These Mexican Beef Barbacoa Tacos are made with chuck roast slow-cooked in a guajillo, ancho, and chipotle chile sauce with garlic, cumin, oregano, cloves, and a splash of vinegar.

The beef cooks until it’s fall-apart tender and soaks up all that smoky, tangy sauce.

Barbacoa is great for Sunday meal prep, a taco bar for a birthday, or feeding a crowd on game day.

The slow cooker does almost all the work. I serve it on corn tortillas with Mexican yellow rice on the side.

If slow-cooked beef and Mexican dinners are on your menu, these are worth saving too:

Ingredients You’ll Need

Traditional barbacoa uses beef cheeks, but chuck roast is easier to find and turns just as tender. Look for dried guajillo and ancho chiles in the Mexican aisle (they’re mild and fruity, not very spicy). The chipotles bring the heat.

Ingredients

3 lb beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 3-inch chunks
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon neutral oil
3 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 to 3 chipotle peppers in adobo, plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
1/2 white onion, roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
1 cup beef broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 bay leaves
16 small corn tortillas, for serving
1/2 white onion, finely diced, for serving
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for serving
Lime wedges and salsa, for serving

Directions

Toast the guajillo and ancho chiles in a dry skillet over medium heat for 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until they smell fragrant and turn slightly darker.
Watch them closely, because burnt chiles taste bitter.
Move them to a bowl, cover with hot water, and soak for 15 minutes until soft.
Pat the beef chunks dry and season all over with the salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat.
Sear the beef in batches for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until deep brown, then transfer to the slow cooker.
Drain the soaked chiles and add them to a blender with the chipotles, adobo sauce, chopped onion, garlic, vinegar, lime juice, beef broth, cumin, oregano, and cloves.
Blend on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until completely smooth.
Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve if your blender leaves chile skin bits behind.
Pour the sauce over the beef in the slow cooker and tuck in the bay leaves.
Turn the chunks so they’re coated on all sides.
The sauce won’t fully cover the meat, and that’s fine (the beef releases plenty of juice as it cooks).
Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 5 to 6 hours, until the beef shreds easily with a fork.
Don’t lift the lid too often, since each peek adds cooking time.
For an Instant Pot, sear on the saute setting, add the sauce, and pressure cook on high for 60 minutes with a 15-minute natural release.
Remove the bay leaves and lift the beef onto a cutting board.
Shred it with two forks, pulling out any large pieces of fat.
Skim the fat off the top of the cooking liquid with a spoon.
Return the shredded beef to the slow cooker and stir it into the sauce.
Let it sit on the warm setting for 10 minutes so the meat soaks up the juices.
Taste and add salt or a squeeze of lime if it needs it.
Warm the corn tortillas on a dry skillet over medium-high heat for about 30 seconds per side.
Fill each one with barbacoa, using a slotted spoon so the tacos aren’t soggy.
Top with diced onion, cilantro, and salsa.
Serve hot with lime wedges and a small cup of the cooking juices for dipping, and enjoy!

Important Recipe Notes

Don’t skip the sear. Browning the beef first adds a deep, roasted flavor that the slow cooker can’t create on its own.
Toast the chiles gently. A few seconds per side is enough. Burnt chiles make the whole sauce bitter, and there’s no fixing it.
Choose chuck roast. It has enough fat and connective tissue to turn tender over a long cook. Lean cuts like round dry out and turn stringy.
Adjust the heat with chipotles. Two chipotles give a mild to medium heat. Use three or four if you like it spicy.

Skim the fat. Chuck releases a lot of fat. Skimming it off keeps the tacos from feeling greasy.
Save the cooking liquid. Use it for dipping, keep leftovers moist, or ladle it over rice.
Make it ahead. Barbacoa tastes even better the next day. Refrigerate it in its juices for up to 4 days, and freeze it for up to 3 months.
Crisp it for leftovers. Pan-fry leftover barbacoa in a hot skillet until the edges get crispy. It’s great in tacos, quesadillas, or burrito bowls.

How to Serve, Store & Customize This Recipe

Serving:

Set up a taco bar with warm tortillas, diced onion, cilantro, lime wedges, and a couple of salsas. Serve a small bowl of the cooking juices on the side for dipping. Mexican rice, pinto beans, or a crunchy slaw all go well with it.

Storage:

Refrigerate the barbacoa in its liquid in an airtight container for up to 4 days. The juices keep it from drying out when you reheat it.

Freeze in portions in freezer bags for up to 3 months.

Customization:

Swap the chuck for beef cheeks or brisket for a more traditional version. For burrito bowls, pile the meat over rice with beans, corn, and avocado.

You can also stuff it into quesadillas with Oaxaca cheese and dip them in the cooking juices.