Birria Tacos Crock Pot

These Birria Tacos Crock Pot are made with chuck roast, tomato sauce, onion, broth, cumin, mozzarella, corn tortillas, and cilantro. 

In Jalisco, Birria Tacos are a traditional dish but they originally made with lamb meat. Now, Birria Tacos have become such a popular dish and are all the rage! Birria Tacos are traditionally made with Ancho Chiles, Guajillo Chiles or Chiles de Arbol. I know for some of you it is difficult to get your hands on them, so I made my version of Birria Tacos that doesn't include these dried chilies.

These Birria Tacos are SO flavorful and adding the melted cheese at the end makes the dish. This dish actually was mistakenly made when someone dropped the taco into the stew and cooked it anyway. The recipe blew up after that and the rest is history!

You can buy store-bought tortillas or try making my Vegan Flour Tortillas. If you have a gas stovetop, I like to place the tortillas directly on the burner and warm them there so give them a nice char. My go to tacos have always been Carnitas and Pork Birria Tacos.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Top tip
• Birria Tacos Crock Pot
• Food safety

Ingredients

• Chuck Roast
• Tomato sauce
• Yellow onion
• Chicken broth
• Garlic
• Cumin
• Onion powder
• Mexican oregano
• Cloves
• Bay leaves
• Mozzarella
• Corn Torillas
• Cilantro

See recipe card for quantities for this Birria Tacos Crock Pot.

Instructions

Cook the meat. Place all of the content in your pressure cooker, stir, cover, and pressure cook on high for 1 hour and let it naturally release. Alternatively, you can cook in a slow cooker on high for 4-6 hours or low for 8-10 hours.

Separate the meat and the liquid. Open your pressure cooker/slow cooker and with a spoon, take out the fatty liquid that is on the surface of the stew and place about ½ cup into a bowl - We will need this to cook the tortillas. With tongs, take out the meat and place on a plate or shallow bowl and shred. Place the rest of the liquid in small separate bowls.

Make the tacos. Spray a medium pan on medium heat with non-stick cooking spray. Scoop some fatty liquid with a spoon and place about 1-2 tablespoons in the pan. Place the tortilla on the pan and cook on both sides, making sure the liquid gets on both sides. This will make the tortillas become soggy but don’t worry, the longer you cook the more crispy they become. On one side of the tortilla, place the meat and cheese and then fold the tortilla over to form a taco. Flip the taco to the other side and keep flipping until the taco becomes crispy.

Serve. Serve the tacos with a bowl of the stew and garnish with cilantro.

Hint: Make sure to raise the heat after adding the cheese into the taco.

Substitutions

Chuck Roast: Chuck Roast is perfect for this recipe, although you can use tri-tip roast, top round roast or bottom round roast .

Tomato: Feel free to use tomato sauce, or if you happen to only have diced tomatoes or whole peeled tomatoes, you can blend beforehand.

Onion: I used yellow onion because it is all I had on hand, but feel free to use red or white onion.

Broth: Feel free to use beef or chicken broth for this.

Spices: The spices are super important to add to the stew. If you do not happen to have Mexican oregano, you can use regular oregano instead.

Cheese: Oaxaca cheese is the most traditional easy to melt cheese, although mozzarella or pepper jack work just as well.

Tortillas: Corn tortillas are way more traditional to use for birria tacos than flour tortillas.

Variations

Cooking is a chance to be creative! Have fun with it and feel free to make your own variation.

• Spicy - add hot sauce, like Valentina, onto the taco when it is done cooking.
• Deluxe - serve with guacamole on the side, or some salsa.
• Kid friendly - add extra cheese to make sure your kid will love it!

Check out these Carne Asada Tacos if you love this one!

Equipment

Equipment can have a big impact on how a recipe turns out. Stone bakeware takes longer to heat up than metal pans, and also retain heat for longer, which could make the recipe more watery, or burnt on the outsides.

Storage

This will be good in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

The meat can be frozen up to three months. Everything else for this Birria Tacos Crock Pot does not stand well to freezing.

Top tip

Make sure to raise the heat after adding the cheese into the taco.

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Food safety

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.