BBQ Grilled Flanken Short Ribs Appetizer

This bbq grilled flanken short ribs appetizer is perfect for summer barbecues and parties. Just a few minutes to mix the sauce and grill the flanken ribs and you have delicious finger food everyone will love.

You might also like this slow cooker low carb barbecue chicken recipe.

I learned about flanken ribs while touring the Certified Angus Beef culinary center a few years ago. Actually I learn SO much during that tour and their chefs cooked the best food. Good memories.

When I saw them at Costco the other day I thought I’d made these easy bbq grilled flanken short ribs appetizer as practice for summer parties. It was so easy. These ribs are thin and long and you can cut between the bones to make smaller pieces.

Then with an outdoor grill you can cook them in less than 10 minutes so it’s truly a quick and delicious appetizer. They aren’t as messy as regular ribs so people can grab one and eat it with little mess.

The flavor packed sauce I made was just a simple doctoring of store bought barbecue sauce so overall this is an easy peasy summer recipe.

What are flanken style short ribs?

Flanken style short ribs are sometimes referred to as Korean-style short ribs. These beef ribs are thinly cut across the bones. So the little circular bones of the cross cut make them easy to hold and to eat the strip of meat below.

Usually you grill them for just a few minutes on each side. You can use a marinade with them too. Some marinate them for 24 hours to make them more tender but in this recipe we are just using a sauce so they are done in less than 10 minutes start to finish.

To learn more check out this post about flanken ribs along with a few delicious recipes.

Recipe ingredients I used.

I just used 4 simple ingredients for this appetizer recipe.

Beef Flanken Short Ribs
As I mentioned above I found mine at Costco but if you can’t see any just ask the butcher behind the meat counter if they have any. I once went to Giant Eagle and just asked. They will slice the flanken ribs for your right there. And if they don’t have any they can usually get some in for your. The butchers are always really helpful and knowledgeable so don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Barbecue Sauce
I mostly shop at Aldi so I used some of their Memphis style sauce as it’s our favorite. It’s usually thin, tangy and has a bit of vinegar so it will go great with the hot sauce and preserves. However you can use your favorite bottle sauce of choice. You might want to play around with proportions of the other ingredients.

Hot Sauce
I use Aldi’s brand but you can use Frank’s Red Hot or even tobacco sauce. If you are using a sweet brand of barbecue sauce, the tobacco might be a better fit actually. You can also add other ingredients for heat such hot pepper flakes, cayenne pepper or even ground black pepper.

Apricot Preserves
My husband loves apricot flavor which is why I use it but peach preserves or even orange marmalade are good substitutes.

How to make bbq grilled flanken short ribs.

Step 1: Depending on the size of your ribs you want to cut them into smaller pieces so they can be easily held in your hands. Mine I just cut in half as you can see below and they had about 3-4 rib bones per piece. Place on a platter or large plate.

Step 2: Mix together the bottled sauce, hot sauce and preserves. Taste test and see if you prefer it sweeter or spicier. Depending on the type of bottled bbq sauce you use, your amounts might be different than mine.

Step 3: Brush the bbq mixture on both sides of the flanken ribs and place back on the platter.

If you wanted to you could use this as a marinade of sorts. Place the ribs in a baking dish and pour it over the ribs and refrigerate for 24 hours. This will make them more tender but to be honest I don’t think they need it. 

Step 4: Heat up your grill to a medium heat and place the ribs on the hot grill grate. Cook for about 3 minutes on both sides. Note we used a gas grill. 

Then take the flanken ribs off the grill and serve! See how easy they are for a summer appetizer! If you want you can serve some extra sauce along side the ribs are baste them a second time if you want but they really don’t need them.

Store leftovers in an airtight container. Please scroll down for the printable recipe card.

My family loves ribs so if you want a few more rib recipes I have a few different ways to make them on this blog. I have recipes for making ribs in the slow cooker, air fryer and even in the smoker! So check those related posts out if you are interested.

Other tasty grilled meat recipes to try.

And if you are looking for more grilling recipes especially for meat recipes, here are a few of my favorite dishes.

• marinated grilled shrimp
• grilled steaks with creamy poblano sauce and steak dinner kebabs
• low carb glazed pork chops
• Middle Eastern lamb burgers and Greek marinated lamb chops
• lime margarita salmon
• orange ginger pork kebabs
• Greek chicken kebabs and Mexican marinated chicken breast
• flank steak with blue cheese marinade and balsamic and garlic marinated flank steak

So I hope you give this bbq grilled flanken short ribs recipe a try. These beef ribs make for very tasty finger food during summer parties and best of all they take just 6 minutes on the grill. Enjoy!