Jessica Fiorillo shares her #52NewFoods inspired recipe, Slow Cooker Ribs with Asian Pear Sauce. A sanity saver for busy weeknights.
The slow cooker is my best friend. It’s the secret to making this home cooking thing happen when life gets hectic. I’m always on the hunt for delicious slow-cooker recipes that are big on flavor and low on effort, which is why I’m loving this 52 New Foods Challenge inspired recipe from Jessica at Feed Me Dearly: Slow Cooker Ribs with Asian Pear Sauce. Head on over to her blog and check out the recipe. A new family favorite in the making.
All food—even kid food—should appeal to the whole family, even if it means bringing the kids along for the ride. -Feed Me Dearly
I let the kids guide me in the development of the sauce, encouraging them to use their senses to figure out what they like, and how to make it taste great. Need a little more salt? Add soy sauce. A little more sweetness? Ketchup will do the trick. You may find after making the sauce that you’d like to adjust it a little more to you/your kids’ tastes, so feel free to play around, to tinker, and to show your kids that there are no right and wrong answers when you’re in the kitchen. -Feed Me Dearly
- 1 small carrot, peeled and chopped
- ½ tablespoon of grated ginger
- 1 small clove of garlic
- 1 green onion (+ more for garnish)
- 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
- 1 small Asian pear, peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon of unsulphered molasses
- 1 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar
- 2 lbs of pork baby back ribs
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- Freshly-ground black pepper
- To make the sauce, place the first 10 ingredients in a food processor and blend until it forms a thick puree. If you’d like an even finer sauce, you could strain but we liked it a little chunky. Adjust the flavors to suit your kids’ taste. Set the sauce aside in the fridge until you’re ready to use it to baste the ribs.
- To make the ribs, slice the onion and lay it on the bottom of a slow cooker.
- Season the rack of baby back ribs with the salt and pepper and lay the ribs on top of the onions.
- Cover the slow cooker with the lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- When the ribs are done, remove them and place them onto an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.
- Brush the homemade sauce over the ribs and bake for 10 minutes.
- Flip the ribs, baste again with the barbecue sauce, and cook for another 10 minutes. The ribs should look sticky and glossy, and charred at the ends. If needed, baste with a little more sauce and cook for another 5-10 minutes; make sure to check them frequently to make sure that they’re not getting burned.
- While the ribs are cooking, thinly slice the green onions lengthwise. If you’d like to make things fun for the kids, place the green onions in a bowl of ice water for a few minutes so that they’ll curl.
- When the ribs are done, plate them and have the kids top them with the sliced green onions. You can then eat the ribs at the table, with the sauce on the side.
