Boneless Beef Chuck Short Ribs -- Slow Cooker/Crock Pot

Last night I made Slow Cooker Boneless Beef Chuck Short Ribs for dinner. I picked them up at Costco this past weekend. They turned out great. They were super tender and extremely flavorful and unlike some cuts of short ribs, they were not unusually fatty which is a good thing when cooking them in a crock pot (unless you like grease soup...LOL). Rather than go with a tomato based type barbecue sauce, I opted to go with a lighter sauce that has a touch of vinegar and hint of sweetness. It's sort of a twist on North Carolina style barbecue that uses a vinegar based thinner type sauce. Hubby lived in North Carolina for a few years and really developed a taste for that style and flavor. I didn't want to go too vinegary so I added a bit less. This was a very simple recipe to put together. I chose to brown the ribs well and caramelize them to add both color and flavor. Other than some seasonings and spices, the only other added ingredients (besides the ribs) were a bit of onion and the sauce ingredients. I wanted to add a bit of smokiness, so I used smoked paprika as well as ancho chile powder which has more of a smoky flavor than it does spicy like Chipotle. I wanted to use a bit of chili sauce to add to the stock along with the vinegar, but didn't have any so I improvised by mixing a few tablespoons of ketchup (with no HFCS) with a bit of Asian style chili-garlic sauce. I had originally considered using 1/4 cup of that (and no ketchup)...but after taking a tiny taste of it and realizing how hot and spicy it was, I decided to only use 1 tablespoon of it and mix it with a little ketchup for flavor and only a hint of spiciness.

They turned out excellent...super tender and very rich tasting. I think you could easily add a few more tablespoons of vinegar (I used red wine vinegar) without it being too much...but I liked them as is. I also added a little Swerve Sweetener for a bit of sweetness to balance the vinegar flavor. I will definitely make these again. The recipe made plenty of very flavorful "au jus" that hubby enjoyed spooned over his ribs (you could also reduce and thicken it, too, if you preferred). I am not a big gravy or sauce person, so I opted to eat them "au naturale". They went very well with my Baked Cauli-roni & Cheese casserole. I snapped a few photos below as well as the super simple recipe. Enjoy!

Browned and placed into the crock pot to cook all day

  

Slow Cooker Boneless Beef Chuck Short Ribs

Ingredients:

3 pounds boneless beef chuck short ribs, cut in half lengthwise
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 - 1 teaspoon ancho chile powder, or to taste
1 teaspoon smoked paprika, or to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil
1 small onion, diced
3 tablespoons ketchup (with no high fructose corn syrup)
1 tablespoon chili-garlic sauce (found in the Asian section of the grocery store)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup Swerve Sweetener
1 cup beef or chicken stock

Directions:

Using paper towels, pat ribs dry. Season both sides with salt, pepper, ancho chile powder, and smoked paprika. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large dutch oven until hot. Brown ribs on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Place ribs in bottom of a 6 to 7 quart slow cooker.

Using same pot ribs were browned in, add diced onion and cook over medium-high heat until tender-crisp and lightly caramelized, about 5 minutes. Spread cooked onions on top of ribs.

In a medium bowl, combine ketchup, chili-garlic sauce, vinegar, sweetener and beef stock and mix well. Pour over top of ribs. Cover slow cooker and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.