Korean Style Beef Short Ribs
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Korean Style Beef Short Ribs Recipe
Updated August 2025
Tender, fall-off-the-bone ribs are ready for you to enjoy with the help of a little time and a flavourful marinade. These beef short ribs are ideal for summer months when you’re looking to fire up the grill and feed a crowd. Bring the flavours of Korean BBQ home with this easy recipe that’s succulent, sweet, and savoury.
Marinade Ingredients for Korean Style Beef Short Ribs
For the most flavourful beef short ribs, we focus on the marinade. To really infuse these ribs with all the delicious aromatics in this marinade, we recommend marinating for around four hours and up to 24 hours. Place the short ribs and marinade in a resealable plastic bag on a tray in the fridge and allow the marinade to tenderize the meat and add flavour for the best results. The ingredients we used in this Korean-style marinade are below.
Onion: A must-have for these short ribs, onion adds extra flavour to this marinade. We recommend a neutral onion like a yellow onion for this recipe.
Asian Pear: The secret ingredient for these Korean short ribs is the Asian pear. Rounder than your usual pear, the Asian pear looks more like an apple. It contains a specific enzyme called calpain that helps tenderize the meat, leading to fall-of-the-bone beef ribs. If you’re unable to find an Asian pear, a regular pear or apple will suffice, although it may not have quite the same tenderizing effect.
Garlic: What’s a savoury recipe—especially one featuring ribs—without garlic? Peel and chop three to four cloves of garlic for this dish before adding it to your blender.
Ginger: A complement to the garlic, fresh ginger adds a warm spiciness and heat to this recipe. Providing some complexity to this recipe, be sure to use fresh ginger rather than the powdered kind that’s a pantry staple.
Brown Sugar: For a rich, robust flavour that helps caramelize these beef short ribs, we’ve used molasses-filled brown sugar. White sugar would be fine in a pinch, but it may lead to a marinade that tastes a little one-note. For the best results, we recommend dark brown sugar, or at least golden sugar.
Soy Sauce: Soy sauce does more than just add a salty element to these short ribs. The salt in soy sauce helps the beef ribs retain moisture, making for a juicier bite. We’ve used low-sodium soy sauce here, but you can use regular soy sauce or tamari if you follow a gluten-free diet.
Mirin: Mirin is a sweet rice wine often used in Asian cooking. If you can’t find mirin in your area, you can substitute it for sake or white wine with a pinch of sugar to mimic the flavour.
Sesame Oil: Rather than use a neutral oil like canola oil or vegetable oil, we’ve chosen sesame oil for this recipe. Made from pressing roasted sesame seeds, sesame oil has a nutty, slightly sweet flavour that adds another layer to this marinade. You can use any type of oil, but we really like sesame oil in this recipe for extra oomph.
Black Pepper: For a little warmth without a lot of heat (this dish isn’t meant to be spicy), we added just a little bit of black pepper.
Sesame Seeds: Sesame seeds provide a little bit of crunch and some additional nuttiness to this recipe, echoed by the sesame oil mentioned above. We also use sesame seeds for garnish in this recipe.
Types of Short Ribs
Typically, short ribs can be found in two cuts: Flanken Cut and English Cut. More info on these two different cuts is below.
Flanken Cut: Also known as LA galbi, kalbi, or asado in other parts of the world, flanken-cut ribs are what we use in this short rib recipe. These are ribs that are cut into thin strips across the bone, identifiable by several small pieces of rib across each slice. The thin nature of flanken-cut ribs makes them excellent for grilling and marinating. This cut of rib is common in Korean BBQ.
English Cut: Larger and meatier, English-cut ribs have a single, longer rib bone section per slice. This type of short rib is better suited to braising low and slow to get a tender texture and richer flavour.
We offer flanken-cut short ribs at our Butcher Shop, but you can also use boneless beef ribs or thinly-cut flatiron steak, although your cooking time may need to be adjusted to achieve your preferred temperature.
Tips for the Best Korean Style Short Ribs
Marinate properly: To make luscious, tender short ribs, you can’t skip the marinating time. It may be tempting to take a shortcut and only marinate these ribs for an hour, but for the best texture and flavour, we suggest at least four hours and up to 24 hours of marinating time. The enzymes in the marinade help break down the tough parts of the short ribs, rendering them tender and juicy. Speeding this process up could leave you with chewy, tough ribs.
Blend thoroughly: For a marinade that’s ultra-smooth, you’ll want to whip out your food processor or blender. Blending the marinade ingredients creates a more cohesive flavour that thoroughly infuses the beef ribs.
Other Ways to Make Beef Short Ribs
No grill? No problem! While we love the BBQ for these short ribs, you can also make them in the oven or in a pan. For the oven, you’ll want to set it your broiler on high. Broil your ribs for about four to five minutes on each side, or until they’ve reached your desired level of doneness. For cooking short ribs in a pan, turn your burner to a medium-high heat and cook the ribs for about four minutes on each side, or until they’ve reached your preferred temperature.
How To Store Beef Short Ribs
These Korean short ribs can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. We don’t recommend freezing these ribs, as freezing can impact the taste and texture. To reheat the ribs from the fridge, simply place in your oven at 350°F until warmed through. You can enjoy them as-is with your remaining side dishes or chop up the meat and add it to a stir-fry for a delicious dish that repurposes leftovers!
What to Serve with Beef Short Ribs
Korean short ribs taste great with a variety of dishes. We like to serve this recipe with steamed Farm Boy™ Jasmine Rice to help soak up the marinade, but it also pairs well with other dishes. Some of our favourites are:
Salad: A simple green salad of fresh lettuce, grated carrots, and thinly sliced cucumber would be delicious alongside these flavourful ribs. Dress it with our Farm Boy™ Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette for a bright taste that enhances the flavours of the ribs. Made in Ontario from simple ingredients like rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, chili paste, sesame oil, and ginger, this vinaigrette is light, fragrant, and delicious.
Kimchi: Kimchi is a traditional choice to pair with beef short ribs. Tangy, crunchy, and spicy, this fermented cabbage adds some great contrasting texture and flavour. Our Organic Kimchi is Canadian-made with organic ingredients like cabbage, carrot, radish, onion, garlic, and ginger.
Dumplings: For a robust Korean-style meal, why not serve these short ribs alongside dumplings? Our line of dumplings is made in Ontario from tender dough stuffed with delicious fillings. Ready in minutes, serve them steamed or fried with some sauce on the side for dipping.
Lettuce Wraps: Transform your ribs into wraps with the help of some lettuce leaves. We like Bibb lettuce for its natural cup shape. Place some of the marinated rib meat inside a lettuce leaf, then add steamed rice and kimchi for a simple, delicious dish.
Sautéed Spinach: Get an extra dose of green from some sautéed spinach. Quick and nutritious, make your spinach anything but boring by cooking it with soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil for a bright flavour to balance the hearty ribs.
More Beef Recipes from Farm Boy
Looking for more beef recipes? Check out any of the dishes below!
Frenched Long Bone Ribeye Steak with Garlic Flower Butter
More Grill-Worthy Recipes from Farm Boy
Looking for more recipes that are great on the grill? Check out any of the dishes below!
Chicken Tikka Skewers with Spicy Cilantro Chutney
Spicy Peri Peri Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Grilled Teriyaki Salmon Kebabs
Turkey Kofte with Sumac Onions
Grilled Scallops with Salsa Verde
Ingredients
- Marinade
- ½ cup small onion peeled and chopped
- 1 small Asian pear cored and chopped
- 3-4 garlic cloves peeled and chopped
- 1" piece fresh ginger peeled and chopped
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- ½ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp rice wine (mirin)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 ½ Tbsp roasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp Farm Boy™ Ground Black Pepper
- 1 ½ Tbsp Farm Boy™ Sesame Seeds
- Short Ribs
- 1.35 kg flanken-style beef short ribs
- 2 green onions thinly sliced for garnish
- Farm Boy™ Sesame Seeds for garnish
- 3 cups cooked Farm Boy™ Jasmine Rice (from 1 ½ cup raw rice)
- Farm Boy™ Organic Kimchi to serve
- Bibb lettuce leaves to serve
Directions
- For the marinade: Place chopped onion, pear, garlic, fresh ginger, brown sugar, soy sauce, rice wine, water, roasted sesame oil, Farm Boy™ Ground Black Pepper, and Farm Boy™ Sesame Seeds into a food processor or blender and pulse until smooth.
- For the short ribs: Place flanken-style beef short ribs in a large resealable bag and add the marinade. Move ribs around within the bag until evenly coated with marinade. Place bag on a tray and refrigerate for at least one hour (ribs are best if marinated for 24 hours).
- When ready to cook, preheat grill to medium-high heat. Grease grill grates.
- Remove marinated ribs from bag, draining excess marinade off.
- Cook ribs for 4-5 minutes per side, depending on thickness of ribs, or until lightly charred and cooked through.
- Place cooked ribs on platter and garnish with thinly sliced green onions and Farm Boy™ Sesame Seeds. Serve with cooked Farm Boy™ Jasmine Rice, Farm Boy™ Organic Kimchi, and Bibb lettuce leaves.