Slow Cooker Birria Tacos (Crispy Quesabirria, Consommé for Dipping, 34g Protein)

Slow cooker birria tacos are the taco-truck favorite made the easy way: beef chuck braised for six hours in a sauce of toasted dried chiles, then shredded, tucked into tortillas that have been dipped in the red fat off the top of the pot, griddled crisp with Oaxaca cheese and served with a cup of the broth for dunking.

I have made birria on the stovetop, in a Dutch oven and in the slow cooker, and the slow cooker won — the beef comes out just as tender, the consommé is just as deep, and I do not have to babysit a pot all afternoon. The work is 30 minutes at the start and 20 minutes at the griddle at the end. If you already love my slow cooker chicken tacos, this is the weekend version.

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Why these slow cooker birria tacos taste like the taco truck.

• Real dried chiles, toasted and soaked. Guajillo chiles bring the bright red color and a mild, fruity heat; anchos add a raisin-like depth. Toasting them for 30 seconds a side before soaking wakes up the flavor, and blending them with the aromatics makes a sauce that no chili powder can imitate.
• Beef chuck and six slow hours. Chuck has enough fat and connective tissue to turn silky over a long braise, and that fat rises to the top of the consommé as the red layer you dip the tortillas in. It is the same low-and-slow logic behind my crockpot French dip sandwiches, where the braising liquid becomes the dip.
• The dip-and-fry step makes the taco. Dipping each tortilla in the consommé fat and frying it on a hot griddle gives you that crisp, red-stained shell with chewy edges. Three tacos land around 34 grams of protein, so it is a proper dinner — check your own number in the protein calculator.

Here's what you'll need.

Boneless beef chuck roast, dried guajillo and ancho chiles, a chipotle in adobo, a white onion, a head of garlic, crushed tomatoes, beef broth, apple cider vinegar, cumin, Mexican oregano, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves, corn tortillas, shredded Oaxaca cheese, and cilantro, onion and lime to finish.

Here's how it all comes together.

STEP 1 — TOAST AND SOAK THE CHILES

Pull the stems and shake the seeds out of the guajillo and ancho chiles. Toast them in a dry saucepan over medium heat for about 30 seconds per side, just until they smell fragrant and turn a shade darker, then cover them with hot water and let them soak off the heat for 15 minutes. Watch them closely — a burnt chile turns the whole pot bitter, and there is no fixing that later.

STEP 2 — BLEND THE SAUCE AND LOAD THE SLOW COOKER

Drain the chiles and blend them with the chipotle, half the onion, the garlic, crushed tomatoes, vinegar, cumin, oregano, cinnamon, cloves and 1 cup of the broth until completely smooth. Season the beef chunks with salt and pepper, pile them into the slow cooker with the rest of the onion and the bay leaves, and pour the red sauce and remaining broth over the top.

STEP 3 — COOK LOW, THEN SHRED THE BEEF

Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours (or HIGH for 4) until the beef falls apart when you press it with a spoon. Lift the beef into a bowl and shred it with two forks, discarding any big pieces of fat. Ladle a little consommé over the shredded beef so it stays juicy while you make the tacos.

STEP 4 — DIP THE TORTILLAS IN THE CONSOMMÉ

Skim the red fat from the top of the slow cooker into a shallow bowl, along with a little of the broth. Dip a corn tortilla into it so both sides are coated and stained red. This is the step that makes birria tacos taste like birria — do not skip it, and do not use the fat-free broth underneath, or the tortillas steam instead of crisping.

STEP 5 — FILL THEM ON THE GRIDDLE

Lay the dipped tortillas on a hot griddle or cast iron skillet over medium-high. Scatter a small handful of Oaxaca cheese over each one, then a pile of shredded beef on one half. Give the cheese a minute to start melting before you fold, so it glues the taco shut.

STEP 6 — FOLD AND CRISP UNTIL GOLDEN-RED

Fold each tortilla over the filling and press gently with a spatula. Cook 2 to 3 minutes per side until the shell is crisp and deep golden-red and the cheese is melting out of the edges. Serve right away with a cup of hot consommé topped with chopped onion and cilantro, plus lime wedges.

If you love a slow cooker that does the hard work while the flavor builds — braises, stews and big-batch dinners with real spice — this is the book I keep next to mine, the Ultimate Slow Cooker Mediterranean Diet Cookbook.

Things I learned while testing this recipe.

• Buy guajillos that bend. Dried chiles should be leathery and flexible, not brittle. Old, cracked chiles taste dusty and give a brownish sauce. Most grocery stores stock guajillo and ancho in the Hispanic aisle; if you can only find one, use all guajillo for a brighter, milder birria.
• Chuck roast, cut into big chunks. I tested brisket, short ribs and chuck. Short ribs were wonderful and twice the price; brisket came out drier. Chuck in 3-inch chunks shreds perfectly and gives enough fat for the consommé. Do not trim it too aggressively — that fat is your frying medium.
• Strain the sauce if you want a silky consommé. A regular blender leaves little bits of chile skin. It is fine for the tacos, but pushing the sauce through a sieve before it goes in gives you a smooth, glossy broth for sipping. I do it when I have guests and skip it on a weeknight.
• Keep the griddle hot and the tortillas fresh. Medium-high heat and a well-seasoned cast iron pan give you crisp shells in 2 to 3 minutes a side. Warm stale tortillas briefly first or they crack when you fold them. Oaxaca cheese melts best; low-moisture mozzarella or Monterey Jack work too.

Why slow cooker birria tacos are my favorite weekend project.

• Thirty minutes of real work for a restaurant dinner. Toast, blend, pour, walk away. The slow cooker does six hours without anyone checking on it, and the griddle part goes fast once you have a rhythm — I can turn out 12 tacos in about 15 minutes.
• Thirty-four grams of protein and it feeds a crowd. Three pounds of chuck makes 16 to 18 tacos, which covers a family dinner and a round of leftovers. Paired with a cup of consommé, three tacos are a full, filling meal.
• The leftovers get better. The beef and consommé keep for days and freeze beautifully. I use the extra meat for birria quesadillas, nachos and even a quick birria ramen with the broth — one braise, three or four meals.

Here's what I'd serve with this.

• Mediterranean chickpea salad — cold, bright and crunchy next to rich, cheesy tacos.
• Roasted cauliflower — toss it with cumin and lime and it tastes like it belongs on the taco plate.
• Chicken tortilla soup — for a bigger spread, a pot of soup stretches taco night to feed more people.
• Air fryer Brussels sprouts — crispy and charred, with a squeeze of the taco limes over the top.
• Fried cabbage — a simple warm vegetable that loves a spoonful of consommé.

Just in case you have leftovers.

Storing: Store the shredded beef and the consommé separately in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days. The fat will harden on top of the consommé — scrape it off and keep it for frying the tortillas. Both freeze well for up to 3 months.

Reheating: Warm the consommé in a saucepan until simmering and add the beef for a couple of minutes to heat through. Then dip, fill and griddle fresh tacos — they only take a few minutes. Assembled leftover tacos reheat best in the air fryer at 375°F for 4 to 5 minutes, not the microwave.

More easy dinner recipes...

Slow cooker chicken tacos Crockpot French dip sandwiches Crockpot pulled pork Chicken burrito bowls

For more taco-night ideas, my ground turkey taco skillet and taco soup are both weeknight-fast. And from today's new batch, my crockpot turkey breast uses the same slow cooker for a very different kind of dinner.

More slow cooker braises with big, bold flavor.

The Ultimate Slow Cooker Mediterranean Diet Cookbook is full of hands-off braises, stews and spiced dinners like this one — load the pot in the morning, and dinner is waiting when you get home.

Get the cookbook on Amazon

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