Slow Cooker Chinese BBQ Spare Ribs
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TheseĀ Slow Cooker Chinese BBQ Spare RibsĀ are fall-off-the-bone tender, coated in a sticky, sweet, and savory glaze, and incredibly easy to make. Perfect for busy weeknights, game day, or whenever you're craving takeout-style ribs at home. If you love easy slow cooker meals, be sure to try myĀ Slow Cooker Shredded Beef TacosĀ for another family favorite.
If you've never made Chinese BBQ spare ribs in the slow cooker, you're going to love how simple they are. The slow cooker does all the work, creating tender, flavorful ribs with minimal effort, while a quick brush of extra sauce at the end gives them that irresistible sticky finish.
If you love Chinese flavors as much as we do, you'll have to check out my Chinese BBQ Pork and Spicy Hunan Chicken!
Quick Look: Slow Cooker Chinese BBQ Spare Ribs
- ā±ļø Prep Time: 20 minutes
- š Total Time: 4 hours
- šØāš©āš§āš¦ Servings: 8
- š Calories: ~164 kcal per serving
- š„£ Ingredients: Spare ribs, soy sauce, honey, hoisin, Chinese five spice, brown sugar, sweet chili sauce, garlic, ginger, cornstarch.
- ā Difficulty: Easy, great for an easy dinner, game day snacks.
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Why this Recipe Works
Fall-off-the-bone tender ā The slow cooker makes the ribs incredibly juicy and tender every time.
Perfect for entertaining ā Great for game day, family dinners, or potlucks since the slow cooker does most of the work.
Better than takeout ā Homemade Chinese BBQ ribs are fresher, more flavorful, and easy to customize.
For even more tax out options, try my Black Pepper Chicken or my Chicken Fried Rice!
Ingredients Needed
- Ribs: I use St Loius style ribs, and I have the butcher cut my ribs into riblets, but baby back ribs will also work.
- Soy Sauce: Low-sodium soy sauce can also be used.
- Brown sugar: I use dark, but light brown sugar will also work.
- Hoisin Sauce: Adds a unique layer of flavor that cannot be replaced.
How To Make This Recipe
- Step 1: Add all the sauce ingredients to a small bowl and mix.
- Step 2: Cut the ribs up into riblets.
- Step 3: Toss the ribs and the sauce together.
- Step 4: Place the riblets into the crockpot.
- Step 5: Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high 4-5 hours.
- Step 6: Place the riblets onto a foil lined baking sheet and brush sauce over each one and broil.
Recipe tips
- Red food coloring is optional, but adding the red food coloring gives the sauce a deep, rich color like what you would get at your local Chinese takeout.
- Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs for the most tender texture.
- You can leave the ribs whole; I just prefer to have them cut, especially if serving for an appetizer.
- Broiling them for the last few minutes helps the sauce caramelize just a tad, giving them the perfect texture.
- Add a little of your favorite barbecue sauce if you prefer before broiling.
Recipe FAQ's
Yes! Baby back ribs work well in this recipe and cook just as tender. They may cook a little faster since they're smaller and leaner.
Made up of cinnamon, fennel, star anise, and cloves. It adds a depth of flavor to any dish. Here is a recipe to make your own.
Yes! Cook the ribs a day in advance, refrigerate them in the sauce, then reheat and broil just before serving for the best texture.
These ribs pair well with steamed jasmine rice, Pork Fried Rice, lo mein, roasted broccoli, stir-fried vegetables, or Asian Cucumber Salad.
More Take Out Recipes
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Slow Cooker Chinese Spare Ribs
Ingredients
- 3 lb St. Louis-style spare ribs see notes
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
- 5-6 gloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger or 1 teaspoon ground
- 1 teaspoon red food coloring optional
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- sesame seeds
- green onions
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Instructions
- In a small bowl mix soy, honey, hoisin, five-spice, brown sugar, sweet chili sauce, garlic, ginger, and red food coloring. Set aside
- Cut the ribs between the bones to give individual ribs and place them in a large bowl or freezer bag. Pour the marinade over ribs and marinate for 12 hours or 24 hours for the best flavor.
- Place ribs and marinade in the slow cooker and cook on low 6 hours or high 4 hours.
- Remove ribs from the slow cooker and place them on a foil-lined baking sheet.
- Remove the top layer of fat from the juice in the slow cooker. Pour liquid into a small saucepan and whisk in 2 teaspoon cornstarch. Let come to a low boil to thicken.
- Brush thickened sauce over ribs and broil 5-6 minutes to caramelize on top.
- Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds if desired.
Yay Mary so glad you loved it. I love the flavors too. Thank you for coming back here to share that with me, always makes my day š
I made slow cooked ribs in the oven using this sauce. Before I even put it on the ribs, when I tasted for balance, I was amazed. I upped the garlic by adding ground garlic 'cuz we love garlic, but this is my new asian marinade recipe for all my meats and vegetables. So well balanced and not sickly sweet like teriyaki. I will be saving this recipe and using I future. Thank you.
Hi Dorie. There are a few different versions of Chinese Five Spice in the grocery stores where I live so I just looked for the most common mixture and bought one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-spice_powder As for Hoisin Sauce, it is a sauce often used for dipping but some are quite a bit thicker than others - almost like a paste (really thick), harder to work with, and much more salty in my opinion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoisin_sauce
Chinese Five Spice is located in the spice section of your local grocery store. The Hoison sauce is located in the Asian section of your grocery store, its very common. Or you can get both of these on Amazon if that is easier https://amzn.to/2S0lFbK https://amzn.to/2EyeTax hope this helps Dorrie š
Could you please put the recipe for the Chinese 5 spice on Facebook and also where you buy the Hoilson sauce from.
Yes you can! Hope you enjoy them Michael š
Can I use baby back ribs instead?
I would probably omit the apple juice that I had added to the slow cooker at the start of the cooking time. The marinade had tasted really salty before I added it to the ribs last night so expected they would be salty when done too but once the time was up on the slow cooker, they could have used that salty taste. I should have just made the recipe as shown for the first time and then adjusted from there. For time, I did the first hour on high starting at 1:00 and then 4 hours on low until 6:00 and they were falling off the bone. Six hours on low as you suggested would be bang on but I was late getting them into the slow cooker.
I hope you loved them Ida š
I added 1/4 cup apple juice to the marinade to cut the overpowering saltiness from the soy sauce and the hoisin sauce. My hoisin sauce looks like more of a hoisin paste so maybe an actual hoisin sauce may be less salty.