Slow Cooker Coca Cola Ribs
on Mar 19, 2021, Updated Jan 29, 2024
Slow Cooker Coca Cola Ribs are easy to make using your favorite soda! Use your favorite Crock Pot to make this BBQ favorite in your kitchen.
No need to heat up the kitchen to make some classic barbecue food! Pair these ribs up with some Instant Pot Corn on the Cob and a side of Creamy Broccoli Salad.
Slow Cooker Coca Cola Ribs
If there’s one thing I’m looking forward to every summer, it’s good barbecue food! Whether it’s burgers fresh off the grill or a good hot-dog with a bit of char on it, the food is definitely one of the best parts of the season. One of the definite kings of barbeque food is sticky glazed ribs- fairly easy to make, but seemingly-difficult to get perfect. Thankfully, the key to a perfect rack of ribs might be as simple as taking them inside and using your Crock Pot or slow cooker!
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These Coca Cola Ribs use a secret ingredient to get them sweet, delicious, and fall-off-the-bone tender. What’s that ingredient? Well, it’s right there in the name: Coca Cola! A can of Coca Cola- or any number of your favorite sugary soft drinks- provides the perfect amount of flavor and tenderizing power to your ribs. You really only need one can to make ribs that the whole grill-out will be jealous over.
Of course, a nice slathering of barbecue sauce is there to help seal the deal. You can use a broiler to finish and caramelize your ribs and keep the whole process in your kitchen! Everyone’s going to love the Best Slow Cooker Ribs you’ve ever made- no grill and no smoker required. We know you’re going to enjoy this recipe!
Liked our Coca Cola Ribs? Give these other slow cooker recipes a try!
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For some more food fit for the barbecue, try our Dr. Pepper Slow Cooker Pulled Pork! This is another BBQ favorite that’s easy to make in a Crock Pot or slow cooker- flavored with one of our favorite sodas. Perfect served as a sandwich but also great added to nachos or french fries!
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The slow cooker can also make up some great dinner dishes, like our Slow Cooker Mississippi Pot Roast. Pot roasts are some of my favorite recipes to make and this recipe is one of the easiest and tastiest! Flavored perfectly with pepperoncinis, ranch, and gravy.
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Store-bought rotisserie chicken is great but did you know you can make Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken at home? Not only does this stuff taste better than the stuff from the store, but you can use it in all of your favorite leftover chicken recipes as well! Of course, this stuff also tastes great on it’s own- serve up with some mashed potatoes and some veggies for an easy dinner.
Ingredients for Slow Cooker Coke Ribs
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Pork Ribs
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Coca Cola – Feel free to experiment with your favorite sodas! You could try making these crock pot ribs with Pepsi, if that’s your preferred cola. Our favorite variation is Dr. Pepper Slow Cooker Ribs!
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Barbecue Sauce – Just go with your favorite, sugary brand. If you’re around the Cincinnati area, we can’t recommend this Montgomery Inn sauce enough!
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Salt & Pepper
How to make Slow Cooker Ribs with Coca Cola
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Prep your ribs by removing the membrane and seasoning with salt & pepper.
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Cook your ribs in a slow cooker with your cola on low for 8-10 hours.
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Transfer ribs to a foil-lined baking sheet and coat with barbecue sauce before broiling until caramelized.
Before we cook our ribs, we have to get them prepped for the slow cooker. The first order of business is removing the membrane along the inside of the ribs- use a knife to get started. Once you’ve got enough of the membrane off of the ribs, you should be able to grab it and pull the rest off- use a paper towel for grip. Once the membrane’s off, season with salt and pepper.
With the ribs seasoned, we can transfer them to the slow cooker. After you’ve got them set in there, pour in your can of coke- we’ll cover what exactly the cola is doing to the ribs near the end.
That’s going to cook on low for about 8-10 hours. By that point, the meat’s going to be super tender and delicious!
All that’s left is a sticky, BBQ glaze. For that, first carefully transfer the ribs to a foil-lined baking sheet. Brush the meaty side of the ribs with a generous layer of your barbecue sauce.
To get that sauce caramelized and sticky, chuck it under a pre-heated broiler until that sauce starts sizzling. Give a few more seconds for that sauce to fully caramelize before pulling from the oven, chopping into smaller racks, and enjoying!
What does coke do to ribs?
Slow Cooker Coke Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 rack Pork Baby Back Ribs
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 can Coca-Cola
- 1 tsp Liquid Smoke
- 1/2 bottle Barbecue Sauce
Instructions
- Remove membrane from the bone side of ribs (optional).
- Salt and pepper ribs on both sides.
- Position ribs around outside of slow cooker.
- Add Coke and Liquid Smoke to the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or put on high for 4-5 hours.
- Cover an oven-safe pan with aluminum foil.
- Carefully transfer the ribs to the foil-lined pan (meaty side up).
- Cover ribs with barbecue sauce and place under broiler until the sauce starts to sizzle and caramelize.
- Remove from oven and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
I made these took them to a barbecue .
They fell off the bones and were the hit of the barbecue
They really did fall of the bone. They are so delicious! Thanks for sharing
Please add a print recipe button to this page. I don’t want to spend 13 pieces of paper for all of the ads.
Hi Lacey! So sorry about that. I had my husband update with a recipe card. Somehow it didn’t get transferred over.
This was delicious. Have you tried this same recipe with chicken?
I always have Diet Coke. Will that work or would it be better if I get a can of teg coke?
Works just fine with Diet Coke
Mine are still frozen- can I still do this?
I have these going right now but the Coke doesn’t fully cover the ribs. Is that normal?
Going to try these this coming weekend, but have a couple questions. My broiler is built in as part of the oven which is located at the top, and it is gas. About how long should I broil them? Broil on high or lo ? And should they be on the very top rack setting or one of the lower ones? Thank you so much
Making these right now. I have another rack in the freezer for another day. I’ll update later. Thanks Jen you never disappoint
A slight variation of this is essentially the same except after cooking on low for 7 hours, you drain off the soda and pour 1 bottle of your favorite sauce over the ribs in the slow cooker. Turn the heat on high for another hour or so.
In case people were wondering: Yes, this makes AMAZING pork chops and pork roast. Using a pork tenderloin takes it to a whole other level of incredible. If you shred the roast after cooking but before adding the sauce you can make some great BBQ sandwiches!
these ribs sound delicious. I will have to try the recipe soon. My family loves ribs
I made these today. One word…AMAZING. I did 2 things differently: I used seasoning salt instead of table salt, and I added an onion (quartered) to the crock pot to give it a little extra flavor. I used Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce (original).
The meat did fall off the bone, but that was a bonus. I just decided to remove all the bones before I put it under the broiler and we just ate it with a fork instead of making it messy finger food.
This recipe is a keeper for sure.
We made these yesterday for Valentine’s Day dinner, and they were so delicious I just wanted to stop by and thank you for the recipe!
Our version used a bottle of Mexican coke (made with sugar and not high fructose corn syrup), and we made two racks of ribs, each with a different BBQ sauce from our local-to-Austin Franklin’s BBQ: a thick sauce with espresso in it, and a light, vinegary Carolina-style sauce. Both came out beautifully!
This is a recipe that we’ll return to over and over… Thanks again for sharing it!
I am making these right now! The only issue is when I wrap my ribs around the inside of the crockpot the lid doesn’t comfortably fit on top. So I have folded the ribs in half and laid them in there on top of the Coca-Cola. I hope they will be okay cooking this way. I plan to flip them over so the Coke can sink into the other side in about four hours.
The coke does not cover the ribs when they are standing. Is that okay
Hi Arleen! You are correct the soda will just be on the bottom of the slow cooker. When cooking, the lid will keep the moisture inside the crock and allow the ribs to slow cook. I hope that helps and you enjoy them. Have a great day!
I believe you meant to say to wrap the ribs around the INSIDE of the crock pot NOT outside. Funny.
I made this recipe today and it was wonderful. I had this on high for a couple hours and then turned on low for about 6-7 hrs. I used a KC Masterpiece BBQ and it was amazing. My husband got seconds. The kids loved it.
I made my extraordinary potato salad to go along with it. Perfect dinner to end my husband’s 44th year and to start his birthday off tomorrow.
So I want to try this recipe, but instead of pork i want to use beef ribs about 3lbs worth or two slabs, in your opinion how much would the ingredients change so i can plan accordingly
Hi Jen – what size slow cooker are you using? Can you resize this recipe to smaller slow cookers or is it pretty specific to the larger ones?
Hi Amanda! The Crock Pot I used for the ribs was a Large 6 quart. I am sure you could cut the recipe in half and use a smaller slow cooker. I would make sure you have enough of the coke covering the ribs to keep them moist and allow the flavor to soak in. Be sure to let me know how it works out for you.
I got these in crock pot now!!. Will see how they taste when I get off work!!
What sides would you recommend with these ribs?? It sounds so easy and perfect for a romantic Valentines dinner at home.
I like to serve my ribs with ranch-style baked beans, grilled corn on the cob, potato salad and/or cole slaw. I serve fresh veggies as well, like celery and carrot sticks, radishes, cucumber slices, broccoli, cauliflower and chick peas.
Do you out the crock pot on low or high?
Hi Aixa! So sorry about that. I updated the recipe to include cooking on low. These were very tasty. Let me know if you give the recipe a try too!
You said to stick in the broiler, what temp should i set it to?