Slow Cooker Prime Rib

Time to sack up, march brave­ly into the unknown, and emerge with a new way to pre­pare the King of All Beef. No child sac­ri­fices needed.

Stop complaining. You knew this was coming.
  • INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 (5‑lb.) stand­ing rib roast, chine bone removed; tied
  • 3 tbsp. kosher salt
  • 1 tbsp. black pepper
  • 12 cup (4 oz.) unsalt­ed but­ter, soft­ened, divided
  • 3 medi­um gar­lic cloves, minced (1 tbsp. )
  • 2 tsp. fine­ly chopped fresh thyme leaves
  • 1 tsp. fine­ly chopped fresh rosemary
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 14 cup beef broth

If you utter the words “slow cook­er prime rib” in the pres­ence of peo­ple who take their meat seri­ous­ly,  they’ll react as if you stuffed one of their chil­dren into a slow cook­er. That’s a lit­tle sil­ly, if you ask me. I mean, if you throw some­one’s child1 in a slow cook­er, they can always just make anoth­er child, but if you ruin a prime rib it will scar your soul forever.

Nev­er­the­less, for­tune favors the bold. Time to sack up, march brave­ly into the unknown, and emerge with a new way to pre­pare the King of All Beef. 

Directions!

Sprin­kle roast even­ly all over with salt and pep­per. Chill uncov­ered at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours.

Let the roast sit at room tem­perature for 1 hour.

Stir togeth­er but­ter, gar­lic, thyme, and rose­mary; set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large skil­let over medi­um-high heat.

Cook roast in hot oil on all sides until well-browned, 3 to 4 min­utes per side.

Trans­fer roast to a 6‑quart slow cook­er, rib side down.

Rub 2 tbsp. of the but­ter mix­ture on top and sides of roast; add beef broth.

Cov­er and cook on LOW until a meat ther­mome­ter reg­is­ters 135° for medi­um-rare, 3 to 3 12 hours. (For medi­um, cook until a meat ther­mome­ter reg­is­ters 145°, about 4 hours.)

Trans­fer roast to cut­ting board; loose­ly cov­er with foil. Let it rest 30 min­utes before carving.

Serve with remain­ing but­ter mixture.

  1. I don’t want you to throw your child in a slow cook­er; I do have some scruples.