Kalbi or Korean style BBQ short ribs is the most popular dish at a Korean BBQ restaurant and it’s no wonder because the short rib has a good amount of marbling and intense flavor – whether you prefer them marinated style or plain with just salt and sesame oil. Unless you live close to an Asian market, it’s nearly impossible to find kalbi to make at home. However, recently I’ve discovered that the boneless short ribs that is sold at Costco is a pretty good substitute for kalbi. And better yet, there are NO bones! Yay for no bones!!
There are more variations of Korean Kalbi recipe than your grandmother’s meatloaf but that’s the beauty of this dish. Everyone can put their own preference into the dish and make it their own signature and style. For me, the secret ingredient is the kiwi fruit which adds a bit of sourness and a tropical fruity flavor. I’ve also tried orange juice, pineapples, and the traditional Asian pear which all work well.
Since I need to make dinner after work, my plan has been prepping a lot of various foods on the weekend so that when I get home from work on the weeknight, I can get dinner ready in 30 minutes. So far, this past month, I’ve been pretty successful in making the 30 minute mark (not including washing vegetables or cooking rice). I know many people cook their meals over the weekend and reheat on the weekdays or others that do crockpot meals. For me, I’m pretty picky at what I eat so I don’t like to reheat foods during the weeknight and not a big fan of one-pot meals (at least not everyday). So these few months, I’ve developed ways to cut down the cooking time and prep time during weeknights as well as discovering recipes such as this which allows you to prep a bunch and freeze until the day you need it. Other quick and easy recipes include the Taiwanese Pan Fried Pork Chop, Ginger Pork, Baked Fish Dynamite, Pan-seared Chicken with Ponzu Sauce, and my most famous Taiwanese Three Cup Chicken.
Ingredients:
- 5 lbs boneless beef short ribs
Marinade Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 3 tbsp minced garlic
- 3-4 stalks green onion
- 1” ginger
- 2 kiwi fruit
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- ¼ cup rice wine
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
Directions:
If you are fortunate to have a butcher or a Korean market nearby, you can always buy the real Korean short ribs which are cut across the rib, also known as flanken cut or LA style galbi. Or if you want to save some money, you can buy boneless short ribs from Costco and slice it yourself or use a food slicer. Check out our food slicer review. For this particular recipe, I bought the short ribs from Costco and sliced the ribs myself because boneless ribs just makes it so much easier to eat and cooks more evenly as well.
Next, instead of grating the onion, garlic, ginger, kiwi, I just chopped them up so it fits into a blender. Add the remaining marinade ingredients and puree for about 30 seconds until smooth. I find this method mixes the flavors a lot better than not blending.
Take your short ribs, put them in a ziplock bag, pour the marinade into the bag and massage the meat so that every part of the meat is soaked in marinade.
Put in fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
If you want beautiful lines on your kalbi, go ahead and grill it on both sides. For me, to feed a hungry extended family of 7, I just pan fried them 1 minute on each side. Serve with rice and kimchi or with Korean Pickled Radish.
Note:
This recipe freezes really well so I usually prep the whole 10 pound block of short ribs at once and separate them into 4 bags for 4 meals. The key is to marinade in the fridge first for at least 4 hours before freezing the meat so that when you thaw the kalbi, it’s ready to cook.
- 5 lbs boneless beef short ribs
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 3 tbsp minced garlic
- 3-4 stalks green onion
- 1” ginger
- 2 kiwi fruit
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- ¼ cup rice wine
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- thinly slice the beef short ribs across the grain to be about ¼” thick
- blend all the marinade ingredients in a blender
- put the short ribs in a sealable bag and pour in the marinade
- marinade for at least 4 hours or overnight
- pan fry on high for 1 min on each side and serve