Barbacoa - A Beautiful Mess

While I think of barbacoa as tender, juicy shredded beef that goes in tacos or a rice bowl, it’s more accurate to say barbacoa refers to a traditional Mexican cooking method that involves slow cooking a tougher or larger cut of meat, including lamb or goat in a pit or earth oven. For me, I make barbacoa in my slow cooker, sometimes called a crockpot.

This barbacoa recipe is easy, full of flavor and a great protein to throw in tacos, nachos, burritos, quesadillas, rice bowls or even on top of a salad. If you’ve never had beef barbacoa before, the texture is like shredded beef or pulled beef, as you can easily pull it apart or shred it with a fork once ready.

Related: If you like this recipe, next up, try Carnitas or Carne Asada.

Ingredients

Chuck roast
Garlic
White onion
Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Green chiles
Limes
Bay leaves
Olive oil
Cumin
Oregano
Salt
Black pepper
Beef bouillon cube

Instructions

Pat the cut of beef dry on both sides and generously season with salt and pepper. Make a rub from one tablespoon of oil, the oregano, cumin and any other spices you like. Rub all over the meat. Place this in your slow cooker.

Roughly chop the onion. Add this over the top of the meat. Mince the garlic cloves and toss this in as well. Chop the peppers and add those, as well as the can of green chilies. Now juice all three limes and add this to the slow cooker as well. Add in the water, beef bouillon cube and bay leaves.

Cook on low for 10 hours. Remove the meat from the slow cooker liquid, removing the bay leaves. Shred the meat with forks into small pieces, removing any large chunks of fat if needed.

Top the barbacoa with chopped fresh cilantro and more white onion and lime juice and serve however you like!

Tips and Notes

Beef chuck roast is also sometimes called blade roast, shoulder steak or even pot roast. If you can’t find this, another good option is rump roast or top round roast.
You can use beef stock or beef broth instead of water and bouillon.
You may also want to have some shredded cheese, refried beans or corn tortillas on hand to make this a meal. The recipe card below is simply to make the beef barbacoa.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least three days. I usually store the meat in the cooking juices, as this makes it easy to reheat on the stovetop or the microwave without drying it out.

More Mexican and Tex-Mex Recipes

Get our FREE recipe guide with our most popular recipes of all time!

Get the Guide

Get the Recipe

Tender, juicy shredded beef you can use in tacos or other meals.

Yield 4

Prep 5 minutes

Cook 10 hours

Total 10 hours 5 minutes

Instructions

Pat the cut of beef dry on both sides and generously season with salt and pepper.
Make a rub from one tablespoon of oil, the oregano, cumin and any other spices you like. Rub all over the meat. Place this in your slow cooker.
Roughly chop the onion. Add this over the top of the meat. Mince the garlic cloves and toss this in as well. Chop the peppers and add those, as well as the can of green chilies.
Now juice all three limes and add this to the slow cooker as well. Add in the water, beef bouillon cube and bay leaves.
Cook on low for 10 hours. Remove the meat from the slow cooker liquid, removing the bay leaves. Shred the meat with forks into small pieces, removing any large chunks of fat if needed.
Top the barbacoa with chopped fresh cilantro and more white onion and lime juice and serve however you like!

Notes

Beef chuck roast is also sometimes called blade roast, shoulder steak or even pot roast. If you can’t find this, another good option is rump roast or top round roast.
You can use beef stock or beef broth instead of water and bouillon.
You may also want to have some shredded cheese, refried beans or corn tortillas on hand to make this a meal. The recipe card below is simply to make the beef barbacoa.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for at least three days. I usually store the meat in the cooking juices, as this makes it easy to reheat on the stovetop or the microwave without drying it out.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Barbacoa

Amount per Serving

% Daily Value*

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.

Barbacoa – A Beautiful Mess