Featured comment
This soup is amazing! The broth is sooo flavourful. Adding in the spinach and sesame oil just makes it extra special. Definitely going to make this over and over again!
Jeannette
Yep, this fun train just keeps chugging on down the tracks and ope, here we are for a delicious little stop in Noodle Town! The very best of towns. These are perfectly spicy noodles, swimming around in a ginger-spiked broth, ready for all your slurpiest noodle needs.
The short ribs are the most tender, the most fall-apart, the most worthy of tears because how are they so gooood?! Just peeking out on top of your noodle-y pile, next to some bright sautéed spinach, sprinkled with sesame seeds and swizzled with a little toasted sesame oil. Oh my. Oh my, oh my.
What Is Gochujang Sauce?
This little noodle-y wonder gets its deep and interesting spice from the gochujang sauce. If you’re not familiar, it is a sauce made from gochujang — a staple ingredient in Korean cooking with an absolutely delicious lingering heat and strong umami flavor — mixed with some other ingredients like soy sauce, vinegar, and a sweetener. Gochujang itself is a spicy-sweet-savory paste that is made from fermented soybeans, red chile pepper flakes, sticky rice, and salt and it is commonly used to flavor meat dishes, soups and stews, and sauces. You can read a little more about how it’s made and used from Christina Chaey over at Bon Appetit.
Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?
Ingredients For Short Rib Noodle Soup
Because the gochujang sauce brings so much depth of flavor, especially when paired up with aromatics like ginger and garlic, the ingredient list itself isn’t too long!
- trimmed short ribs, removed from the bone (it’s worth it to trim/prep before cooking for a top-notch soup experience)
- gochujang sauce
- tomato paste
- minced fresh ginger, garlic & shallot
- beef broth
- dry ramen noodles or any other stir-fry noodles
- spinach
- scallions, sesame seeds, and/or sesame oil for finishing
How To Make This Spicy Short Rib Noodle Soup
Because we’ve got our ol’ pal the Instant Pot working for us here, things come together relatively simply.
- Short Ribs. Season generously with salt and then pop them in the IP on sauté mode without disturbing them until browned on the outside.
- Flavor it up. Add gochujang sauce, tomato paste, ginger, garlic, and shallots to the IP and let that go for a bit, then add the broth.
- Cook. High presh for 30 minutes. When done, that meat will be so beautifully tender.
- Noodles! Set to the sauté mode again and add the noodles and cook until softened.
- Spinach. Sauté in a separate pan and then add to your soup (optional, but such a nice bright add-in). You could also toss it right into the pot if that’s your jam!
Serve your soup bowls topped with the fall-apart short ribs, tuck in your sautéed spinach, sprinkle with scallions, sesame seeds, and sesame oil. YUM!
Make It Your Own
This recipe came to be after trying to replicate this beautiful bowl of goodness from The Daley Plate spotted over on Insta (years ago!). While not working from a particular traditional recipe, this dish definitely has notes of more culturally-specific spicy beef and noodle soup combos, like this homemade take on Shin Cup Style-Spicy Korean Ramyun Beef Noodle Soup or this Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup from Woks of Life, both of which sound absolutely delicious for a more traditional recipe.
What we have here is a super slurpy, heat-you-from-the-inside-out broth/noodle combo that is the perfect base, and then you can really start to customize from there! We’ve tried a few different cuts of beef, short ribs being the fave for tenderness, but others definitely work! If you’re feeling chicken instead, you could totally do that. You could certainly keep it vegetarian, too, with a little veg stock and then maybe some marinated crisp tofu or oven-roasted mushrooms on top. So much possibility!
If you’re not an Instant Pot owner, no worries, this dream can still be yours with a little more time. If you only have a package of ramen available? Perfect, toss that flavor packet out and then get that noodle block swimming. What we’re saying is this ginger, garlic, gochujang sauce combo is going to make absolutely anything sing.
Fun soups forever!
Instant Pot Spicy Short Rib Noodle Soup: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! This recipe uses gochujang sauce, which has a different taste and spice level than straight gochujang paste since it is mixed with other ingredients. If you can only find gochujang paste, consider adding a splash of soy sauce and perhaps a bit of honey or sugar to balance things out.
Absolutely! Just use veggie broth and either plop some delicious marinated crispy tofu or oven-roasted mushrooms on top for extra flavor.
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, gochujang sauce, 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.
Instant Pot Spicy Short Rib Noodle Soup
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 2–4 servings 1x
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
More Noodle Dish To Love
- Instant Pot Mac and Cheese (a classic made straight in the IP)
- Chili Garlic Instant Pot Noodles (woweeeeee, these are good!)
- Roasted Tomato Puttanesca (simple to make with lots and lots of flavor)
What do you think about leaving the bones in? I feel like it would add more flavor to the broth.
This is just SO good. I never thought I’d be able to make something so delicious on a weeknight. This is in the regular rotation from here on out.
Oh, so great to hear that!
I made this Instant Pot Spicy Short Rib Noodle Soup.
The recipe looked great! I did not make it in the insta pot. Cooked broth on stove all day, delicious! I made 1 1/2 pounds short rib. NOT even close to being enough! I also used the ramen noodles, so disappointing! I wish they were never in the recipe. You definitely want a wide fat flat noodles, maybe frozen Remi noodles like in the photo! Why would you post a photo of a different noodle? I would maybe try again because the broth so so yummy! My opinion. I do follow Pinch of Yum and love everything she makes!
SO much depth of flavor. LOVED this! I doubled the recipe and used three pounds of meat before the trimming and still think I would have liked more.
I am looking to make some soups to freeze for my son in college to be able to heat and eat. Do you think this would freeze ok without the noodles and then he could just heat and cook noodles then?
Yes!
I made this tonight and everyone loved it! So easy and so delicious!!
I made this a couple nights ago for dinner and it was great. I reheated some for breakfast this morning and it was even better. Next time I’ll probably make a double batch so I can freeze it to enjoy later. I used KA-ME Hokkien Stir-Fry Noodles. They aren’t like the ones in the picture, but they worked great and can buy a mulripack on Amazon.
I can’t find gochujang, could
I use sombel olek instead ?
Great question! We think it’s worth a try!
This was a winner, very flavorful with minimal fuss! It was amazing as written, and I think it would also be a really low-effort and high-reward way to use leftover smoked brisket or other slow cooked beef.
Love the sound of this soup but can you suggest an alternative to short ribs please? Thanks!
If only making for 1-2 people, what’s the best way to add the noodles so they don’t get mushy as leftovers?
Hi Team,
I was just looking at the “Instant Pot Spicy Short Rib Noodle Soup” recipe. I was hoping to see a video of how much trimming Lindsay was doing to the Short Ribs. The website sort of implies there is a video of the recipe but I can’t find the “go/play” button. Any help?
I would love to try this recipe but have found Short Ribs tend to run so fatty that it can lead to an unpleasant result.
Thanks!
Dan from Highland Park!
Hi Dan! It might help to refresh your browser window. The video should play following the ads.
hi can i use wide rice noodles instead?
Yes, that’s just fine!
I live in the UK near Oxford, and bought my short ribs from Waitrose and just cut them off the bone. This recipe was absolutely perfect for what we wanted. Brilliant to put just some dried egg noodles in the pot once it was all done and great with broccoli on the side completely delicious. 😋
So, I’ve commented on this recipe before because it’s amazing. But I had to come back because it is has earned a spot on permanent rotation at our house and I’ve made this at least 20 times. Tonight, it’s cold, stormy, and windy and this is the perfect dinner! One of my favorite soups EVER.
Hiiii! Wanting to make this but wondering if you can cook the noodles on the side and just add in with the soup during serving? Probably doesn’t allow the noodles to soak in the delicious flavors really well but do you think that would work?
Yes, absolutely!
Is the 1lb of meat with the bone or after it’s been deboned? Also, if doing a 1/2x recipe, does the cooking time change on the IP? Lastly, how much spinach?
Hi Ashley! Here’s what the notes of the recipe say:
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.
Cooking time shouldn’t change. And just 1-2 handfuls of spinach should be enough!
Wow! Super easy and incredibly delicious! My picky little eaters even asked for seconds!
recipe looks incredible, I tried it yesterday and everyone loves it
Yum! Made this last night and it was fantastic. The noodles soaked up a lot of the broth, so it ended up not being soup-y but I think that I might have preferred it better that way!
I made this a month back and forgot to leave a review til now. I had short ribs in the freezer for too long and was intimidated because I had never cooked them before! Came across this recipe and it was great! First time buying/trying gochujang sauce. I had ramen (yes, like college ramen) noodles that I used – 2 packets (without the seasoning). I probably could have done a 3rd pack of noodles if you like tons of noodles. Served 2 people with 1 small leftover serving.
I do not have an Instant Pot so will try the stove top method. You mention to cook the meat for a few hours – can you give an idea of what “a few hours” look like? I am a vegetarian and am not accustom to working with meat so I need a “timeframe” to cook the meat so I know when it’s done.
Hi, Amy! We’d recommend checking the meat after 3 hours or so. You’ll know the short ribs are ready when the meat starts to separate from the bone. If it’s not quite ready after 3 hours, we’d suggest checking it every 20 minutes or so after that.
Thank you! If it’s not on the bone, still about 3 hours?
We’d guess so, yes.
Listen. I love PoY. And my husband. But you two do not mix. He tried to make this a slow cooker recipe and cooked ramen noodles for. TWO. HOURS. It’s basically baby food. Delicious baby food.
I’ll remake this next week following stove top directions. I’m sure it’ll be amazing.
But— I wanted to chime in on the noodles— what’s pictured is not ramen!
Made this tonight and it was so delicious. I couldn’t stop eating the broth it was so good. I used gochujang paste (2tsp approx to keep it mild for kids) instead of sauce and it wasn’t too spicy. My husband and I added extra gochujang sauce to our bowls to spice it up. 4 and 8 year olds both loved it. I used some fresh noodles from the refrigerated section of our local Asian grocery store, but I want to try a wider noodle next time. I did the noodles on the stove but will do them in the IP next time to thicken the broth a little more.
Perfect. So good. Will definitely keep making this!