Korean BBQ Beef Short Ribs

Korean barbecue has a unique flavor to it that has me hooked.

The taste, the scent, and the overall good feeling you will experience from eating Korean cuisine. It pulls you in like a hardened carnivore every time. Plus, it’s not like the excessively sugary BBQ you’re used to eating week after week.

If you get some fresh ingredients and set aside some time to create them, you’ll understand precisely what I mean.

If you like Korean cuisine, this tender short rib dish may become an immediate favorite.

So, let’s get started on the ingredients for Korean BBQ Short Ribs.

What cut of meat do we need for Korean BBQ Short Ribs?

So, what distinguishes Korean beef short ribs? Understandably, the tastes, as well as the manner they are sliced.

Normal beef ribs, also known as short ribs, are sold with the bones intact and generally with three bones running the length of the ribs, which are around 8 inches long. However, Korean short ribs (also known as flanken cut, LA Galbi, or Kalbi) are sliced an inch to an inch thick and over the whole rack of 4 to 6 bones. As a result, each slice contains microscopic fragments of bone.

Although they are made from the same cut of beef, they are cooked in very different ways. Whole short ribs are a difficult cut that requires low and long cooking to break down all of the connective tissue and firm muscle. When making Korean style beef short ribs, you will depend on the extended marinating procedure to help tenderize the meat since they are cooked hot and quickly after marinated.

This is the same piece of beef, but it has been prepared differently.

Items that will help you cook these are:

• A grill
• Container
• Sharp chefs knife
• Instant read thermometer
• Blender or food processor

Korean BBQ marinade for the ribs

We transform beef ribs into the most addicting Korean BBQ short ribs by making the sweet and flavorful marinade.

I’ll mention some ingredient substitutes to make things simpler to purchase. Mostly because you may not be able to get a few ingredients where you live.

When I cook, I always measure out all of my ingredients ahead of time. It just means that I can get into a flow when cooking.

Soy sauce, maltose, Asian pear, mirin, brown sugar, onion, a couple of thin slices of ginger, green onions (only the white pieces), garlic, kosher salt, freshly powdered black pepper, sesame oil, and water in a food processor. Make a rapid buzz out of stuff.

There’s no need to purée this. The main reason we’re putting the components in the food processor is to quickly open up all of the ingredients and blend their tastes in this marinade.

Asian pear and Maltose are the two new components. If you can’t locate an Asian pear, you may use a regular pear. If you don’t have Maltose, replace it with a cup of honey.

Maltose is a classic syrup that hardens rapidly, so put it in the food processor last since you need to soften it in the microwave to measure it out, and it will harden again as soon as it meets the other cold components. As a result, I used honey in the recipe and in my movie since it is a bit simpler to deal with.

Mix everything together once everything is in the food processor. Because this is merely a marinade, it doesn’t have to be a smooth liquid; bits are OK. It’s the taste combination we’re looking for.

How to grill Korean BBQ Short Beef Ribs?

1. Prepping the ribs

The wonderful thing about Korean BBQ short ribs is that they don’t need any preparation.

You won’t be able to chop down a rack of beef ribs yourself at home unless you have a food safe band saw to cut through the bones.

If there seems to be an excessive amount of fat on them, you may clip it off, but I’ve never seen an amount that I considered excessive.

2. For maximum flavor marinate overnight

To season the short ribs, just place them in a container or zip lock bag and pour in the acidic Kalbi style marinade mixture. If you’re using zip lock bags, be sure to get rid of all the air.

This is then refrigerated overnight, ideally for 24 hours, but even overnight you can taste the soy sauce-based marinade. The longer the ribs are marinated in this marinade, the stronger the flavors become. I once marinated some ribs in this sauce for 48 hours and they were incredibly delicious.

I recognize that most of you will not be preparing meals two days before you want to consume it, but do yourself a favor. If you test these short ribs in the sweet and savory marinade for eight hours and like them, grab a few extra and marinate them for 24 hours or even 48 hours the next time you buy some.

Return to the fridge and flip the beef short ribs one or twice during the night. Don’t be concerned about continually turning or stirring them. When you think about it.

It’s just to split them up. When they’re resting on one other, there’s some surface area that doesn’t get much touch with the marinade, so breaking them up a few times gives every bit of the ribs an opportunity to soak up that sweetness.

3. Grill setup

To cook these Korean short ribs, you’ll need a direct high heat source, ideally an outside grill.

I used my flat top grill since it warms up fast and the grates help sear the food, which I enjoy seeing on Korean short ribs. You may also use a charcoal grill, but I needed immediate heat for this dish. If you’re using charcoal, you’ll be cooking directly over the charcoal, so continuously rotating the ribs to avoid flare-ups. Charring the meat is OK, but burning it is not.

So just turn the jets all the way to high and let the grill heat up for 10 minutes before adding the ribs.

We don’t need to oil the grills since we use sesame oil in our marinade.

Lay the ribs over the grill after it has warmed up. There should be a quick sizzle and some smoke from the marinade’s oil content.

Allow the ribs to sit for 3 to 4 minutes, at which point they should have excellent char marks and be ready for a flip to the other side.

Repeat the same on the other side, and the ribs should be well charred on both sides after 3 to 4 minutes.

When cooking Korean style short ribs, I prefer to cook them a little more than medium, so an internal temperature of 150F to 160F is what I’m looking for because I believe the moisture added by the marinade allows for a little more cooking and this allows for better charring on the outside, which just adds another level of flavor to the ribs.

4. Garnish the ribs

Remember those green onion ends you saved when you made the marinade?

Now is the moment to take it out and start slicing it up while the ribs are sizzling.

I prefer to cut them at a diagonal angle and about an inch thick. The angle makes no difference; it is entirely decorative and provides for a far more appealing garnish on top of the short ribs.

The green stands out against the grilled meat short ribs, and the thinly sliced green onions provide a crisp crunch to the last mouthful.

You may optionally top these lovely Korean barbeque short ribs with toasted sesame seeds.

Do you need to rest beef short ribs?

Any meat that is cooked should be rested.

Because these Korean short ribs are cut about an inch thick before cooking, 5 to 10 minutes is plenty of time. Furthermore, the perfume emanating from these beef short ribs will drive you and your family insane if you have to wait any longer. They truly do smell that delicious and taste much better, believe me.

Looking for more delicious rib recipes?

• BBQ Beef Short Ribs
• Smoked Baby Back Ribs on a Pellet Grill
• 3-2-1 Smoked Pork Ribs
• Lemon & Rosemary Grilled Lamb Ribs
• BBQ Ribs using the Johnny Trigg method