I’ve seen a few posts on Instagram for birria tacos, so I decided I needed to jump on the bandwagon. To be honest, I never even heard of them before! But they looked good! And as with any recipe on the internet, there are ten million different ways to make them… okay, that’s not true. There are ten million bloggers who post the exact same recipe, claiming theirs is theirs rather than someone else’s. I really don’t understand that.
And then there are a few people who try to take the structure of a recipe, identify the flavors it is going for, and then make it their own. I try to be that blogger. I have shamelessly bragged about my ability to identify flavors and recreate dishes successfully without a recipe. I took those mad skills 😜 and used them for this recipe too!
Birria can be eaten as tacos or as a stew, and its basically a slow cooked meat in an adobo sauce. Pork, goat, or beef is slowly cooked until the fat and tendons breakdown leaving tender meat that is easy to shred. Recipes are generally pretty similar, with a broth, onions, and hot peppers. I wanted to switch things up enough, so I added the zest and juice from a naval orange, cinnamon sticks, and cloves to the broth. Those flavors compliment and accentuate the spicy peppers, for which I opted on dried ancho peppers and chipotle in adobo sauce.
I used a beef chuck roast because it’s a cut of affordable beef that lends itself really nicely to slow cooking! By the time it has finished slow cooking all day, this cut of meat goes from tough to tender and flavorful! Now, I know some recipes will recommend marinating the meat before slow cooking it, but I honestly do not see the point. If you’re slow cooking meat for a good six to eight hours, it’s simultaneously marinating in that sauce the entire time!
I mean, marinating generally offers two things for your meat… first, it flavors/seasons it, allowing the marinade to soak into the meat. But, marinating meat also helps break down the proteins to help make the meat tender… but that’s the whole point of slow cooking it! Personally, don’t waste your time marinating meat you plan to slow cook for the day!
With birria tacos, you’re supposed to dip the taco shell in the broth, then scoop in all your desired fillings before searing both sides of the taco in a frying pan. Now, I love corn tortillas, and it’s always my preferred shell for tacos. However, corn tortillas also tend to be a more fragile shell. So, dipping corn tortillas in the broth, then folding them, and frying them lends them to more easily breaking. That did not stop me from using them! Some of the tacos turned out less than pretty…. sooo what?? Right? That’s my motto anyway. I like pretty, but flavor always comes first. Flour tortillas will hold up a lot better to this whole process, so use the type of tortilla you prefer!
These are super easy tacos to make, letting your slow cooker do the work all day. But, they are also probably the most flavorful tacos you could make! They are bursting with flavor. And as I said, it is amazing how wonderfully the flavors of orange, cinnamon, and clove work with the ancho peppers and chipotles in adobo sauce!
Before frying the tacos, I stuffed them with both a Mexican cheese blend and cotija cheese. Then I diced up fresh jalapeños and avocado top them off. Soooo good!
And, there really isn’t much else to say about this dish! Jump on the bandwagon and try them! And let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
How to Make Slow Cooker Birria Tacos from Home
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
- Total Time: 8 hours 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Mexican, South of the Border
- Cuisine: Dinner
Ingredients
1½ – 2 lb beef chuck roast
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
2 cups beef stock
6 garlic cloves, minced
½ large white onion, diced
4 dried ancho peppers
2 chipotle in adobo sauce, with the sauce
3 TBs apple cider vinegar
zest & juice of 1 naval orange
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsps dried oregano
2 bay leaves
2 tsps ground cumin
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp paprika
salt & pepper
2 – 4 TBs olive oil
Mexican cheese blend
cotija cheese, crumbled
To Serve
12 small flour or corn tortillas
handful cilantro, roughly chopped
1 jalapeno, sliced or chopped
½ white onion, chopped
sliced avocado
sour cream
Instructions
Heat a large cast iron pan or frying pan over medium heat. When hot, sear the chuck roast on all sides until seared a medium brown. Remove and set aside.
Meanwhile, in a small food processor, blend together the ancho peppers and chipotle in adobo sauce until smooth. In a slow cooker, stir together the can of tomatoes, beef stock, garlic cloves, white onion, ancho pepper/chipotle blend, apple cider vinegar, orange zest and juice, cinnamon sticks, oregano, bay leaves, cumin, ground cloves, paprika, and a large pinch of salt and pepper.
Add the seared chuck roast and push to cover entirely with the liquid. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours. When tender, remove the beef and shred with two forks. Return to the pot and stir to combine. Let sit, warming, for about half an hour to absorb the flavors. Using a skimming spoon, remove the beef with onions and tomato chunks from the pot and place in a medium bowl.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a cast iron pan or nonstick frying pan. When hot, carefully swirl to coat the bottom. Heat two tortillas at a time in the microwave for about 20 seconds. One at a time, dip the tortillas in the slow cooker liquid until covered on both sides. Scoop in some of the meat and top with about 1 tablespoon crumbled cotija cheese and another tablespoon or so of Mexican cheese. Fold over and place in the pan. Cook about 1 to 2 minutes until golden, carefully flipping so as to not break the tortilla. Cook an additional 1 to 2 minutes, or until the cheese has melted. Remove and set aside. (NOTE: you can keep warm, if desired, in an oven set at 200°F).
Repeat with the remaining tortillas, adding additional olive oil as needed.
Plate the tacos and top with additional accoutrements, such as onions, jalapenos, avocado, cilantro, and sour cream.
Enjoy!
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