Crockpot Birria Tacos Recipe
These Crockpot Birria Tacos are made with fall-apart tender beef, crispy pan-fried tortillas, and rich consommé for dipping. This easy slow cooker recipe delivers restaurant-quality birria tacos with minimal hands-on work.
Servings: 12
Calories: 177kcal
Equipment
- crockpot
- blender or immersion blender
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs boneless chuck roast
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or neutral oil (plus more for taco frying)
- coarse ground salt and fresh ground pepper
- 4 dried Guajillo chiles
- 5-6 Chipotle chilis in adobo (from a can)
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 8 whole cloves garlic, smashed
- 32 oz beef stock or beef broth
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 14.5 oz can Fire roasted diced tomatoes
- ¼ cup organic Apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano (Mexican oregano preferred)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 dry bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 tsp ground coriander
Tacos/fixings
- corn or flour tortillas
- lime wedges
- fresh cilantro leaves
- diced white onion
- shredded Oaxacan cheese (or Italian cheese/Mozzarella cheese)
Instructions
Cooking the Beef/Consomme:
- Heat avocado oil in a cast iron skillet over high heat for 4-5 minutes.
- Liberally salt and pepper beef, add to hot skillet, and sear on both sides, 5-6 minutes a side.
- Add beef to crockpot with remaining ingredients, and stir. Cook on low heat, covered, for 8 hours.
- After 8 hours, remove beef to a rimmed baking sheet, and shred with 2 forks.
- Remove bay leaves and cinnamon stick from crockpot and discard.
- Using a high powered blender or immersion blender, blend everything until a smooth sauce forms. ***If using a standard blender, allow liquid to cool to warm (don't blend piping hot liquid!), then carefully work in batches in the blender, being careful not to overfill.
- Transfer sauce back to crockpot to keep warm.
- Add 1 ½ to 2 cups of sauce to shredded beef and toss to coat.
Assembling and frying the Tacos:
- Dip doubled up tortilla into consomme, and lay flat in frying pan with a bit of avocado oil or neutral oil over medium heat.
- To one half of the tortilla, add cheese, then meat, and top with diced onions and cilantro leaves.
- Fry 2-3 minutes over medium heat, then flip other side to make a half moon.
- Add a small ladle of consommé to the top of the tortilla.
- Flip over, and fry 2-3 minutes more. Remove and serve hot with consommé.
Video
Notes
- Customize the consommé. Blend the broth for a thicker, richer sauce, strain it for a traditional dipping consommé, or blend only half for a consistency somewhere in between.
- Dip, don't soak. Quickly dip each tortilla in the consommé before frying so it crisps up without becoming soggy.
- Use sturdy corn tortillas. Thicker white or yellow corn tortillas hold up best and develop the crispiest texture.
- For quesabirria. Add shredded Oaxaca cheese before the beef so it melts as the taco cooks.
- Instant Pot variation. Cut the beef into 2-inch chunks, sear, then pressure cook with the braising ingredients on High Pressure for 60 minutes followed by a natural release if time allows (or a manual release if needed). Shred the beef and prepare the consommé as directed.
- Spice level: These Crockpot birria tacos have a mild-to-medium heat from the chipotles in adobo. For a milder version, use fewer chipotles and remove the seeds from the guajillo chiles. For more heat, add an extra chipotle or a little more adobo sauce.
Nutrition
Calories: 177kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 225mg | Potassium: 473mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 436IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 3mg