These juicy Beef Birria Quesatacos are going to change your life! Shredded short ribs and chuck roast are slow cooked in a flavorful broth, fried up into a crispy taco with cheese, and then served with their amazing birria broth dipping sauce. It's seriously delicious!
Birria tacos are the best things to come from social media since Scarlett Took a Tumble, and for good reason! When a crispy taco filled with stringy cheese and rich, seasoned braised beef is made well it never misses!
Which is why I couldn't wait to bring it to the blog: juicy beef birria stew slow cooked on the stove with a rich, savory, well-seasoned broth? And it has a rich history? Sounds like a ST+T specialty!
Many readers have loved this birria tacos recipe over the years (and it's sister, my Instant Pot Birria recipe!) and I hope you do, too! Visit my Latin recipe category for ideas on salsas, sides, and drinks that'll go perfectly with your birria quesatacos.
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Equipment
A large dutch oven - and I do mean get your biggest baby, y'all. I use a 7 qt dutch oven for this recipe but a heavy-bottom large pot in general will work.
Fine mesh sieve - gotta use this to save the solids from simmering the chilis and spices and drain the liquid.
High powered blender - you'll need this to blend the sauce with the spices until nice and smooth. You could also separately grind the spices up in a spice grinder if you don't have a high powered blender.
A cast iron skillet - this is used to sizzle up and fry your quesabirria tacos, I used a plancha so I can fry up two or three tacos at a time.. You can also use a non-stick skillet if your cast iron isn't well seasoned at the moment.
What is birria?
Birria (pronounced beer-ria, with the rolling 'r') is a dish from the Mexican state of Jalisco. Its name translates to 'worthless', as it was a comfort food of the working class originally.
Traditionally, it's a savory, spicy stew made with goat meat or even mutton, a labor of love slow cooked fo a long time with herbs, chiles, and spices until the meat is fall apart tender. The flavor profile is savory, warmly spiced, and complex without being too spicy, despite all those chiles!
A birria quesa taco is filled with birria meat and other toppings like stringy Oaxaca cheese, chopped onion, and cilantro. The corn tortillas are dipped in the fat that sits on top of the broth the meat was braised in, then pan fried until crispy.
The tacos are then dipped in the broth, called consomme, and devoured because they are just so good.
Nowadays birria de res, or birria made with beef, is the most mainstream way to make it. I love using chuck roast and bone-in short ribs, because the consomme needs that delicious beefy sticky-lipped texture that you can only get from the collagen in the bones.
Some say it came from shepherds and the dish slowly slipped into homes and restaurants to become a staple in Mexican cuisine.
Others say it came from indigenous Mexicans who were trying to get rid of the overly-populous goat pest problem they had after the Spanish colonizers brought the animals with them. Either way, a delicious stew (and one day, delicious tacos) was born.
Ingredients
Full ingredients, measurements, and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
All these ingredients should be easy to find at your local Latin market, especially if you have a Bravo or Sedanos nearby, or even in the Hispanic aisle of your local grocery store.
Beef Chuck Roast and Short Ribs. If you can find a bone in chuck roast, get it. Chuck yields a really great amount of meat but we want the bone. Which is why I also add in short ribs, they have excellent flavor, great marbling, and of course, have the bones to help make the broth. You could substitute the short ribs for oxtail, which I absolutely love for their amount of collagen.
Dried Chiles. It's not birria without these chiles, y'all. They don't make it super spicy or anything, they give just a little kick so it's still family friendly, but they pack a lot of flavor. Remember to cut them open and remove the seeds before preparing them, those seeds are really spicy!
You'll need dried guajillo peppers, which are mild heat chiles (between 2,500 and 5,000 on the Scoville Scale) that are sweet, smoky, tangy and fruity in flavor.
Next is the ancho chili pepper, which is the dried almost-ripe poblano pepper. You've probably already seen a fresh, green poblano pepper, which is picked when it's still not ripe. The ancho is dried when the poblano turns red and develops a sweet, chocolatey flavor.
The next chili is chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. It's just a tad bit more spicy than the ancho, but I love that familiar smoky flavor. Get the chipotle in the adobo sauce. Comes in a little can with about four or five peppers in it.
Bay leaves - essential to all braising, in my opinion. They have a subtle flavor that brightens and cuts through very rich food.
Mexican Oregano - I like the fresh stuff (found at Bravo and Sedanos *i.e. hispanic grocery stores* in the refrigerated section!) but you can find dried Mexican oregano on Amazon or in the Hispanic aisle at the local box box grocery store.
A whole head of garlic - Because garlic is life. Just use the whole cloves, they're getting blended up anyway.
Coriander seeds, cumin seeds, whole cloves, black pepper and a cinnamon stick. We're toasting these in a dry pan before simmering in the sauce. This helps release so much of their flavor and gives them even more depth. Sure you can just dump them in, but the extra step is quick and easy!
Tomatoes. If you've got some fresh roma tomatoes from the garden, go ahead and use them! But I love canned pureed fire roasted tomatoes for this.
Beef Broth. This makes the consomme looser and gives more liquid for braising.
Apple Cider Vinegar. Brightens it up with some tanginess. You could also use regular white vinegar or white wine vinegar.
Tortillas. Use corn tortillas for birria tacos, when they're dipped in the fat and fried, they're just *chef's kiss*. I've got a homemade corn tortilla recipe right here!
Oaxaca Cheese - this is a creamy, melty, stringy cheese that's similar to mozzarella with a mild, buttery flavor.
Cilantro. I know, I know. Some people have that whole cilantro-soap gene. This tip is for y'all: just use flat leaf parsley. Parsley has a milder taste of what cilantro actually tastes like, without the soap.
Limes - we're serving these tacos with plenty of lime wedges. They're a must have, they add that bright, fresh acidity and delicious tart flavor.
Instructions
How to Make the Birria de Res
Step 1 | Season the the chuck roast and short ribs with salt and pepper on all sides over medium-high heat. The maillard reaction (where the meat turns brown from high heat) is important for good flavor.
Step 2 | This step is optional, but I love bringing out the flavors in the spices by toasting them in a dry pan over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes.
Step 3 | Rehydrate the dried chili pods with the onion, toasted spices, and garlic in a pot with just enough water to cover the chilis.
Step 4 | Strain all the solids out of the pot into a mesh sieve and dump the water. Blend them in a high powered blender with the oregano, chipotle peppers in adobo, tomatoes, and a little beef stock until you have a nice, smooth chili sauce.
Step 5 | Pour the chili sauce over the seared meat, add the cinnamon stick and bay leaves, and the beef broth. Braise your birria stew all day long until the meat is tender, honey.
Step 6 | Shred the now fork-tender beef in a large bowl and keep all the liquid separately to make the quesabirria tacos.
Make the Birria Quesatacos
Step 1 | Take the corn tortillas and dip them into the liquid fat from the top of the consommé. Get a hot cast iron skillet or plancha and drop them right on. Place the shredded beef, some Oaxaca cheese, a little cilantro and some chopped onion onto half the tortilla.
Step 2 | fold the tortilla and give it a little time on the skillet/plancha so the cheese melts down and seals the taco together.
After that, your birria quesatacos are served up with the consomme, which is the broth the beef was braised in. I like adding extra cilantro and onion in there, too. The consomme is honestly one of the best parts of birra quesatacos simply because it adds another layer of flavor!
Variations and Substitutions
Can't find Oaxaca cheese? Substitute mozzarella cheese or monterey jack.
You can totally use goat, lamb, or chicken to make the birria stew instead of the beef.
You could substitute the short ribs for oxtail or beef shank, which I absolutely love for their amount of collagen.
You can also use a different type of protein in general: chicken thighs work exceptionally well here. Just braise them for less time, about an hour to an hour and a half, until they're fork tender. You can even go old school and use lingua, goat, or mutton!
Serve Birria Tacos with...
Birria tacos are usually eaten on their own with their own consomme, but is it a full Mexican meal without classic accoutrements?
Of course I'm going to tell you to whip up a quick batch of guacamole! The creamy, fatty avocados will cool down a spicy birria in a snap.
Classic sides include refried beans, restaurant-style red salsa, and spicy orange taquera salsa!
Try adding some pickled red onions instead of raw red or white onions.
Serve with blue corn tortillas for a fun variation!
Pro Tips
Don't have a Latino/Hispanic supermarket nearby? That's okay, I've found the ingredients online: Mexican Oregano, Ancho Chiles, Guajillo Chiles, Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, and Whole Cumin Seeds!
Oh, and remember: the bay leaves and cinnamon stick do not get blended up. Throw them into the pot when making the birria stew and fish them out with the beef bones before serving.
Use an oil with a high smoking point. Grapeseed, peanut, vegetable, canola, and avocado oils all work great.
Season, season season! Taste the birria meat as well as the broth and season with salt if needed.
If you find the birria broth is getting thick while simmering, add more beef broth or even cups of water. You want it very brothy, very soupy.
You can make the birria de res ahead of time. In fact, I insist on it! The fat will solidify at the top of the stew, so you can easily scoop it out, warm it up in a small saucepan, and dip the corn tortillas into it without risking the tortillas soaking up the broth. No soggy tacos here!
Make Ahead Instructions
You can prepare everything up to 5 days ahead of time before frying off the tortillas for quesabirria tacos.
- Shred the cheese days ahead of time and keep it in a zip top bag in the fridge.
- Braise the beef 3 days ahead of time and keep the beef and broth together in the fridge. Skim the fat off the top of the stew and keep for frying.
- Chop the onions and cilantro a day ahead of time!
Storage and Reheating
Store the birria meat and consommé in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Reheat in the microwave or in a saucepan over medium heat until warmed through.
To reheat birria quesatacos: use an airfryer to keep the tacos crisp. Air fry at 400 degrees for 8 minutes, flipping at 4 minutes.
Or reheat the tacos in the oven on a wire rack over a large baking sheet at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes.
FAQs
Birria is a type of barbacoa, but barbacoa is not birria. Barbacoa is a type of cooking method, rather than a dish. Barbacoa meat is wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in a pit then served with a seperate consommé, while birria is braised in the consommé
Yes, you eat the birria broth either with the meat as a stew or as a dipping sauce for tacos.
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📖 Recipe
Birria QuesaTacos with Consomme
Birria Tacos are juicy, cheesy, crispy, and incredibly popular! Birria de res stew is slow cooked with spices and chiles, shredded and put into corn tortillas with cilantro, onion, and Oaxaca cheese, and fried in a pan until crispy, melty, and absolutely delicious. Don't forget the consomme, it's bursting with rich, savory flavor.
Ingredients
Birria de Res
- 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 4 lbs boneless chuck roast
- 2 lbs bone-in short ribs, English cut*
- 1 large white onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 head garlic, peeled
- 2 dried guajillo peppers, deseeded and stems removed
- 2 dried ancho chile peppers, deseeded and stems removed
- 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 4 whole cloves
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo
- 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano, fresh or dried
- 1 (28 oz) can tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 10 cups beef broth or stock
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
Tacos
- Corn Tortillas
- ½ medium white onion, small diced
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- Limes, for serving
- Oaxacan Cheese
- Reserved stewing liquid (consommé), for serving
Instructions
- Bring the meat to room temperature for about 30 minutes and then sprinkle liberally on all sides with kosher salt.
- In a large Dutch oven over medium high heat, add your vegetable oil. When the oil is shimmering hot, carefully place the chuck roast and short ribs in. Don't crowd the pan, do it in batches if needed, and sear on all sides until browned. Repeat with all the pieces of chuck roast and the short ribs until every piece of meat is well browned. Set meat aside on a plate or in a large bowl for later.
- in a large pan or skillet, dry toast the whole spice: the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, black peppercorns, and cinnamon stick over medium heat. Place all the spices in an even layer across the pan, then give the pan a nice, gentle shake to ensure the spices get evenly toasted. They're done once they smell super fragrant, about 3 minutes. Set the spices aside.
- In a large pan (you can use the pan from toasting the spices), add the dried guajillo and ancho chiles, the large white onion quarters, garlic cloves, all the spices except the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, and pour enough cold water in to cover everything. Place over medium heat and simmer gently for about 15 minutes.
- Pour the chilies, onion, garlic, and spices through a mesh strainer and discard the liquid, then transfer all the solids and toasted spices, chipotle peppers, oregano, pureed tomatoes, apple cider vinegar, and a cup of the beef broth to a high powered blender. Blend until smooth.
- Add the seared meat, the blended chili sauce, the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, and 9 cups of beef broth to the dutch oven and stir well. Let simmer over medium-low heat, covered, for 3 to 4 hours or until the meat is fork-tender, stirring to ensure the bottom doesn't burn every hour or so.
- Remove the meat from the consomme, shredding all of it with forks and removing the bones.
- Use a large spoon to skim some of the fat off the top of the braising liquids and into a shallow dish. This fat is what you'll dip the tortillas into to fry them with.
- Pour some of the consomme into a small serving bowl and add the chopped cilantro.
- Heat a plancha or cast iron skillet to medium heat. Use tongs (or clean fingers) to dip both sides of a tortilla into the fat in your shallow dish. Place it flat onto the skillet and add a little birria meat and Oaxaca cheese to one side of the tortilla. Fold the tortilla, and let cook for about 30 seconds to a minute, then flip and cook for another 30 seconds so the other folded side gets crispy as well.
- Move the cooked birria quesataco to a serving plate and repeat until you have enough tacos for serving immediately with consomme, diced onions, limes, and cilantro.
- Reserve the rest of the birria meat, the consomme, and the fat in their own separate airtight containers in the fridge for up to five days. This can also be done as a make ahead meal. Simply do Step 4 and Step 5, melting some of the cooled fat in the nonstick pan and cooking the tortillas and meat as written.
Making the Birria de Res
Serving Birria Tacos
Notes
Storage and Reheating
Store the birria meat and consommé in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Reheat the stew in a microwave or in a saucepan over medium heat until warmed through.
To reheat birria quesatacos using an airfryer to keep the tacos crisp: Air fry at 400 degrees for 8 minutes, flipping at 4 minutes.
Or reheat the tacos in the oven on a wire rack over a large baking sheet at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes.
Pro Tips
The bay leaves and cinnamon stick do not get blended up. Throw them into the pot when making the birria stew and fish them out with the beef bones before serving.
Use an oil with a high smoking point. Grapeseed, peanut, vegetable, canola, and avocado oils all work great.
Season, season season! Taste the birria meat as well as the broth and season with salt if needed.
If you find the birria broth is getting thick while simmering, add more beef broth or even cups of water. You want it very brothy, very soupy.
You can make the birria de res ahead of time. In fact, I insist on it! The fat will solidify at the top of the stew, so you can easily scoop it out, warm it up in a small saucepan, and dip the corn tortillas into it without risking the tortillas soaking up the broth. No soggy tacos here!
Variations and Substitutions
Can't find Oaxaca cheese? Substitute mozzarella cheese or monterey jack.
You can totally use goat, lamb, or chicken to make the birria stew instead of the beef.
You could substitute the short ribs for oxtail or beef shank, which I absolutely love for their amount of collagen.
You can also use a different type of protein in general: chicken thighs work exceptionally well here. Just braise them for less time, about an hour to an hour and a half, until they're fork tender. You can even go old school and use lingua, goat, or mutton!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 506Total Fat: 33gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 153mgSodium: 724mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 46g
All nutrition facts are estimations. Please see a physician for any health-related inquiries.
Eden Westbrook is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind Sweet Tea and Thyme. A classically trained chef, Eden has inspired home cooks into the kitchen with cultural comfort foods, easy family-friendly eats and sweets, and glorious spreads for date night and entertaining since 2015.
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