Beef Barbacoa roasted low and slow in the oven, crusted with a flavorful spicy chipotle chili vinegar mix makes the ultimate Mexican beef.
We are a huge fan of Mexican recipes on the blog including Fish Tacos, Shrimp Tacos and more served with my super popular Refried Beans and Mexican Rice.
Sabrina’s Ultimate Beef Barbacoa
This is the Ultimate Barbacoa recipe for the most mouth-watering barbacoa that you’ll ever make. Most people don’t immediately think of barbacoa as the most popular Mexican beef option (classic Taco flavors and Carne Asada used to win out). However, with the popularity of Chipotle and more people being introduced to this flavorful option, everyone wants an easy barbacoa recipe.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 5 lbs chuck roast
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 lime , zested and juiced
- 3 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce
- 2 cups beef broth
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Add the vinegar, bay leaf, garlic, cumin, oregano, cloves, lime juice, lime zest, and chilis with sauce into a food processor and process until smooth.
- Add vegetable oil to a dutch oven or large pot on medium high heat. Season the beef with salt and pepper, and sear beef on all sides, then turn off the heat and add in the beef broth and pour over the sauce slowly (try to keep it on top of the beef).
- Cover and bake for 4 hours then remove from the oven and shred apart before serving.
Nutrition
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Table of Contents
About This Recipe
Shredded barbacoa is most often a filling for food like quesadillas, Tacos, and burritos, but it can also be used as a topping for salads or eggs. We use similar ingredients in our barbacoa recipe as your favorite restaurants to achieve a tender and juicy slow cooked meal. There are two steps to preparing the ingredients and then you have options for the cooking method. Lastly, you’ll just have to make a decision about what to serve it with.
Ideas to Serve
- Tacos: Using a small corn tortilla, top it with shredded beef, chopped white onions or pickled red onions, and fresh cilantro.
- Burritos: The beauty of burritos is that you can build them just how you like them. A popular choice is to build a copycat burrito from Chipotle or another restaurant you like. Some Chipotle copycat toppings you could use are Chipotle’s Corn Salsa, Chipotle Guacamole and serve it alongside my spot on copy of the Chipotle Tortilla Chips!
- Nachos: Use flavorful barbacoa on some nachos with melted cheese and your favorite toppings.
- Bowls: Fill a bowl with rice, beans, veggies, the marinated beef with juices that will soak into the rice base. It will make an easy, tasty lunch or dinner.
- Classic Toppings: No matter how you serve your beef, you have some great choices for toppings. A basic list would start with: chopped onions, avocado, cilantro, cotija cheese, cheddar cheese, sour cream, and Restaurant Salsa.
Alternative Cooking Techniques
- Insta Pot (Pressure Cooker)
- Add the ingredients to your food processor, sear the beef (seasoned with salt and pepper) on the sauté setting, then add it to your instant pot with 2 cups of beef broth.
- Cover with the chili mixture, set the pressure to high and cook for 60 minutes.
- Release the pressure fully, shred with two forks and serve.
- Slow Cooker (Crock Pot)
- Add the ingredients to your food processor, sear the beef (seasoned with salt and pepper) then add it to your slow cooker without any of the added beef broth.
- Cover with the chili mixture and cook on low heat for 8-9 hours, shred with two forks and serve.
FAQ’s
Barbacoa is Mexican spicy shredded beef made traditionally in a braised dutch oven low and slow over the course of 4 hours (this is how I love preparing it). Since there isn’t any added sugars in the recipe, it is naturally low carb and the recipe also happens to be dairy-free and gluten-free.
Chuck Roast is the best cut of beef for barbacoa because of the marbling of fat throughout. A leaner cut of beef will not stay as tender. In a pinch you can use short ribs or a brisket, but both cuts would also be more expensive than a beef chuck roast.
You can buy dried chipotle (or ancho, guajillo) peppers which you rehydrate in boiling water for an authentic barbacoa recipe or you can use the canned adobo chilis in sauce. The swap with the canned sauce is a quick and easy option I highly recommend, just be aware they are very spicy, so if you have an aversion to spice you are going to want to halve the amount of peppers.
Related Recipes
Recipes to try with Barbacoa
Could you add tomatoes to this?
I have seen some Barbacoa recipes that use tomato sauce but haven’t tested that yet in our kitchen.
This recipe is the best! Made rolled tacos for Christmas and we are having them again and it’s only the end of January 2023.
I did make a few adjustments:
One seeded jalapeño instead of chipotle peppers
Juice out of preperoncini peppers instead of vinegar
Good ideas!
Will Bottom Round Roast do well for this if cooked low 275 degrees, and slow?
Me again – just made this over the weekend for my in-laws. EVERYONE was like “this is SO good!!!” and I am sending them the link to this recipe. HUGE hit. Love it. Love it. Love it. Will continue to be on my regular rotation, especially for guests.
I serve it with soft taco shells and all the toppings such as avocado, minced red onion, sour cream, cilantro, lime, and cotija or queso fresco (white Mexican cheese that one crumbles). I prefer the queso fresco as it is less salty.
A knock out!! Thank you for this amazing recipe.
Made this for friends on Saturday for tacos and IT. WAS. INCREDIBLE!! Maybe the best barbacoa beef I’ve ever had. I used rehydrated chipotles rather than the canned – it was very spicy as a result but in a really good way. The beef almost shredded itself it was so tender, and the flavors out of this world good! Will be making this again and again.
And, it was so simple to make! While washing up after dinner, I literally ate the meat crumbs from the pan it was so good…
Thank you for the recipe.
Hello,
Would this be in degrees Fahrenheit or celsius?
Thank you!
Fahrenheit
Enjoy!
Thia may be how they make Barbacoa at Chipotle’s. But if you want authentic MEXICAN Barbacoa, the BEST cut of meat…the ONLY cut…for making truly authentic Mexican Barbacoa…is Beef Cheek meat.
Another family hit! Super tasty and easy to prepare. Thanks Sabrina, you’re taking my family on a Mexican tour. First the amazing enchilada sauce and now the beef barbacoa.
That’s awesome, Kate. Thanks for coming back to let me know how much you all are enjoying the recipes.
Does the cook time change is the roast is only 2.5 lbs?
Yes, you might only need 2 1/2- 3 hours of cook time.
How would I do this if I am using frozen meat and an instant pot?
I’m not sure how much extra time you’d need to add with frozen meat. Sorry, I haven’t tried it. The instant pot directions are in the post though for you to follow. Good luck!
What makes barbacoa, barbacoa, is actually the fact that its the cheek of the cow. So technically if you want to make REAL barbacoa, you want to use beef cheek. Its not the style or cooking method. Real barbacoa, you do not really need to add spices, as the meat already has natural flavor.
Good Morning,
The three chipotle peppers in adobo, is that three whole peppers or three cans? My local super market only carries the cans, which are 7 oz. each.
3 whole peppers
In the oven version of the recipe…do you shredd the beef with all the liquid or do you pull it out and shredd it without the liquid?…
I keep it in the dutch oven and shred it with everything in there.
Had to freelance a bit, because making half the recipe (5lbs too much for us!). It was very good, really good. My daughter said she liked it — that’s like a second Michelin star. This is the second recipe I made from this site. The first was also very good. Please keep up all the hard work posting recipes.
I’ll take a Michelin star where ever I can get but kid approved is even better!
When only using half of the recipe, did you cut the cooking time down?
This gas just into the oven now. So excited! I used 2 cups of broth as the recipe says but the liquid does not cover the roast. Should I add more broth or just flip the roast over halfway through so the top cooks in the liquid as well?
No need to add anything extra. The meat will cook down and add to the liquid. I hope you enjoyed it!
The bay leaf gets pureed in the sauce? Just verifying because I have only used it whole then removed once finished cooking. TIA
Yes, it gets pureed. Enjoy!
I’m making this today and I think I will need to use oven because short on time. Am I supposed to cut the roast into pieces? Thanks
No, once it’s cooked you’ll want to shred apart before serving. Enjoy!
This was so good! I used the first meal from it in burritos and the left overs in quesadillas. Definitely will make again.
Sounds delicious! I love getting a few meals out of it too.
Quick question! I’m making this right now in the crock pot for dinner tonight. I see it has no added beef broth, so i completly leave the 2 cups out? Also, reading it it mentions chicken broth but notnin the ingredients section. Do I need to add chicken broth or any liquids? Thank you!
Thanks for catching that! That should’ve read beef broth in the instructions.
So, when do you add the beef broth?
You’ll add in the beef broth in step 2. 🙂 Enjoy!
so do you or not add beef broth to the crockpot version?
No added liquid to the slow cooker.
Lovely recipe loved the way you described and made it so easy for the users.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Oh wow, that looks SO incredibly good! My mouth is watering looking at the photos!
Thanks, Elizabeth.
This looks so moist and flavourful! Will be trying this one asap!
I hope you enjoy it!
Great to have a batch on hand to use in dinners throughout the week!
So perfect to use for different dishes.
My family is obsessed with Chipotle and love that we can stay on budget and make it at home now, thanks! It’s so good!
Definitely easier on the pocketbook. 🙂
What vessel are we to cook this in?
Dutch oven. You can also use a slow cooker if you’d like.
Thank you!
Hi! This Recipe sounds delicious and I want to make it today. I was a little confused, do you purée the vinager and spices and chipotle peppers, then pour over beef? Do you purée with the broth? You also mention chicken broth on the recipe, but list beef broth on the ingredients. Just wanted to be sure. I have made so many of your recipes and they’ve all been delicious, Thank you!
Yes, you’ll puree the sauce in the food processor and pour it over the beef. I’ve updated the instructions to read a little more clearly. I hope you enjoy it!