I haven’t made beef barbacoa tacos since 2020 now and I am revisiting it since we recently went to a friend’s mom’s birrthday party. The birthday party was Mexican themed with all of the delicious food you can think of. The birthday mama herself made the most insanely delicious beef barbacoa tacos. Her secret was to slow cook it all day. I took it a step further and ran in through the KitchenAid mixer with the paddle attachment to fine shred the beef up after cooking. The flavor is insane, the texture is soft, and this is the ultimate taco to make this fall with it’s clove flavor.
Beef Barbacoa Tacos
Ingredients
- 3 lb chuck roast
- wagyu tallow
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 1/4 cups beef broth, divided
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
- 1 Tbsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- radishes, thinly sliced
- onions, diced
- cilantro
- sour cream
Prepare
- First, cut roast into 6 portions while removing any large pieces of fat. Heat 1 Tbsp wagyu tallow in a skillet.
Dab roast dry with paper towels, season with salt and pepper (about 1 tsp salt 3/4 tsp pepper). Add 3 pieces to skillet and sear until browned on all sides. Transfer to a slow cooker. - Add remaining 1 Tbsp vegetable oil to skillet and repeat process with remaining 3 roast pieces. Nestle beef portions side by side in an even layer in slow cooker.
- In a food processor, pulse together chipotle chilies, garlic and 1/4 cup beef broth until well pureed, occasionally stopping and scraping down sides of processor.
- In a 2 cup liquid measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together remaining beef broth with chipotle mixture, cumin, oregano and cloves. Pour mixture over beef in slow cooker, then nestle bay leaves between beef portions.
- Cover and cook on low heat 8 – 9 hours.
- Remove beef from slow cooker (leave broth) and shred in a KitchenAid mixer with the paddle attachment for three minutes. Stir lime juice into broth in slow cooker then return beef to slow cooker and cook on low or warm 20 – 30 minutes longer.
- Reserve 1/2 cup of liquid, discarding the rest, and adding the 1/2 back to the meat, mixing thoroughly.
- Serve the barbacoa on corn tortillas and top with sour cream, diced onions, cilantro, and radishes.
