Kinda like dessert for dinner. Meat dessert. Just trust me.
These Asian Flanken Short Ribs are sweet, salty, beefy heaven. Thin cut Flanken Short Ribs take a good swim in a marinade of brown sugar, soy sauce & Mirin that’s flavoured with sesame oil, lots of garlic & fresh ginger. Grilled over high heat the marinade gets deliciously charred and the ribs are like crispy-edged, tender-chewy, salty, caramelized bites of insane yumminess. If it’s possible to oversell them I’m doing a heck of a job but I honestly don’t think that’s possible because they are SO GOOD.
We like to eat them with steaming hot coconut rice and grilled wedges of fresh pineapple. A little hot sauce doesn’t hurt, but you do what makes you happy.
If sweet ‘n salty isn’t your thing you might want to move along to a more savoury recipe of mine (like these Denver Steaks with Creole Butter… so good!), but if you’re with me then you are going to be one very happy dinner eater very soon.
Let’s start with what the heck Flanken Short Ribs are anyway. These guys do a better job of explaining it than I do, but all you need to know for now is that they are just regular beef short ribs but the difference is that the flanken ribs are cut thinly and across the bone. They are best cooked marinated and grilled and so let’s do that.
asian style Flanken Short Ribs, how to make them…
Step 1: Mix up your marinade. This is a simplen- yet super delicious – mixture of soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and chili garlic paste.
Step 2: Place your flanken short ribs in a large baking dish (as pictured above) and pour the marinade over them. Make sure to mix them around and turn them over to make sure both sides of each piece are well coated in the marinade.
Step 3: Leave them alone. Cover the dish with some plastic wrap and place it in the fridge. One hour is good. A few hours is better. Overnight is best.
Step 4: Get your grill H-O-T. Remove the ribs from the marinade, letting any excess drip away, and place them on the grill. Cook each side for about 3 minutes. Remove and serve.
Recipe ingredients, tips, substitutions:
Brown Sugar – dark and light both work, but dark has more flavour.
Soy Sauce – regular and reduced sodium both work well.
Garlic and Ginger – fresh please, not powdered.
Grilling – I think flanken short ribs are best cooked on an outdoor grill, but you can use a grill pan or even your oven broiler, just make sure you have good ventilation because with all that sugar there will be smoke!
Flanken Short Ribs Recipe Variations:
- Add some cayenne pepper or a big squirt of sriracha to the marinade to make them spicy.
- Use some maple syrup in place of some of the brown sugar for a slightly different flavour.
- Remove the meat from the bones once cooked, chop it up and use it to make the best fried rice of your life (this is actually what I do with leftovers in the unusual situation that there are any)
what to serve with asian flanken short ribs? try these…
- Grilled pineapple… cut a fresh pineapple into spears and toss them on the grill for a couple of minutes per side.
- Fresh pineapple salsa – diced pineapple, jalapeño, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt.
- Coconut rice. I haven’t posted my coconut rice recipe on this site yet, but if you’re looking for a good one contact me and I’ll send you mine.
- This Spicy Cucumber Salad or this Kale Cucumber “Seaweed” Salad would be so good with this dish. Or, if you don’t make the grilled pineapple you could make this Spicy Kale Salad with Pineapple, Coconut & Ginger Miso Dressing
Recipe-ish…
Flanken Short Ribs – Asian style
Ingredients
- 2 lbs flanken short ribs
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp ginger minced
- 2 Tbsp Mirin
- 1 Tbsp chili garlic paste
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
Instructions
- To make the marinade combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, Mirin, chili garlic paste and sesame oil in a bowl. Whisk until well combined and set aside.
- Place the ribs in a large baking dish. Pour the marinade over the ribs and ensure both sides of all of the ribs are well coated.
- Refrigerate for at least one hour and up to overnight.
- Heat your grill and when it’s very hot remove the ribs from the marinade and let any excess drip off.
- Place the ribs on the grill and cook for about 3 minutes per side.
- Remove and serve.
Let me know what you think below and if you like this Asian Flanken Short Ribs Recipe I think you should try this recipe for Truffle Butter Steak Bites. You’ll love them.
