July 25, 2013

Ina Garten's Ribs



Moist, fall-off-the-bone ribs smothered in a thick and sticky barbecue sauce. The mesquite chili flavor of the sauce has the perfect amount of spicy undertones. Did I mention that these ribs are made in a slow cooker? Fix it and forget it, baby.

Ina Garten's Amazing Barbecue Sauce and Crock Pot Ribs | www.the-taste-tester.com #recipe #slowcooker #ribs

The title of this post should really read: Ina Garten is a Genius and Her Barbecue Sauce is Revelatory. Guys, I seriously could have ditched the ribs and eaten the sauce by the spoonful (the whole batch, too). Don't get me wrong, the ribs were mouthwatering and delish, a perfect vessel for saucy deliciousness. But this barbecue sauce... there are no words.

I think it was the addition of the hoisin sauce that did me in--- why didn't ever think to add it to homemade barbecue sauce? I also loved the control I had over what ingredients were put into the sauce, there's no high-fructose corn syrup here! In fact, besides to sugar in the hoisin sauce, this barbecue sauce is sweetened with honey. YUM!

In Ina's directions you start the ribs in the oven and finish them on the grill. However, we have no AC and I pretty much refuse to have my oven on for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. So, I found a crock pot method of preparation for ribs over on No. 2 Pencil that works like a charm. Our house stayed cool AND we still got to eat moist, fingerlickin' good ribs. 


I just made another batch of the sauce for some pulled pork sandwiches we are having later on this week at a family reunion! Yeah, I'm obviously a little obsessed.

Ina's Ribs 

2 (2.5 lb) rib racks, baby back or St. Louis style
coarse sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar *light or dark will work
1/2 recipe Ina Garten's Barbecue Sauce (below)

Rub the meaty side of the ribs with the brown sugar (one tablespoon per rack), coarse sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Stand ribs up around sides of crock pot, making sure that the meaty side is facing out. Pour two cups of the homemade barbecue sauce on the ribs making sure that it gets down the back and front sides of the ribs. Place lid on crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you half the recipe cook time needs to be reduced to 4-6 hours. When rib meat is full cooked and tender, remove from crock pot to a greased baking sheet. Spread a 1/3 cup more barbecue sauce on top of each rack of ribs. Turn oven to broil and broil the ribs for 3-5 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly and caramelized, but not burnt. Serve immediately with extra barbecue sauce.

Ina's Barbecue Sauce
½ cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cups diced yellow onion *approximately one large onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup tomato paste
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup honey
½ cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup Dijon mustard
½ cup soy sauce
1 cup hoisin sauce *found in the asian section or aisle of most grocery stores
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes


Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and turn heat to low. Cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until onion is translucent but not browned. I measure out the rest of the ingredients (excluding the garlic) into a large eight-cup liquid measurer during this time.

Once the onion is ready add the garlic and cook for 1 additional minute, stirring constantly. Add the remaining ingredients and turn heat up to medium-high. Bring mixture to a boil, then turn heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Use an immersion blender and blend it up (I didn't want diced onion or red pepper flakes to clog up my squeeze bottle, which is why I added this extra step). You could also just pour the sauce into a normal blender and puree it that way, or just ditch this step all together. Either way this sauce is amazing. Use immediately or pour into squeeze bottles or a tupperware container and store in the refrigerator for who knows how long--- my guess is up to one month. Makes 6 cups barbecue sauce.

Recipe Yield: 2 racks of ribs
Recipe Source: Ina Garten's Foolproof Recipe Cookbook and No. 2 Pencil

10 comments:

  1. Ok, Im making the sauce, This afternoon. Thanks for that ;D

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  2. I loved the sauce too! I agree that the addition of hoisin was genius, but of course, that's Ina in a nutshell. Pulled pork sandwiches would be great. I used my first batch up with some chicken and it was amazing. This will definitely be my go-to sauce from here on out.

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  3. I loved the sauce too! And LOVE that you did these in the crockpot!

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  4. I did the ribs too - but used lamb and added orange marmalade to my sauce. It was a great recipe! Looking forward to next month's adventure. Nice adaptation to to do it in the crockpot. Genius!

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  5. Making this sauce ASAP!!! Looks too good to pass.

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  6. I LOVE that you made these in the crock pot. What a brilliant recipe.

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  7. Oh my gosh I was so excited that there was hoisin in there too! Brilliant to make them in the crock pot.

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  8. Love that you did them in the crockpot!

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  9. Great idea to do them in crockpot, I made them too and they got rave reviews!

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  10. I love her sauce but I'm also partial to my Bourbon BBQ sauce that Ms. Nigella swears buy - might have to do a side by side comparison and pick a top favorite. Great idea about using the crockpot!

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