Crockpot Birria Tacos (Quesabirria)

My cousin visited me in Colorado last summer and showed up with one request: He wanted the best local birria tacos we could find. Always up for a food challenge, I spent the next few days researching Denver’s best birria offerings, creating a detailed spreadsheet of customer reviews and a color-coded map of the spots we should target. On the last day of his visit we ended up in an old car lot standing among a long line of hungry customers, each of us ordering birria from a plain-looking food truck. A hand-written sign in the window read “Denver’s Best Birria”. We found it! 

Those food truck tacos were outstanding, complete with little styrofoam cups of the traditional consomme sauce for dipping each crispy bite. I felt inspired to try many more of the birria restaurants and taco trucks I had on my list. And over the last 18 months, I’m proud to say I’ve tried most of them and really honed in on what I like–and don’t like–in a birria taco. I also felt brave enough to develop my own version. 

I’ll be the first to tell you that this is not an authentic birria taco recipe. For that, you’ll need to visit a Mexican food truck, and you should! But if you want to try birria at home, this is an easy, simplified, and very flavorful version that I’m confident you will love. I use the crockpot to slow cook the meat and get it infused with spicy and smoky flavors, while using some shortcut ingredients, such as jarred salsa. I can’t wait for you to taste it!

Ingredient Notes About Crockpot Birria Tacos 

Here are a few of my notes about key ingredients and substitutions: 

• Beef chuck roast – most birria tacos I’ve tasted are made with shredded beef, however, you can also use shredded pork or a mix of pork and beef. Beef chuck roast, lamb roast, or goat meat is the cut of meat used most often, but you can also use a beef rib roast, boneless pork butt, or pork shoulder. 
• Dried red chiles – I recommend that you try to find dried Guajillo chiles, but there are several varieties of dried chiles that will work. Depending on the type, you can really change the spice level in this birria recipe. In Denver, where I live, many varieties of dried chiles are readily available in the Mexican/Latino sections of my local grocery stores. If you can’t find them sold near you, you can always source them on amazon for a very reasonable price. 
• Chipotle chiles in adobo sauce – These come in a small can and they add unique smoky and spicy flavor to dishes. With the first batch of birria I made, I used 6 chipotles, which was overkill. You only need 1 or 2 of the canned chipotle chiles, then freeze the rest for another use. 
• Corn tortillas – You can use any favorite white or yellow corn tortillas, and you could even make your own or use this recipe for grain-free corn tortillas. Corn tortillas are typical in birria, but I’ve even seen street taco size flour tortillas, though I prefer white corn tortillas for the most authentic tasting experience. 
• Mexican cheese – The cheese used inside the tacos is an essential ingredient to help everything stick together and to get those classic crispy edges on the tacos. I like to use a shredded Mexican cheese blend, Oaxaca cheese (buy pre-shredded or in a round that you shred yourself), or crumbled queso fresco. Of these, my preference is the Oaxaca cheese, but all of them are good. 

Find the full ingredient list with exact measurements in the recipe card below.

Some Equipment Notes

In addition to a large crockpot (I like this one and this one), some helpful things to have on hand when making slow cooker birria tacos at home are: 

• Immersion blender – an immersion blender is so handy, especially for recipes like this. It allows you to blend the liquid right in the slow cooker, mess free. But if you don’t have one, you can transfer the cooking liquid to a regular blender instead. 
• Tabletop griddle – I bought this tabletop nonstick griddle when I hosted a breakfast birthday party for my son five years ago, and it has become one of my most-used kitchen items. I use it to make large batches of pancakes, eggs, sausages, and bacon. And I also discovered this griddle was the best way to make a big batch of these birria tacos. A large nonstick griddle pan on the stovetop works well, too, but I find that the heat isn’t as even as it is with my tabletop griddle. You could also use a large nonstick or enamel coated skillet on the stovetop, but you won’t be able to cook as many tacos at once.

How To Make Quesabirria

It can be helpful to break this recipe into two steps, both of which you could do in one day, or even space out a few days. The first step is to make the shredded meat and birria sauce. The second step is to make the tacos. 

1. Make the birria meat. Cook the beef roast in a crockpot for a minimum of 5 hours (maximum of 8 hours). During the cooking, the meat gets super tender and infused with spicy and smoky flavors from the dried chiles, canned chipotle, beef stock, and dried spices. 
2. Shred the meat. Remove the roast, leaving the cooking liquid still in the slow cooker. Place the roast on a large rimmed baking sheet and use two forks (or these handy meat shredders) to shred the meat into small pieces.  
3. Make the consomme dipping sauce. To the cooking liquid in the slow cooker, add tomato paste and apple cider vinegar. Then, using an immersion blender, blend the liquid until it is very smooth. This will be your dipping sauce for the tacos. Ladle 1 cup of the sauce over the shredded meat to flavor it. At this point, you can refrigerate the birria meat and remaining sauce in separate containers until you’re ready to make tacos. 
4. Assemble the quesabirria tacos. When you’re ready to make tacos, lay corn tortillas flat on a large griddle or saute pan over high heat. Top each tortilla with some shredded cheese, shredded birria meat, diced white onion, and cilantro. Heat for 2 minutes, then fold each taco over and heat for 3-5 minutes more. Then flip each taco over and heat for an additional 3-5 minutes. If you like the tacos crispy, keep them on the griddle for longer. 

For serving size and the complete directions and ingredient amounts, scroll down to the recipe card below. All of our recipes include the nutrition analysis, listing calories (kcals), protein, carbohydrates/carb, fiber, sugar, sodium, cholesterol, and more per serving.

How To Serve

When I make the birria tacos, I like to make them fresh to order. So it’s one of those meals where I stand at the griddle and make 5-6 tacos at a time, then set them out for my family to eat while I make the next batch. I kind of like meals like these, where everyone gathers around the table and waits for the next fresh batch. However, if that’s not your style, you can make several batches of the tacos and then store them on a large baking sheet in a 200-degree oven until there’s enough for you to have a sit-down meal. 

I serve them with additional shredded cheese, cilantro, and lime wedges. And of course, an essential part of any birria recipe is the consomme broth. I ladle it into little dishes (about ¼ to ½ cup in each one) so each person can dip their tacos. For me, the perfect bite contains crispy beef edges, melty cheese, spicy birria sauce, and a squeeze of lime juice. 

Of course, being of Mexico origin, this dish can pair well with cooked rice, beans (black, pinto, or refried), and chips, salsa, guacamole, and queso.

It’s important to know that this recipe makes enough birria to make a big batch of 20-30 tacos, or enough for several meals spaced out. You can also use any leftover birria meat to make quesadillas, burritos, baked nachos, ramen, salads, or taco rice bowls for other meals.

How To Store

Store the shredded birria meat and the consomme broth in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can make the shredded meat and broth one day, and store those until you’re ready to make tacos on another day. 

Any leftover birria meat can also be frozen for up to 3 months.  

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The photos in this blog post were taken by Rachel Cook of Half Acre House.

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