Slow Cooker Cherry Cola Ribs
These Slow Cooker Cherry Cola Ribs are cooked for hours in the crock pot until they’re fall-off-the-bone tender and slathered in a sweet, tangy, and fruity BBQ sauce made with cherry cola and cherry juice.
At our house, ribs are a staple for cookouts and weeknight meals. We love our ribs, especially when they’re made in the slow cooker. It’s an easy way to create delicious rib recipes of all kinds.
We love creating variations such as crockpot BBQ beef ribs, slow cooker honey BBQ country ribs, and other creative options such as slow cooker Mississippi ribs.
These cherry cola ribs use cherry cola and cherry juice to add a sweet, fruity twist to classic BBQ ribs, keeping everyone coming back for more. Serve them with sides like cream cheese mashed potatoes for dinner or beer battered onion rings for backyard cookouts!
Table of contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Limited Ingredients: You only need ribs and a handful of other simple ingredients to make this recipe.
- Super Tender: The meat on these ribs literally falls off the bone when you pick them up!
- So Easy: Using a slow cooker is the easiest way to make tender ribs with a delicious sauce. It’s every cook’s dream!
- Delicious Flavor: The combination of BBQ sauce, cherry cola, and cherry juice creates a sweet, savory, tangy, and fruity sauce that pairs perfectly with the meaty ribs.
Key Ingredients
We’ve made this list to help you save time on your next trip to the grocery store. You can find the full amounts needed in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Baby Back Ribs: Baby back ribs are meaty and have the perfect amount of fat for slow-cooking to tender perfection.
- BBQ Sauce: BBQ sauce is the base for our sweet and tangy sauce.
- Cherry Cola and Cherry Juice: A blend of cherry cola and juice adds extra sweetness and a fruity flavor to the sauce.
Variations
- Cola: Use your favorite cherry cola. You can also use different cola varieties to create recipes like these slow cooker Dr Pepper Ribs.
- Ribs: This recipe works with all ribs, from baby back to country-style or beef ribs. Use your favorite!
- Spicy: Add red pepper flakes to the sauce for a kick of heat.
- Meats: This sauce pairs well with a variety of meats. Use to make recipes such as slow cooker BBQ beef sandwiches, slow cooker BBQ drumsticks, or slow cooker BBQ meatballs.
How to Make Slow Cooker Cherry Cola Ribs
This is a quick overview of the steps needed to make this recipe. You can find the full instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Add the ribs and seasonings to the slow cooker. Then, mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl and pour half the sauce over the ribs. Cook until tender.
- Cook the remaining sauce over medium heat until reduced and glossy.
- Place the ribs on a foil-lined baking sheet and brush them with the remaining sauce.
- Broil the ribs until lightly caramelized, and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- We recommend maraschino cherry juice for its high sugar content, which helps create a sweet sauce that caramelizes well.
- Whisk constantly while cooking the sauce to avoid sticking or scorching as it thickens.
- Watch your ribs closely while broiling them. It only takes a few seconds to go from caramelized to burned!
Slow Cooker Cherry Cola Ribs FAQs
Do you have questions about this recipe? Here are the answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Slow cooker cherry cola ribs are super-tender and have a sweet, tangy BBQ sauce loaded with cherry flavor, thanks to cherry cola and maraschino cherry juice.
Your slow cooker ribs are done when the meat is very tender and easily pulls away from the bone with light pressure.
The extra sweetness from the cherry cola creates a BBQ sauce with a wonderfully caramelized glaze. In addition, the cola’s acidity tenderizes the meat as it cooks, making it extra tender. Finally, the cherry flavor adds a fruity note to the sauce that pairs perfectly with the ribs.
Refrigerate these ribs for up to 3 days in an airtight container. For longer storage, wrap the ribs in plastic wrap and freeze them in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.
★ Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below! We would love to hear back from you! You can also FOLLOW US on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook for more delicious recipes.
📖Recipe
Want to make this recipe? Print the recipe card below, or pin this recipe, so you can find it later.
Slow Cooker Cherry Cola Ribs
Equipment
- slow cooker
- Bowl
- Saucepan
- baking sheet
- Foil
Ingredients
- 3 pounds baby back ribs
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 cups bbq sauce divided
- 2 cups cherry cola
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ⅓ cup maraschino cherry juice
Instructions
- Place the ribs into the slow cooker.
- Sprinkle the garlic salt, black pepper, onion powder and smoked paprika over the ribs.
- In a bowl combine 1 cup of bbq sauce, the cherry cola, the brown sugar and the cherry juice.
- Pour half of the mixture over the ribs, reserve the other half for later.
- Cook the ribs on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours until the ribs are tender.
- In a skillet or saucepan add the remaining cherry cola mixture and the remaining 1 cup of bbq sauce.
- Whisk over medium high heat until the sauce comes up to a bubble and cooks down until nice and glazy, about 10 minutes.
- Remove the ribs and place on a foil lined baking sheet.
- Once the sauce is glazy and thick brush the sauce onto the ribs.
- Place the ribs under the broiler until lightly caramelized.
- Serve!
Notes
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- You can use any cut of ribs you like. This will also work with boneless ribs, just adjust your cook time accordingly.
- You can a bit of red pepper flake for kick.
- I like to use maraschino juice because of it’s high sugar content but you can use any cherry juice you like.
Disclaimer
Any nutritional data I provide is an approximation and actual dietary information can vary based on ingredients and proportion sizes.
