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This beef barbacoa recipe is the ultimate combination of juicy and tender slow-cooked beef with the most delicious spices and seasonings. Pile it onto tortillas or stuff in burritos, quesadillas, gorditas, and more!
Barbacoa is known for its melt-in-your-mouth texture and rich flavors. With its tender and succulent beef, fragrant spices, and aromatic sauce, barbacoa is always a big crowd-pleaser at my house.
It’s fairly easy to make and makes amazing leftovers, which is perfect for eating in different dishes throughout the week.
The slow cooking process (either in a slow cooker, oven, or Instant Pot) ensures that the beef becomes incredibly tender, allowing it to fall apart easily with a fork. The meat absorbs the flavors of the sauce, resulting in a depth of taste that is simply irresistible.
What Is Barbacoa?
Barbacoa is a traditional Mexican dish that consists of slow-cooked meat, often beef, goat, or lamb, that’s seasoned with lots of spices, aromatic herbs, and chiles to create the ultimate flavorful melt-in-your-mouth meat. The meat is incredibly tender and can be easily shredded, making it the perfect filling for tacos, gorditas, burritos, salads, and more.
Recipe Tips
- Beef chuck roast: I recommend using chuck roast for the fat amount and how well it tenderizes, but you can also use rump roast.
- Garlic and onion: Staple ingredients that add more depth of flavor.
- Spices and bay leaves: I used a combination of ancho chili powder, chili powder, cumin, oregano, ground cloves, and 2 bay leaves.
- Chipotle peppers: I used chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for a slightly smoky flavor and to add some spice. You can use 2 chipotle peppers instead of 4 if you’re sensitive to heat.
- Lime juice and apple cider vinegar: These ingredients add acid and help break down and tenderize the beef even more.
- Beer: I recommend using a dark lager or a dark Mexican beer. It adds a really great flavor that compliments the chile peppers! If you don’t want to use beer, you can use beef broth or water instead.
How to Make Barbacoa
Slice the beef into large 4-inch chunks and season them generously with kosher salt and ground black pepper on all sides.
In a large skillet, heat 1 ½ tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat. Add 3 or 4 pieces of meat and brown it on all sides. When browned, transfer to a plate and set aside. Continue working in batches until all the meat is all browned.
Add the onions and the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, making sure to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.
Stir in beer, apple cider vinegar, lime juice, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, all the spices, and bay leaves. Remove it from the heat.
Add the seared meat into a large slow cooker and pour the liquid mixture on top. Toss everything to combine, then cover it, and cook on slow cook on low for 8 hours (or high for 5 hours).
The recipe card below includes instructions for making barbacoa in the slow cooker, oven, and Instant Pot.
Transfer the meat to a large plate or bowl to shred it with two forks. The meat should be fall-apart tender.
Add the shredded beef back into the slow cooker and let it sit for 10 minutes to soak up all the juices. Taste and season with more salt if necessary.
Serve immediately and enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
I love using barbacoa as a filling in these dishes:
- Tacos: Barbacoa is commonly served in warm corn tortillas as a filling for tacos. Top with your favorite taco fixings, such as diced onions, chopped cilantro, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice for a burst of freshness.
- Burritos: Wrap the flavorful Barbacoa in a large tortilla with some rice, beans, and other toppings of your choice to make a delicious and satisfying burrito.
- Bowls: Create a flavorful bowl by layering Barbacoa over a bed of rice or quinoa and top it with beans, shredded lettuce, avocado, and a drizzle of salsa for a hearty lunch or dinner.
- Nachos: Barbacoa makes a fantastic topping for loaded nachos. Spread tortilla chips on a baking sheet, layer with Barbacoa, cheese, beans, and other desired toppings, and bake until melted and bubbly for a crowd-pleasing appetizer or game-day snack.
- Other uses: Serve it in gorditas, huaraches, sopes, and enchiladas!
Instant Pot and Oven Method
While I recommend using a slow cooker to get super juicy and tender barbacoa, you can also use an oven or pressure cooker!
You can find both oven and pressure cooker instructions in the recipe card below under Isabel’s Tips.
Storing and Reheating
To store, place the barbacoa in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months in a freezer-safe container.
To reheat, heat it in a large skillet over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes until warmed. You can also reheat it in the microwave for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until fully warmed through.
More Mexican Recipes
Barbacoa Recipe
Ingredients
- 3-4 pounds boneless beef chuck roast
- kosher salt (enough to generously coat meat)
- freshly ground black pepper (enough to generously coat meat)
- 2 ½ tablespoons oil, divided
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup beer (broth or water also work)
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 lime, juiced
- 4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, diced
- 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder (or regular chili powder)
- 1 tablespoon regular chili powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican oregano preferred)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- for serving: chopped cilantro, diced onions, warm tortillas, and lime wedges
Instructions
- Cut the beef chuck roast into large 4-inch chunks, removing any large pieces of fat. Generously season all sides of the meat with salt and black pepper.
- Heat 1 ½ tablespoons of oil in a large skillet (cast-iron works great for this) over medium-high heat. Add in 3 or 4 pieces of meat and brown it on all sides, flipping every minute. When browned, transfer to a plate and set aside. Continue working in batches until all the meat is browned.
- Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and the onions. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, making sure to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the beer (or broth or water), apple cider vinegar, lime juice, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, ancho chili powder, chili powder, ground cumin, dried oregano, ground cloves, and bay leaves. Stir together to combine and remove it from the heat.
- Add the seared meat into a large slow cooker and pour the liquid mixture on top. Toss everything to combine. (Instructions for how to make this in the oven or the Instant Pot are in the Tips section below.)
- Cover and cook on low for 8 hours (or on high for 5 hours).
- Transfer the meat to a large plate or bowl and shred it with two forks. The meat should be fall-apart tender.
- Add the shredded beef back into the slow cooker and let it sit for 10 minutes to soak up all the juices. Taste and season with more salt if necessary.
- Serve in tacos, gorditas, sopes, huaraches, or with a side of refried beans and Mexican rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Absolutely delicious! Can’t wait to eat this as a taco with home-made tortillas and salsa. I will say that due to our’s being a low sodium household, I did not use salt, but added more lime juice to the sauce. It turned out great. Thank you for posting this recipe.
Has anyone tried using banana leaf?
Suggestion of a substitute for the chipotle in sauce? I love it but too hot spicy for the wife.
Hi Marco! This recipe is about at a medium level of spice, so you can use 2 instead of 4, or you can omit them all together and it should be good!
Made these tonight and they were the best tacos ever!!! Even my wife was raving. Only change I made was I used the whole can (7oz.) of chipoltes for heat and a couple dashes of liquid smoke. 5. Thumbs. Up!
Husband made it last night and I really tasty, great flavor!
I make this ALL the time! I can’t get enough!!!!
My husband’s first comment was “absolutely yummy” and you will be making this again soon, I hope!
I did follow the recipe but used a bit less of the chipotle in adobo sauce.
Thanks for another great recipe.
I just made this for a taco Saturday party and they went down brilliantly. I’d hoped for some leftovers but no such luck. Thanks for the easy to follow recipe! I’ll be making again for sure.
Hi Lee! Thank you so much, we are glad you enjoyed this recipe!
I’ve riffed off this recipe, not making it quite to Isabel’s. For example, I exchanged the chile chipotle for an ancho, a guajillo and 3 chile puya for someone who doesn’t like chipotle. It’s in the realm of chile colorado as I understand it. I’ve experimented with citrus from this recipe, with an eye towards pork. All of it is good (cooking some now).
Which is the genius of Mexican cooking. The same pantry, stocked with the same larder, suffices for an umbrella cuisine and all its regional and personal variants. Exchange this for that, more of one thing or less than another, ingredients in one chameleon form or another, you have a entirely different meal. That is the genius of Latin American cooking – regardless of what name individual dishes travel under. A bazillion names for largely the same thing.
What is “authentic?”
Take any abuela and her kitchen, Whether she always loved to cook, did it because she always had to but never wanted to (there’s a difference) – however always delicious… exquisite or unpalatable, that is authentic from the cook who produced it. I don’t view any restaurants as being “authentic.” I either like the restaurant’s food or I don’t.
For the most part, I look for recipes in Spanish language which don’t have the appearance of belonging to a corporate network. I recently found a blog from an Espanola (living in Spain) who is enthralled with “American food.” What is “American food” other than an adaptation of food styles that came from everywhere else? In some of her American recipes she exchanges some American ingredients for others much more readily available in Spain, perhaps some imported and normalized by Arabs who conquered medieval Spain in the 700’s. This is the condition of the world wide history of food. Look enough, and you can see that Mexican food in all its regional variations is a mixture of Spain and the indigenous.
As an example, we can look at the Canary Islander influence on what became Tex-Mex (lots of cumin, etc.), which among Tex-Mex descendants would become (unrecognizable to Texans) styles of chili being, in some variations, sweetened concoctions of all beans and no beef with all the heresies of tomato and bell pepper and maybe even ketchup. Meanwhile there is an old official Mexican government pronouncement bitterly denouncing Texas style chili as a fake version of Mexican food.
So, if someone wants “authentic barbacoa,” that person is free to don a tall crown woven sombrero, huaraches, white Mexican Indian costume circa 1900, dig a pit, put some creature’s head either in or above a pot among reduced coals, under a wickerwork of branches, leaves and maybe covered with dirt, and, after all that work, ultimately eat the cheeks, eyeballs and brains after bashing the skull open with an ax… I say… “Knock yourself out! Be authentic!” In the meantime, I’ll use a crockpot which may or may not involve cachetes, and certainly no ojos nor cesos while not caring the slightest what name the dish travels under.
Hi Albert! Thank you for your comment! We agree that authentic can take so many meanings and it’s all personal. We hope you enjoyed our recipe!
What a POMPOUS A**!!!!!!!!!!!
If I have a cow tongue to use for this recipe would the directions change at all?
Hi Jenny! We haven’t tried that so I’m not too sure. There are lots of other great food blogs that may have the exact recipe you’re looking for.