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Chef Chris Cho making galbitang — This is how you make Korean Beef Short Rib Soup!

Galbitang is one of the classic Korean soups that will nourish the body with its rich and clean taste, perfect for adults and babies alike!

Galbitang or Korean Beef Short Rib Soup is a soup that requires a few ingredients but takes technique and time to make. With that, this galbitang recipe will be simple but deep in flavor from the beef bones and aromatics.

The soup is honestly expensive, but it’s definitely worth making from time to time. The cut itself and with the rising prices today, the sale price of ~4lb beef short rib is already ~$55.

Koreans would often consider this as a special occasion soup, but I can’t deny, that this would also be perfect for cold weather or when you’re feeling ill. For us, this is a soup that my baby loves to have, super healthy for my pregnant wife, and perfect for my diet as it contains a lot of protein.

Traditional Beef Short Ribs Soup Recipe

Parboiling short ribs — Beef scum coming up while parboiling

Clean water after parboiling short ribs — Water is clear after washing, soaking, and parboiling

Per my wife, she said that this soup tends to have an “unclean” taste when it isn’t done right so here I’m going to share with you tips and tricks to make the best and cleanest galbitang you’ll have.

Wash the meat twice, then soak it in water for 1-2 hours. Drain and wash the meat once or twice more.
Parboil the meat for 5-10 minutes on high heat then drain the water out. Wash the meat once more.

By soaking the meat, you will see the water turn red because you’re drawing out the blood water from it. By parboiling, the bones will start breaking down and you will see the impurities float in the water so that’s something we also need to drain out. These steps will lessen the gamey smell of the meat and keep the soup clear.

And no, by parboiling you are not throwing away flavor. It should be okay if you keep it under 5-10 minutes. The bones will continue to release flavor as you boil them for an extended period later on.

After doing the steps mentioned above, we can get to cooking!

What You’ll Need

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Onion, Scallions, Radish, Garlic Cloves, and Peppercorn

Beef Short Ribs – Get the bone-in short ribs, usually cut in cubes with the meat wrapping around a piece of bone. This is a very common cut on Korean groceries so I get mine there in packs, but you can also ask your local butcher to get this type of cut.
Garlic – I used cloves for simmering the meat, then minced to season the final soup product.
Onion & Scallions – You need big cuts of these since we’ll only use them to infuse flavors and then discard them afterward.
Korean Radish – We are adding this to make the soup super refreshing.
Soup Soy Sauce – This is an essential ingredient to the soup because this type of soy sauce usually has a deeper flavor so you’ll only need a small amount to keep the soup clear. Regular soy sauce is okay in place of it, but do use less.
Salt – The final seasoning for the soup depends on how tasty you want it to be, so to limit the use of soy sauce, you’ll need salt until you reach the desired taste for your soup.
Pepper and Black Peppercorns – These are for contrast in flavor and a bit of spice in the soup!

How to make Galbitang?

After washing, soaking, and parboiling the meat, we’ll simmer the short ribs for 1.5-2 hours on medium heat with the garlic, onion, scallions, radish, and peppercorns. At the 30-minute to 40-minute mark, remove the radish so it doesn’t mush. Set it aside so we can put it back later on.

When boiling the meat, add more water halfway through so it doesn’t run out. By the end of the 1.5 to 2-hour mark, the bone should fall off and the meat should be tender and not dry, all the while staying intact.

Straining the galbitang — Strain soup in another pot to discard aromatics

At the 2-hour mark, we’ll be straining the meat. It’s actually great if you use a soup bag for all the aromatics so you don’t have to take them out one by one. However, you can also strain the broth in another pot so you can easily remove the fallen bones and the aromatics to be discarded.

During this process, remove any remaining fat that is on top of the soup. If time permits, you can also place the soup in the fridge so the fat can solidify and be easier to remove. At this point, you should have a very clean and clear soup!

Combine the meat and the soup once again and bring it to a simmer. Chop the radish and place it back in the soup, then season it with soy sauce, garlic, salt, and pepper. Season to your liking—I prefer making it a little bland so my wife and baby can eat it, but this part is all yours.

Other tips as you make Galbitang:

This is great make-ahead soup, so you can prepare this in big batches and freeze it in portions so you can have soup anytime. It keeps well in the freezer for 1 month.
The process I taught is simply the basics of how to make the soup, but feel free to customize it by seasoning it to your liking, adding other vegetables, adding Korean glass noodles, or making porridge from the soup!
If you want to keep it simple, garnish galbitang with sliced scrambled eggs and scallion, and serve it with plain rice and kimchi!
This soup can also be made in an Instapot but I have yet to try it out. You can look for other recipes that may work with that method.

Other soup and stew recipes you might like:

Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!

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