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Authentic Birria Recipe for Tacos or Stew

Authentic birria recipe with deep red consomé and fall-apart shredded beef, made by simmering a blended chile sauce until tender. Serve it as birria tacos by dipping tortillas in the spiced broth, or as hearty birria stew with ladled meat and consomé.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Course: Main
Cuisine: Mexican
Calories: 520
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Beef and broth base
  • 4 lb beef chuck roast
  • 8 cup beef broth
Chiles and aromatics
  • 6 dried guajillo chiles
  • 4 dried ancho chiles
  • 2 dried chipotle chiles
  • 1 onion
  • 1 head garlic
Spice blend
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Chile sauce components
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 0.5 salt and pepper to taste
Serving
  • 1 corn tortillas
  • 1 diced onion
  • 1 cilantro
  • 1 lime for serving

Equipment

  • 1 Dutch oven

Method
 

Toast, soak, and blend the chile sauce
  1. Toast the dried guajillo, ancho, and chipotle chiles in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 2 minutes, watching closely so they don’t burn.
  2. Soak the toasted chiles in hot water for 10 minutes until softened, then drain well.
  3. Blend the drained chiles with the halved onion, crushed garlic, cumin, oregano, and apple cider vinegar until smooth.
  4. Strain the blended sauce through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing to extract as much chile liquid as possible.
Simmer birria to fall-apart tender
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat until shimmering.
  2. Add the strained chile sauce and cook for 5 minutes, stirring so the sauce darkens slightly.
  3. Add the beef broth, tomato paste, bay leaves, and cinnamon stick, then bring to a boil.
  4. Add the beef chuck roast chunks, return the pot to a boil, and ensure most pieces are covered by the liquid.
  5. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 90–120 minutes, until the beef is fall-apart tender.
  6. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then keep warm until ready to serve.
Serve as tacos or stew
  1. For tacos, shred the tender beef and dip corn tortillas in the consomé until pliable.
  2. Fill the dipped tortillas with shredded meat, then top with diced onion and cilantro.
  3. For stew, ladle the meat and consomé into bowls and serve with lime wedges.

Notes

Pro tip: strain the chile sauce to keep the consomé silky and deep red. Refrigerate leftovers in a covered container for up to 4 days; freeze for up to 3 months (reheat gently). For a lighter option, use reduced-fat beef broth and trim visible fat from the roast before simmering.