Flanken ribs with bulgogi sauce is a quick way to enjoy Korean BBQ at home. If you love beef bulgogi, you will flip over this flanken short ribs recipe!

This recipe is a tasty twist on two very popular Korean dishes; bulgogi and kalbi beef.

Bulgogi beef is typically made with thin strips of either rib eye or sirloin steak. It’s often served bibimbap style (over rice). The steak is seasoned and tenderized with a slightly sweet, umami flavored bulgogi marinade, and it’s absolutely delicious!

Kalbi (or Galbi) is a Korean beef dish made with flanken cut short ribs. The traditional marinade for Kalbi beef is a bit sweeter than bulgogi marinade. Because I already had some bulgogi sauce in my fridge, but I was craving ribs, I decided to combine the two dishes into one.

So technically, I guess this recipe could be called Korean kalbi with bulgogi sauce!

Semantics aside, try my flanken short ribs recipe. I think that once you see how quickly they cook and how tender and flavorful the ribs are, it may forever change the way you make bulgogi beef!

Flanken ribs with bulgogi sauce

Cuisine: Korean / Asian

The word flanken comes from the German word flank, or the Yiddish word, which refers to the rib section of a cow from the back to the belly.

Flanken style ribs are four to eight inches long, about one and a half inches wide, and 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. They have four or five oval-shaped cross-sections of bone along the edge.

Don’t confuse flanken ribs with flank steak; they are two completely different cuts of beef.

If you love ribs, I have some incredible Asian rib recipes that you can make. I have a wonderful curry influenced instant pot asian ribs, some Chinese five spice ribs or even these Sweet and sour ribs made in a slow cooker are fantastic.

For incredibly tender, perfectly seasoned and grilled Korean style BBQ, you can’t go wrong with these flanken short ribs with bulgogi sauce!

Ingredient notes and substitutions

• Flanken short ribs

 Because the meat is cut across the bones instead of between them, flanken ribs are typically ¼ to ½-inch thick. The pieces of beef are long and this and often times come with several small bones in each slice. Flanken ribs can be cut from any of the three beef rib sections; plate, chuck, or back, but the best ratio of fat to meat is on the chuck.

If you can’t find them near the other packaged ribs, check with the butcher counter. Otherwise, any local butcher shop will cut flanken ribs for you.

• Bulgogi marinade

My bulgogi sauce has a slightly sweet flavor from brown sugar and applesauce, plus notes of ginger, garlic and soy sauce. The sweet and umami flavors are balanced with the addition of scallions (green onion) and sesame oil.

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Cooking options for flanken ribs

Because flanken ribs are so thin, they cook very quickly; just 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Most people grill the short ribs but they’re also delicious smoked! If the weather isn’t in your favor, you can cook them under an oven broiler.

If none of those methods are options for you, a cast iron skillet works, but the texture and flavor won’t be as nice.

No matter which cooking method you use, the cook time for flanken ribs is the same; 3-4 minutes per side. What differs is the temperature that you cook them at.

• On a gas, charcoal or pellet grill, cook the ribs at 350°F
• For a smoker, set the temperature to 400°F
• An oven broiler only has one setting
• Stovetop – Use high heat and a cast iron grill pan or skillet. Allow pan to get searing hot before you add the ribs.

How to make flanken short ribs

1. Marinate the beef.

To create flavor and tenderize the short ribs, you’ll want to marinate them for at least 4 hours, but you can marinate them overnight if you’d prefer.

Avoid marinating flanken ribs for longer than 8 hours, because the proteins in the meat begin to break down at that point.

2. Cook according to preferred method.

I prefer to grill the flanken ribs because that’s how beef bulgogi is typically prepared. You can grill them, or use any of the other methods mentioned above; smoker, broiler, or in cast iron on a stovetop

No matter which method you use, be sure to allow the beef short ribs to rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing. This gives the meat time to reabsorb its juices.

Serving suggestions

For the best flavor, cut the beef into thin slices, across the grain. I like to serve the dish bibimbap style, over steamed white rice, with a garnish of thinly sliced scallion (green onions).

Flanken short ribs would also be great with light side dishes like Chinese cucumber salad, Sweet and Sour Brussels Sprouts or Thai mango salad.

If you’d like to serve additional Korean BBQ sauce on the side for dipping, I have instructions on how to make it in my bulgogi sauce recipe post.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Please come back to comment and rate the recipe after you try it.