Name: Sheet Pan Korean Short Ribs (Galbi)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Ingredients: 5-6 flanken-cut short ribs (about 2 lbs); 2 white onions (thinly sliced); 1/3 cup soy sauce; 1/3 cup hoisin sauce; 1/3 cup dark brown sugar (packed); 4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar; 1 teaspoon sesame oil; 5 cloves garlic (minced); 1 inch fresh ginger (grated); 1/3 cup beef broth; scallions (sliced, for serving)

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Korean short ribs have a reputation for taking all day. These take fifty minutes, and they come out of the oven sticky, caramelized and falling off the bone.

The trick is the cut. Galbi is made with short ribs sliced thin across the bone instead of in thick blocks, so they don’t need hours of braising to get tender. They cook fast, they catch color under the broiler, and they soak up sauce the way thick-cut ribs never do.

Everything happens on one sheet pan. Sliced onions on the bottom, ribs on top, sauce poured over everything. The onions cook down into the sauce and end up being the best part of the whole thing.

Caramelized sheet pan Korean short ribs plated over rice with jammy onions and a lime wedge

Why Sheet Pan Korean Short Ribs Beat Braising

My braised short ribs are a three-hour project and worth every minute. This is the opposite recipe, and the differences are the whole point.

The thin cut changes the math. These ribs are about half an inch thick. There’s no deep connective tissue to break down over hours, so forty minutes in a hot oven gets you there.
The onions are the sauce. Two onions sliced thin go underneath, catch all the drippings, and collapse into something jammy. You’re not making a separate sauce at the end — it builds itself in the pan.
The broiler does the caramelizing. Braising gives you tender; it doesn’t give you those dark sticky edges. Ten minutes under a low broiler at the end is what makes these look and taste like they came off a grill.
No searing, no deglazing, no Dutch oven. You mix a sauce in a bowl, pour it, and close the oven. One pan to wash.

Ingredient Notes

Here’s everything that goes into these short ribs, with a few notes on what matters and what doesn’t.

Labeled ingredients for sheet pan Korean short ribs: short ribs, sliced onions, brown sugar, soy sauce, hoisin, rice wine vinegar, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, lime, white rice and beef broth

Short ribs: Ask for flanken-cut, sliced across the bone. You’ll see them labeled Korean-style, LA-style or galbi at the counter — all the same thing. Get at least 4, up to 6. Thick English-cut short ribs will not work in this recipe; those are the ones for braising.
Onions: Two, sliced thin. Thin matters. Thick slices stay crunchy and won’t melt down the way you want.
Soy sauce, hoisin and dark brown sugar: A third of a cup each. That one-to-one-to-one ratio is the backbone — salt, depth and the sugar that caramelizes under the broiler. Dark brown sugar over light; it has more molasses and you taste it.
Rice wine vinegar: Four tablespoons. This is doing more than it looks like. All that sugar and soy needs acid behind it or the whole thing reads flat and candy-sweet.
Sesame oil: One teaspoon, and no more. It’s a finishing oil with a strong personality.
Garlic and ginger: Five cloves minced, and a one-inch knob grated. Grate the ginger rather than mincing it so it disappears into the sauce instead of landing in somebody’s bite.
Beef broth: About a third of a cup, added halfway. Insurance for the onions at the edges of the pan — they’ll scorch without it.
Scallions: For the top. Not optional in my house.
Sheet pan: Big enough to hold the ribs in a single layer, which is the one thing that matters here. This set is a good one.

How to Make Sheet Pan Korean Short Ribs

Make it with me.

Mix the sauce. Soy sauce, hoisin, dark brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, minced garlic and grated ginger. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved.

Whisked galbi sauce of soy sauce, hoisin, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, garlic and ginger in a glass bowl

Build the pan. Heat the oven to 375°F. Spread the sliced onions flat across the bottom of a half-sheet pan in an even layer.

Thinly sliced onions spread in an even layer across a foil-lined half sheet pan

Lay the short ribs on top in a single layer.

Raw flanken-cut short ribs arranged in a single layer over the sliced onions

Sauce it. Pour the sauce over everything. Use your hands and massage it into the meat, then flip each rib so both sides are coated.

Galbi sauce being poured over raw short ribs on a sheet pan

Roast 20 minutes. Then open it up, flip the ribs, and pour the beef broth around the edges of the pan where the onions are. Back in for another 20 minutes at 375°F.

Short ribs after roasting, with the onions collapsed into the sauce around them

Broil on low for 10 minutes. Watch it. You want the tops lacquered and dark at the edges, not burnt. Sugar goes from caramelized to gone quickly.

Sheet pan Korean short ribs after broiling, with dark caramelized edges and a lacquered glaze

Serve with everything. Spoon the onions and all the pan sauce over the top, then scallions.

My Best Korean Short Rib Tips

Overhead close-up of jammy onions piled over caramelized short ribs with a lime wedge

Single layer, always. Overlapping ribs steam instead of roasting. Use two pans before you crowd one.
Don’t skip the massage. Thirty seconds of working the sauce into the meat with your hands is the difference between coated and seasoned.
Low broil, not high. High broil burns the sugar before the edges caramelize. If your oven only has one broiler setting, drop the rack a level and cut it to about 6 minutes.
Stay at the oven for the broil. This is not a walk-away step.
Let them sit 5 minutes before serving. The sauce thickens slightly on the pan as it cools.
Save the pan juices. Anything left over goes on rice the next day.

Serving Ideas

Rice, first and always. My copycat cilantro lime rice works, or plain white rice if you want the sauce to be the loudest thing on the plate.
Something sharp: a cucumber tomato and feta salad cuts right through the richness.
Something green: charred broccoli or green beans straight on the pan next to the ribs for the last 20 minutes.
Make it a full spread: these next to my beef and broccoli stir fry is a very good Friday night.

Recipe FAQs

What is galbi?

Galbi just means ribs. When people say galbi they usually mean beef short ribs cut thin across the bone, marinated in something sweet and savory, then grilled hot and fast. You’ll also see it spelled kalbi, and the thin cut is often sold as LA-style. This is my sheet pan version — same cut, same idea, the oven instead of the grill.

Is this a traditional galbi marinade?

Not exactly. A traditional one leans on grated Asian pear, soy, sugar, sesame oil, garlic and ginger. Mine swaps in hoisin for depth and uses brown sugar instead of pear. It’s a riff, and I’d rather tell you that than pretend otherwise. If you want to go the traditional route, grate half an Asian pear into the sauce and cut the brown sugar to a quarter cup.

What cut of short ribs do I need?

Flanken — thin strips cut across the bone, so each piece has two or three small bone cross-sections. Most butchers and most Asian or Latin grocers carry them. If all you can find is thick English-cut, make my braised short ribs instead; this method won’t tenderize them.

Can I marinate these ahead?

Yes, and they’re better for it. Mix the sauce, pour it over the ribs in a bag or dish, and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Build the pan with the onions when you’re ready to cook and pour the marinade right over.

Can I make these on the grill?

This cut is made for the grill — about 3 to 4 minutes a side over high heat. You’ll lose the onions and the pan sauce, which is a real loss, so I’d grill the ribs and cook the onions separately in a skillet with a little of the sauce.

My sauce burned. What happened?

Almost always the broiler. Low setting, middle rack, and don’t leave. The other cause is skipping the beef broth at the halfway mark, which lets the edges of the pan go dry.

Can I use less sugar?

You can drop to a quarter cup of brown sugar and it still works. Below that you lose the caramelization under the broiler, which is most of why this recipe is good.

Storage and Make Ahead

Storage: Airtight in the refrigerator up to 4 days, with the onions and sauce.
Reheating: Covered, in a 325°F oven for about 15 minutes. The microwave toughens them.
Freezing: Up to 3 months. Freeze with the sauce so they don’t dry out.
Make ahead: Marinate up to 24 hours in advance — the only step worth doing early.

Caramelized Korean short ribs arranged on a serving platter

Sheet Pan Korean Short Ribs (Galbi)