Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

April 22, 2020

Slow cooker beef barbacoa is made from chuck roast and slow cooked with a bunch of different chilies and onion until super tender. It simplifies the traditional barbacoa recipe and makes it easier to make any night of the week.

Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa Tacos | Sarcastic Cooking

The news can be a lot to handle these days. Trust me. I have had a stress-induced stiff neck for three days now.

My friends told me that when they get too fired up from politics and health-related frustrations, they take a break, and turn on a cooking show.

That cooking show is Pati’s Mexican Table with Pati Jinich.

I kept shrugging their suggestions off for a few weeks.

Beef Barbacoa | Sarcastic Cooking

Finally one night, after getting fed up with all the over-masculine, know-it-all male chef driven cooking shows put there, I turned it on.

I am telling you her voice and cooking style were like cooking show Xanax.

I was still watching the show hours later.

Her barbacoa episodes were my favorites. Oh yes. There is more than one episode about barbacoa.

This recipe is inspired by her and in no way traditional.

Slow Cooker Beef tacos | sarcastic Cooking

Slow cooker beef barbacoa starts with the cooking marinade. A base of dried guajillo peppers, diced green chilies, and chipotle peppers round out the spices. It is just spicy enough.

Puree the rehydrated peppers, other peppers, onion, tomato, garlic, lime juice, and vinegar in a blender. 

I have an optional step to cook down the sauce before adding it to the slow cooker. This really darkens the sauce and cooks out that raw onion and garlic flavor.

Cut the beef chuck roast or beef brisket into smaller chunks, add it to the slow cooker, and pour the sauce over the top along with a little beer or beef stock.

Your house will thank me for the best potpourri ever!

Serve the beef in some tortillas with a side of rice and beans.

slow cooker barbacoa taco | sarcastic cooking

Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

Yield: Serves 4-6
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5 hours
Total Time: 5 hours 20 minutes

Beef slow cooked in a barbacoa style sauce made from tomato, chilies, onion, garlic, lime juice, and vinegar.

Ingredients

  • 2 dried guajillo chili peppers
  • 2 cups boiling hot water
  • 2 canned chipotle peppers
  • 4oz can diced green chilies
  • 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 tomato, chopped
  • juice 1 lime
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 tbsp canola oil
  • 3 lbs beef chuck roast, fat trimmed and cut into smaller chunks
  • 1/2 cup beer or beef stock
  • 2 bay leaves

Instructions

  1. Remove the stems from the dried peppers. Add them to a bowl, cover with boiling hot water, and then plastic wrap. Let them steep and reconstitute for 5-10 minutes while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
  2. Once the peppers are tender, shake out the seeds and add them to a food processor along with the onion, tomato, chilies, lime juice, vinegar, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper. Reserve the water you used for the guajillo peppers. Puree until smooth, adding in 1/2 cup of the liquid at a time, scraping down the sides as needed. Do not use the full 2 cups, you want a sort of thicker sauce.
  3. Add the oil to a large skillet over medium/high heat. Pour the sauce into the skillet. Be careful it will splatter. Cook for 5-7 minutes until thickened.
  4. Add the beef to the slow cooker. Pour the sauce over the beef along with the beer and bay leaves. Cook on high for 5 hours or low for 10 hours.
  5. Remove the lid, remove the bay leaves, and shred the beef.
  6. Serve over tortillas or rice and beans.

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