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Easy Sweet & Savory Korean BBQ Grilled Beef Short Ribs (Kal

By olivejuice on January 02, 2008

9 Reviews

Prep Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 40 mins
Servings: 4

About This Recipe

"This is probably the best homemade Korean grilled beef dish EVER, no exaggeration. I guess you can think of it as a Korean-style beef teriyaki. It is my daughter's favorite way to eat meat and I've never met an American who didn't like it. I was surprised not to find any other kalbi recipe on the zaar, though there are many for braised short ribs and the other korean bbq beef, bulgogi. Kalbi is simple and delicious. Growing up, I typically only had kalbi on special occasions, family holiday dinners, church picnics, and the like. In a restaurant, it can get very pricey but it's a real treat of an experience to have kalbi cooked right at the table and have all sorts of side dishes to eat with it. This recipe is also very flexible: easily doubled; any sweeteners can work in place of sugar (pear juice, honey, brown sugar); easily fried in a skillet or broiled in the oven or grilled... You can serve with just rice, or go all out restaurant-style and serve with red lettuce leaves for wrapping, spicy bean paste, slices of garlic cloves, sliced up scallions and kimchi. It's up to you! The only important thing to remember is the proportion of sugar to soy sauce to water that will result in the best combination of sweet and savory. Prep time does not include marinating time."

Ingredients

3 lbs beef short ribs ( Flanken style or Korean style)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 yellow onion, halved and sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
2 scallions, chopped
1 head red leaf lettuce, washed (optional)
3 scallions, sliced lengthwise (optional)
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon sesame oil (optional)
1/4 cup hot bean paste (optional) or 1/4 cup chili paste (optional)

Directions

Rinse short ribs under the faucet to get rid of loose bone bits. Soak the short ribs in water for 10 minutes to drain out some of the blood. They can be soaked in a roasting pan, ziploc bag, or large bowl--- whatever container you would like to use for marinating.
In your marinating container, combine sugar, water, soy sauce, sesame oil, onion, garlic, sesame seeds and scallions. Dissolve the sugar into the mixture as much as possible, but it will likely not become totally dissolved.
Lay rib pieces in the marinade, dispersing onion slices between and on top of the meat and submerging the meat as much as possible.
Let the beef marinate in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes, and ideally overnight.
Line the grill with foil and poke holes in the foil. On medium high heat, grill the short ribs 5-7 minutes on each side until the meat is cooked medium-well and the bones do not bleed. In my opinion, this particular dish is best with a bit of burnt edges and near-well-doneness.
Serve with rice.
Alternatively, add extra flair! Wash and break off whole leaves of red lettuce and place on a serving plate (note: red lettuce is not actually red and is widely available in grocery stores). In a small bowl, toss long thin slices of scallion with sesame oil and red pepper flakes. Serve short ribs cut into thirds or about 1 inch squares (kitchen shears work best). In a small dish, place spicy bean paste or hot sauce. To assemble, wrap each piece of meat in a red lettuce leaf with scallion mixture and a dot of the spicy sauce.

Private Note

No Notes

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 (666 g)

Servings Per Recipe: 4

Amount Per Serving: %
Calories 1674.7
Calories from Fat 1202: 71%

Amount Per Serving: %
Total Fat 133.5g: 205%
Saturated Fat 55.0g: 275%
Cholesterol 258.5mg: 86%
Sugars 52.4 g
Sodium 4194.4mg: 174%
Total Carbohydrate 59.9g: 19%
Dietary Fiber 2.3g: 9%
Sugars 52.4 g: 209%
Protein 58.3g: 116%

Reviews

"This recipe is truly great, yet I would add change to a quarter cup of toasted sesame seeds and a half a cup more soy sauce. This is a really great way to marinate short ribs, I know this would be great with pork ribs too. DON'T FORGET TO KEEP THE MARINADE FOR BASTING WHILE COOKING ON THE GRILL! The marinade is top notch excellent."

By Sophisticated Taste Buds! on October 15, 2009 | 970504
"easy and tasty. use this for a large group - it got rave reviews. i pulled back on sugar though and substituted with italian tomato paste - i wanted to add a bit more texture. wonderful recipe, thanks for sharing!"

By Flaca on June 18, 2009 | 891656
"I marinated dino ribs in this for a day and a half, then roasted them in the oven for about 2.5 hours as we don't have a grill. We pulled the meat off and wrapped it in lettuce leaves with condiments. Very good."

By Kasha on November 17, 2011 | 1266191
"We loved the flavor in this great marinade. Delicious! I had a hard time getting the short ribs cooked on the grill. It seemed to take FOREVER and the meat was still tough when we finally pulled them off. I think next time I'll use this marinade on sirloin or tri-tip. We served this with Recipe #214378, and the flavor combo was out of this world! Thanks for a great recipe!"

By Chef SuzyQ on September 12, 2011 | 1249314
"Yummy yummy yummy. Better than the food at the local Korean BBQ and a whole lot less expensive too."

By LittleRedChef on May 23, 2011 | 1219720
"very good"

By Chef #1518956 on July 17, 2010 | 1132254
"Made this last weekend, great recipe! Our daughter came home from school and we went to popular Korean place and ordered the kalbi. Hubby looked at me and said mine (olivejuice's) were better. I only had a 2 hr marinade on mine and they were very good. Didn't think about saving the marinade to baste (duh), will do next time. Thank You for sharing. My craving has been cured!"

By ck in kc on October 26, 2009 | 977715
"Just made this tonight. Very simple, very good!!! My husband was stationed in Korea for a while and said this was the closest to authentic bulgogi he's had in 20 years. My kids loved it also. I also thickened the marinade into a suce and gave the option of serving the beef over rice with it, was also good. We loved it with the kimchi and scallions with hot siracha chili sauce in the lettuce leaves. Thank- you so much!"

By mChristie on August 09, 2009 | 923089
"Perfect! I have been trying to reproduce an old rib recipe from Maui (Azeka Ribs anyone?) and this was awesome, as close as I've ever gotten my search is over!"

By AB and MJ !! on April 18, 2009 | 851947