Barbacoa Tacos

Jump to Recipe

The Best Barbacoa Tacos

These barbacoa tacos are fall apart tender, juicy and beaming with richness and flavor.  The sauce for these barbacoa tacos – is an out of this world flavor bomb – perfectly balanced in all directions, salty, sweet, tangy with a subtle hint of spice.  The peppers in this sauce are earthy, rich and complex and carry the flavors for this beef perfectly.  I know this Mexican barbacoa tacos recipe will be the best you’ve ever had!

I am absolutely obsessed with this recipe – I have been making this recipe for ages – you could say it is my “signature dish”.  This is the meal I make for people when I am sending them a love-meal when they’re sick. It has been the most loved and favored meal by everyone that I have made it for.   Even when I just make it for my husband and I at the house on a Tuesday night, we always say to each other that it always feels like such a treat.  This meal is sent to a new level of amazingness when paired with my homemade tortilla wraps; I highly recommend trying it with these at least once to get the best and full experience!  These wraps are magic with this beef and make for an incredibly authentic and special culinary experience. 

Barbacoa is cooked slow and low for many, many hours.  I always clock mine at around 7.5 hours.  I use my dutch oven because it is what I know and trust the most – but you can certainly make slow cooker barbacoa or crockpot barbacoa. I do NOT recommend trying to make this into a pressure cooker barbacoa recipe. For me, instant pot barbacoa has never panned out the same and I have ruined multiple roasts trying to cook it that way.  It seizes up the meat into a rubbery block and never turns into the proper fall apart and tender consistency that I am used to.  Its been sacrilege to my precious barbacoa, so I say no more to that and I go to the old dutchy to cook all day long in the oven.

Traditionally, lamb barbacoa is the most classic way of making this meal, but beef is a close second.  I prefer the beef barbacoa but you can try both and see what does it for you!  Using beef cheeks or short ribs is another way to get this fall apart and rich flavored meat, but I love the bulk of the chuck roast because I love leftovers for days. 

I have seen a lot of Chipotle Mexican Grill barbacoa and copycat chipotle barbacoa recipes online but this is a more traditional, rich and bold in flavor version then the main stream recipe. 

Other recipes using barbacoa – bowls, burritos, tacos, tamales, tortas, barbacoa de cachete or even barbacoa enchiladas. Leftover barbacoa recipes include using it for any of the meals mentioned above or on top of baked potatoes, in a stew or starring in a Mexican breakfast such as hash, eggs or chilaquiles. 

If you prefer to make this as an easy crockpot barbacoa recipe, by using a slow cooker crockpot instead of a dutch oven, you can set it to low and cook for 8-9 hours.  If your crockpot has a specific temperature to place on 225 degrees then follow the timing instructions below. This barbacoa style shredded beef is fall apart tender and you can achieve this with either a dutch oven or crockpot.  I mean literally when you pick it up out of the sauce with a pair of tongs it should fall apart and fall back in to the sauce. 

This is a wet and drippy taco – especially with the squeezed lime – so I am dipping the eating end of the taco back into the fallen juices which gives a barbacoa tacos with consumé experience.  For the barbacoa tacos toppings, you have to keep it simple with this one – raw onion, cilantro and lime is all that you need!   The flavors are so bold and good that you do not need anything else! Red barbacoa is rich with the blended peppers and makes for a complexity that is most enjoyable solo and not overcrowded with anything else.

I can say with total confidence that these are the best barbacoa tacos I have ever had and I think you will feel the same!  Don’t forget to try this recipe with my homemade wrap tortillas because it truly does elevate this dish to a whole new level of something extra amazing!  Let me know how you enjoyed this barbacoa street tacos recipe!

Red Barbacoa Ingredients:

• 2.5-3 lb beef chuck roast
• 1 medium-large yellow onion 
• 5-6 garlic cloves
• 4 dried ancho chiles 
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (from a can)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon vegetable glaze
• 1/2 Tbsp Mexican oregano (or regular oregano, if Mexican is not available)
• 1/2 Tbsp dried thyme 
• 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 orange, juiced
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1.5 Tbsp maple syrup or cane sugar
• 1-3 cups water to blend to make a sauce consistency
• 3 whole bay leaves

Instructions For Making Beef Barbacoa:

Preparation:

Soak dehydrated ancho chilles in water overnight to rehydrate them.  After they are rehydrated, deseed and devein them. 

If you have the time, prep the beef chuck roast with the following process or if you want to speed up meal prep time throw the roast as is into the dutch oven with the sauce and it is ready for the oven.  Optional meat preparation: Season all sides of the roast with salt and pepper and coat the outside with flour of your choice.  I always use Cassava flour because it is gluten-free and my flour of choice for nearly all of my cooking.  Once all sides of the beef are seasoned and dredged in flour, heat a skillet, drizzle olive oil and sear each side of the beef so that it has a golden “crust” on the exterior.  Then place it in your dutch oven with the sauce and it is ready to slow cook in the oven.

1. Making barbacoa sauce: Chop the garlic and onions and sauté them until onions are translucent and garlic is fragrant. Do not allow the garlic to get brown.  Tip- Garlic cooks faster than onions so start the onions before the garlic then add the garlic in when the onions are half done. 
2. Place the sautéed onions and garlic in a high speed blender with the rehydrated chiles, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, bouillon, oregano, thyme, cumin, vinegar, maple syrup or cane sugar, juice of 1 orange and juice of 2 limes and 1 cup of water to start and then more if it needs to be loosened up to a sauce consistency.
3. Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Approximately 50 seconds on med and then finishing on high speed. 
4. Pour the sauce into the dutch oven or slow cooker and place beef in it. Laddle the sauce over the beef.  
5. Add the whole bay leaves.  (Don’t forget to removed them at the very end!)
6. Cook slow and low for 7.5 hours at 225 degrees.  Start out at 300 degrees until the beef gets up to temperature, about 40 minutes, and then lower the temperature to 225 degrees for the duration of the cook time.
7. Check the beef around the 7 hour mark.  The beef should fall apart when picking it up with tongs. 
8. Set out to cool.  
9. Remove whole bay leaves.
10. Make these into tacos using my homemade two ingredient gluten free tortillas recipe at least once because they are superior and bring this dish to a whole new level, making these tacos feel incredibly authentic and special.  
11. Shredded barbacoa fills the center of the soft shell tortilla.
12. Barbacoa tacos toppings : chopped white onion and cilantro and with a squeeze of lime.

Notes:

-Hot sauce is optional if you want to bring some heat into these tacos. I recommend Habanero hot sauce for these. 

-Important* Do NOT do this recipe as an Instant pot chipotle barbacoa. I have only failed at this method and have ruined multiple roasts by using the instant pot. 

-For the additional water when blending the ingredients to make a sauce consistency, I always use the water that the dried ancho peppers were soaking in over night, because it has extra flavor and color.

Alternatives for ingredients:

– This recipe calls for beef chuck roast but you could also use short ribs, beef cheeks, pork shoulder or pork butt, ground turkey or ground chicken.

-Maple syrup is often my sweetener of choice and it works just great in this recipe but you can use any sweetener you like such as, cane sugar or date sugar.

What is barbacoa?

Barbacoa is a slow cooked meat that is braised in a rich pepper sauce that has a tangy flavor and subtle heat.

---

This is a great recipe to try if you’re a fan of beef roasts and rich Mexican flavors. If you do try these barbacoa tacos please rate it or comment below. If you made any alterations and want to let me in on your ideas on this recipe, I would love to hear about it!  If you would like to share or pin on Pinterest I am always thankful.  Check out my food journey on Pinterest at Molé in the Wall.

---

Don’t forget to check out my amazing homemade tortillas wraps, they are made with only two ingredients and are gluten-free! These wraps are impressive and totally worth making.

Other related recipes:

• Barbacoa el primo
• Southside Barbacoa
• Sous vide Barbacoa
• Barbacoa de res slow cooker
• Barbacoa bbq
• Smoked barbacoa