Beef Birria Tacos

Grilled birria tacos with onions and cilantro, served alongside a bowl of sauce.

5 from 3 votes

Birria tacos, also known as tacos de birria! The most amazing, decadent, delicious dish; basically ever. These short rib inspired birria tacos are crispy, cheesy and meaty, they boast SO much flavor.

Prep Time20

Cook Time4

Total Time4 20

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings:

Author: Lindsey Baruch

Ingredients

For Your Meat

2 pounds beef short rib
2 pounds beef chunk
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 1/2 cup water or broth
1 tablespoon avocado oil, or neutral oil for searing your beef

For Your Braise

3 to 4 large guajillo chiles ends trimmed and de-seeded
1 white onion peeled and halves
6 garlic cloves peeled
3 roma tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 can chipotle peppers in adobo
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leave (removed before blending)
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
1 cup water or broth
salt to taste

For Your Tacos

1/2 cup cilantro minced
1/2 cup white onion minced
juice from 1 lime
corn tortillas to serve and assemble
3 ounces Oaxacan cheese shredded (or mozzarella)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees
SEAR YOUR MEAT. Pat your meat dry, and season on all sides with salt and pepper. Set aside and let come to room temp, 30 ish minutes.
In a deep pot or dutch oven, heat neutral oil and sear your meat on all sides. Do it in batches if your dutch oven doesn’t ﬁt all the pieces. Set aside as needed.
MAKE YOUR SAUCE. While you are searing your meat, in a separate pot: add in guajillo chiles, white onion, garlic, tomatoes, peppercorns, oregano, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, chipotle peppers in adobo, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Season with salt. Fill with water and bring to a boil.
Once your mixture is boiling, bring to a simmer for 5-10 minutes. Remove your bay leaf. Strain out the water and add in the strained mixture to a high speed blender. Add in 1 cup water, salt to taste and vinegar. Blend until completely smooth. If you don’t have a high speed blender, feel free to strain out any excess that did not blend smoothly.
TIME TO BRAISE. On medium low heat, add back in your seared meat to the same pot. And pour over the blended marinade. Add 1.5 cup water to cover completely and mix well. A fun tip here is to add water in the blender, and blend that up to get any excess marinade to pour into your braise.
Next, bump up the heat to medium and bring to a simmer. Then cover and transfer to your oven. Braise for 3.5-4 hours, checking every hour and mixing the braise around. You will know it’s ready when it falls of the bone and has the ability to shred easily and is not tough. Remove from oven. Remove the meat from the consomé and shred with two forks. Keep the liquid in the pot.
ASSEMBLE. In a bowl, add in chopped cilantro, onions, lime juice and salt, mix well and set aside. Next, shred your cheese.
Take your corn tortilla and dunk it in the consomé from the meat, heat up on a skillet and on one side add your meat and then your cheese. Finish with a little of your cilantro mixture, close the other side and cook on all sides, ﬂipping halfway until your cheese is melted. Repeat this step and pour the consomé to a bowl for dunking and serve with your tacos!

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