Serve this spicy beef in soft tacos with chopped white onion, cilantro, sour cream, and a wedge of lime. Brown the beef for best flavor, but the recipe works great even if you don’t do this step. I like to seek out local grass-fed beef or bison.
Barbacoa
Adapted from Ali at Gimme Some Oven
Ingredients
- 3 pound beef chuck roast, boneless
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 white onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 small can (4-ounce) diced green chiles
- 2 chipotle in adobo, with some of the sauce
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)
- 2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano, dried
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 ½ cups beef broth, chicken broth, beer, or water
For serving
- tortillas, 6-inch or street taco size Trevino's corn+flour blend are nice, as are La Tortilla factory "Handmade" style
- 1 white onion, diced
- cilantro leaves
- sour cream
- lime wedges
Instructions
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Cut the chuck roast into 2 or 3 pieces and trim extra fat and silver skin. Sprinkle with salt. If you don't feel like browning the meat, put everything in the slow cooker and set it to cook on high for 4–6 hours.
Optional: Brown the meat by heating oil in stovetop-safe slow cooker insert or dutch oven and searing meat on all sides while you prepare remaining ingredients. Transfer beef to a plate.
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Add the onion to the pot and cook for a few minutes to soften then add the garlic. Add a splash of the braising liquid (broth, beer, or water) to deglaze the pan, return the meat, then add remaining ingredients: white onion, green chiles, chipotle in adobo, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, bay leaves, cumin, oregano, ground cloves, and broth or water. Cook on high 4–6 hours.
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Transfer meat to a plate (or oven-safe dish) and shred with two forks. If you like, crisp the beef in a 375° oven while you reduce the sauce a bit on the stovetop. Recombine meat and sauce to serve with tortillas, fresh white onion, cilantro, sour cream, and lime wedges.
