How To Cook Flanken Style Ribs

Get all my tips for how to cook Flanken style ribs with tons of flavor from a great marinade and a quick cook.

Not sure what kind of ribs you have or how to prepare them? Learn all about Flanken-style short ribs and how they vary from the English-style ribs. I have a great marinade for you, as all as instructions on how to cook Flanken style ribs both on the grill and the stovetop.

Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.

What Are Flanken Style Short Ribs?

Short ribs, like other kinds of ribs (baby back ribs, etc.) have a lot of fat and so they benefit from slow cooking to break it all down and let it melt into the meat. That’s why English-style short ribs, which are bigger chunks of meat, are often slow-cooked. We cook them in the oven or make Instant Pot Short Ribs. If you do a quicker cooking high heat method on short ribs, they can end up a bit tougher or chewier, because your teeth are cutting through long strands of meat that hasn’t had a chance to be softened.

These Flanken ribs are often prepared for Korean BBQ, called Galbi, where they get a marinade with soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, and sesame oil. But that’s not the only way that you can cook these tasty ribs.

The recipe I’m giving you will show you how to cook these ribs in a basic way so that you can then adapt it to whatever flavor combinations you’d like to use.

Should I Marinate Flanken Short Ribs?

Yes, I like marinating Flanken ribs, but they don’t need a long time. The marinade I’ve put them in does have some Asian-style flavors as a nod to the Korean dish. But mostly they’re just bold flavors that work well on the meat.

For the marinade, any neutral flavored cooking oil will work. You can substitute 1 lemon for the 2 limes if you prefer. There’s also brown sugar, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and Sriracha. 

You can sub in regular mustard if you don’t have Dijon. You can also swap in gochujang for the siracha, they are both spicy sweet red sauces that bring tons of flavor. The gochujang is a Korean sauce.

As we’ve discovered with other beef marinades, like my delicious carne asada marinade, it benefits from a high salt content. In this way it acts as a brine as well as a marinade. This helps to tenderize the meat.

But note that because the meat is thinner-cut, it doesn’t need much time in the marinade as other cuts of meat. One hour of marinating time is plenty and I wouldn’t recommend going longer as the meat will get salty and a bit mealy.

How To Cook Flanken Ribs

If you’re going to cook these beef short ribs in a skillet, wipe off as much of the marinade as you can, otherwise the sugars in it will burn too much. For the grill, it’s fine to not wipe them off, just kind of shake off the excess. Some of it might drip into the grill and cause flare ups but not too badly. The marinade chars nicely with good flavor in the spots where it has contact with the grill grates, and actually, the marinade helps the meat to darken before it’s overcooked.

My favorite way to cook these, which is what you’ll find in the recipe below, is on the grill over direct high heat. You’re putting them on there and covering the grill and letting them cook until some grill marks show up nice and dark underneath, about 4-5 minutes. Feel free to turn them 90 degrees to get some hashmarks going, if you’d like. Then flip them and do the same on the other side. 

These ribs are not going to end up on the rare side. You want them to have nice color on the outside, and they’re not really thick enough to get the char and the rarer temperature. Instead, it’s more of a medium to medium-well. I essentially cook them until they’ve got good char on both sides and that’s how I know they’re done.

Cooking In A Skillet

These can instead be cooked in a big cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Just wipe off excess marinade well. Add a swirl of oil to a hot pan and then add the ribs. If they’ll be crowded, it’s best to use two skillets or cook them in two batches. Cook until darkened underneath, 4-5 minutes. Flip and cook other side.

Serving Flanken Ribs

I like serving these with sliced charred peppers. Just put some jalapenos or red chilies on the grill while it’s preheating. Remove them once you add the meat, let them cool and slice them. 

Other garnishes that add great flavor are toasted sesame seeds, sliced green onions, and cilantro. To toast the sesame seed, put them over low heat in a non-stick skillet just until starting to brown. Remove immediately from skillet so they don’t start to burn from the remaining heat in the skillet.