Birria is everywhere, and for good reason. It’s damn good. Sooooo damn good. Beef birria quest tacos with consome might be one of the best things I’ve discovered during an otherwise shitty year. The first time I made this, it was delicious! I used all beef short-ribs, and it was a little too tender. I know, how can something be too tender? I just needed a little more “meatiness” if you will, and definitely more heat. So I used a combination of chuck and short ribs and it’s just *chefs kiss* perfect!
Are these authentic? Nope. But they’re damn good, and that’s really all I care about. This whole process was a two-day process for me. I wasn’t in a rush, so I let the meat marinate in the adobo mixture overnight before I pressure-cooked it. You could totally do the same.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can do this in your oven. Check the recipe for deets on how to make this in your oven. This recipe is has an enjoyable amount of heat. If you are sensitive to heat, leave the chipotles, cayenne, and crushed red pepper flakes out.
Resha, I’m scared…
I know many of you will look at this ingredient list and immediately feel a cold brush of intimidation sweep over your soul. I get it, I do. But please trust me when I say that this is a VERY easy recipe. You don’t need to be a pro to make this at all. I’ll break it down for you in steps that may help you feel a little less scared:
- Salt the meat, set it aside.
- Toast the peppers.
- Boil the peppers, onions, garlic, ginger, carrot. Drain it.
- Add the peppers, onions, garlic, ginger, carrot to your blender. Then add the seasonings/spices, vinegar, worcestershire, water. Blend it.
- Add the salted meat to the pressure cooker, pour over the stuff you just made in your blender. Add more water.
- Cook it.
- Skim the fat, fry the tacos, assemble. Eat. Cry. Hug yourself.
See? It’s VERY easy and very flavorful and worth the time that goes into it.
Can I use chicken??
Yes. Instead of beef, you can use any protein you’d like, including lamb or goat (which is how this was first authentically made), or veganize it with jackfruit, mushrooms, or whatever vegans eat. But if you want to use chicken, try subbing a whole chicken about 5 to 6 pounds (I wouldn’t go higher than 8 pounds). Just add the whole raw chicken to your pressure cooker, pour the pepper mixture all over it, then add water. Pressure cook it for about 40 minutes, and it should be just perfect. You can also use individual chicken thighs, legs, leg quarters, etc.
Once it’s done pressure cooking, gently remove the carcass from the flavorful bath and remove the meat from the bones. I would discard the skin, it’ll just be flabby — but that’s your call.
How to make Birria Quesa Tacos
Remove the seeds and stems from the peppers, don’t be shy about splitting them open if needed.
Salt the meat! Don’t be shy here. They’re thick pieces, they can handle it.
We’ve got three halves of onion, spices, and bay leaves.
All of this is necessary. It’s Cumin and the gang.
Toast the dried peppers very briefly until they release some of their natural oils and blister in just SOME parts. Keep them moving to avoid them burning.
See how this ancho chili is blistering? Perfect. Turn the heat off and throw these into a medium saucepan.
So yeah, place the peppers in the bottom of the pot. Then top with the three onion halves, all that delicious garlic, the carrots, and ginger. Pour in 6 1/2 cups of cold water and bring to a rolling boil.
It’s not necessary to completely cover everything, just as long as it’s high enough that most of it’s submerged.
Allow this to boil for about 10-15 minutes or until the carrots are partially tender.
Drain the onion and pepper mixture as thoroughly as you can. No need to rinse it. Just as long as majority of that bitter water is no longer present.
Transfer the onions, garlic, carrots, ginger, and pepper mixture to a blender.
Add the can of tomatoes, and the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.
Add 2 1/2 cups of water. And blend the heck out oof it until its completely smooth.
Like this. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, you will have to strain this mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. Discard any large unblended chunks and/or seeds that didn’t get pulverized.
Now, I did this step ahead because I knew I was gonna cook my birria the next day. If you wanna do this in steps, just pour the pepper paste over the meat into a large bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. let it hang out overnight.
Make sure you smother it good!
Or just add the pepper mixture and the meat to the pressure cooker, and add about 8 cups of water
Lock the lid and set the pressure to HIGH for 50 minutes. Then let it relax on the warm setting for 30 minutes before manually releasing the steam.
Lookin good!
Gently transfer the meat to a bowl, and be careful! It’s very tender, and falling apart like all of 2020.
Shred it up!
When the meat is to the consistency you prefer, season it with a little salt if needed. We gotta salt every layer to ensure proper flavor.
Transfer allll of that consome to a large pot and reduce it 1/3 of the way down. This will concentrate the flavors and give it a very luscious texture.
Keep going…
Yup, this is good.
See all of that beautiful oil on top? We’re keeping all of that.
Again, I did this a day ahead. So this whole pot went into the fridge, which worked in my favor because it made it a lot easier to skim the fat. If you’re making this all NOW just grab a spoon and scoop some of that fat off the top to fry your tacos in.
Easy peasy way to skim the fat!
Our luscious consome. The body on this stuff is delightful AF.
If your meat is cold, like mine is — because you did this a day ahead, reheat it in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add just enough consome to make it juicy and moist. You can completely skip this step if you’re making your tacos the same day. Just add some of the consome to the meat to moisten it.
Again, all of my stuff is cold, so I’m just reheating it. If you’re making this the same day, you won’t have to do this part at all.
Perfect. Although I scooped all of the fat that visibly solidified, there’s still plenty of fat left.
Pour some of the consome into little bowls.
Heat some of the birria fat along with a tiny bit of canola oil in a large comal or nonstick skillet. This is over medium heat.
Make up to 3 tacos at a time. Add them and mop them up with the fat.
Add a desired amount of cheese and meat to each taco and let them crisp enough so they can hold together…
Like this. Then fold them over and press to keep them shut until they’re able to hold their shape. Crisp on both sides.
Like so. Keep this rotation going until you’ve made your desired amount of tacos.
There are honestly no words.
Print
Beef Birria Quesa Tacos with Consome
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: a LOT of tacos
Description
Get your life, baby! These beef birria tacos are everything and then some. The meat is so tender, it’s falling apart like a bad relationship. The cooking method was loosely adapted from Food & Wine.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless chuck roast
- 3 1/2 pounds beef short ribs
- Flaky kosher salt (Diamond Crystals brand)
PEPPER MIXTURE
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 6 Guajillo chilis, stemmed and seeded
- 3 New Mexico chilis, stemmed and seeded
- 2 Ancho chilis, stemmed and seeded
- 2 Pasilla chilis, stemmed and seeded
- 6 chile de árbol, stemmed and seeded
- 1 1/2 large onions, chopped in half (3 onion halves)
- 1 carrot, peeled and chopped into 2-inch chunks (SEE NOTE)
- 2 2-inch chunks fresh ginger, peeled
- 1 head of garlic, peeled but cloves left whole
- 2 tablespoons flaky kosher salt (Diamond Crystals brand)
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 whole cloves, or 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 4 dried bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1/2 tablespoon granulated garlic
- 1/2 tablespoon granulated onion
- 1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 4 tablespoons packed brown sugar, divided
- 1 14.5oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 3 chipotle peppers, with 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
- 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- Water
CILANTRO GARNISH
- 1/2 large onion diced
- 1 cup of packed cilantro, washed, dried and finely chopped (SEE NOTE)
- Zest from a lime, plus the juice of half the lime
- Pinch of sea salt
TACOS
- Corn tortillas
- Monterey jack cheese, shredded by hand (SEE NOTE)
- Lime wedges
- Thinly sliced jalapenos (optional)
- Canola oil
- Birria fat
Instructions
You’ll need a multi-cooker/pressure cooker for this recipe. If you don’t have one, you can make this in your oven! Just transfer everything to a large oven-safe dutch oven or pot big enough to hold it all. Cook for 3 hours in a 300 degree F oven. This will also make reducing the consome a lot easier since it’s in the same pot.
- Place the short ribs and chuck roast into a large glass bowl. Season all sides of every piece of meat generously and evenly with flaky kosher salt. Set aside.
For the pepper mixture
- Pour a tablespoon of canola oil into a 12-inch cast-iron or stainless-steel skillet over medium-low heat. Add the dried and de-seeded peppers and toss to make sure they’re all coated thinly in the oil. Continue to move them around and toast them for about 2 to 3 minutes, or until fragrant and just starting to release their natural oils. They will blister and blacken in SOME spots, and that’s fine. Do NOT let them burn or blacken all over! They will become very bitter if so. If your heat is too high, turn it down.
- Transfer the toasted peppers to a medium saucepan. Place the 3 onion halves, chopped carrots, chunks of ginger, and garlic cloves on top of the peppers and pour in 6 1/2 cups of water. Bring the water to a rolling boil. Allow the entire mixture to boil uncovered until the peppers are softened and the carrot is partially tender — about 10-15 minutes.
- Drain the pepper/onion mixture and toss out the bitter water — we don’t need it. Transfer the pepper/onion mixture to a high-powered blender, along with the white distilled vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, kosher salt, black pepper, cinnamon, whole cloves, bay leaves, dried Mexican oregano, dried thyme, ground coriander, granulated garlic, granulated onion, smoked paprika, cumin, crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, the can of fire-roasted tomatoes, chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, and 2 and a half cups of cold water.
- Blend until completely smooth. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, you may have to strain this mixture after you puree it to remove any large unblended chunks.
Cook the meat
- Place the salted meat into the pot of your pressure cooker, and pour all of the pepper mixture over the meat. Toss to coat. Add 8 cups of water. Set the pressure to High and cook for 50 minutes. Allow the meat to rest for 30 minutes before releasing the steam.
- Remove the tender cooked meat from the pot into a large bowl. Shred the meat to your desired consistency. I used two forks to break the meat apart, then used kitchen shears to make some pieces smaller. You can hack it with a cleaver if you choose.
Reduce the consome
- Carefully transfer the consome to a large pot, and reduce 2/3 of the way down over high heat, about 25 minutes. This will thicken the consome just slightly and also deepen its flavor. Once it’s reduced to your desired consistency, taste it! Add the apple cider vinegar and remaining tablespoon of brown sugar to balance it out if needed. If you need to add more salt, feel free to do so.
- You will have a lot of consome — check the notes below for suggestions on what to do with it.
- Skim some of the fat from the top with a spoon into a small bowl. You will use this to fry the tortillas when you’re ready to make the tacos. Add some of the consome to the meat to make it juicy and moist.
Cilantro Garnish
- Mix the onions and cilantro together and squeeze the juice of half a lime all over along with a small pinch of salt. Toss until evenly combined.
- Pour some of the consome into small bowls for each person eating, and add some of the onion/cilantro mixture to the consome bowl.
Make the tacos
Heat a large non-stick skillet or comal over medium heat. Add about 2 teaspoons of the birria fat and 1 teaspoon of canola oil, then place two corn tortillas down, getting the fat on both sides. Let the tortillas heat and crisp while laying flat. Add a desired amount of cheese and birria meat. Manage the heat, if it’s browning too quickly turn the heat down. When the cheese starts to melt, gently fold the tortilla to create a taco. You’ll have to hold it down for a few seconds until it seals. Flip the taco over so the other side crisps. Keep this routine going until you’ve made your desired amount of tacos.
Assemble
Place the tacos on a plate, then gently pry them open to fill them with the onion/cilantro mixture. Serve with additional lime wedges and a small bowl of consome for each plate of tacos you’re serving. Get your life and enjoy.
Notes
Your carrot should be around 8 inches long, that’ll do it 😉
Include those cilantro stems, too! Tons of flavor.
You can use ANY kind of cheese you want!
Leftover consome – throw in some shredded chicken! Or any kind of meat you want. Also, pour it into freezer bags and keep it for a rainy day!
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: tacos
- Method: Pressure Cooking
Keywords: birria tacos, tacos, birria de res, how to make birria tacos
The first time i made this recipe, I forgot to throw out the “bitter water” and the result was one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever tasted. I have to wonder why you woukd boil all those ingredients, then throw out the water that all that flavor boiled into…
The second time I made it, I threw out the bitter water as per the recipe. And when I ate it, it definitely was not as flavorful as the first time. The only thing I did different between the two tines was throw out the water.
From now on, for my personal copy of this recipe, I’m keeping the water.
Besides that one tweak, this recipe is straight up fire. So good.
★★★★★
This recipe is so good! I didn’t have a large enough pressure cooker so it took mine about 10 hours in the oven at 300f to break down to fall apart tender levels but it was worth every minute of it! My favorite part is having leftovers for later!
The only thing I changed was adding some soup bones. I recommend this if you can’t find fattier cuts to make sure you have enough to fry your tacos.
★★★★★
Can I swear here:
F**king amazing!
I saved the leftover consomme and froze it. And now I’ve used it 4 different times to do 4# of chuck roast.
The tacos are amazing and it’s also fantastic to just plate a chunk of meat and some consomme as a dish.
I can’t really imagine an improvement on this flavor. It really is the ultimate.
I’d like to find the “ultimate” recipe for all my favorites now.
★★★★★
I love this recipe. The first time I made it my niece found it on tiktok and I was skeptical considering it was tiktok. We were feeding 10+ people and hadn’t planned ahead so it was a bit of work and a little pricy considering some of the cuts of meat are expensive for bone. It turned out delicious. The entire house love it. It is my go to birria recipe and like another guy said, better than any restaurant I’ve had them at so far; currently have a pot 4 times this size cooking now. I do find that there are a ton of ingredients, more than any other recipes I’ve seen anywhere and a few that are really not needed like fresh/dry garlic, fresh/dry onion. I also do not think you need all the dried peppers than paprika, cayenne, red pepper flake. I do not ass the flakes or cayenne because it isn’t needed and only add paprika because I have it and little use for it elsewhere. Instead of added the chipotle in adobo I just ass dried chicle moritas which tastes the same without the sauce which isn’t missed. Overall I love this recipe, one of my favorite dishes to eat and make. It’s worth the time and effort.
★★★★★
Made this recipe just like it was suggested, a day before. THANK GOD I did because it took longer too cook than noted due to the fact that I used a Dutch oven to cook the meat in the oven. Overall the meat finished cooking after 5 hours. Everything was delicious, my consomé just came out salty. Probably because I wasn’t shy when salting the meat, like suggested. It helped that I diluted the consomé and cooked a potato in the broth so it can absorb the salt. It helped tremendously! The amount of meat listed here helped me feed 10 people that ate 3-4 tacos each, with a few who ate 5-6 – if you need a reference. I wasn’t shy on stuffing meat or cheese either, so the meat lasted. Loved the recipe, but next time I’ll reduce the salt that goes in the consomé mixture before blending.
★★★★
I made this recipe and used all of the same ingredients. I made the pepper sauce the night before. In the morning, I salted and seared my meat, and then placed it & the pepper sauce in the crock pot (don’t have an instant pot nor Dutch oven). I only added two cups of water, due to the size of my crock pot and because less water evaporates in a crock pot compared to a instant pot. I was able to cook the meat just fine. I did have probably with reducing the consome on the stove. I followed the directions that resha gave, and at the end I added one tablespoon of brown sugar & one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. I tasted it, and it had a strong and bad vinegar taste. I searched on google ways to fix a strong vinegar taste, and ended up adding 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, and a tablespoon of butter. I then let the consome rest while I made the tacos. Once I was done with the tacos, I checked my consome again and it tasted great! Idk where that initial vinegar taste came from, but I’m glad I was able to fix it.
I bought Monterey Jack and Oaxaca cheese — there is not a significant different in the taste, but I preferred the tacos with the Oaxaca cheese. I also ate my tacos with some sour cream
But overall, this recipe is not hard, it is just time consuming. I think it is delicious and worth trying!
★★★★
First time I made it and it was amazing! Better than any restaurant birria’s I’ve had. But it also probably has more ingredients than how they would make it as well. I am writing this review as I wait for my instapot to build up pressure for my 2nd time cooking this recipe. Can hardly wait!
★★★★★
So much flavor, just like the restaurants. End results YUM!
★★★★★
I made this today and it was AMAZING! The flavor BOMB!! Thank you so much Chef Resha!
★★★★★
A-MAZING!!! So delicious and worth every minute of digging those dang pepper seeds out! lol! Chef Resha never disappoints! Thank you!
★★★★★
Wow! I was intimidated, but the final product?! These are AMAZING, Chef Resha. My family loved them, too. I followed the recipe, except I used freshly shredded Oaxaca cheese because that all I had on hand. Cant wait to use the extra consome with some chicken.
★★★★★
Ok, completed the recipe. Too spicy for my daughter and wife, but that was 100% my fault. These were AMAZING!
Will make again, and lower the spice level (although what I did was PERFECT for me) these were downright AMAZING. Loved them!
Thanks!!!
★★★★★
So, I am currently in the process of making this. I am in San Antonio, TX, and have somehow never tried quesatacos, part of the reason I will address later. Now, because we are still somewhat limited on supplies here, it affected my ingredients list: partially lack of supplies, partially food preferences, partially just whatever I had on hand.
I used this recipe more as a “spiritual guide” than following it to the letter, so if it fails, it’s on me. I had little over a pound of tri-tip, so that is my meat. I didn’t have any guajillo peppers on hand, so I used chile de arbol and japones. I toasted them, then made the sauce with almost all the ingredients listed, onions, garlic, carrots, but all at about a quarter the amount since I was using a smaller amount of meat. I didn’t have ground coriander, so I used cardamom in its place, I didn’t have granulated garlic/onion, so I used powdered. Now, as to why I have never had quesatacos: some in my family, including me, have a tomato sensitivity. So, I used beef broth, cooked some red bell pepper slices until soft in the broth and used that as my “tomato.” I added a fresh jalapeño, some Trappey’s hot peppers (seeded), and some canned hot Hatch chilis. I blended all that as directed (except I’m dumb, and didn’t read ahead and added the cider vinegar at this step too.) I blended it all together, tasted it, my kids tasted it, and DANG, amazing! I poured that, and some lightly dried cilantro over the meat in a slow cooker set to high (I have a pressure cooker, but with a smaller amount of meat, I thought the crock pot would work well.) It is currently simmering away, and smells AMAZING!
I will report back with the results. And if it somehow fails, again, it’s all on me. But so far, so good!
★★★★★
This recipe is excellent! First time made it as written (with a little less liquid due to the size of my Instant Pot). Second time halved the recipe and used chicken breast instead of the beef. Great flavor both times and these make amazing leftovers!!
★★★★★
Absolutely delicious and my Ninja Foodi came just in handy with the pressure cooker option!! Only issue was running out if the fat/oil used to coat the corn tortillas. Any suggestions on what to use to cook the shells when making the tacos when you run out of beef fat?
★★★★★
Fabulous, and authentic in so many ways. Thank you!
★★★★★
Used venison roasts for this and it was amazing.
★★★★★
It’s the bomb. Made it for a Super Bowl gathering and everyone loved it.
★★★★★
This was amazing! Made it for NYE and the fam was impressed! Chef Resha never misses ??
★★★★★
Everything is right about this recipe! If you came up with this yourself, you are a GODDESS among humans. I haven’t even finished my plate, but I am absolutely delighted with how this turned out and and enamored with this flavor blast and will be making this for many years to come. I followed the recipe pretty exactly (used a random mixture of peppers I was able to hunt down at the farmers market) and used a combo of sharp cheddar and provolone, spinach, cilantro, red onion, kidney beans, and sour cream for the toppings. Whoever is still reading this: you’ve gotta make this or you haven’t fulfilled your life’s potential. TYTYTY!!!
★★★★★
Amazing!!!!!! When I tell you I’m in love! IM IN LOVE! Please keep creating! Took me forever to make cuz I wasn’t full prepared but so worth it! Thanks Resha!
★★★★★
Hi Chef Resha! I love you and your recipes so much! This recipe is amazing! The first time I made it I followed the measurements precisely and baked it in the Dutch oven. Today I plan to cook in the pressure cooker but the 8 cups of water won’t fit, I can only get in about 3 cups for my size Instant Pot.
Will the consommé be too overpowering and still work with less water or should I add it in later when I remove The meat and reduce on the stovetop?
Thanks so much!
Add as much water as you can, but cut waaaay back on the adobo. otherwise it’ll be too pasty. Use about 1 cup of the adobo sauce plus he additional three cups of water. Also, use less meat, maybe just 2 pounds of it.
This is hands down amazing!!! The birria taco place near me is super awesome (and the reason I tried my hand at making my own) but I feel that this recipe made EVEN BETTER TACOS THAN THEM! Blown away! Some modifications I made were: since I have a smaller instant pot (6 qt), I used only two lbs of roast and two pounds of short ribs for a total of only 4 lbs of meat. I made the pepper sauce as directed but then only used about maybe 1/2-2/3 of it plus only four cups of water. That brought it up to the max line without over filling. It came out perfect! 11/10.
★★★★★