Short ribs come from the “chuck” portion of the animal (usually a cow), where the ribs are shorter and unusable for other cuts. The chuck ribs are the first five ribs found at the top of the animal above the rest of the rib cage.
Due to their high fat content and marbling, short ribs are perfect for slow-cooking methods such as braising and barbecuing. Braising is the most popular method for preparing short ribs, but they’re also extremely popular for Korean BBQ short ribs, also known as galbi.
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Types of Short Ribs at Costco
At my local Costco Warehouse here in Issaquah, WA, I was able to find two different types of short ribs in the fresh meat section.
First, I found these Sliced Beef Short Ribs from Kansas City Steak Company…
These ribs are “bone in” and contain 100% pure beef.
You can sometimes buy bone-in short ribs through Costco Business Delivery. However, they’re currently out of stock on CostcoBusinessDelivery.com.
I also found these Kirkland Signature USDA Choice Beef Plate Short Ribs in the deli…
You can find these short ribs through Costco Business Delivery here.
Unfortunately, Costco does not currently sell any short ribs on Costco.com.
Some Costco locations may also carry these Red Moon Kalbi Beef Short Ribs, but I was unable to find them at my local spot. Other Costco locations have also been known to carry these Braised Beef Short Ribs with Sesame BBQ Sauce from Ruprecht’s, but they were also not available at the Costco near me. Check your local Costco Warehouse for inventory.
Pricing
The short ribs at my local Costco range in price from $6.99 per pound to $7.99 per pound. Each package was between five and eight pounds, making for a total price of between $30 and $60 per package. Needless to say, short ribs aren’t the most affordable meat on the market.
The USDA Choice ribs are the more expensive option, while the bone-in ribs from Kansas City Steak Company are less expensive.
Keep in mind that US beef prices are extremely variable, so the per-pound prices of these ribs should be expected to change frequently.
How To Prepare Costco Short Ribs
The most common way to prepare short ribs is by braising. Braising is the process of slow-cooking something in the oven in a covered container such as a dutch oven. This method produces a very tender and juicy finished product when cooking meat.
This recipe for Braised Short Ribs from Tastes Better From Scratch has a solid 5-star rating from nearly 500 reviews. And this one from HealthyRecipes.com is one of the most popular and highly rated braised short ribs recipes online. If you’re looking for something on the spicy side, try this Braised Mexican Short Ribs recipe from Cooking On The Ranch.
If you want to keep things as simple as possible, check out this recipe from Wholesome Yum for Instant Pot Beef Short Ribs. The recipe calls for just five ingredients and takes just over an hour from start to finish.
More Recipes
The other most common way to prepare short ribs is by barbecuing them, particularly for Korean-style BBQ ribs.
One of the most popular Korean-style BBQ short ribs (galbi) recipes of all comes straight from the New York Times Cooking page. You can find the recipe here, which calls for about 30 minutes of cook time and several hours for marination.
These Reddit users share that Costco’s regular bone-in short ribs from Kansas City Steak Company are perfect for Korean BBQ…
Customer Reviews
Aside from the positive reviews we just shared, it was unfortunately pretty difficult to find any other feedback from satisfied customers.
Overall, Costco Shoppers seem to find that these short ribs leave something to be desired.
This Redditor wasn’t too happy about the texture of their Costco short ribs…
Several commenters also noted that they think these ribs are sliced too thick…
On the other hand, other shoppers seem to think they’re too thin…
Some shoppers have even mentioned an odd smell coming from these short ribs…
All in all, it sounds like a toss-up when it comes to deciding whether or not to buy these ribs. But due to the distinct lack of positive reviews, we can’t honestly recommend depending on Costco as a reliable source for high-quality short ribs. It might be worth visiting your local butcher or Korean grocer instead.
