Birria Taco Recipe

This birria tacos recipe offers tender beef, gooey oaxaca cheese and chili packed consomé in a crispy tortilla. Sure to curb any taco cravings you have. If you’ve never made birria at home you should know that it really isn’t difficult to make. I suggest making a large batch as it freezes well. Then you can have birria on hand any time you want. Let’s get into it. 

What Are Birria Tacos?

Birria originated in Jalisco, Mexico, with roots dating back to the 16th century. Unlike the beef birria commonly found today, traditional birria was made with goat meat. Goat has a distinctly gamey flavor, so cooks paired it with a deeply seasoned braising liquid loaded with dried chiles, spices, and aromatics. That rich, chile-heavy broth, or consomé, eventually became one of birria’s defining characteristics.

Birria also didn’t start out as a taco. Traditionally, the slow-braised meat was served as a stew alongside its flavorful consomé. Over time, birria evolved from the original stew into the tacos that have become wildly popular today: tender shredded meat tucked into tortillas, often dipped in the rendered fat from the birria, griddled until crisp, and served with a side of consomé for dipping.

Ingredients for Birria Tacos

Best Beef for Birria 

The best beef for birria comes from tough, hardworking cuts with plenty of marbling and connective tissue. Cuts like chuck roast, short ribs, and oxtail are ideal because they have the rich beefy flavor and structure needed to stand up to a long braise.

That connective tissue is especially important. During a low-and-slow cook, collagen gradually breaks down into gelatin, giving properly cooked birria its tender, almost fall-apart texture while adding body and richness to the consommé. At the same time, the intramuscular fat found throughout these cuts helps keep the meat moist and flavorful during the long cooking process.

For an approachable, all-purpose birria, chuck roast is hard to beat. It has a great balance of meat, fat, and connective tissue, is relatively affordable, and is easy to find. Short ribs and oxtail can add even more richness and gelatin, making them excellent additions to chuck when you want a deeper, more luxurious birria.

The Chiles

Dried chiles are the foundation of birria’s consommé, providing much of its color, depth, and characteristic flavor. Guajillo and ancho chiles are commonly used as the base. Guajillos bring a bright, slightly fruity flavor with relatively mild heat, while anchos contribute a deeper, sweeter, almost raisin-like richness. Chile de árbol is often added alongside them to bring additional heat.

That said, you don’t need these exact chiles to make great birria. Other dried chiles can work well, but the key is maintaining a balance between flavor and heat. You generally don’t want to build the entire consommé around intensely spicy peppers. Instead, use milder, flavorful chiles to create depth and then add hotter varieties to control the spice level.

For my birria, I used ristras peppers because that’s what I could find at my local supermarket. Don’t be afraid to make similar substitutions based on what’s available to you. The specific combination can change, but as long as you balance flavorful dried chiles with the appropriate amount of heat, you can still build a rich, complex consommé.

Adobo & Aromatics

Chipotles in adobo are an excellent addition to birria, bringing smoky chile flavor, some acidity, and another layer of heat to the consommé. They complement the dried chiles particularly well and help create a deeper, more complex braising liquid.

For the aromatics, onion, garlic, ginger, and tomato form the base of the braising liquid. As the birria cooks, these ingredients soften and release their flavors into the consommé, adding sweetness, savoriness, and depth to balance the richness of the beef and chiles.

Warm spices such as bay leaf, cinnamon, allspice, and clove are also added to the braising liquid. These spices should play a supporting role rather than dominate the dish, adding subtle warmth and complexity during the long braise.

Finally, the beef itself is seasoned with a Mexican-inspired spice blend before cooking. Seasoning the meat separately builds another layer of flavor rather than relying entirely on the consommé to season the beef. Combined with the dried chiles, aromatics, chipotles, and warm spices, these layers create the deep, complex flavor that makes birria so distinctive.

For Assembling the Tacos

Once your birria is ready, assembling the tacos is the easy part. I like to start by dipping corn tortillas into the consommé, coating them in the flavorful fat that rises to the surface. From there, place the tortillas onto a lightly oiled skillet or flat top over medium-high heat.

Add Oaxaca cheese and shredded birria, then fold the tortillas in half while they are still soft and pliable. Cook the tacos folded, flipping as needed, until both sides are golden brown and crispy and the cheese is completely melted.

Finish the tacos with diced onion and fresh cilantro. Serve them hot with a bowl of warm consommé on the side for dipping. 

How to Make Birria 

1. Smoke the Beef

Break down your beef into large pieces, approximately 2 x 2 inches, and season generously with kosher salt. Place the beef on a smoker set to 250°F and let it smoke while you prepare the chiles, aromatics, and braising liquid.

2. Prepare the Chiles and Aromatics

Desteam and deseed the dried chiles, using kitchen scissors to remove the stems and open the peppers if needed. Roughly chop the onions, crush and peel the garlic, and mince the ginger.

Preheat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Toast the dried chiles for 30–60 seconds, just until they become fragrant and pliable, then remove them from the pot.

Add the avocado oil followed by the onions and cook for 3–8 minutes, until softened and slightly translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another 30–60 seconds, until fragrant.

3. Build the Birria Braising Liquid

Add the canned tomatoes, toasted dried chiles, and spice sachet to the Dutch oven. Allow the mixture to simmer for about 20 minutes, giving the dried chiles time to fully soften.

Transfer the softened chiles and tomato mixture to a blender along with the chipotles in adobo and enough stock or water to blend easily. Blend until completely smooth, then return the chile puree to the Dutch oven.

4. Sear and Braise the Beef

Remove the beef from the smoker and sear it over an open flame to develop a deeply browned exterior. Once seared, remove the beef and set your smoker up for indirect cooking at 350°F.

Add the beef to the Dutch oven with the chile puree, bone marrow, and Mexican spice blend. Season with salt and add enough water to keep everything submerged.

Cover the Dutch oven and place it on the smoker. Braise for 2–5 hours, or until the beef is completely tender and easily pulls apart. Check the pot periodically and add additional water as needed to keep the meat submerged.

5. Finish the Birria and Consommé

Once the beef is tender, remove the Dutch oven from the smoker and transfer the meat out of the braising liquid. Shred the beef and set it aside.

For a smoother consommé, you can optionally blend the braising liquid and pass it through a fine-mesh strainer before returning it to the Dutch oven. Taste the finished consommé and adjust the salt as needed.

6. Assemble and Fry the Birria Tacos

Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Dip each corn tortilla into the birria consommé, then place it directly into the hot skillet.

Add Oaxaca cheese and shredded birria, then fold the tortilla in half. Cook the taco for 2–3 minutes before flipping. Continue cooking until both sides are crispy and the cheese is completely melted.

Remove the tacos from the skillet and finish with diced onion and cilantro. Serve immediately with lime wedges and warm consommé, either spooned over the tacos or served alongside for dipping.

How to Make Birria Consomé

Birria consomé is simply the flavor-packed braising liquid that the birria cooks in. It gets its depth from both the ingredients added to the braise and the flavors that develop throughout the cooking process. The stock, dried chiles, aromatics, and spices create an intensely flavorful base, while the beef contributes its own fat, juices, and richness as it slowly braises.

Once the beef is completely tender, you have two options for finishing the consomé. You can blend and strain the braising liquid, which incorporates more of the cooked vegetables and chiles into the broth, or you can simply strain it without blending. Both methods work well, but they produce slightly different results. Blending creates a richer consomé with more of the chile and vegetable flavors coming through, while simply straining keeps the broth lighter and more beef-forward.

Either way, you’ll be left with a smooth, deeply flavorful consomé. Use it to add moisture and flavor back to the shredded birria, dip your tortillas before frying, or serve it alongside the finished tacos as a rich dipping broth.

Slow Cooker, Instant Pot & Dutch Oven Methods

You don’t need a smoker to make great birria. While each cooking method produces slightly different results, the goal remains the same: cook the beef gently in the braising liquid until the connective tissue breaks down and the meat becomes completely tender. A slow cooker, Instant Pot, or Dutch oven can all get you there.

Slow Cooker Birria

A slow cooker is a great option for making birria, especially if you want a mostly hands-off cooking process. Prepare the beef, chiles, aromatics, and braising liquid as described in the recipe, then transfer the meat and liquid to your slow cooker.

Cook on low for approximately 6–8 hours, or until the beef is completely tender and easily pulls apart. The exact cooking time will depend on the size and cut of your beef, so use tenderness rather than time alone to determine when your birria is finished.

Instant Pot Birria

An Instant Pot is a great tool for making birria when you don’t have all day to wait for a traditional braise. Cooking under pressure dramatically decreases the amount of time it takes to break down the connective tissue and fully tenderize the beef.

Prepare the ingredients as you would for the traditional recipe, using the sauté function for any browning or toasting before adding the beef and braising liquid. Pressure cook the birria on high for approximately 45–60 minutes, followed by a natural pressure release.

You may sacrifice some of the flavor development that comes from an hours-long braise, but you make up for it by eating birria hours before the competition.

Dutch Oven Birria

The Dutch oven is the classic braising method for a reason. Its thick, heavy walls retain heat and help provide gentle, consistent cooking throughout a long braise.

Home ovens naturally cycle above and below their set temperature as their heating elements turn on and off. The heavy construction of a Dutch oven acts as a buffer against these temperature swings, helping maintain a steadier simmer around the beef.

Prepare the birria according to the recipe, cover the Dutch oven, and transfer it to a 350°F oven. Cook until the beef is completely tender, typically around 3–4 hours, depending on the cut and size of the meat. This steady, controlled cooking environment makes the Dutch oven one of the most reliable ways to braise beef for birria.

Tips for the Best Birria Tacos

Patience is one of the most important ingredients when making birria. Braising tough cuts of beef until they are fall-apart tender takes time, so don’t plan on the meat being ready in exactly two or three hours. Cook until the meat is tender enough to easily shred with a fork, even if that means giving it another hour in the braise.

Fortunately, birria is an excellent make-ahead meal. In fact, making it a day in advance can make the entire process easier. Once cooked, refrigerate the meat and consommé overnight, then gently warm everything back up before assembling your tacos. This is especially helpful when making birria for a party, since most of the time-consuming work can be finished the day before.

Quality ingredients also make a noticeable difference. Birria gets much of its flavor from dried chiles, spices, aromatics, and the beef itself, so starting with flavorful ingredients will give you a richer, more complex consommé and better tacos.

Finally, don’t overlook the cheese. Oaxaca cheese is the ideal choice for birria tacos because of its mild flavor and excellent melt. Other mild melting cheeses can work in a pinch, but if you want the classic cheesy birria taco experience, Oaxaca is worth seeking out.

What to Serve with Birria Tacos

Let’s start with the non-negotiables. You absolutely need to serve birria tacos with diced onion, fresh cilantro, lime wedges, and a side of consommé. The onion and cilantro add much-needed freshness to an otherwise incredibly rich taco. Don’t get me wrong, I love a greasy bite of birria as much as anyone, but after a taco or two, the richness can start to take over. Onion and cilantro help balance all that fat without taking away from the hearty flavors that make birria so good.

Lime is just as important. A squeeze of fresh lime adds brightness and acidity, helping cut through the fat from the beef, cheese, and consommé. It’s a small addition that makes the entire taco taste more balanced and keeps each bite from feeling quite so heavy.

Finally, don’t overlook the consommé. This is the culmination of all your hard work—the chiles, spices, aromatics, beef, and hours of braising concentrated into one intensely flavorful liquid. Serve it alongside the tacos for dipping, spoon it directly over the meat, or do both. It’s basically a cheat code for adding flavor and moisture back into your birria.

Beyond the non-negotiables, I like to keep everything else relatively light. For drinks, sparkling water, a crisp Mexican beer, or a lighter margarita all work well. Birria tacos already bring plenty of richness and bold flavor to the table, so your drink should refresh your palate rather than compete with them.

I take the same approach with side dishes. Skip anything overly fatty or heavy and look for something fresh, acidic, or crunchy instead. I’d choose a cool, fresh salsa over a rich guacamole, for example. Pickled onions, radishes, or a simple cabbage slaw would also work beautifully.

But at the end of the day, it’s your meal. If you want a dozen birria tacos, a gallon of guac, and an XL quesadilla, go for it… but maybe schedule some bloodwork afterward.

Storing, Freezing & Reheating

There’s nothing complicated about storing leftover birria. Keep it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Whenever possible, store the shredded beef with some of the consommé to help keep it moist and flavorful.

For longer storage, birria freezes extremely well. I recommend vacuum sealing the meat along with some of the consommé to protect it from freezer burn. Properly vacuum sealed, birria can maintain its quality in the freezer for 6–12 months. You can also freeze the consommé separately if you want more control over portions when reheating.

Reheating birria is a breeze because the meat contains plenty of fat and moisture. Gently warming it in a pan with a little consommé is my preferred method, but you can also reheat it covered in the oven. Sautéing the shredded meat in a hot pan is another great option if you want to develop some crispy edges before assembling your tacos.

You can even microwave birria if you’re in a hurry, although that would be my last choice. Regardless of the method, I recommend shredding the beef before storing or reheating it. Large pieces take longer to heat through, while shredded birria reheats quickly and evenly. Plus and it’s already ready to go straight into your tacos.

Birria Tacos FAQ

What kind of meat is birria made from?

Birria was traditionally made with goat, particularly in Jalisco, Mexico, where the dish originated. Today, beef birria is extremely common, especially for birria tacos and quesabirria.

For beef birria, tough, well-marbled cuts are ideal. The long braise breaks down connective tissue until the meat becomes incredibly tender, while the fat helps keep everything juicy and flavorful. Chuck roast is my go-to, but short ribs and oxtail are also excellent choices.

What chiles are used in birria?

Dried chiles form the flavor base of birria and give the consommé much of its characteristic color and chile flavor. Guajillo and ancho chiles are common choices, with chile de árbol added when you want some extra heat.

You don’t have to limit yourself to those three. Chipotles in adobo can add another layer of smoky flavor, and other dried Mexican chiles can be incorporated depending on what you can find. I recommend using a combination rather than relying on a single chile. Different blends create subtle differences in heat, sweetness, smokiness, and depth, which is part of the fun of making birria.

What’s the difference between birria and quesabirria?

Birria refers to the actual slow-cooked meat and the dish it comes from. Quesabirria is a popular preparation where birria and cheese are stuffed into a tortilla, which is then typically dipped in the fat from the consommé and cooked until crispy.

Think of quesabirria as the beautiful love child of birria and a quesadilla, and the style of taco we’re making in this recipe.

Can I make birria without dried chiles?

You can. You can do anything. Just don’t be surprised if it doesn’t taste quite like the birria from your favorite taco shop. Dried chiles provide a depth of flavor that is difficult to completely replicate with other ingredients.

If you can’t find dried chiles, canned chipotles in adobo are a good alternative. They provide plenty of smoky chile flavor, although you won’t get quite the same depth and complexity as you would from a blend of dried chiles. It won’t be traditional, but you can still make a delicious braised beef taco.

Why isn’t my consommé red?

Don’t panic. The exact color of your consommé can vary considerably depending on the ingredients you use. Different varieties and batches of dried chiles can have different colors, and ingredients like tomatoes and paprika can also affect the final appearance.

Color is a useful indicator when cooking, but it isn’t the only indicator of whether your birria turned out correctly. If the consommé tastes rich, beefy, and packed with chile flavor, you’re in good shape. If you really want that deeper red color, try adding a little more paprika or using dried chiles with a particularly vibrant red color.

How long does birria keep?

Cooked birria can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. For longer storage, vacuum seal and freeze the birria with some of its consommé. It can maintain its quality in the freezer for approximately 6 to 12 months