Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa
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So easy and so flavorful! Cooked low + slow in the crockpot. Perfect for tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and more!
Traditionally made in an underground oven (just saw this on 911 Lone Star), barbacoa meat (usually beef, sheep or goat) is a classic Mexican dish left to cook undisturbed overnight until the meat is very tender.
I have tried many variations throughout the years but I found that this slow cooker version is my absolute favorite. Cooked low and slow for 8-9 hours, the meat comes out incredibly melt-in-your-mouth tender, falling apart and shredding so easily.
Now how is this served? Well, the possibilities are truly endless. You can serve them with burritos + burrito bowls, tacos, quesadillas, nachos, and even salads.
I personally like to serve them with a base of cilantro rice and chips for dipping purposes. But that’s just me. The world is your oyster and this can be served however you would like. I had a friend serve this in a Ziploc sandwich bag and it was the best “meat bag” I had ever laid eyes on.
Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa
Ingredients
- ½ cup packed cilantro leaves
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- Juice of 2 limes
- 1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 4-pound boneless beef chuck roast, excess fat trimmed and cut into 6 pieces
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ½ tablespoons canola oil
- 1 cup beer, such as Modelo
Instructions
- CILANTRO MIXTURE: Combine cilantro, vinegar, lime juice, chipotle peppers, garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder and cloves in the bowl of a food processor until smooth, scraping the sides as needed.
- Season beef with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper.
- Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Working in batches, add beef and cook until evenly browned, about 3-4 minutes per side.
- Place beef into a 6-qt slow cooker; stir in beer and CILANTRO MIXTURE.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 8-9 hours, or until meat is fork-tender.
- Remove beef from the slow cooker and shred the meat using two forks before returning to the pot with the juices; season with salt and pepper, to taste, if needed. Cover and keep warm for an additional 30 minutes.
- Serve warm.
Did you make this recipe?
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Incredibly good!! I even made some minor errors in putting the ingredients together and it turned out just fine. I also added some water to my slow cooker to meet the minimum required liquid. After cooking was complete, I transferred all the cooking juices to a saucepan and boiled them down, then poured over the shredded meat
I’ve made this 2 times now and it’s fabulous every time. I serve it street taco style!
This was delicious but very greasy. I trimmed the meat well. Do you think a cornstarch slurry would help?
If I don’t put in the beer do I need to sub something else?
Try low sodium beef broth or water mixed with better than bouillon beef base.
My skeptic husband ended up really liking this. We served it street taco-style, with diced onion, cilantro, and corn tortillas, plus a little cotija and crema. I used a smaller roast than suggested in the recipe (2.7 lb rump roast), so it was a bit saucier than it was supposed to be, but I’ll remedy it next time by shredding the beef outside the pot and then adding the right amount of sauce after. Will definitely make again – thanks for the recipe!
This recipe is awesome! I follow the recipe exactly except I like to use beef broth instead of beer I feel like it comes out more flavorful and I usually have that on hand and then I chop up an onion and sprinkle that out the meat and in the sauce – turns out great! I eat it by itself over cilantro/lime rice with some avocado ugh so good! My boyfriend and I can eat 3lbs of it in less than 24hrs
Wow! Incredible for first time trying this. I was looking for a distict flavor I find in the good Barbacoa you can find in some authentic restaurants. It’s the clove that does the trick. I followed exactly the same instructions however I added a half cup chopped onion and 1 full can of Shock Top Belgian Wheat beer. It was set on low for 10 hours! PERFECT!
Can the cilantro be substituted for anything else or just left out?
I really liked the taste, including with the cilantro because I don’t have that defective gene that makes it taste like soap. My only complaint is that all the juice was cooked out of it even though I had it on low the entire time. Still, pretty tasty, and I can also use the barbacoa for my brioche buns, just top it with some coke slaw and you’re good to go.
I came home from work, ate two tacos and then sent this recipe to everyone I know. SO GOOD. I liked it with bread and rice to really soak up the juicy saucy goodness. I eliminated the cilantro but I imagine it’s truly mind blowing as written. I made the marinade and browned the beef the night before to make this an easy and delicious weeknight dinner.
Do you combine the beer and cilantro mixture? It looks like the cilantro mixture is on top and the meat ends up sitting in the beer. Is that right? Thanks!
Savory and soft I have made many iterations of this, truly inspiring and my wife and I thank you for your sharing your kitchen wonders.
Tender, flavorful meat for anything! I am not a cilantro fan but used it and the end result did not hint of cilantro at all.
An excellent option for the 4th of July!
I am unable to get adobo sauce — is there a substitute for that?
Google “Kevin is cooking” and look for homemade adobo sauce. His recipe looks spot on. If you can’t find dried chiles near you, maybe roasted fresh chiles and triple the chili powder. Good luck
Made it just like instructed but with a 2.5 lb chuck roast. It was amazing. I can’t believe I can make something this good. Thank you so much for the recipe. I was hungry all day while it cooked it smelled so delicious.
Is there a substitute for the beer?
I have found that beef broth works instead of beer. I use beef broth in other recipes as a substitute for beer too.
Is there anything I can substitute for the cilantro that tastes like soap to me? I cannot use parsley as it contains too much K vitamin and I am restricted on the daily amount of it daily. I would really like to try this recipe.
SURYA-PATRICIA LANE HOOD- I also can’t stand cilantro, but I used it and didn’t taste the soap (Dawn Detergent) taste AT ALL! I ONLY used the leaves, no stems and it made a HUGE difference. I pushed the ends of the stems into my colander and pulled them out of the other side to strip the leaves off. I could smell the “soapy” smell on the stems, but not the leaves. I recommend using gloves to de-stem the leaves-the smell stayed on my hands even after I washed them a few times. This recipe was so easy and tasted SO DELICIOUS! Hope this helps!
I have a clotting factor but I don’t personally restrict K foods, however this is 1/2 c parsley over 8 servings… Very small amount. I’d still recommend the cilantro. It’s so nourishing for you.
Made this for a few friends over the weekend. Love a good crock-pot recipe! Everyone enjoyed it very much and went back for seconds. I did prepare the sauce and meat the night before and stored them together in a tied up slow-cooker bag, then the next morning all I had to do was untie it and throw it into the crock-pot. Mine ended up cooking for around 10 hours because we were waiting on a friend but it was PERFECT. Will definitely make this again.
Made this today with a few adjustments because of poor planning. Used a brisket as that’s what i had in my freezer. Added four peppers cause i love spicy. And used a different beer i had on hand.
Also used my instapot. I am POSITIVE the low and slow would have made this dish that much better but alas i didn’t plan well. So i sautéed my meat in the instapot, removed and deglazed with the beer (used the whole bottle as i wasn’t sure how much meat i had compared to the menu), added the meat back in and the sauce on top. I set the pot for low pressure, for 3 hours. Shredded the meat and left on “warm” for the time between the natural release and the time we ate.
Let’s just say: no one complained – on their first or second helping!
Additionally for anyone “counting calories” or looking at labels. I used an app plugging in the ingredients:
8 servings
315 cal per serving
4.1 g carbs (.5G sugar)
10.3 g fat
48.6 G protein
150 mg cholesterol
352.9 mg sodium
Calcium 6.9%
Iron 35.3%
Potassium 37.6mg
Instant Pot, not instapot.
Chungah you have not failed me yet! This is yet another fantastic recipe on this site. I followed this exactly – used Yuengling beer. My roast was just under 3 lbs. and after about six hours it was very tender and easy to shred. I served this on corn tortillas for my son and over rice for my husband. I had on cauliflower rice (as I’m on an eternal diet LOL). We all loved the complex flavors and tenderness of the meat. This is a keeper and will be added into weeknight rotation. Thanks for another big hit!
Made it yesterday for dinner last night. I may never make a chuck roast any differently ever again. I’m not sure what’s up with the 6 quart cooker recommendation. My largest is a 5 quart and it worked perfectly. The chilis in adobo I used was a 4 oz can that had three chilis and some delish sauce. As per the recipe I used only the 2 chilis–next time I’ll use the whole can chilis&sauce combo to up the adobo-smokiness but it won’t overpower the recipe, which was superb as is. The house smelled divine all day as the simmer continued. Shredding the chuck roast and discarding the fat and grizzle made for amazing tacos, carnitas and burritos. Ground cloves just the right amount–no hint of excessive clove-ness. I used a full cup of cilantro (lightly packed mostly leaves, before chopping) and after 9 hours simmering the resultant sauce was very “un-cilantro-y”–just a sauce of love!! I’ll make this again and again! Thank you for another great bake!!
Made this tonight and yes it was Damn Delicious!
This was AMAZING!!! I didn’t add the cloves since I don’t like the taste of them. But it turned out so damn good! I used it for burritos with rice, black beans, guacamole, and panella cheese. Will definitely make this again!