This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Korean Marinated Short Ribs, also known as LA Galbi, are a specific type of Galbi (Korean Grilled Ribs), and they are one of my favorite meats to grill! They are tender and flavorful in the sweet Galbi marinade, and perfect for grilling over hot coals, broiling in the oven, or searing over the cast iron skillet.
You can easily make delicious Korean BBQ at home. Making this type of BBQ at home may seem intimidating, but it’s extremely easy to do because it’s mostly inactive cooking time marinating the meat. It’s really simple to make!
Watch the Korean Marinated Beef Short Ribs Recipe Video Below!
These Korean short ribs come out delicious every time! The ribs are so juicy and tender, and when grilled they develop a wonderful char from the grill due to the sugar content in the marinade. They’re absolutely incredible!
I love cooking these ribs on the grill, but you can also broil them in the oven, or cook them up on the pan or cast iron at home!
Ingredients for Korean Marinated Short Ribs
You only need a few ingredients to make these delicious short ribs. Here is what you’ll need to make them!
- Beef Short Ribs (cut flanken style, which is lengthwise across the bone – they will usually come thinner and include 3 pieces of bone with each rib)
- Korean Pear – Ideally you will need a Korean or Asian pear for this recipe to tenderize the meat. The fruit will contain an enzyme called Calpain which helps with the tenderization process. Alternatively, you can use apple or kiwi if you have trouble finding this specific ingredient
- white or yellow onion
- garlic
- ginger
- low sodium soy sauce
- water
- brown sugar
- mirin – You can substitute mirin with equal parts sugar!
- sesame oil
- black pepper
Key Tip
How To Select Your Short Ribs
Typically at the butcher or grocery store, short ribs are sold two ways:
Flanken Cut – this is the cut we’re after for this type of Galbi, also known as LA Galbi (based on the city where this style of grilled short ribs originated). The ribs are cut into thin strips across the rib bones, and typically include 3 bones in each piece of rib. You can find this cut more commonly at your local Asian supermarket.
English Cut – the ribs are separated completely and cut along with the meat. This is a cut you’ll typically see when short ribs are braised and come with a thicker section of meat. Traditionally for Galbi, this section is butterflied into a long, thin piece of short rib and grilled.
Cooking Korean Marinated Short Ribs: Recipe Instructions
Rinse the Short Ribs
Begin by rinsing the ribs in cold water. These short ribs are cut flanken style, which may mean they have some loose bone fragments on them and extra sediment, which you definitely don’t want to eat. Rinse the ribs, drain the water, and set them aside!
Prepare the Marinade for the Korean Marinated Short Ribs
Once the ribs are rinsed, now it’s time to make the base of the marinade. To a blender, add Korean pear, onion, garlic and ginger, then blend on high until it becomes a smooth pulp.
Blend the ingredients
The next step will be to blend the ingredients together into a pulp. Blending is the easiest method here, but if you don’t have a blender you can always use a food processor or grate the vegetables and fruit by hand. Using an Asian or Korean pear is key for this recipe because it includes an enzyme called Calpain which helps tenderize the meat. If you can’t find Korean pears near you, apples or even kiwis can work as a substitute.
Strain the Pulp (optional)
This step is optional, but I like to strain the pulp from the juice after it is blended. I find that the pulp can sometimes burn easily on the ribs, and you really only need the juice to incorporate the flavor into the meat. I simply take a cheese cloth or a reusable nut milk bag to strain out the pulp and extract the juice into a large mixing bowl!
Add the seasonings to the marinade
Add the seasoning ingredients (low sodium soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, and black pepper). Stir the marinade until the sugar is fully dissolved. Now you’re ready to marinate your ribs!
Marinate the ribs
Marinate the ribs make sure they are fully submerged in the marinating liquid. Cover with plastic wrap or foil and put them in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 6 hours or ideally overnight for best results.
Cook the ribs
Grill the Korean marinated short ribs over medium high/high heat for 2-3 minutes per side, or until they develop a nice crust around the ribs! These ribs will not take long at all to cook since they are cut so thinly, which is perfect for a quick and easy meal during the week. Korean marinated short ribs are also a wonderful main dish to bring to a barbeque or for some weekend grilling activities 🙂
Key Tip
RECIPE TIPS
MARINATING TIME
Take your time marinating these ribs to achieve the best flavor. 6 hours or overnight should be plenty of time for the flavors to develop in the ribs.
COOKING METHODS
I prefer to grill Korean marinated short ribs over hot charcoals or wood, but if you don’t have a grill you can also broil the ribs in the oven or cook them in a pan over medium high heat!
What to Serve with Korean Marinated Short Ribs
The Korean marinated short ribs are done! I serve my short ribs with a variety of banchan, such as kimchi or cucumber salad. You can also serve them with red leaf lettuce, perilla leaf, and sprinkle them with sesame seeds for garnish. Enjoy!
If you liked these Korean marinated short ribs , check out some of my other popular Korean meat and side dish recipes!
- Beef Bulgogi
- Spicy Pork Bulgogi
- Korean Cucumber Salad
- Korean Bean Sprout Side Dish
- Korean Spinach Salad
If you tried this Korean marinated short ribs or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below!
Korean Marinated Short Ribs (Galbi)
Ingredients
- 3 lb beef short ribs, cut Flanken style
Marinade (enough for 3-5 lbs of ribs)
- 1 Korean Pear
- 1 onion, white or yellow
- 10 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Garnish
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- scallions, chopped
Instructions
- Rinse the ribs in cold water to remove loose bone fragments and sediment. Drain well and set aside.
- In a blender or food processor, blend Korean pear, onion, garlic, ginger, and water until is becomes a smooth pulp and add to a large mixing bowl. Optionally, pour into a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth and drain the juice into a large mixing bowl and discard pulp.
- To the large mixing bowl, add low sodium soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, sesame oil, and black pepper. Mix well then add the ribs and marinate for 6 hours or overnight for best results.
- Grill, broil, or pan fry them over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes per side.
- Sprinkle the ribs with sesame seeds and sliced scallion and enjoy! Serve with kimchi, perilla leaf and other banchan.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious! This is definitely a guest favorite! Quick and a great hit!
Thanks for a super delicious recipe!! We’ve tried a few other recipes online, and this is the most flavorful one by far. We followed the recipe to the tee and marinated our galbi overnight. For the pear, onion, garlic, water mixture, we don’t have a cheesecloth so didn’t strain out the pulp. It separates as the galbi marinate anyway. We broiled each side for 4-5 minutes to get a nicer char since our current oven is weaker than others we’ve had. Will be a staple for when we want to treat ourselves!
Delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Delicious!! Love how easy it is to follow recipe
I make this recipe for kbbq at home. The pear is a bit difficult to find. If you are going to strain the marinade, you definitely need a cheese cloth. Don’t try to strain it with a regular metal strainer, you will lose a lot of juice and take forever.
This recipe made galbi so easy to make!
Savory and satisfying.
This was delicious! There were no Korean or Asian pears in my town, so I used two small kiwis.
Made them this weekend and the flavor was amazing. My husband said we don’t need to go to a restaurant for korean bbq. Love all your recipes. Will be making black pepper chicken as well this week
Grilled them this weekend and they were incredible!