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These Birria Tacos tuck tender shredded beef and melty cheese into crisp, pan-fried corn tortillas. Serve each quesabirria taco with warm consommé for dipping. It’s flavorful, comforting, and feels special.
Crispy Birria Tacos with Consommé for Dipping
There are few things I love more than these crispy Birria Tacos. The beef is cooked in the most flavorful broth and is so tender and juicy. We cook it until golden brown and crispy on the outside and the cheese is melted. It’s easy to make birria tacos at home, but it does take time, so to make it easier on myself I like to cook the beef a few days ahead. Don’t forget to keep every drop of the consommé for dipping your quesabirria tacos!
And any leftover meat you have could be used for birria ramen!
Try more of my Mexican-inspired recipes, like Green Enchilada Sauce, Crispy Potato Tacos, Tostadas, Mexican Pizza, and Cheese Enchiladas.
How to make Birria Tacos:
Prepare the Beef and Broth: Make the homemade broth by simmering the peppers, tomatoes, garlic, and spices then add water and simmer longer. Blend until smooth. Cook the beef with the bay leaves in the broth until tender then shred the meat.
Assemble Tacos: Heat a large skillet over medium heat then lightly coat with oil. Dip a corn tortilla into the birria sauce then let the excess drip off. Quickly add the shredded beef, cheese, chopped onion, and cilantro. Fold in half and fry on each side until browned and crispy. Remove to a plate then sprinkle with chopped white onion and cilantro. Serve with a side of warm consommé for dipping. (If the consomme has thickened, you can thin it out with some beef broth).
A Note About Spice Level:
All of the dried chiles used in this recipe provide flavor to the broth but they wont make the tacos very spicy! If you want a very mild spice, omit the arbol chiles.
Birria Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
Birria Beef:
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil
- 3 lb beef chuck roast, , fat trimmed
- 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 whole black peppercorns
- 1 Tablespoon whole cumin seeds
- 1 Tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 Tablespoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seed
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger
- 1 inch piece Mexican cinnamon stick*, or ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar, or white vinegar
- 5 cups water, , divided
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
For the Tacos:
- 15 corn tortillas, , white or yellow
- 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
- Cut chuck roast into a few large pieces and season with salt and pepper. Optional: Sear meat on all sides in a little olive oil.2 Tablespoon olive oil, 3 lb beef chuck roast, 4 bone-in beef short ribs
- Prep chiles: rinse (use gloves if desired) and use scissors to open and remove stem and seeds. (For extra spice, leave arbol chiles whole).8 dried guajillo chile peppers*, 3 dried pasilla chile peppers*, 2-3 dried arbol chile peppers*
- Birria broth: Add tomatoes and onion to a large stock pot (at least 5.5qt pot or bigger) over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring. Add whole garlic cloves, ginger, 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.5 Roma tomatoes, 1 white onion, 1 head garlic, 1 Tablespoon whole black peppercorns, 1 Tablespoon whole cumin seeds, 1 Tablespoon dried oregano, 1 Tablespoon dried thyme, ½ teaspoon whole coriander seed, 4 whole cloves, 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger, 1 inch piece Mexican cinnamon stick*, 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 5 cups water, 2 bay leaves
- Blend: Add mixture to a blender and blend as smooth as possible. Pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer, back into the pot. Add remaining 1 cup of water to the blender and swirl it around to clean excess sauce from the blender, then add it to the pot.
- Simmer beef: Add 1 Tablespoon kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Add short ribs, chuck roast and 2 bay leaves. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 2 ½ hours. Check beef to make sure it’s tender, then remove to a plate and shred. Discard bones and bay leaves.1 Tablespoon kosher salt
- Assemble Tacos: 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, letting excess sauce drip off, and lay tortilla on hot pan. Quickly top some shredded meat, cheese, chopped onion and cilantro. 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.15 corn tortillas, 2 ½ cups shredded Oaxaca cheese
- Serve: Sprinkle remaining chopped white onion and cilantro on top of prepared tacos. Serve quesabirria tacos with a cup of warm consommé broth, for dipping. We also like to serve with the hot salsa recipe in the notes below.½ of a white onion, 1 bunch fresh cilantro, 2 limes
- *Save any leftover sauce by freezing for up to 3 months, and reheating to cook another roast inside.
Notes
- 2 chiles pasilla
- 5 arbol chiles
- 10 tomatillo
- 3 cloves garlic
- Small piece onion
- Salt and pepper
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe May 2022. Updated October 2024 and October 2026.
We made this tonight and it wasso delicious! I didn’t use cloves or coriander, but it still turned out yummy. Flavorful and not spicy hot. Removing the seeds helped. I used my instapot and cooked the meat in the sauce for 40 min with a 15 min rest. Meat was tender. Definitely saving the sauce! I will cook some ramen in it like we had on vacation in Arizona. Added this to my Pinterest board and will be making again! Thank you for sharing.
I am making them right now as we speak, so I give the recipe 5 stars, the taste of the consume is amazing can’t wait to put it all together and eat.
If I make it two days in advance of my dinner how do I reheat the meat.
I would rewarm it in the sauce.
Thank You FOR SHARING Lauren 👍🏼♥️ these Look Burris’s Look AWESOME ❗️G-d♥️Bless😊
Made this today, with leftover chile broth I’d frozen from the last time I made it. I just threw a trimmed and well salted chuck roast in a crockpot with the thawed broth for 8 low hours. It was even better this time. The sauce, though a big time investment, actually made 4 meals for my family of 4. Birria tacos and birria quesadillas the first time and then again when I cooked the roast in the broth a couple months later. It was even better the second round. So so good. Today we served the tacos with Cowboy Caviar from Lauren’s beautiful new cookbook.
I loved this recipe! but I also used the 123 method using a product called insta-birria by el sabor products. If you look them up on google they should pop up. Their flavor is out of this world! its easy and simple. just add water, sauce and meat. I loved both recipes but insta-birria had a flavor that just blew my mind. so flavourful. I love my birria.
These were delicious. It was fun to see my family fighting over the last ones, licking their fingers and drinking the sauce. I removed all the seeds from the chiles and it wasn’t spicy at all after the long simmer. I’m going to make uesadullas with the leftover meat and dip them in the sauce too! Lots of leftover sauce, so I’m freezing it to use in another meal. It was an investment of effort, so I’m not going to let it go to waste!
Theses look amazing but with all those peppers is it hot???? I so want to try these but I’m more low med hot!
Hi Deborah, Guajillo and Passilla peppers are pretty mild. The Arbol chiles are spicy, so for very mild heat you can leave them out, or for medium heat, remove the seeds.
Seriously amazing! I never thought of dipping tortillas un sauce before cooking–game changer!!
I’ve been wanting to try to make Birria Tacos and just saw your post! I can’t wait to make them!