These crock pot Chinese boneless pork ribs are tender and tasty for that simple casual dining meal. Just follow these easy step by step photo instructions.
Editor's Note: Originally Published February 16, 2014. Refreshed with expanded details and updated photos.
Let's make some great Chinese with things you have on hand. No searching for that special sauce just for one dish.
Based on a Food.com recipe but simplified and cut done for a more reasonable amount. The original was for 5 pounds. Nope, cooking for two here. You get some great taste here for very little work. Serve with rice and wait for the compliments.
My Rating
A mid 4. I'm stuck in my ways and love my General Tso's
Pro Tips: Recipe Notes for Crock Pot Chinese Boneless Pork Ribs
What Meat to Use?
This uses one of my favorite cooking for two meat, country-style boneless pork ribs. They are the tail end of a pork loin cut in half length way and scored into little "ribs."
These are not the same as bone-in country-style ribs. If you don't find the boneless variety, strips of pork chops or pork loin cut across the grain will work fine.
The Sauce
One of the most attractive features of this recipe is the simple everyday ingredients. There are no special things like Hoisin which you probably don't have around (I do.)
This produces about 1 cup of sauce after cooking for adding flavor to rice or noodles. You can increase the sauce and keep the meat the same if you want more sauce.
We are not big ginger lovers in this house so some may find it a little low on ginger so increase if you love ginger. It is about half of the original recipe.
I have a vinegar problem with lots of Chinese recipes. If I want a recipe to taste only like vinegar, I will have a cup to drink. So I have cut the vinegar to about 1/3 of the original recipe and find it just right.
Lastly, I removed the salt. There is lots of salt in other ingredients so it is not needed during cooking and you can add a bit later if needed.
Other Notes
An easy recipe to double or triple.
Good refrigerated for 3-4 days and frozen for 3-4 months
Other Related Recipes You Might Enjoy
Crock Pot Honey Garlic Chicken Breast
Start with common ingredients (at least in my kitchen). No special sauces needed.
Trim one slab of country style boneless pork ribs. Remove fat cap and cut into pieces following the cuts.
Mix in a smaller crock pot (this is 3.5 qt) the brown sugar, soy sauce, ketchup, honey, vinegar, one clove garlic minced, ground ginger, crushed red pepper (optional) and 1/2 small onion diced.
Mix in the pieces of pork. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Remove meat and reserve the liquid for "gravy" over the meat and rice.
Serve topped with toasted Sesame seed and sliced green onion.
Do you want more recipes from 101 Cooking for Two? Sign up for the newsletter and get all posts delivered straight to your inbox!
Crock Pot Chinese Boneless Pork Ribs
Ingredients
- 1 slab boneless country style pork ribs
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce - low sodium
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vinegar - Apple cider or white
- 1 clove garlic - minced
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper - optional
- 1/2 onion - small diced
Instructions
- Trim one slab of country style boneless pork ribs. Remove fat cap and cut into pieces following the cuts.
- Mix in a smaller crock pot. 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup ketchup, 2 tbsp honey, one tsp vinegar, one clove garlic minced, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper and 1/2 small onion diced.
- Mix in the pieces of pork. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Remove meat and reserve the liquid for "gravy" over the meat and rice.
- Serve topped with toasted Sesame seed and sliced green onion.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- This is a smaller crock pot recipe. I used a 3.5 qt. Smaller is ok. If you use more than 5 qt, I suggest doubling the sauce and you might as well double the meat also.
- If you don't have boneless pork ribs, strips of pork chop or pork loin would be fine.
- I cut down the ginger and vinegar for our taste. Adjust if you wish.
- Serve on rice or noodles.
- This produces about 1 cup of sauce as written. Increase if you want more for your rice.
- The crushed pepper only adds a little heat. Adjust up or down for your taste.
- The salt level can easily get out of hand on a recipe like this. I suggested lower-sodium soy sauce and did not add any more salt.
- I like roasted sesame seeds and some slices of green onion.
- Good refrigerated 3-4 days. Good frozen for 3-4 months.
Nutrition
Originally Published February 16, 2014.
Molly after running.
Stacy
Very good! Made several times
Jody
Thank you for putting a link on the top of the page so you can go directly to the recipe! So much better than having to navigate things that are not of interest. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Jody,
Welcome to the blog.
Glad you found it useful. It is very easy to do but it seems less than half of the food bloggers do it. I immediately leave sites without it. They are more interested in ad views than helping the visitors.
I hope you found the recipe useful. Please look around and fell free to ask any questions.
Thanks for the note and have a good day.
Dan
Kris
My husband just loves this! He kept saying how very good it was. I will definitely make this again. I cooked on Low for 4 hours and it was done, but I set it for another hour to get the meat more tender which worked. Thanks so much for an easy, delicious recipe.
PJ Bennett
Absolutely delicious! I followed the ingredients exactly as listed, and my husband and I loved it! I neither increased or decreased amounts, nor did I add anything extra.
Since I planned on using my casserole crockpot, I mixed all ingredients in a bowl, and then added to the ceramic dish. It seemed a surer way of getting everything blended appropriately and smeared around.
After cooking for 6 hours, we sat down and were wonderfully impressed with the mix of flavors. I will definitely do this dish again.
Patti
I didn't have the boneless ribs on hand,but did have a small pork tenderloin, trimmed the fat, cut it into medallions, and there it sits in the crockpot...should work. Right??😬
DrDan
The pork tenderloin will cook faster, maybe only 3 hours on low plus or minus (I don't know). It is much more tender and this recipe does "over cook" the boneless ribs some to make them more tender with the sauce making up for the moisture loss caused by that. So watch it closely for overcooking.
Dan
Christina
How much is a "slab"of boneless pork ribs? I have a pack that is about 2 lbs. Is that enough?
DrDan
Hi Christina, Please see the pictures of the meat above. There is a lot of confusion about "country style pork ribs" several different cuts are call country style ribs. These are really the tail end of a pork loin cut in half and scored. They are very lean generally and are sold in a "slab" which is usually about 1.5 pounds. There is what has been called "bone in country style ribs" which are a slice from the pork shoulder and is very fatty. But now some places are removing the bone from this shoulder cut and they are now labeling them "boneless country style ribs" How is that for confusion...
So look at the picture and if not similar, you have the wrong meat for this recipe. So they will be about 3 inches wide, 6 inches long and less than one inch thick. It will all be connected but scored. If you happen to just have a big slab... then go for it.
DrDan
Christine Rettenberger
Could I use. Baby Back ribs?
DrDan
Totally different meat. It may work or it may not... check other recipes for crockpot baby backs...
DrDan
Lyssa
I was to lazy to cut the fat off and my ribs were on the bone. I cooked them as directed, delicious. Since the fat ruined the sauce, I'm making a second batch of it to cook down a little on the stove. This recipe is a keeper. Thanks!
DrDan
The bone-in country style ribs are a totally different cut and will always have too much fat for this recipe. The bone-in are a shoulder cut. The boneless are the tail end of a pork loin and very lean. In some areas of the country the boneless are hard to find.
Hope that helps
DrDan
Deb Mae
I added the last 20 minutes sliced 1 red pepper and 1/2 green pepper also the last 5 minutes cooked broccoli tops. This was so easy and good. I am going to add small can of diced pineapple and see how that turns out.
madie
i have a ton of fresh mushrooms I need to use up, would mushrooms be good in this?
DrDan
I really don't know. We don't do mushrooms due to family food allergies. I don't know how they do in a crock pot. If you try it, please past a comment on how it went.
Thanks for the comment and the rating.
DrDan
Lara
These were really tasty. I got confused by the ingredient list....didn't have white vinegar so I substituted Apple Cider vinegar, which is what you have pictured.
These had a little kick that I didn't expect (probably from the red pepper). Delicious!
Thanks for the recipe!
DrDan
I did actually make it with apple cider but one of the recipes I was modelling used white and I did the write up a few days later and didn't change it. Either should be fine.
Thanks for the note.
DrDan
Dahn
This looks great. I'm a big ginger fan myself but usually keep it scaled down since my husband is not... haven't been able to sway him yet :)
DrDan
It's easy at my house. Neither of us are ginger fans, especially fresh. Just not fans.
Thanks for commenting
DrDan
Sherrie
This sounds great. Could it be made stove top or in the oven? My crock pot is too big for five small boneless ribs. Thanks, Sher
DrDan
Stove top I don't think so. I would think covered in an over about 325-350 for a couple of hours would work... Have not tired it. If you do please post results.
DrDan