Birria Tacos might be something new to several of you, however, this dish has actually been around for decades. The juicy slow-cooked meat stew is often served for special occasions, and you’ll soon see why. It’s truly a delicious experience that honestly deserves its own holiday. Today we celebrate its evolution by not only showing you how to make delicious birria, but also how to serve it taco style.
What is Birria Tacos?
Birria originated in the Mexican state of Jalisco, but it’s believed to have grown in popularity after Don Guadalupe Zararte set up a birria stand in Tijuana in the 1950s. Birria is traditionally made with goat meat, but reportedly Zararte eventually began to prepare it with beef. We evaluated some of meats, goat, beef, lamb, and pork. While we loved the classic goat, we decided to use beef for our recipe. It’s more widely available, but still packed with flavor.
Birria Tacos Recipe
Birria Ingredients
Protein
- Boneless beef chuck roll
- Bone-in beef short ribs
Chiles
- Morita chiles
- Guajillo chiles
- Ancho chiles
Additional Spices and Seasonings
- Cinnamon
- Coriander seed
- Bay leaves
- Cloves
- Allspice
- Black peppercorns
- Cumin
- Mexican oregano
Vegetables
- Yellow onions
- Roma tomatoes
- Garlic
Liquids
- Apple cider vinegar
- Water (8 cups)
Other Ingredients
- Canola oil (for searing)
- Banana leaves (or aluminum foil as a substitute)
- Corn tortillas
- Shredded Oaxaca cheese (or mozzarella cheese)
Garnishes
- Cilantro
- Pickled red onions
- Lime
Let’s start cooking Birria Tacos >>
Choosing the Protein
Now that we’ve picked our protein, let’s do some meaty cuts. In this easy Birria recipe, we’re using a mix of boneless beef chuck roll and bone-in beef short ribs.
The Role of Bones in Flavor
Bones are packed with collagen and flavor, adding richness to our consomme that will have your lips sticking together in a good way. Consomme is a savory, brothy sauce. It’s a dipping sauce for our tacos later.
Seasoning the Meat
Before we get to cooking, we want to season our meat with salt. Don’t skimp on the salt here. We want to coat our meat completely. Then we’ll chill our seasoned meat in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Seasoning our meat before we sear it is going to give us that crispy brown crust and lock in more flavor.
Preparing the Chiles
All right, let’s move on to our chiles. Everyone uses their own combo of dried chiles. Here we’re using morita, guajillo, and ancho chiles. Morita chiles for their spice and smokiness, guajillo chiles for their spice and sweetness, and ancho chiles for their dark richness. We’ll cover our chiles with warm water and let them soften for about five minutes. After that, we’ll remove the seeds and set the peppers apart.
Additional Spices and Seasonings
But the spice doesn’t stop there. Incorporating more spices and seasonings is gonna give us a well-balanced birria that’s layered with flavor. Like chiles, every person has their go-to flavoring for birria. Cinnamon, coriander seed, bay leaves, cloves, allspice, dried avocado leaves, black peppercorns, cumin, and Mexican oregano.
There are two types of oregano, Italian and Mexican. While they share the same name, they have different tastes and aromas. Italian or Mediterranean oregano has minty undertones, while Mexican oregano has more citrusy, earthy undertones.
For our dish, we use cinnamon, coriander seed, black peppercorns, allspice, and cloves. We’ll include them to a medium frying pan and toast them over medium flame.
Grinding the Spices
Then we’ll move them to a spice grinder, together with our dried-out bay leaves and Mexican oregano. Toasting and grinding our spices will give our spice mix a fresher, more vibrant flavor. You intend to grind them into a fine powder.
Cooking the Meat
Now it’s time to cook our meat. Traditionally, the meat is cooked underground. We located the best way to duplicate that technique was utilizing a Dutch oven with a tight-fitted cover. We’ll remove our meat from the refrigerator and pat it dry. This will absorb any excess dampness that could keep our meat from getting an even crust.
Creating the Flavor Base
Next, we’ll add a quarter cup of canola oil to our pot over medium-high heat. When the oil is glittering, include the meat and cook it on all sides. We want to create this really great crust all over, also known as the Maillard reaction. This procedure is going to lock in yet another layer of flavor to our braising fluid. Once the meat is golden brown, remove it from the pot and set it aside.
Sautéing the Vegetables
We’re going to go ahead and add our yellow onions and quartered roma tomatoes. Sprinkle them with a tablespoon of salt and let everything cook until the onions and tomatoes begin to sweat, about five to seven minutes. Then we’ll include garlic and cook till fragrant. Now, we’re going to add the spices that we prepared earlier. Cook until they’re aromatic, about 2 minutes.
Adding Liquids
Next, we’ll add a little apple cider vinegar and 8 cups of water.
Why Water and Not Broth?
We’re actually building our own broth right in this pot, so adding more beef or chicken broth isn’t necessary. We’ll return our seared meat to the pot, throw in those chilies, and bring everything to a boil. Then we’ll reduce our stew to a simmer and cover it with a lid. Rest it for about 30 min.
Blending the Chiles
Now the mixture has reduced and the chilies have completely softened? That’s our cue that it’s time to remove our chilies and blend them. We’ll place them in a blender with 2 cups of our broth and mix. Smooth and silky.
Adding the Chili Mixture Back
We’ll add the chili mixture back into our pot and give it a stir. Now we’ll start topping our stew with banana leaves. The banana leaves are going to add yet another layer of flavor, while also preventing our meat from drying out.
Quick Tip
If you can’t find banana leaves, use aluminum foil.
The Waiting Game
And now for the hard part, waiting. We cover our pot and transfer it to the stove to cook for 90 mins. After that, we’ll take off the lid and remove the banana leaves. Then remove the cooked meat from the pot, place it in a large mixing bowl, and start shredding. The meat should easily pull away from the short rib bones.
Assembling the Birria Tacos
Choosing the Tortillas
Now, it wouldn’t be tacos without tortillas. Store-bought tortillas are just as good for this. And when it involves birria tacos, our tortillas of choice are corn.
Dipping the Tortillas
Here’s when the magic happens. Remember that warm, flavorful liquid left in our pot after we removed the meat? That’s our consome. You can see that thin layer of fat sitting at the top. We’re going to dip the tortillas in that and lay them flat on our lightly oiled skillet. Pan-frying our tortillas in the fat is what’s going to give our tacos that perfectly crisp crust. We’re crisping our tortilla on both sides so our tacos don’t fall apart.
Filling the Tacos
We’re going to top our tortilla with cheese. We use shredded Oaxaca cheese here because it’s good for melting. But mozzarella cheese is also a good option. After that, we’ll include our shredded beef and fold the tortilla in half. And we’ll cook it until the cheese begins to melt.
Cooking the Tacos
Okay, time to flip. You get golden brown color and a crispy crust. This is what we want. We’ll continue cooking to achieve the same on the other side.
Serving and Enjoying Birria Tacos
Wow. We cooked. Now we’re more than ready to consume these birria tacos. We like to serve our birria tacos with some cilantro, pickled red onions, and lime. And don’t forget the consome because dunking your taco in it makes for one delicious bite. These birria tacos are seriously worth every minute and mess.
So do us a favor and make this dish and dip it like it’s hot.