ribs. You can’t go wrong with that 🙂
These ribs look crazy delicious! And super easy with only 3 ingredients! This would be great for game day eats!
This is absolutely delicious. My hubby would love this recipe. So yummy! Will try it.
Wow! Just three ingredients can make such a beautiful dish! Your photos are very helpful too!
Yum, no wonder your family was so thrilled with these, they look delicious, and so easy to make! Lucky son, eating like this on his break from college! 🙂
These look absolutely perfect for game day!!!
Looks so tempting and delicious! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
These look so mouthwateringly delicious! I love the use of Dr Pepper for maximum taste sensation!
I made the ribs for my family and they loved them. Will definitely make them again
So happy you liked them!
Can these be done using diet Dr Pepper? I don’t do sugar.
Sure thing!
could you use beef ribs in place of pork? BF doesn’t like pork very much. thank you
You can. Beef ribs don’t have near as much meat, that’s why I buy pork. But they will still be good!
Could you add a little BBQ sauce in the slow cooker to merge with the Dr Pepper to allow the BBQ flavor to soak into the meat during the cooking phase?
You sure can — but it isn’t necessary!! Feel free to customize it however you like! 🙂
Easy…simple and oh so yummy.
Easy, simple and oh so delicious!!
Michaela ; I made this today for dinner . Everyone liked it , A Lot ! Think next time I”ll skip oven step though. I prefer meat extremely moist and juicy . Thank You for this recipe , Will make again !
I am so happy you liked them, Joseph! I like the way the oven or the grill caramelizes the BBQ sauce, but you could sure skip that part! They are 100% cooked, so why not!? 🙂
Absolutely delicious! The only “issue” that I had was the meat was soooo tender, it fell off the bone…literally ha! I ended up with little riblets that were too small to bake on a wire rack. But it turned out just as wonderful on a baking sheet. Thanks for the idea! 💡
Meghan – that sounds like a fairly “good problem” to have! LOL!! Maybe less time in the crock pot will help next time! I always buy the boneless country style ribs — If you get the meatier ones, that could help, too! Thanks for the feedback, it’s always welcomed!
Hi Michela —
I am a recently widowed single grandfather and I made these ribs… VERY good (and I haven’t cooked in over 20 years!). One thind I did differently though was since I was eating an orange while I was cooking, I threw the orange peel in the slow cooker along with the meat. Quite good and the orange peel added some color to the dish after I got through baking the bbs sauce on the ribs… served it with asparagus…. my problem was that I didn’t make enough… I only used about 1 1/2 pounds of ribs for myself and a 13 year old grandson. Looked REALLY yummy when I put it all together with the orange peel on top of the ribs and surrounded by the asparagus.
Thank you for posting this recipe. My wife was a great cook (as testified by my waistline) but even she never made this.
Harold – you just melted my heart with your comment. Thank you for taking the time to let me know that you and your grandson liked the recipe. I think the addition of the orange was pure brilliance! I am trying that next time. I bet it did make for a pretty presentation! Next time you’ll have to double the amount of ribs, right? 😉 I am sure your wife was smiling down on you two while you enjoyed them. Michaela
These are the Best Ribs! Second time we have made them! Thank you!
Becky – Thank you so much for telling me you loved them!! I hope they are a longtime favorite!
I found this recipe on Pinterest and omg is it fall off the bone good! I followed the recipe exactly as written and I wouldn’t change a thing!!
So happy you enjoyed them, May!