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Truly the best way to make boneless, fork-tender, fall-apart beef short ribs. These Slow Baked Boneless Beef Short Ribs will melt in your mouth with a luscious gravy that just begs for creamy mashed potatoes!
Sundays are meant to be lazy I think however sadly I rarely get a “do-nothing” Sunday or day for that matter. Working two full-time jobs (my day job and TKW) leaves very little downtime.
Most of you know I’m a girl on the go-go-go who pretty much never sits still let alone takes time for herself. Maybe I’m afraid I’m going to miss out on something awesome life has to offer or perhaps I’m just so used to it that it’s just become part of my ‘norm’.
If I had a dollar for how many times I heard “How do you do it? Just listening to what you do makes me tired! Where do you get the energy??? Can I have some???”
We’re all so busy these days
Ever since I made a life choice years ago to live a healthier lifestyle that incorporated a better eating plan, exercise (trust me at one point in my life exercise was a 4-lettered word and punishment), and a more positive outlook that seemed to kick things off. Now I’ve always worked insane hours.
Again this stems from growing up as poor as we did. Truth be told, is that poor sucks, no one should go without even the little things in life but I’m not one to depend on others to help make my life better.
If I want my life better then *I* have to make the change and *I* have to make it happen. My parents always told me “Anything worth doing is worth doing the very best you can” and I have made that my mantra in life.
Ingredients needed to make the BEST Boneless Beef Short Ribs
Friday after work is when I hit up Costco I found the most gorgeous boneless beef short ribs. Honestly, they are the only place that has them, not even my local butcher does.
Now I’ve made this with bone-in and while bone-in has a deeper flavor I find them a pain in the butt as I want all meat, not just bone. Plus they are the same price (which I still don’t quite understand).
5 pounds of boneless beef short ribs don’t equal the same amount of meat in 5 pounds of bone-in beef short ribs. I actually debated this with a butcher once and we left it as I said he was wrong and he disagreed. Am I wrong on this?
- Boneless Beef Short Ribs – if you only have bone-in, you can use those but they have to be the English cut *see below for differences
- BBQ Sauce – I used my bacon bbq sauce but any tangy bbq sauce would work.
- Liquid smoke – I use this to give it a smoky taste. You can omit if you want.
- Seasonings
- Ketchup
Difference between Flanken and English Short Rib Cuts
I use boneless English Short Ribs in this recipe as they are meatier and fatter
English Short Ribs
The English style cut is where the short rib is cut between the ribs leaving a thick piece of meat sitting on top of one piece of the rib bone. So in the images below, my ribs are English-style cut where the piece of meat is cut off of the bone.
Flanken Short Ribs
The Flanken cut is the thin cut of a short rib that is cut across the bones at about a 1/2″ thickness. In this piece of meat, you’ll see meat, bone, meat, bone, meat, and so forth. This is a very popular cut in Korean bbq. I, personally, am not a fan of these as when I make short ribs, I want more meat than bone.
Making these Slow Baked Boneless Beef Short Ribs
These ribs I make in the oven but if you look at my site, you’ll see that I have several recipes where you can make short ribs in the Instant Pot. While I love the IP, there’s just something about a slow bake and this recipe.
- Mix together the ketchup, liquid smoke, brown sugar, minced onion, garlic powder, and bacon bbq sauce and cook until thick and bubbly.
- Season the ribs and place them into a large baking dish.
- Add some of the sauce, cover, and roast for 2 1/2 hours.
- Remove the foil, flip, add more sauce, and cook uncovered for another 30 minutes or until the meat is cooked through.
When I make these all I literally do is put them in a pan, cover them with some bbq sauce, cover with foil, and slow bake. This is one of those dishes I’ll throw in the oven and take a nap.
The first time I made these, that’s exactly what I did. Into the oven, they went and off to bed I went to nap. Guys, I had the most amazing dreams too and it’s funny as all I kept dreaming about was bbq and food.
However, I think those dreams were influenced by the fact that I had the most amazing beef and bbq sauce scents wafting throughout my house. Now I did have my alarm set however the smells from the oven woke up me. I knew dinner was close to being done as I could smell the ‘doneness’.
The most amazing BBQ Beef Short Rib Smell
The smells from this – if I could bottle it, it would be a huge hit! As I approached the kitchen the smells were just intoxicating! I removed the foil and let them bake another 30 minutes to get that deeply caramelized char on top.
Once they were done I pulled them out of the oven and plated them. Dear GOD, they were GORGEOUS! I brushed them with some of the reserved bbq sauce and then with what was in the pan, I actually poured it into a fat-separating container and let it sit for a bit.
Once it did, I poured out the good stuff into a pan and left the fat stuff stay behind. I brought that pan to a boil and thickened it up with some more bbq sauce and some cornstarch. No way was I letting those flavors go to waste! By the time Mr. Fantabulous got home, I had made a pot of perfect mashed potatoes to go with these, some rolls, and a nice Caesar salad.
As he walked in with his gear you could see him immediately perk up and start sniffing the air like a dog.
Cutest thing ever when he does that! Immediately came his smile and I swear he ran to bring in the rest of his gear! Dinner was awesome and I was rested. That truly was a fantastic Sunday and one that I think I need more of!
Crock Pot Instructions
Many of you asked if you can make this in the Crock Pot. Yes, you can! It’s pretty straight forward.
- Make the sauce as-is.
- For the beef short ribs, let them come to room temperature then season with salt and pepper. Put them in a heated skillet to pan-sear on all sides (about 2-4 minutes per side).
- Place in the crock pot, pour the sauce over top, and then cook on low for 7-8 hours or until the meat is fork-tender.
- To thicken up the sauce, remove the meat (carefully) and then strain following steps 14-16.
Slow Baked Boneless Beef Short Ribs
- Prep Time: 3
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
- Category: Slow Baked
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: Beef
Truly the best way to make boneless, fork-tender, fall-apart beef short ribs. These will melt in your mouth with a luscious gravy that just begs for creamy mashed potatoes!
Ingredients
- 4 pounds of boneless beef short ribs
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups ketchup
- 2 tablespoons liquid smoke
- 1/2–2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup onion, minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 cup Bacon BBQ Sauce or any BBQ sauce
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300F with a rack in the middle. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, add the ketchup, liquid smoke, brown sugar, minced onion, garlic powder, bacon bbq sauce and mix until combined. Cook until thick and bubbly; stirring occasionally. ~10 minutes.
- Season the short ribs all over with salt and pepper. Place in a 13×9″ glass baking dish. This will be a tight squeeze. Pour about 1/2 cup over the short ribs.
- Using tongs, flip the ribs over and spoon another 1/2 cup of the sauce over top. Reserve the remaining BBQ sauce to spoon over the cooked ribs. Cover the pan with foil and roast for 2 1/2 hours.
- Remove the foil and gently flip the short ribs. Spoon more of the sauce over top. Cook for 30 minutes more (uncovered), until the meat is tender and browned. Check the ribs every 10-15 minutes to ensure that they are coated with sauce and that the pan did not go dry. Transfer the short ribs to a serving platter. Baste the short ribs with some of the reserved BBQ sauce.
- At this point you can discard the cooking liquid or you can pour it into a fat strainer to allow it to separate. (This is what I did). Pour the juices into a medium saucepan leaving the fat greasy part behind. Add in about 1/4 cup bbq sauce and bring to a boil. Make a slurry of the cornstarch and water and whisk into the liquid to thicken. Use this to thicken the sauce as a dipping sauce/gravy.
Notes
See the post for Crock Pot instructions.
Keywords: boneless short ribs, beef short ribs, oven braised short ribs, best short ribs, bbq ribs
Minced onion as in finely diced fresh onion, or dried minced?
Fresh minced. Sorry, I’ll clarify that in the recipe.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Hello – can you crockpot on high and if so for how long?
Hi! I have not but others have made this in the crockpot but on LOW, not high. I believe low would render them super tender but high would not help break down the meat and make it tender.
For there slow cooker I’d sear them off as well and then cook on low 7-8 hours.
Best Kitchen Wishes!