Tacos made with a shredded, well-seasoned Mexican style beef roast.
Mexican Shredded Beef for Tacos
Until I started reading up on them, I never knew that authentic Mexican tacos were made using shredded beef, rather than the Americanized version of Tex-Mex style ground beef tacos we are all accustomed to in the United States, and yes, even in our Mexican restaurants.
The other day I was at the grocery store and it happened to be one of the days that they reduce meat, because I noticed lots of yellow stickers from across the aisle in the meat case. So, I wandered over to see what they had and found a great chuck roast for just a couple bucks.
Here's what you'll need to make this Mexican Shredded Beef:
- 1 (3 to 4 pound) chuck roast
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1-1/2 tablespoons Mexican chili powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 cups finely minced Vidalia or other sweet yellow onions
- 1/2 tablespoon chopped, chipotle in adobe sauce, or to taste, optional
- Oil for frying
- Corn or flour tortillas or prepared taco shells
Here's how to make it!
First, it is important to note - while you can prepare this in an Instant Pot or slow cooker (see Cook's Notes in the printable below) for stovetop prep, this recipe requires a total of about 4 hours of total cooking time in order to be tender enough to shred.
Gather the seasonings.
Gather the seasonings.
Cut roast in half. Combine seasonings and sprinkle generously all over roast; reserve remaining seasoning.
Add oil to stockpot and brown meat on both sides.
Add reserved seasonings to pot and cover roast with water or beef broth, plus about an inch; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 2 hours. Do not allow the meat to boil, only simmer.
Add the chopped onion and peppers; continue simmering, covered, for one additional hour. Remove roast and set aside.
Note: As an Amazon.com Services LLC Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases linked in my posts and marked as #ad or #affiliate links.
Continue simmering the liquid, skimming fat off of the top. A fat separator (#ad) comes in super handy for this job!
Shred meat and return to juices; let simmer another 30 minutes to another hour, or until meat is very tender and most of the juices have been absorbed.
The meat is so incredibly tender and has a nice flavor, even standing on its own, but for a big boost of heat, include some chopped, canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, though be careful.
Chipotles are smoked jalapenos, and unless you absolutely know your heat level with them, they can be extremely hot. Once you stack heat into a dish with levels of powders and chilies, you just really can't take it away. Use whatever smoked or roasted chilies you prefer if you'd rather.
Fry fresh corn tortillas into shells and then stuff them or bake prepared taco shells in the oven if you prefer. You can also just warm corn tortillas or use flour tortillas to make soft tacos.
These racks are a great tool to have on hand if you like to fry your own tortillas for tacos.
You can also prepare tacos by stuffing corn tortillas.
And then deep frying them.
While you may not want to eat fried tacos on a daily basis, these tacos were totally over the top good - it may be hard to go back to tacos made with ground beef again. Just delicious! Besides tacos, use this shredded beef for chalupas, flautas, taquitos, enchiladas, burritos, Mexican pizza and many of your favorite Tex-Mex beef-based recipes.
For more of my favorite Tex-Mex recipes, visit my page on Pinterest!
If you make this or any of my recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!
Unable to view the printable above on your device? Tap/click here for a backup printable.
Thank you for supporting my work! Please note that Images and Full Post Content including Recipe ©Deep South Dish. Recipes are offered for your own personal use only and while pinning and sharing links is welcomed and encouraged, do not copy and paste post or recipe text to repost or republish to any social media (such as other Facebook pages, etc.), blogs, websites, forums, or any print medium, without explicit prior permission. Unauthorized use of content from ©Deep South Dish is a violation of both the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and copyright law. All rights reserved.
Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.
171215-16/170617/OD/BHP
.
