Galbitang (Korean Short Rib Soup) cooked in Instant Pot in just 30 minutes!
Korean Galbitang soup usually takes hours to boil on a regular stove top and I sometimes end up cooking too much because I get distracted and forget. Sad… But, wait, did I say you can make that same soup in just 30 minutes after you start cooking??!! (Disclaimer – This is in addition to soaking ribs in water for 30 min so total actual cooking time is about 1 hour.) Now, usually, when the word ‘Instant’ is said with food, to me, it basically means ‘not-so-yummy’ food but probably really convenient and quick to make food. But this Instant Pot Galbitang is really amazing!! My husband liked it so much that we made it twice in one week. And normally, I would not like making the same thing that often but because I liked making the Galbitang in the Instant Pot so much (OMG, it’s SO EASY!!) I did not mind at all!
Now, if we were 20 years younger and we didn’t have to worry about things like cholesterol and gaining weight, we probably would be making this and eating it all the time. Because, you see… my dear husband… he NEVER gets tired of something that he really likes. For example, we have a favorite Soft Tofu Stew restaurant in our area (Sogondong Tofu House) and I think we have been going there since my daughter was in elementary school so… it has been over 20 years! Until about 5 years ago, we must have gone at least once a week and every time we go, my husband orders EXACTLY the same soft tofu stew – Kimchi Beef – Regular Spicy. He ordered it so much that he even learned the hidden code the waitresses used to write down the dish – “김소보 (김치 소고기 보통 맵게)”. HAHAHA 😂😂
As for me, I am totally the opposite. I ALWAYS have to order something different. I bounce around between different soft tofu stews, different BBQ meats, cold noodle soup, never settling on just one…because you never know what may be even more delicious. But with my husband, once he gets hooked on something, it’s always THE USUAL.
In terms of ingredients, it is almost the same as my traditional Galbitang recipe that I posted last year – so go ahead and please try that if you don’t have an Instant Pot. What’s different is that I reduced the water amount by 2 cups since Instant Pot will NOT be reducing the amount of liquid like hours of regular cooking will do. I also did not have any organic onion or green onion roots at home so I did not add the skin or the roots but if you have them, please do!
I waited to share this Instant Pot Galbitang Recipe with you all because I wanted to post some regular recipes in between. As I was posting my Kkakdugi post recently, I thought how absolutely delicious it would be to eat Galbitang and Kkakdugi together. And then it came to me that I had not posted this yet.
So without further delay, here it is –
Instant Pot Galbitang – Korean Short Rib Soup Recipe
Prep Time: 35 min Cook Time: 30 min Total time: 65 min Difficulty: EASY
Ingredients appear in the RECIPE CARD after my directions –
Step-by-Step Directions
- Trim off any excess fat from ribs.
- Soak ribs in cold water for 30 minutes to hour to draw out excess blood.
- While the ribs are soaking, clean green onions and slice or chop 2 of them and just cut the remaining 2 in 1/2 lengths for the soup.
- Peel and cut 2 thick slices of ginger, peel Korean radish and cut into big chunks. You can use Daikon radish if Korean radish is not easily available. Peel onion or leave skin on if using organic yellow onion.
- In your Instant Pot, add ribs, radish, green onions, whole onion, ginger and water.
Galbitang Instant Pot ingredients - Close and set your Instant Pot to SOUP function and set your timer to 30 min.
Instant Pot Galbitang Cooked in 30 minutes! - When it’s done, do a Natural Release (just leave it alone until the pressure knob goes down and you can easily open it). If you are in a hurry, let it sit for 5 min then do a Manual Quick Release.
- Skim off fat from soup. If you trimmed a lot of the fat before cooking, you should not have a lot of oil on top. In this case, just using 1-2 sheets of oil absorbing paper should work well.
Oil absorbing paper for stocks I have added some links to my store under cooking tools. This is one of my most FAVORITE items to use for skimming fat from soups. You can also search for “food oil absorbing paper” or here’s a direct link.
- Season soup by adding guk ganjang, salt and garlic.
- Serve with some chopped green onions, salt and black pepper so people can and season to their own taste. And some vinegar soy dipping sauce for the rib meats.
Easy Instant Pot Galbitang (Short Rib Soup)
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb beef short ribs
- 8 cups water
- 1 yellow onion with skin on if possible
- 2 green onions for cooking broth
- 2 green onions (chopped or sliced for garnish)
- 2 thick slices of ginger
- 1/2 Korean radish (cut into big chunks, 2 in x 2 in)
- 2 Tbsp garlic (chopped)
- 2 tsp guk ganjang (Korean soy sauce for soup)
- 1 tsp Korean Cheonilyeom Sea salt (less if using regular Table salt)
Instructions
- Trim off any excess fat from ribs.
- Soak ribs in cold water for 30 minutes to hour to draw out excess blood.
- While the ribs are soaking, clean green onions and slice or chop 2 of them and just cut the remaining 2 in 1/2 lengths for the soup.
- Peel and cut 2 thick slices of ginger, peel Korean radish and cut into big chunks. You can use Daikon radish if Korean radish is not easily available.
- In your Instant Pot, add ribs, whole yellow onion, radish, green onions, ginger and water.
- Close and set your Instant Pot to SOUP function. Set it for 30 minutes. If you have time, just let it Naturally Release. If you are in a hurry, leave it for 5 min. and then do a Manual Quick Release. But be ready for some splatter - I usually cover the vent with some kitchen towel so it doesn't go all over the place. It will pressure cook your Galbitang perfectly!
- Skim off fat from soup.
- Season soup by adding guk ganjang, salt and garlic.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Tips
- I still had some extra stock leftover after eating the soup for 2+ meals. I used the leftover short rib stock to make Tteokguk and it was amazing!! Follow my Tteokguk recipe but just use this leftover soup instead of making anchovy stock.
- Rice and kimchi like Kkakdugi, Chongak Kimchi and of course Baechu Kimchi will all go wonderfully well with this rich and hearty soup.
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How to make very clear broth with no debris
If you want your broth to be clear without any dark bits, you can cook the ribs for just few minutes, discard the liquid and then cook again with fresh water. Taste wise, I don’t taste a huge difference so I opted not to add this step to my recipe but if you are used to the traditional way of boiling the ribs twice, you can do that here too.
Well, I hope you will try making some soon – whether it’s the Instant Pot version or regular.
XOXO ❤
JinJoo
This soup was so, so good and fast and easy… and did I mention how good it tastes? My family of four downed 6 bowls in like 10 minutes flat!
One thing I did want to ask though is even after I soaked the ribs as you described, I still had a lot of fine residue sinking near the bottom or floating around. Did you think I cooked it too long? Or should I boil it first on the stove top before placing the ribs in the Instantpot. But then I think I may lose too much flavor?
Either way, I’m sharing your blog and this dish with my readers on my site! I’m sure they’ll appreciate this as much as my family did. And yes, please post more Instantpot recipes 🙂
Hi Kathy, it’s awesome that your family enjoyed the Galbitang. I was surprised myself how good it came out when I first made it. And thank you for sharing on your site. I am going to visit your site right after this. So the question about fine residue sinking at the bottom — I am guessing you mean the little dark brown bits that either float on top or at the bottom? These are just blood/protein bits and soaking and rinsing the ribs before does help get rid of some but it’s hard to remove all. Traditional methods call for soaking the ribs for hours but I find that it really doesn’t make a whole difference in taste (perhaps those bits) since the meats are all fresh these days. If you boiled it, you could remove the bits with foam as they float to the top when it first starts to boil but because you can’t do that in the IP, you will have more there. Thanks again and yes, I will post more IP recipes!
This was my first thing I made with my instant pot and it was a delicious success! Thank you so much.
Just one question — if I want to add clear noodles — should I just add them in with all the ingredients or cook them separately and add them when the soup is done? Not sure what’s the best way to not over cook the noodles. Thanks so much for all your recipes!
So happy to hear that!! Glad it was successful. So the clear noodles keep absorbing liquid which means if you leave in the soup too long it will soak up a lot of the broth. Best way is to cook them separately and add after the soup is done. Thank you so much for the great comment!
Can I try this recipe with a regular pressure cooker ? ( I have a Korean pressure cooker; 풍년 압력밥솥 🙂 )
It has been snowing here for the last couple days and this stew will be perfect for supper tonight! 🙂
* I’m new to your blog and absolutely love it! I can feel how much time and care you must have put for each one of the postings. I moved to Canada 2 years ago and just reading your postings is so comforting and helping my homesick so much! Thank you!
Hi MK! Sure – you can totally cook it in the pressure cooker. I’m not 100% sure of the time though – maybe try 25 minutes and then if it’s not enough you can do a 5 minutes more? As always, you can always add more salt or cook more but you can never go back on those things..haha.. and THANK YOU SO MUCH for appreciating my work. I do put in a lot of work for each post but it is readers like you who keep me going. So happy to hear that it helps with your homesickness. The first 1-2 years are the hardest, it will only get better as time passes. Hope it comes out yummy and hope to hear from you again sometime. Take care,
I’m trying this recipe in my IP this weekend. Sounds so comforting and delicious!
I hope it turns out well for you. Several people on IP Korean Recipes FB group have tried and loved it. Thank you!
What size is your instapot? 3QT or 6 QT?
6 qt. Thanks!