It’s time to step up your taco game with the most amazing Birria Tacos recipe of tender shredded beef and melty cheese coated in sauce and pan fried until crispy. Serve extra sauce on the side for dipping, and you’ll experience why these tacos are all the rage!
I’ve got many more favorite taco recipes, including Grilled Fish Tacos, Chicken Street Tacos, Shrimp Tacos, and Carne Asada Tacos.
Why I love this recipe:
- The BEST tacos in the world! The beef is cooked in a bold and flavorful broth, called consomé, that’s used to dip the tortillas before pan frying and used for dunking the tacos when serving.
- Versatile: We love make Birria tacos, Quesabirria, or Quesatacos (tacos with or without cheese) the most, but you could also serve the broth and meat as a stew, called Beef Birria.
- Make Ahead and Freezer Friendly: I like to make a big batch and freeze the leftovers so we can enjoy them anytime! It’s also a great recipe to prepare days ahead, for easily serving a crowd.
What are Birria Tacos?
Birria Tacos became a popular food trend when someone decided to use the tender meat and consomé broth from Mexican Beef Birria stew, and transformed it into tacos! The corn tortillas are dipped in the broth before pan frying with meat and cheese inside. The birria taco craze is sweeping the internet and restaurants for good reason; they’re amazing!
Ingredients Needed:
- Sauce ingredients: Dried chiles, tomatoes, onion, garlic and spices to make the birria sauce.
- Beef: I like a combination of bone-in short ribs and chuck roast.
- Corn tortillas: white or yellow corn tortillas work great.
- Oaxaca Cheese: the most authentic choice and melts perfectly. Mozzarella and Monterey jack cheese would be good substitutes.
- White Onion: finely chopped. Red onion would also work.
- Cilantro and lime: for garnish
- Optional homemade hot salsa: simple to make and takes these tacos over the top! You’ll need dried pasilla chiles and arbol chiles, tomatillos, garlic, onion, salt & pepper.
How to make Birria Tacos:
Prepare meat and dried chiles: Remove any large pieces of fat from the chuck roast. Cut it into a few large pieces and season with salt. Rinse the chiles (use gloves if desired), then use scissors to remove the stem and make a slit along the side to open them and remove the seeds. (The arbol chiles are hottest, so for less heat, remove the seeds, or omit these chiles completely. If you like extra spice, leave them whole).
Make sauce: Add tomatoes and onion to a large stock pot (at least 5.5qt pot of bigger) over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring. Add whole garlic cloves, chile peppers, and all of the spices except the bay leaf. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add vinegar and 4 cups water. Bring to a low boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes, uncovered.
Blend sauce: Add mixture to a blender and blend as smooth as possible. Pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer, back into the pot. Add 4 cups of water to the blender and swirl it around to clean excess sauce from the blender, then add it to the pot.
Add meat and simmer: Add 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Add short ribs, chuck roast and 3 bay leaves. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 2 ½ hours.
Shred meat: Check meat to make sure it’s tender. Remove meat to a plate and chop or shred into pieces. Discard bones and bay leaves.
Dip Tortillas: Heat a large griddle or skillet over medium heat. Add a small amount of olive oil to the pot and swirl around. Dip a corn tortillas into the consommé broth and lay in hot pan.
Assemble: Quickly top with a spoonful of shredded meat, a sprinkle of cheese and a little chopped onion and cilantro.
Fry Tacos: Fold tortilla over, in half. Fry for several minutes, until crispy and browned on both sides, flipping once. Remove to a plate for serving.
Serve: Sprinkle remaining chopped white onion and cilantro on top. Serve with a cup of consommé broth, for dipping. If you want to take these tacos over the top, make my homemade hot sauce, in the recipe card, to go with!
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: The meat and sauce can be cooked a few days in advance, stored in the fridge in an airtight container.
To Freeze: The cooked meat and sauce may be frozen in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw completely in the fridge before rewarming, to make tacos.
Recipe Variations:
- Chicken Birria Tacos: Make birria sauce as directed. Add bone-in, skinless chicken thighs to the sauce, instead of beef, and cook for about 30 minutes, or just until chicken is cooked through and tender. Remove to a plate and shred. Assemble tacos as instructed, and serve with sauce.
- Slow Cooker Birria Tacos: Prepare and blend sauce. Add sauce and meat to slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours, until meat is tender.
Serve With:
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Recipe
Birria Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
Birria Meat and Sauce:
- 3 lb beef chuck roast
- 4 bone-in beef short ribs
- 8 dried guajillo chile peppers
- 3 dried pasilla chile peppers
- 2-3 dried arbol chile peppers
- 5 roma tomatoes , quartered (about 1.5lbs)
- 1 white onion , roughly chopped
- 1 head garlic (10-12 cloves)
- 1 Tablespoon EACH whole black peppercorns, whole cumin seed, dried oregano, dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seed
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
- 1 inch piece Mexican cinnamon stick oe ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
For the Tacos:
- 15 white or yellow corn tortillas
- 2 1/2 cups shredded Oaxaca cheese or use mozzarella or Monterey jack
- 1/2 of a white onion , diced
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro , chopped
- 2 limes cut into small wedges
Instructions
Cook sauce and meat (can be made ahead):
- Prepare meat and dried chiles: Remove any large pieces of fat from the chuck roast. Cut it into a few large pieces and season with salt. Rinse the chiles (use gloves if desired), then use scissors to remove the stem and make a slit along the side to open them and remove the seeds. (The arbol chiles are hottest, so for less heat, remove the seeds, or omit these chiles completely. If you like extra spice, leave them whole).
- Make sauce: Add tomatoes and onion to a large stock pot (at least 5.5qt pot of bigger) over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring. Add whole garlic cloves, chile peppers, and all of the spices except the bay leaf. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add vinegar and 4 cups water. Bring to a low boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minutes, uncovered.
- Blend sauce: Add mixture to a blender and blend as smooth as possible. Pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer, back into the pot. Add 4 cups of water to the blender and swirl it around to clean excess sauce from the blender, then add it to the pot.
- Add meat and simmer: Add 1 tablespoon kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Add short ribs, chuck roast and 3 bay leaves. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 2 ½ hours.
- Shred meat: Check meat to make sure it’s tender. Remove meat to a plate and chop or shred into pieces. Discard bones and bay leaves.
Make Tacos:
- Dip tortillas in broth: Heat a large griddle or skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with a small amount of oil. Dip a corn tortilla into the birria sauce and lay tortilla on hot pan.
- Add taco toppings: Quickly top with a spoonful of shredded meat, a sprinkle of cheese and a little chopped onion and cilantro.
- Pan fry: Fold tortilla over, in half. Fry for several minutes, until crispy and browned on the bottom. Flip and cook until crispy and browned on the other side. Remove to a plate, for serving.
- Garnish and Serve: Sprinkle remaining chopped white onion and cilantro on top of tacos. Serve with a cup of warm consommé broth, for dipping. I also have a delicious hot salsa recipe in the notes, that takes these tacos over the top!
- *Any leftover sauce can be frozen for up to 3 months. Cook another small chuck roast in it to make birria tacos for another meal.
Notes
- 2 chiles pasilla
- 5 arbol chiles
- 10 tomatillo
- 3 cloves garlic
- Small piece onion
- Salt and pepper
Nutrition
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This recipe is great! I’m going to make it again soon. I think I struggled most with how much short rib to use in lbs. Can you suggest how much you used? Also, have you ever done this with just chuck roast and no short rib?
You take this Oso meat marinated with tongue and lather it up real well