Slow Cooker Asian Short Ribs
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Literally fall-off-the-bone tender! SO SO GOOD. Set and forget right in your crockpot. So easy with zero fuss!
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Short ribs? Easy? Yes, yes, yes. With the help of the crockpot, this is by far one of the easiest, slow cooker set and forget dinners. Even on the busiest of days, you can make dinner happen so fast. Just dump everything in your slow cooker morning of – no searing, no browning here.
The crockpot will do all the heavy lifting here. And you can even white lie to your guests and tell them you’ve been slaving away in the kitchen all night to get these short ribs just right. It’s so so good, they’ll believe you without a shadow of a doubt.
And this marinade is simply out-of-this-world amazing using just a handful of pantry staples – soy sauce, beef broth, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil. Serve over rice with some kimchi and cucumbers and all the leftover sauce, please. It’s weeknight friendly, and will make your heart sing.
Tools For This Recipe
6-qt slow cooker
Slow Cooker Asian Short Ribs: Frequently Asked Questions
We love to serve this over rice and a side of kimchi and cucumbers.
Absolutely! But because ground ginger is often more potent/concentrated than freshly grated ginger, you need less when using dry. The correct ratio is 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger to 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger.
Yes, this is one of our favorite red wine braised short ribs recipes made on the stovetop.
Slow Cooker Asian Short Ribs
Ingredients
- ½ cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- ½ cup beef broth
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 4 pounds beef short ribs
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together soy sauce, beef broth, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and red pepper flakes, if using.
- Place short ribs into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in soy sauce mixture until well combined.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.*
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1/4 cup water. Stir in mixture into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high heat for an additional 30 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley and sesame seeds, if desired.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Amazing! I served over grits. The only thing I changed was I added onions the last hour!
Sounds AMAZING.
Seriously sooo good!!! I made this last weekend and they turned out fab!!! will def make again
My sister bought this item for me, don’t know what the name is, but it looks like a large measuring cup. It has a long narrow pour spout with a rubber stopper and a strainer that covers the large opening on the top. I do a lot of slow cooking with fatty cuts of beef and pork. Anyway, u pour the juice into the strainer openning with the stopper in the narrow pour spout. It separates the meat juice from the grease. Unplug the narrow spout and pour. All the grease stays it the measuring cup. I pour the juice back in the pot, then thicken if you’d like. U can find this item on the internet. It really comes in handy if you don’t like greasy gravy. Haven’t tasted the recipe, it’s still cooking but it smells fantantic. Waiting patiently
It is called a gravy separator and you can find them on Amazon.
So I’m a little concerned. I followed everything to a tee but my sauce looks nothing like yours. My meat even looks different. It getting the soy sauce look.
How many pounds would you suggest to use for boneless?
About 2 1/2 pounds.
if you like beef, I’d go for the full 5 lbs. This freezes really well. This recipe is very much like Allan Wong’s original in Hawaii. Obama has these ribs when he’s in Hawaii. I think I’d be adding some Asian pear and juice in this, and probably do it sous vide…. great recipe!
Tasty recipe. Mine turned out pretty salty. Anyway to fix that next time?
Hi Crystal! You can always reduce the amount of reduced sodium soy sauce as needed. 🙂
I make this recipe at least once a month using beef stew meat instead of ribs and it always comes out perfect. It’s the most requested dinner by far among everyone in the family.
Awesome!
This dish was, well…Damn Delicious!
With an hour left on “slow cook,” I added stir fry vegetables and green onions to it.
With a half hour left, I stirred in the water/corn starch, the meat was SO TENDER, the bones were falling off the meat while stirring!
The meat was excellent, the vegetables, still firm, had the flavor of the sauce.
What a great dinner and lunch left overs. Recipes like this are why I recommend your site to friends and family. Thank You!
Thank you so much Michael!
I just did this recipe at home on my lunch…but i read it wrong and added the cornstarch in with all the liquids at the start…Do you think i just ruined it 🙁 ?
Oh no! It’s hard to say, Melissa – it may just be super thick. Hopefully it turns out okay!
Can this be frozen and reheated?
Unfortunately, we cannot answer this with certainty as we have never tried freezing this ourselves. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
could you make these short ribs in an instapot? Maybe on slow cooker mode? or perhaps on pressure cooker?
Hi Flo! Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
Can this be made using the pressure cooker in an instant pot?
Hi Chika! Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
The store gave me flanked ribs instead of short ribs. Would you recommend using this cut of meat for this recipe?
Hi Althea! Unfortunately, without further recipe testing, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
I made these with the flanken style cut short ribs. I followed the recipe but pulled them out after six and a half hours to not overcook. They were delicious and multiple people asked how I got them so tender.
For the first time I reviewed the comments for this dish. I’ve utilized this receipe many times in the making of short ribs and I actually use country ribs since they are boneless but very tasty. My only question is can I use powered ginger instead of real ginger? I usually go to the grocery store beforehand but this time I have everything but the ginger. Love your receipes since I’ve cooked many of them and they all come out tasty! Thank you for the great meal time entrees.
Yes, absolutely. The ratio for fresh to dry spices is typically 3:1. Hope that helps!
I’m making this right now and I to only have ground ginger. I have book called Substituting Ingredients: the A to Z Kitchen Reference. This book really has everything. Any way when I looked up ginger, grated it said the substitute is equal to 1/4 of amount with a dash of white pepper and lemon juice. I hope that means 1tablespoon grated is the same as 3/4 teaspoon of this mixture. Guess I’ll find out in about 5 hours.
I have a lot of short ribs in the freezer to use up but they are not cut crosswise as recipe suggests. Can I still use this recipe?
Yes, absolutely.
Forgot: don’t omit the sesame oil. Although you think you’re eliminating some of the oil/fat, you’re also eliminating some of that oriental flavour (sesame).
First of all, tastes grrrreat!
Make sure you use a 6-7 qt slow cooker. 5 lb ribs filled mine to the top. Did them for 8 hr and were tender. You do need to “rotate” the meat so all get some liquid during the cook.
Lots of fat is generated (at least 1/2″). When you take the meat out, use a gravy separator to eliminate a lot of the fat. THEN mix the cornstarch/water into the liquid. May need more cornstarch so be warned. Can’t see how you can do it without removing the meat. No room.
This is a keeper
I made this tonight and it was awesome. I have wanted to make short ribs because I have lots in my freezer (beef cattle breeder family) but didn’t have ago of way to cook them. This past weekend I got a crockpot brand cooker for $8! All things worked out for me to make this. I loved not having to sear the meat. The flavor was great. I followed the ingredients exactly. I did run out of time so I didn’t thicken the sauce but it was still delicious.
Considering I’m living in Korea and its nice to see recipes to help figure out what I should do with different cuts of meat. Cannot wait to cook this tomorrow! By chance have you ever made it with stewed soy sauce (http://www.sempio.com/market/ganjang/180) vs. regular or low sodium soy sauce? Attached a web link for my favorite sauce. Thanks for the recipe!
I actually haven’t!
Great Recipe! I plan on making this again!
I know you’ve recommended to people that adding the corn starch before or after was suitable. The first time I made this I had trouble getting the sauce to thicken in the slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients. Did you just add your corn starch in with the meat or did you remove the content and thicken the sauce by itself?
I actually added it with the meat. But if you had difficulty before, it may help to thicken the sauce by itself. Hope that helps!