Barbacoa Tamales

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Tamales and Barbacoa

This is a barbacoa tamales recipe that is simple, easy and delicious.  Don’t be intimidated by making tamales – they are not complicated and can be made successfully by following a simple series of steps.  These barbacoa tamales I made for this recipe were the best ones I have ever had!  I combined the art of tamales and paired it with the absolute best Mexican meat – my beef barbacoa.  If you are looking for an excellent, 10/10 beef tamale filling – look no further. These tamales were honestly perfect. 

Tamales use a corn flour called masa harina. It is a finely ground, dried corn product that resembles wheat flour and it can be easily found at any grocery store.  The tamale dough is easy to make and can be filled with your favorite meat or vegetables. Tamales are typically filled with a savory filling such as a meat filling. They can also be stuffed with something sweet and enjoyed as a dessert.  I like to stick with beef tamales because I think they are the best variation on this traditional dish.  I love tamales for their savory, salty and creamy nature.  The elote(corn) masa dough is the perfect pairing with rich and flavorful shredded meat. 

Tamale meat can come in many forms: shredded beef or beef roast for tamales, carnitas pork, shredded chicken, lamb barbaoca or goat.  The type of beef for tamales can be anything that will shred and is fall apart tender. The best cut of meat for beef tamales is a chuck roast, short ribs, cheek or lengua (beef tongue).  I have never actually made beef tongue myself – the sight of a massive, foot long tongue sticking up out of a boiling pot is too much for me at this point in my life.  My favorite meat filling for tamales is the pot roast(chuck roast) because it is simple, easy to cook, falls apart and tastes amazing.  I have extensive instructions below on how to cook the beef barbacoa filling for these tamales. 

This recipes ingredient list is long, but it is easy to make, as well as the cooking process is long(low and slow for 7+hrs) but again, so easy to do – throw it in and forget it!  This recipe is somewhat a dichotomy because the processes of all the different parts are super simple, but due to being so many aspects it seems more complicated than it actually is. The meat filling takes 7+ hours to cook which makes it look like an extensive project.  Its not I promise, each part is low-key meditative and although they take time, they are EASY! Its kinda hard – if not impossible – to screw this one up or have it come out less than amazing. 

The brilliant thing about tamales is you can fill them with whatever you have on hand or leftover hanging around. If you had barbecue for dinner last night, you can easily make smoked brisket or smoked chicken tamales. What I did to break up the time and labor in this recipe, is make the beef barbacoa for tacos earlier in the week and doubling the beef recipe so that I had leftovers to make tamales on the weekend.  It worked great because I was able to enjoy the incredible barbacoa two ways and have a completely differently meal and experience with it.  Since the barbacoa was leftovers and already made, these tamales were a breeze.  The barbacoa can be frozen and thawed for later use as well.  The same goes for the barbacoa sauce, you could double the recipe, freeze it and use it at a later date for an easy filling to make these tamales.  Also, tamales can be frozen and thawed for later enjoyment.

This particular tamale recipe doesn’t happen to be spicy, you can add additional spice if you desire more spicy beef tamales.  I left this one more neutral in spice so that I can add hot sauce, because honestly that is the only way to go. Use some Cholula hot sauce on these babies and you will thank me!

Cooking tamale meat isn’t hard, you want to cook it low and slow so it is fall apart tender. The tamale meat you will create from following the recipe below is fall apart tender, juicy and oh so rich in flavor.  It is honestly perfection and has become my signature dish. I talk about this more here in my last barbacoa recipe that I originally made this beef dish for.  These barbacoa tamales were actually a delicious idea that came from pondering about leftovers barbacoa recipes. 

Another name for this recipe is red chile beef tamales; the deep burgundy color comes from the ancho peppers and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. This is the ‘meat’ of the complexity and richness in the sauce.

Next time you are craving traditional beef tamales – I hope you remember this recipe for shredded beef tamales and have it flagged or saved somewhere.  If you have Pinterest you can save it right to your own board for later inspiration.

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Ingredients:

• Masa harina corn flour
• Bouillon (Better Than Bouillon vegetable flavor)
• Butter 
• Water
• Beef filling

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Beef Tamale Filling : Barbacoa Shredded Beef

Ingredients:

• 2.5-3 lb beef chuck roast
• 1 medium-large yellow onion 
• 5-6 garlic cloves
• 4-5 dried ancho chiles 
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (from the 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
• 1-2 cups water to blend into sauce
• 3 whole bay leaves

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Making Masa Dough:

1. Place 4 cups of masa harina corn flour in a large mixing bowl. 
2. Melt 3/4 cup butter (or another fat such as lard or shortening) and 3 cups of broth. To make the broth, combine 3 cups of water and 1.5 tablespoons of bouillon to a pot on medium heat.  Melt butter and mix broth until everything is mixed and melted together. 
3. Add the liquid to the masa and mix until fully incorporated. 

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Making Tamale Meat | Instructions For 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, just 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 is my number one choice for nearly all 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.

1. Making barbacoa sauce: Chop the garlic and onions. Sauté them until onions are translucent and garlic is fragrant, but don’t 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 high. 
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. Pull apart the tender meat so that it is fully shredded and covered in the glorious sauce.

-Important* Do NOT do this recipe in an instant pot or pressure cooker —I have only failed at this method and have ruined multiple roasts by using the instant pot.  This roast needs slow cooking on a low temperature in a dutch oven or slow cooker (crockpot) to achieve the fall apart tender consistency. 

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Making The Tamales

These are the assembly instruction for making beef tamales:

Preparation: Take 1 or 2 of the soaked corn husks and tear or cut them apart so that you have long strips that can be used as a tie around the tamales, so they do not open are fall apart during the steaming process.

1. Take a soaked corn husk and place approximately 1.5 tablespoons(varies due to size of individual husk) of the masa dough near the wider end. (There is a wide end and narrow end of the husk, place the wider side on the bottom so the narrow side is above). Use a small piece of plastic wrap and place it over the dough, spread the dough.  Don’t spread the dough all the way over the husk, leave some space on the edges on top.  Leave approximately 1 inch bare on the sides and 2-3 inches or more on the top. Again, this depends on the size of the husk – they vary in sizes and some are too small for this rule. It doesn’t need to be perfect it’s an art not a science. The plastic wrap is used to help spread the dough out easily because masa dough tends to stick to spoons and can be difficult to spread.
2. Remove the plastic wrap. 
3. Place the shredded beef barbacoa filling in the center of the masa dough, in a skinny vertical line, long way with the vertical length of the husk.
4. Take the sides of the husks and fold one side over and then the other to make the rectangular tamale shape.
5. Fold the narrow top down on top of the tamale and carefully pick it up to place the husk string around it and tie it off.  The open side is the top, these will be placed standing up vertically for steaming, so nothing will come out. 
6. Prepare the large pot for steaming by adding 1.5 cups water to the bottom of the pot then place your steamer in the pot.  
7. Place the tamales in the steamer in a large pot standing up vertically, circling around the edge and then tracing into the center. 
8. This is done best in a pressure cooker or instant pot as it only takes 25 minutes.   Set the instant pot to high pressure and set the time for 25 minutes, secure the lid.  After the timer has gone off allow it to depressurize on its own or use the release valve.  
9. Remove a tamale, check for doneness by removing part of the corn husk and looking for it to come away from dough easily with no sticky dough residue. 
10. Unwrap and enjoy them with your favorite hot sauce such as Cholula, Franks red hot or Valentino!

FAQ:

What is the best cooking method for the tamales?

This recipe is my instant pot beef tamales recipe because I cooked them for a fraction of the amount of time in my pressure cooker instant pot. I highly recommend this method, as it works perfectly and are done in 25 minutes versus the typical hours long cooking process.

Best meat to use for tamales ?

Beef or carnitas pork shoulder (pork butt)

What is the best cut of meat for beef tamales ?

Best beef cut for tamales : chuck roast, cheek, short ribs, lengua (tongue), brisket.

Type of meat for tamales ?

Any cut that will “shred” for example, a roast, shoulder or butt.

Best beef roast for tamales : Chuck roast (pot roast) 2.5-3 lbs.

If you like this recipe you will love the authentic tacos that I originally made this beef barbacoa for; I used my amazing homemade tortilla wraps, which are honestly the best. I made a double batch of beef so that I could make these tacos – which are a house favorite – and then use the leftover meat to make tamales on the weekend! Check out the recipes here:

Barbacoa Beef Tacos

Homemade Gluten Free Tortillas 

This is a great recipe to try if you’re a fan of tamales and tender flavorful beef. If you do try these barbacoa tamales please rate them 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.

I know you will enjoy these authentic Mexican beef barbacoa tamales!

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