If you are looking for a quick smoker recipe then you need to head down to the store and grab some Flanken Style beef ribs! I used an overnight marinade for this cook but a one hour soak will work fine. You can skip the marination step as long as you baste the meat every 15 minutes while it is in the cooker.

So let’s get started on these ribs!

If you take a slab of beef short ribs and cut them thin and perpendicular to the bones you will get what is known as Flanken style beef ribs.

Flanken Style Beef Ribs

Flanken style beef ribs can be made from either Plate or Chuck beef ribs. I smoked these ribs but a lot of people grill them up hot and fast for Korean barbecue.

These beef ribs were soaked overnight in a modified version of a tri tip marinade I wrote about in an earlier article but a one hour soak is sufficient.

Smoked Flanken Style Beef Rib Marinade

1 cup freshly brewed coffee
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tbls Sriracha sauce
2 Tbls honey
1 Tbls grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil

This marinade is freaking delicious. Print this recipe out and keep it under your mattress.

Table of Contents

How to Smoke These Beef Ribs

Smoking these ribs is more about flavor than cooking. Flanken ribs are thin and they will get dry and tough if you overcook them.

For the first part of the cook we want to keep the temperature of our cooker as low as possible while we add smoke flavor. We will then finish cooking the ribs by searing them at high heat.

If you are cooking on a Traeger, Pit Boss, Z Grills or any other style of pellet cooker then set the temperature to 180F and use hickory or cherry pellets.

I smoked these on a Weber charcoal grill. I used a paraffin cube to light a charcoal basket filled with about 25-30 Kingsford charcoal briquettes, kept the top vent fully open and closed the bottom vent to about 20% open.

I added a handful of hickory chips to the lit charcoal and placed the ribs on the cooler, indirect side of the grill where the temp was about 225F.

I let the ribs take on smoke for about an hour and they looked beautiful. If you did not marinade the ribs then you will need to be basting them every 10 minutes or so with the marinade recipe above.

After an hour with indirect heat I moved the ribs over direct high heat for two minutes per side to finish cooking and put a nice char on the meat.

I usually cook everything to a target internal temperature but that is tricky with this cut. I would aim for a final temperature of 140-145F but the meat is so thin your thermometer is going to give you highly variable readings.

Instead of cooking to temperature try to cook to appearance and realize that it is hard to undercook these ribs.

Smoked Flanken Style Beef Ribs

These ribs looked and tasted amazing! It’s pretty nice to be able to turn out such great barbecue in such a short period of time!

Smoked Flanken Style Ribs

Thin cut beef ribs are marinated overnight and smoked at low temperatures for one hour. The ribs are finished by grilling over direct high heat.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 1 10

Total Time 2 10

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Calories 325 kcal

Ingredients

1 cup coffee Freshly brewed
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp Sriracha sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1 lb Flanken style beef ribs

Instructions

Combine the marinade ingredients. Add the ribs to the marinade and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Set up your smoker for the lowest temperature possible (180-225F).
Smoke the ribs at low temperature for 1 hour
Raise the temperature of the grill to high heat. Sear the ribs for two minutes per side to finish.

Keyword Smoked Flanken Style Beef Ribs