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These Dr Pepper ribs are sweet, smoky, and wonderfully tender with hardly any effort. You put a few things in the slow cooker, go on about your day, and finish with a quick bake for sticky, caramelized edges. You’re going to love how the Dr Pepper adds gentle sweetness without a big soda-pop flavor.
Why You’ll Love It
- Minimal prep — about ten minutes of getting-it-together time, then the slow cooker handles the long part.
- Budget-friendly cut — country-style pork ribs are meaty, satisfying, and often easier on the grocery budget than a big rack of ribs.
- Sticky oven finish — fifteen minutes per side at 400°F gives the sauce that caramelized, sticky edge.
- Easy to serve — these ribs work with nearly anything alongside them, from mashed Potatoes to coleslaw.
Ingredient Notes
Country-style pork ribs are not the same thing as those long, curved racks you might picture when someone says ribs. They’re chunky, meaty cuts, sometimes boneless but preferably bone-in for this recipe. The bone-in ones are what I use when I can find them; they bring a little extra richness to the slow cooker, and the meat stays especially juicy.
For the Dr Pepper, plain original Dr Pepper is what you want. You’ll use one full 12-ounce can in the slow cooker, then half a cup from the second can in the sauce. That leaves some soda behind.
Use a barbecue sauce you actually enjoy. That sounds obvious, but a bottle bought because it’s on sale can make dinner taste like a sauce you don’t like. I tend toward a smoky, slightly tangy sauce rather than one that’s very sweet, since the Dr Pepper already brings sweetness to the party. But use what works best.
Liquid smoke is one of those pantry items that can seem a little suspicious. It gives these ribs that little backyard-grill flavor even though they’ve been sitting quietly in a Crock-Pot all afternoon. Two teaspoons is enough. Do not get enthusiastic and pour freely.
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 pounds country-style pork ribs, bone-in if you can get them
- 2 (12-ounce) cans Dr Pepper soda, divided
- 3/4 cup barbecue sauce, your favorite kind
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground Black pepper
Instructions
Put the country-style pork ribs in the slow cooker. You don’t need to brown them first, trim them within an inch of their lives, or fuss around with a separate skillet. Just arrange them in there as best you can. They may be a little stacked up—that’s perfectly fine.
Pour one full 12-ounce can of Dr Pepper over the ribs. Put the lid on and cook on low for about 7 hours or on high for about 4 hours. Low is my preference when I’m home early enough to start it; the ribs get especially tender and forgiving. High works just fine, though. Life does not always hand you a seven-hour head start.
Near the end of the cooking time, heat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, then place a wire rack on top. The foil makes cleanup much easier, since barbecue sauce baked onto a sheet pan can be difficult to remove.
In a medium bowl, stir together the barbecue sauce, liquid smoke, garlic powder, black pepper, and 1/2 cup Dr Pepper from the second can. Give it a good whisk or stir until it’s smooth. Save any remaining sauce for serving later.
Carefully move the cooked ribs from the slow cooker to the wire rack. They will be very tender, so use tongs and a little patience.
Brush the tops of the ribs generously with the sauce. Bake for 15 minutes. The sauce will start to darken around the edges and get nice and glossy.
Take the pan out, flip the ribs carefully, and brush the second side with more sauce. Bake for another 15 minutes. By then, you should have sticky, caramelized ribs with little browned spots around the edges. That’s what you’re after.
Serve them hot with the remaining sauce on the side. Creamy potato salad in warm weather or mashed potatoes when it’s cold and gray outside both work well. A scoop of coleslaw cuts through all that richness nicely, too.
Variations
You can use diet Dr Pepper if that is what you keep around. The flavor is a touch different, obviously, but once the ribs are slow-cooked and sauced, it’s not a dramatic change.
A spicier barbecue sauce “wakes the whole thing up.” A smoky barbecue sauce is also especially good here, even with the liquid smoke.
You can finish the ribs on a hot grill instead of baking them if the weather is decent and you’re already cooking outside. Brush them with sauce and grill just long enough to get a little char and caramelization. I would not leave them out there unattended, though. Sugar in sauce turns from beautifully sticky to blackened nonsense faster than you’d think.
A very fancy cherry barbecue sauce can make the ribs taste like dessert. Plain old barbecue sauce is usually the winner.
Storage & Reheating
Leftover ribs keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Save any extra sauce separately, if there is any, because it helps keep the ribs moist when reheating. They make a very good next-day lunch.
For the best reheating, place the ribs in a baking dish, add a little of the reserved sauce, and cover tightly with foil. Warm them in a 350°F oven until heated through. The foil keeps them from drying out, which is important because reheated pork can go from tender to shoe leather in a hurry.
You can freeze cooled ribs in a freezer-safe zip-top bag for up to 3 months. I’d freeze them with a little sauce if possible. Thaw them in the refrigerator before reheating in the oven. They won’t be quite as perfect as they were fresh from the pan, but on a busy weeknight? They are still darn good.
Final Notes
These Dr Pepper ribs are one of those recipes for when dinner needs to behave itself. No last-minute frying, no hovering over a grill, no complicated sauce simmering away while every burner is occupied. Just ribs, soda, a slow cooker, and then that quick hot finish in the oven.
There’s something comforting about a dinner that has been quietly cooking while the rest of the day does whatever foolishness it was going to do. The washing machine bangs around, and the ribs are in there, doing their thing.
And when the sauce gets sticky and the edges brown up a little, it smells like you had a better handle on the day than you probably did. Sometimes that’s enough.
Dr Pepper Ribs
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 pounds country-style pork ribs bone-in if you can get them
- 2 (12-ounce) cans Dr Pepper soda divided
- 3/4 cup barbecue sauce your favorite kind
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Put the country-style pork ribs in the slow cooker, arranging them as best you can; it is fine if they are a little stacked.
- Pour one full 12-ounce can of Dr Pepper over the ribs, cover, and cook on low for about 7 hours or on high for about 4 hours, until very tender.
- Near the end of the cooking time, heat the oven to 400°F, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and place a wire rack on top.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the barbecue sauce, liquid smoke, garlic powder, black pepper, and 1/2 cup Dr Pepper from the second can until smooth.
- Carefully move the cooked ribs from the slow cooker to the wire rack using tongs, since they will be very tender.
- Brush the tops of the ribs generously with the sauce and bake for 15 minutes, until the sauce starts to darken around the edges and becomes glossy.
- Remove the pan from the oven, carefully flip the ribs, brush the second side with more sauce, and bake for another 15 minutes until sticky and caramelized with browned spots around the edges.
- Serve the ribs hot with the remaining sauce on the side, alongside potato salad, mashed potatoes, or coleslaw if desired.