Barbacoa Tacos

Long-cooking dishes like barbacoa tacos wouldn’t traditionally have been an option for quick weeknight meals. That’s changed with the arrival of modern slow cookers, which paradoxically make quick work of slow meals. All you need to allocate time for, in this case, is the initial 20 minutes of prep. The actual cooking takes place while you’re working or otherwise living your life, and the final meal comes together in just a few minutes.

What are tacos de barbacoa?

Authentic tacos de barbacoa are an old-school throwback to the earliest form of barbecue: pit cooking. Cooks would excavate a hole in the ground, build a fire in it, then wrap beef or other meats in maguey leaves and bury them to cook for hours in the low, smoldering heat. Some still use this basic technique, though the pit itself is a permanent brick or clay oven. If you’ve ever wondered why the person running a barbecue joint is referred to as a “pitmaster” (even if they use a modern aboveground smoker, rather than a pit), this is why. The finished meat is lush, tender and easily shredded, and there are several ways to eat it. Packing it into corn tortillas, to make tacos de barbacoa, is one of the best.

Ingredients for Barbacoa Tacos

• Rump or round roast: Rump or bottom round roast is relatively lean and tight-grained, which means it shreds beautifully for tacos.
• Cilantro: Fresh cilantro is an essential flavoring, used with the meat itself and also as an optional garnish.
• Tomato paste: Tomato paste thickens and flavors the cooking juices, and through them the beef itself. It also helps hold the flavorings to the surface of the beef.
• Garlic: The garlic brings its distinctively bold, pungent flavor to the taco meat.
• Chipotles in adobo: Chipotles (and their adobo sauce) add earthy heat and a pleasant whiff of smoke flavor to the meat.
• Cider vinegar: The cider vinegar in this recipe balances the sweetness of the brown sugar, and also helps tenderize the meat as it cooks.
• Cumin: Cumin’s earthy complexity provides a “bass note” of flavor in much of Mexican and Mexican-inspired cookery, complementing the other seasonings.
• Brown sugar: The tablespoon of brown sugar doesn’t make it noticeably sweet, but it does round out and mellow the tart and savory flavors of the other ingredients.
• Beef stock: Beef stock provides the necessary liquid to help the beef braise in the slow cooker, and also doubles down on beef flavor.
• Beer: Beer provides a secondary flavoring liquid in the sauce.
• Corn tortillas: Corn tortillas are the traditional choice for taco-making.
• Pico de gallo: Pico de gallo’s bright, fresh flavors make a perfect complement for the rich, slow-cooked barbacoa-style beef.
• Lime wedges and queso fresco: Additional toppings including lime wedges, queso fresco and more cilantro are optional, but add to the experience.

Directions

Step 1: Season the beef

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Cut the roast in half. Combine the tomato paste, garlic, chipotles, cider vinegar, cumin, brown sugar, salt and pepper to make a flavorful paste. Rub this over all surfaces of the roast, and place it in a 5-quart slow cooker.

Editor’s Tip: Try to keep the two halves of the roast as close to equal in size and shape as possible, so they’ll cook in the same length of time.

Step 2: Cook the beef

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Add the stock and beer. Cook on low, covered, for 6 to 8 hours or until the meat is fork-tender.

Step 3: Shred the beef

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Remove the roast from your slow cooker, and shred it with 2 forks. Reserve 3 cups of the cooking juices, discarding the rest or saving them for another dish. Skim the fat from the reserved juices. Return the beef and the reserved juices to the slow cooker, until they’re heated through.

Step 4: Serve the tacos

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Serve the shredded beef with tortillas and pico de gallo. If you wish, you can also set out lime wedges, queso fresco and additional cilantro as optional toppings.

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Barbacoa Taco Variations

• Dial up the chile heat: The modest quantity of chipotle in this recipe is there mostly as a flavoring, and doesn’t add a great deal of heat. If you and your family are comfortable with a higher level of chile heat, by all means take it up another notch or two. Anchos, pasillas, guajillos and chiles de arbol are all good options, but use any fresh or dried peppers that you enjoy.
• Change the meat: Beef is easy to find and relatively inexpensive (especially round roasts), but it’s not the only authentic option for tacos de barbacoa. Mexican cuisine is intensely regional, and in some regions goat or lamb are the popular option. This recipe also works well with venison, either store bought or wild-caught. In fact, if you hunt or have hunter friends, it’s an easy way to use strongly-flavored wild venison. The bold flavors of the barbacoa mask the gaminess, and you’ll still end up with tasty tacos (these venison burgers follow a similar strategy, with equal success).
• Add a bit of citrus: Barbacoa tacos are typically served with lime wedges, so you can squeeze the fresh juice onto the beef. Citrus complements all of these flavors, so why not use more of it? Adding a few tablespoons of lemon juice or a half-cup of orange juice to your slow cooker, along with the zest, brings added brightness to the flavors and helps balance the richness of the meat.

How to Store Barbacoa Tacos

Any leftover barbacoa should be packed into airtight food storage containers as soon as possible and refrigerated.

Can I make these tacos barbacoa ahead of time?

Yes, absolutely. Making the beef a day in advance gives the flavors time to mellow and develop fully, so it’ll taste even better. At mealtime, you’ll just need to reheat the beef (stovetop or microwave, either is fine) and warm the tortillas. You may need to add some extra broth to the beef while it’s reheating.

How long will the leftover barbacoa keep?

The leftover beef and juices will last for 3 to 4 days in your fridge, as long as you refrigerate them promptly. It’s best to reheat one portion at a time, rather than the whole batch, which would shorten their life and mute the flavors. For longer storage, pack the beef and its juices into freezer bags or freezer-safe containers. It will last 1 to 3 months, depending how airtight the packaging is.

Beef Barbacoa Taco Tips

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Isn’t that a lot of garlic?

It would be, in a dish that’s not going to be slow-cooked for hours. In this case, because it’s going to spend 6 hours in the slow cooker along with the beef, the garlic loses its sharpness and becomes sweet and mellow.

What kind of beer should I use in this recipe?

That’s up to you. There’s a general rule (mimicking the one about red and white wines) that suggests using dark beers with rich dishes like this one, and lighter beers with lighter dishes. You don’t have to follow that guidance, though, and many cooks prefer to use light-tasting beers for this kind of recipe. One thing to avoid is any beer that’s heavily hopped, because the hops’ bitterness can become the dominant flavor in your dish. Even the biggest fans of trendy “hop monster” ales will concede that this is a bad thing. You could even use one of the growing number of good-quality de-alcoholized beers, if you don’t want to have alcohol in your meal or in your house.

Can I make this without the beer?

Absolutely. Just use 2 cups of beef broth, instead of using beer for the second cup of liquid.