Birria Tacos feature crispy corn tortillas, layered with melted mozzarella and Oaxaca cheeses, topped with braised beef, and served with a bowl of loaded consommé. Spice up taco night with the best homemade taco recipe.
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Why you'll love this recipe
This recipe is bursting with flavor and we seriously can't get enough of it! Crispy tacos packed with tender braised beef and melty cheese dipped in a slightly spicy yet savory broth - YUM!
Authentic Birria Tacos are so easy and only take a few hours, most of which are unsupervised. Your kitchen will be smelling so good that you'll be supervising it the whole time! I know I always do!
What is it?
Birria is a Mexican stew that is traditionally made with goat or lamb meat. It's now commonly made with beef or chicken because it's more affordable and easier to find. It's slow-cooked with chile peppers and spices until it's so tender that it falls apart. Someone took this delicious, savory stew meat and stuffed it into a fried tortilla with cheese, onions, and cilantro and created the best thing ever.
But the consommé is even better. There is a unique, indescribable union of flavors. This consommé is rich, full-bodied, savory, slightly spicy, and almost has a velvety texture. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! I always have to make extra birria broth because that's the first thing that we run out of!
Ingredients
Birria de Res
Here are the ingredients you will need for the best birria tacos:
- Chuck roast
- Marrow bones
- Dried guajillo chiles
- Dried New Mexico chiles
- Onions
- Garlic
- Bay leaves
- Knorr chicken bouillon, or gluten free chicken bouillon
- Salt
- Water
Toppings
To complete these mouth-watering quesabirria tacos, you will need:
- Onions
- Cilantro
- Cabbage
- Mozzarella and Oaxaca
- Corn tortillas
- Limes
Where to buy chiles
Where I live, it's hard to find dried chiles at the store. I've gotten both my dried guajillo chiles and New Mexico chiles from 777 Spices on Amazon. So far, these chiles have been perfect every single time!
Step-by-step instructions
For this recipe, I love using my 16-quart stockpot. All of the ingredients fit perfectly and there's no chance of it boiling over.
Combine all of the birria ingredients into the stockpot: water, chuck roast, marrow bones, onions, garlic, bay leaves, bouillon, and dried chiles (remove the stems and seeds).
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and let it boil for one hour. About 20 minutes in, foamy impurities will start floating to the top. Use a skimmer to remove this so you're left with a smooth and savory broth.
Savory consommé
After boiling for one hour, remove the chiles and place them in a blender with one to two cups of consommé (broth), from the stockpot. Blend the chiles until smooth and return the liquid to the pot. Taste the broth and adjust the salt as needed by adding additional bouillon or salt (½ teaspoon at a time).
Boil for about another hour, or until the roast is falling apart.
Remove the roast from the pot, shred, and set it aside. Discard the bones, onions, garlic, and bay leaves. Skim the grease from the top of the broth and save it! This will be used to make the tacos.
After everything has been removed, you should be left with a beautiful, bright red consommé.
Let's make tacos!
Now for the fun part! Heat a griddle or skillet to medium-high heat.
Dip the tortilla. Dip a corn tortilla into the consommé grease and place it on the griddle. Flip the tortilla when the bottom is slightly crispy. This will keep the tortilla from getting soggy.
Add the fillings. Flip the tortilla and load it up with freshly shredded mozzarella and Oaxaca cheeses, beef, chile oil, cilantro, and onions.
Fry it up! Fold the quesabirria taco in half and make sure both sides get nice and crispy!
Serve the birria tacos with a generous bowl of consommé, loaded with chopped cabbage, chopped cilantro, onions, and chile oil!
Tips & tricks
Use chuck roast. My favorite cut of meat to use for this recipe is a chuck roast. The marbled fat makes the meat so juicy and it literally just falls apart. Arm roast or rump roasts could make for a good alternative. You can also do a mix of chuck roast and beef shank.
Remove the stems and seeds. For a spicier birria consommé, leave the seeds inside of the dried peppers.
Use leftovers for other dishes. Leftover meat can be used for other dishes, such as Birria Quesadillas or Birria Taquitos.
Recommended tools
- 16-quart Stock Pot. It's amazing how much food I can actually fit into this thing. I also use this stockpot for Big Batch Hearty Beef Chili.
- Fine Mesh Food Strainer. This makes skimming the impurities from the broth super easy.
- Blender. Easily blend up the guajillo and New Mexico chiles to make the most savory and smooth birria consommé.
Storing and reheating
Refrigerate: Transfer any extra braised beef birria and consommé to airtight containers. Refrigerate for up to four days.
Reheat: I prefer heating up the consommé on the stove, but it can be heated in the microwave. The beef can be heated while making tacos or in the microwave.
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Recipe
Birria Tacos (Quesabirria de Res)
Ingredients
Birria
- 20 c water
- 5 lbs chuck roast
- 2 - 3 lbs marrow bones
- 8 dried guajillo chiles destemmed and deseeded
- 4 New Mexico chiles destemmed and deseeded
- 2 medium white onions roots removed
- 1 whole garlic
- 10 bay leaves
- 3 tablespoon chicken bouillon* or Knorr chicken bouillon
- 1 tablespoon salt
Tacos
- 1 white onion finely diced
- 1 bunch cilantro finely chopped
- ½ cabbage finely chopped
- 24 oz mozzarella cheese freshly shredded
- 16 oz Oaxaca cheese freshly shredded
- corn tortillas*
- chile oil
- limes
Instructions
Birria
- In a large stockpot, combine all of the ingredients for birria.
- Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and let boil for one hour.
- Remove all chiles and place in a blender with one to two cups of consommé (beef broth) from the stockpot. Blend until smooth and return to stockpot.
- Taste broth and adjust salt as needed by adding additional bouillon ½ teaspoon at a time.
- Boil for one more hour, or until chuck roast is falling apart.
- Remove the roast from the post and shred. Discard the bones, onions, garlic, and bay leaves.
- Skim the grease from the top of the broth and save it! This can be used for making the tacos.
Birria tacos
- Heat a griddle to medium-high heat.
- Dip a corn tortilla into the consommé grease. Place on the griddle and flip when the bottom has slightly crisped.
- Flip the tortilla and top with cheeses, beef, chile oil, cilantro, and onions.
- Serve with a generous bowl of consommé, loaded with cabbage, chopped cilantro, and chile oil!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
The nutritional information provided is only an estimate. For accurate results, we recommend calculating the nutritional information based on the ingredients and brands you use.
Recipe adapted from Views on the road.
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