Tender, savory, slow-cooked short ribs that go great with all kinds of sides.
Slow-cooked short ribs is a crowd-pleaser, as I learned the first time I made Nom Nom Paleo’s recipe. Which is what inspired me to change it up a bit and morph it into a recipe that still has an Asian flare without the need for soy sauce or coconut aminos.
The one thing I love about so many of Nom Nom Paleo’s recipes is they are easy plus delicious. Yep—that’s what cooking and mealtime is all about for me. If you have a busy schedule and want to come home to ready-made or almost-ready-made meals, I highly recommend this slow cooker. It has a variety of pressure and slow-cook settings, as well as browning and steaming settings, so you can cook just about anything in it.
The photo for this post shows the short ribs on top of mashed roasted cauliflower. I was in a bit of a rush so I only managed to take a few photos for this recipe, but here are some recommended sides to serve with the short ribs:
- sautéed or roasted green beans
- steamed or roasted carrots
- ratatouille (from my SCD book)
- steamed peas and onions
- vegetable medley steamed, roasted, or sautéed
- add some vegetables to the ribs during the last hour of slow-cooking
Be prepared for our kitchen and home to become infused with the aroma of garlic and ginger aromas for the entire day or night. Waking up to this in the morning can be initially strange, but I see nothing wrong with eating tender ribs for breakfast.
Short Ribs {slow-cook, Paleo-style}
Update: I changed the weight to be in a range of 4 pounds, removed 1/2 teaspoon salt from the marinade, and I removed the nutrition information until I can find a more accurate count. I found this helpful in describing the kinds of short ribs and how they vary.
I cook these overnight and they really do need 10 hours for full tenderness. That said, you can probably shortcut it by pressure cooking them for a bit as well as the end, but I haven’t tried it yet.
If you don’t have a coarse salt such as Kosher salt, use an extra 1/4 teaspoon of fine salt to coat the ribs.
No worries if you don’t have or like fish sauce: just replace it with salt and vinegar.
The yield of servings will vary based on the size of the bones and how much rib meat you end up with (fatty ribs will yield less meat, but taste delicious). Grass-fed short ribs tend to have a bit less fat on them.
A note on salt: the amount needed in this recipe can vary based on the brand of salt and type of salt you use (kosher vs. fine sea salt), so if you’re watching your salt intake, you might want to lower the amount of salt added in this recipe.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds (1 .8 kg) bone-in short ribs
- kosher salt and pepper (I use about 1 tablespoon of kosher salt)
- 1 large green apple, peeled, cored, and chopped coarsely (or other apple)
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 6 green onions, trimmed and roughly chopped
- 1 piece fresh ginger (20 g), finger-length, peeled
- 2 teaspoons fish sauce (or substitute 1/2 teaspoon salt plus 1 tablespoon of vinegar)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or other vinegar)
- 1 cup broth or water
Method
- Preheat your oven to broil.
- Coat the short ribs with kosher salt and pepper and broil them in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until they’re lightly browned.
- Add the apple, garlic, onions, ginger, fish sauce, vinegar, salt, and broth to a blender or food processor and pulse until completely blended and pourable.
- Add the ribs and sauce to a slow cooker, and coat the ribs with the green sauce.
- Slow-cook the ribs for 10 hours. They should be very tender and mostly falling off the bone when finished.
- At this point I turn over the tender meat and bones in the sauce that has settled to the bottom. I do this to coat the rib meat on top that is less coated in sauce.
- Serve with your favorite sides (see above).
- Store leftovers sealed in the refrigerator for a few days or freeze for a few weeks.
Serves 4
I hate to ask a dumb question, but are the nutrition facts PER SERVING or for the whole recipe? 1200 calories and 110g fat for one serving seems ridiculous! Please tell me that info on the Korean Short Ribs is for the whole recipe…
You know, thank you for saying that. This is why I have a hard time with nutrition calculators. I’m pulling that info because it doesn’t seem correct to me either. Sorry for the confusion. When I find a more accurate representation, I’ll add it back in.
Do you use korean (flanken) or English cut short ribs for this?
I’ve used both and both work. The flank cooks a bit faster when it’s not too thickly sliced. Thanks for asking!
Korean short ribs are a favorite in our house – but we’ve never made them in the slow cooker. Love this idea!
They’re delightful slow-cooked, so tender. I’ve also pressure-cooked them, and they are good but less flavor.
I used this recipe about 2 weeks ago and I LOVED them! I used boneless beef ribs from Costco and cooked them in the slow cooker. Just wonderful, super easy, and I will be making them again!
Thanks! Yes, this recipe works with boneless meat as well, as you’ve discovered 🙂