Birria Tacos are all the rage right now for a good reason: they’re so. damn. good. Imagine this: a crispy but still saucy hot taco filled with tender meat, a bit of cheese, and before you bite into the meaty goodness, you dunk the taco into a bowl of sauce. Not taco sauce, but a rich consomme made from meat drippings and meat juices. So. Damn. Good. Here’s the best part – they’re not hard to make, and I’ll show you how! Grab a napkin and get ready to dig in!
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The picture just doesn’t do these delicious beef birria tacos justice. I wish we had smellavision, and even better, tasteavision. They’re so crispy, so juicy, and so flavorful, it’s almost unbelievable. In fact, I have a hard time eating regular tacos after these – they’re just that good.
Making this Mexican dish is a labor of love. You start with a big, old tough hunk of beef (traditionally, authentic birria tacos are made with goat meat, but I used beef) and cook it low and slow with a bunch of chilis and other aromatics for hours.
Then, the magic happens and you get to dive into these tacos with dipping sauce. But I’m jumping ahead! Want to know how to make the best Birria Tacos? Here’s how!
What you’ll love about Birria Tacos
- They’re so freaking delicious. You’ll never want a regular taco again!
- The meat is versatile and can be used in a variety of dishes, not just tacos.
- These are perfect for meal prepping and the meat freezes well.
- Aside from the chilis, there aren’t many birria ingredients.
Ingredients to Make Birria Tacos
Start by making the birria de res:
- Beef roast – A 3-4 pound pot-roast type cut works best. See my notes below.
- Onion – A whole yellow or white onion.
- Celery – You’ll need a few stalks.
- Garlic – Fresh whole cloves.
- Cider vinegar
- Beef broth – Or water.
- Cumin
- Mexican oregano – Not to be confused with regular oregano.
- Dried chipotle chilis – Use 1 or 2 whole chilies. Use canned chipotles in adobo if you can’t find the dried chilis.
- Dried arbol chili peppers – Chile de arbol. These are spicy!
- Dried guajillo chili peppers
- Dried ancho chili pepper
- Dried pasilla chili peppers
- Salt and pepper
What Type of Beef To Use in Birria Tacos
You want a cheap, fatty cut of beef with lots of connective tissue. Bottom round (or rump roast), chuck roast, and blade roasts are all fine. If your beef has a bone in it, add extra weight to make sure you get enough meat. Fatty is good for this Mexican taco recipe!
So Many Chilis!
Yes, there are a lot of chilis in this recipe! They provide the flavor, and there’s plenty of it! You can mix and match with the chilis to find your perfect combination. I like my birria tacos smoky and a wee bit spicy.
The guajillo, pasilla, and ancho chilis are milder with various fruity notes. Next on the spice level come the dried chipotles, followed by the arbol chilis. Arbol chilis are quite hot, so use them sparingly.
How To Make Birria Tacos
For a complete list of ingredients and instructions, please scroll down to the recipe at the bottom of this page.
I made this recipe in my Instant Precision Dutch Oven. This recipe is made in a few steps. The first step is to prepare the beef, then make the consomme, then assemble and cook the tacos. Here’s how to do it:
To make the beef:
- Toss the onion, celery, garlic, and beef with some oil and pan-sear the vegetables and beef until they are dark and caramelized. You could also char the vegetables over your stove-top gas flame. Char is good in this recipe – but not burned.
- Remove the stems from the chilis and toast them in a dry skillet or over an open flame. They will blister and puff up. This is good!
- Put the beef, vegetables, chilis, vinegar, broth, cumin, and oregano into a Dutch oven. I used the Instant Precision Dutch Oven to make these birria tacos, but any oven-safe casserole dish or pot will work.
- Set the Instant Precision Dutch Oven to braise for 4 hours. Turn the beef over about halfway through the cooking time, and peek into the pot periodically to add more water if needed. You don’t want the water to evaporate but to stay at a fairly consistent level.
- If you’re doing these beef tacos in the oven, set the oven to 350-F and cover the casserole dish tightly with a snug lid or foil. Braise at 350-F for about 4 hours.
- When the beef easily shreds, it is done. Set it aside to cool and strain the chilis and vegetables from the broth. Discard the solids but keep all that delicious broth known as consome de birria.
- When you can easily handle the meat, shred it, discarding any clumps of fat or gristle.
To Make the consomme / Dipping juice
Strain the broth through a fine-meshed strainer and simmer it in a saucepan on the stove for 10-15 minutes to concentrate the flavors. Adjust the seasoning by adding salt if needed.
Set the birria broth aside to cool. You want the fat to rise to the top.
To ASsemble Birria Tacos
Dunk a corn tortilla into the fat at the top of the birria broth, then fill it with a quarter cup of beef. Add a sprinkle of cheese and pop the whole thing into a skillet to toast up.
Fold the taco over once it has started to get crispy and hot, then cook it for a minute or 2 on each side until it is brown and crispy.
Serve the tacos with birria jus (birria consomme), lime for fresh lime juice, and dunk before biting! Enjoy!
Chef Jenn’s Tips For This birria Tacos REcipe
- Cook your birria tacos on a Blackstone griddle outside where you can cook a bunch at once, or set up a station inside. Dip, fill, fry, and serve. If you get a good process set up you can make these fairly quickly.
- You can make the meat the day before. In fact, I prefer to make the meat the day before. This makes the meat easier to handle, the broth has a chance to chill in the fridge and the delicious fat will rise to the top making dunking the tortillas easier.
- Use corn tortillas for this recipe. Flour tortillas will absorb too much liquid.
- Like your tacos birria spicier? Add another chipotle and 2-3 more arbol chilis to the cooking broth or top your tacos with chile de arbol salsa.
- Looking for a vegan version? Try these vegan birria tacos.
What to Serve With Birria Tacos
A bit of cheese inside the tacos (cotija cheese is traditional but use what you have) and diced onion is all you need to jazz up these crave-worthy tacos de birria. Serve them with lime wedges to add a bit of acidity and to cut the fattiness.
Make them a part of a larger feast with tasty sides like baked Spanish Rice, Smoked Queso, and Mexican Street Corn Salad.
Frequently Asked Questions
Birria is a regional dish that has SO MANY variations. My version, learned from living a million years in Texas, is filled with chilis, cumin, onions, garlic, celery, and Mexican oregano. The juice and fat from the meat flavor the broth.
The chipotle and arbol chilis are the spiciest. If you don’t want your broth too spicy, just use 1 chipotle and 2 arbol chilis. Like it spicier? Add another chipotle and 2-3 more arbol chilis. The recipe, as written, has a mild tingle to it but no, it’s not spicy.
You want 6-inch corn tortillas to make birria tacos. Flour tortillas will absorb too much of the liquid and don’t have the authentic corn flavor that makes these tacos such a hit with everyone.
Step by Step Process
Easy Birria Tacos
Equipment
- Instant Precision Dutch Oven or oven-safe casserole dish or Dutch oven
Ingredients
- 24 corn tortillas
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 pound chuck roast or other fatty, cheap cut of beef
- 1 onion roughly choped
- 3 stalks celery roughly chopped
- 4 cloves garlic smashed
- 2 cups beef broth or water
- 1 tablespoon dried cumin
- 1/2 tabelspoon dried Mexican oregano
- 1 dried chipotle chili
- 3 dried guajilla chilis
- 2 dried pasilla chilis
- 3 dried ancho chilis
- 3 dried arbol chiliis
For the birria tacos
- 1 cup cotija cheese
- 1/2 cup diced sweet onion optional
- lime wedges optional
- chopped cilantro optional
Instructions
For the beef:
- Toss the onion, celery, garlic, and beef with some oil and pan-sear the vegetables and beef until they are dark and caramelized. You could also char the vegetables over your stove-top gas flame. Char is good in this recipe – but not burned.
- Remove the stems from the chilis and toast them in a dry skillet or over an open flame. They will blister and puff up. This is good!
- Put the beef, vegetables, chilis, vinegar, broth, cumin, and oregano into a Dutch oven. I used the Instant Precision Dutch Oven to make these birria tacos, but any oven-safe casserole dish or pot will work.
- Set the Instant Precision Dutch Oven to braise for 4 hours. Turn the beef over about halfway through the cooking time, and peek into the pot periodically to add water if needed. You don't want the liquid to evaporate but to stay at a fairly consistent level.
- If you're doing these beef tacos in the oven, set the oven to 350-F and cover the casserole dish tightly with a snug lid or foil. Braise at 350-F for about 4 hours. Flip it over halfway and make sure the liuqid doesn't evaporate, adding more water as needed.
- When the beef easily shreds, it is done. Set the beef aside to cool and strain the chilis and vegetables from the broth. Discard the solids but keep all that delicious broth.
- When you can easily handle the meat, shred it, discarding any clumps of fat or gristle.
To make the dipping broth:
- Strain the broth through a fine-meshed strainer and simmer it in a saucepan on the stove for 10-15 minutes to concentrate the flavors. Adjust the seasoning by adding salt if needed.
- Set the birria broth aside to cool. You want the fat to rise to the top.
To assemble the birria tacos:
- Dunk a corn tortilla into the fat at the top of the birria broth, then fill it with a quarter cup of shredded beef. Add a sprinkle of cheese and pop the whole thing into a skillet to toast up.
- Fold the taco over once it has started to get crispy and hot, then cook it for a minute or 2 on each side until it is brown and crispy.
- Serve the tacos with birria jus and dunk before biting! Enjoy!
Notes
Chef Jenn’s Tips
- Cook your birria tacos on a Blackstone griddle outside where you can cook a bunch at once, or set up a station inside. Dip, fill, fry, and serve. If you get a good process set up you can make these fairly quickly.
- You can make the meat the day before. In fact, I prefer to make the meat the day before. This makes the meat easier to handle. Plus, the broth has a chance to chill in the fridge and the delicious fat will rise to the top making dunking the tortillas in the fat easier.
- Use corn tortillas for this recipe. Flour tortillas will absorb too much liquid.
Nutrition
A Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for this recipe is provided as a courtesy and is calculated based on available online ingredient information. It is only an approximate value. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site cannot be guaranteed.
