A new way to love our favorite cheap cut: Chinese-style Short Ribs

Hoisin sauce, ginger, garlic and scallions help flavor these hearty short ribs. You can cook them quickly in your Instant Pot—or braise them slowly in the oven. Recipe below.

WE HAVE COOKED SHORT RIBS SO MANY TIMES, SO MANY WAYS. So when we had dinner guests coming this weekend and spotted beautiful flanken-cut ribs at the meat market, I wondered if I could find a new way to cook them. The answer, of course, was yes.

There’s a reason we’ve cooked short ribs—and sung their praises here—so often. Many reasons, actually. First, they’re delicious. Cheap cuts of meat usually are, marbled with fat that translates it into flavor (a second reason right there—short ribs are economical). They’re versatile too—because they pretty much demand slow cooking, there’s time for seasonings and aromatics to cook into them, giving them any number of flavors. And now we have even one more reason to love them: the Instant Pot has greatly reduced that cooking time.

For this version of short ribs, I looked at a number of Chinese-based recipes, both for the Instant Pot and for oven braising. I borrowed from some and added my own tweaks. I cooked them in the Instant Pot, but in the Kitchen Notes, you’ll also find directions for oven braising them.

Even though this is a Chinese-style dish, we didn’t go strictly matchy with the rest of the dinner. Instead of rice, we served garlicky mashed potatoes, an always reliable accompaniment to meaty ribs. Marion did make an updated version of her Chinese Sesame Asparagus Salad—beautiful, crisp and cold, a nice counterpoint to the meat. You’ll find her updated recipe here.

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Chinese-style Short Ribs

Hoisin sauce, ginger, garlic and scallions help flavor these hearty short ribs. You can cook them quickly in your Instant Pot—or braise them slowly in the oven.

Course Main Course, Meat

Cuisine Chinese-inspired

Servings 5 to 6

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions, plus more for garnish
• 1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce or more (see Kitchen Notes)
• 3 to 3-1/2 pounds bone-in short ribs (see Kitchen Notes)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

• Make the cooking sauce. In a medium bowl, combine soy sauce, water, hoisin sauce, honey, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and 1/4 cup scallions. Whisk together and add 1 teaspoon of chili garlic paste, whisking to combine. Taste to judge the heat level and add 1 to 2 teaspoons more, if desired (again, see Kitchen Notes). Set aside.
• Prep the short ribs. Trim off a little of the excess fat on the fatty tops of the ribs—don't go crazy. If you're using flanken-cut short ribs, cut into individual sections, slicing between the bones. This will help the ribs fit into whatever cooking vessel you're using and create portions for serving.
• Cook the ribs, Instant Pot version. Lightly brown the ribs. (Many recipes skip this step. You can if you like, but we think it adds a little extra meatiness to the flavor.) Season lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper (the soy sauce and other ingredients will bring plenty of their own saltiness). Heat oil in the Instant Pot, using the Sauté setting. Working in batches, brown short ribs slightly on both sides and the fatty top. Just a minute or so per side—you don't need a good char. Transfer to a plate when browned.
• Spoon just a little of the cooking sauce into the bottom of the Instant Pot, then arrange short ribs pieces on their sides in the pot, in one layer as much as possible. You can cram them together. If all don't fit in one layer, create a second layer.
• Pour sauce over the meat, trying to coat all of it, particularly the second layer. Seal the lid of the Instant Pot and set to cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. When the cycle is done and the Instant Pot shuts off, let it sit for 15 minutes, then using an oven mitt, carefully turn the steam release handle. When the float valve drops down, remove the lid.
• Transfer the short ribs to a plate and tent with foil. Many of the bones will fall out—you can bid them farewell or salvage them to artfully reinsert them when you plate the ribs.
• An impressive layer of fat will float up to the surface of the sauce. Get rid of as much as you easily can—I used a grease separator. Transfer sauce to a sauté pan. Cook until sauce is reduced a bit, about 5 minutes. In a small bowl, stir corn starch into 1 tablespoon of cold tap water. Spoon a little sauce into the bowl to slightly warm it, then stir the corn starch mixture into the sauce. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens. Add ribs to pan to warm them, cooking for 1 or 2 minutes. Transfer ribs to a serving platter and spoon a little sauce over them. Sprinkle with additional sliced scallions. Transfer the rest of the sauce to a serving pitcher for passing with short ribs.
• Make ahead. You can cook these short ribs the day before—or the morning of the dinner. Transfer the short ribs to a plate and let them cool a bit. Then cover and refrigerate. Transfer the sauce to a large bowl, let it cool a bit, then cover it and refrigerate. Don't bother to remove the fat while it's hot. The fat will float to the top and solidify in the fridge—then you can easily remove virtually all of it. When you're ready to eat, reheat the sauce and thicken it as described above, then add the ribs and let them warm through. Serve as described above.

Kitchen Notes

Dialing the heat up or down. When you mix the sauce, the last ingredient should be the chili garlic sauce. Start with 1 teaspoon, as we did, and taste. We got just a note of heat when we did. We stopped there, because one of our dinner guests doesn't do overly spicy food well. Honestly, the heat we tasted in the uncooked sauce pretty much dissipated during cooking. For ourselves, we would either double or triple the chili garlic sauce.

Short ribs cut. As I said, we bought flanken cut, not English-cut short ribs. They were about 1-1/2 inches thick. You can use these or the English cut. Don't use the skinny-cut ribs used for Korean kalbi—those are meant to cook quickly after marinating.

Cooking the short ribs, conventional oven version. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Prep the sauce and the ribs as described in the Instant Pot version. Season ribs lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper (the soy sauce and other ingredients will bring plenty of their own saltiness). Heat oil in in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown short ribs slightly on both sides and the fatty top. Just a minute or so per side—you don't need a good char. Transfer to a plate when browned.

Arrange short ribs pieces on their sides in the pot, in a single layer. You can cram them together, if needed. Pour sauce over the meat, making sure to coat all of it. Cover with a sheet of parchment paper cut to just fit inside the Dutch oven—this will keep moisture around the meat. Put on the lid and transfer to oven. Braise until meat is very tender, 3 to 3-1/2 hours.

Transfer the short ribs to a plate and tent with foil. Many of the bones will fall out—you can bid them farewell or salvage them to artfully reinsert them when you plate the ribs.

An impressive layer of fat will float up to the surface of the sauce. Get rid of as much as you easily can—I used a grease separator. Heat Dutch oven on stovetop over medium-high flame, cooking until sauce is reduced a bit, about 5 minutes. In a small bowl, stir corn starch into 1 tablespoon of cold tap water. Spoon a little sauce into the bowl to slightly warm it, then stir the corn starch mixture into the sauce. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens. Add ribs to pan to warm them, cooking for 1 or 2 minutes. Transfer ribs to a serving platter and spoon a little sauce over them. Sprinkle with additional sliced scallions. Transfer the rest of the sauce to a serving pitcher for passing with short ribs.