Description
We’re making a stop in Noodle Town! This noodle-y wonder is packed with tender short ribs, bright sautéed spinach, sesame seeds, and gingery broth, and noodles upon noodles.
Ingredients
- 1 pound short ribs (meat removed from bone, fat trimmed, cut into smallish chunks)
- 1 tablespoon gochujang sauce (more gochujang = more spicy! I would say this amount is medium spicy)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed/minced
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 4–6 cups beef broth
- 10–16 ounces dry ramen noodles or any other stir-fry noodles (I use 2-3 individual serving size packages)
- spinach (optional)
- scallions, sesame seeds, and/or sesame oil on top
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to the sauté mode. Sprinkle short ribs generously with salt; sauté without disturbing them until browned on the outside.
- Add gochujang, tomato paste, ginger, garlic, and shallots to the Instant Pot with the short ribs and sauté for 1-2 minutes.
- Add broth. Cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. When the cook time is up, the meat should be extremely tender and yummy.
- Set to the sauté mode again. Add noodles and cook until the noodles are softened. Taste broth and season with salt, pepper, maybe a shot of rice vinegar? and anything else you want.
- Sauté spinach in a separate pan (optional).
- Serve noodle soup bowls topped with the short ribs, sautéed spinach, scallion, sesame seeds, and sesame oil.
Notes
Stovetop Instructions: Sear the short ribs in large pot on the stove in a little bit of oil until there’s a beautiful browned crust. Remove the short ribs from the pot and add in the tomato paste, ginger, shallots, and garlic and cook for a few minutes until the aromatics are translucent. Add in the beef broth and add the short ribs back to the pot. Simmer on low for a few hours until the short ribs are tender and start to fall apart. Add in your noodles and cook through.
This recipe is best served right after the noodles finish up cooking. If you wait too long before serving, the noodles can get mushy and absorb the extra broth. It would also work to make the short ribs and broth ahead of time, then add the noodles right before serving.
I have tried this with other cuts of beef and I didn’t like it as much – they just didn’t get as tender. I’ve also tried cooking the short ribs with the bones and fat on them and while the flavor was good, the broth got way too oily and it was just a mess to try to pull the meat off. So in my opinion it’s worth doing the trimming before you cook.
I bought packages of beef that were about 1.5 pounds so by the time I was removing the bones and fat, I was probably left with .75 pounds of the actual beef. That amount of meat + 2 noodle packages was about the right ratio for me!
For the broth, I usually start with 4-5 cups but have definitely found myself needing to add more to the leftovers – the noodles like to soak up the liquid.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Asian-Inspired
Keywords: short rib recipe, spicy short ribs, noodle soup
