Incredibly juicy and tender, and absolutely full of bold mouthwatering flavors, this beef barbacoa is the best I’ve ever tasted! With Instant Pot, slow cooker and oven instructions, you’re bound to find a cooking method that works best for you!
Recipes like my Baked Mexican Rice and Crockpot Taco Soup are great for when you want restaurant quality food, made easily at home. We love hearty Mexican-inspired meals, and this is one of my Mexican recipes you’ll definitely want in your dinner rotation!
BEEF BARBACOA RECIPE
I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for a while now, and finally got around to it.
Originally, I made a similar version in my Queso-Smothered Beef Chimichangas, which was a slow cooker recipe. But I’ve been getting into using my Instant Pot more and more, and wanted to make this version something that could be made in much less time.
After some tinkering around in the kitchen, I came up with this recipe, which is now my FAVORITE type of Mexican beef!
The meat is literally melt-in-your-mouth tender, and the flavor…. oh man the flavor, it’s out of this world. Rich and savory, with just enough spice to make your mouth wake up and say hello, but not so much that you’re sweating and diving for the nearest glass of water.
Basically, the best taco filling of all time lol. Beef barbacoa is not just amazing in tacos, but in quesadillas, taco salads, chimichangas/taquitos, or just eaten with a fork!
HOW TO MAKE BEEF BARBACOA
- Puree the chipotle sauce in a food processor. This is a combination of chipotle peppers, lime juice, spices, beef broth, garlic, etc.
- Brown beef on the “saute” mode, then remove to a plate.
- Add onion to the pot and saute until soft. Pour in the beef broth, diced green chiles, tomato paste and bay leaves.
- Add browned beef and pureed sauce to the pot.
- Pressure cook for 1 hour, then perform a quick pressure release.
- Shred beef and toss with some cooking liquid.
IS THIS A CHIPOTLE COPYCAT RECIPE
Not technically, but it hits a LOT of the same flavor notes!
COOKING TIPS FOR SHREDDED MEXICAN BEEF
- THE MEAT – this is a prime example of when to use a tougher cut of meat like a chuck roast or shoulder. No need to buy expensive sirloin tips or anything.
- BROWNING – adds a ton of flavor, but isn’t absolutely essential. I love to brown my beef pieces, since I love that extra deep flavor it adds… but I’ve made this several times without taking that extra step, and it still tastes delicious.
- CHIPOTLES IN ADOBO – the secret to this amazing barbacoa is in the chipotle peppers. You can find cans of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the ethnic section of most grocery stores and they are PACKED with flavor.
VARIATIONS OF THIS RECIPE
- SPICIER – As written, I would say this recipe is between a medium and a mild heat level. If you’d like it spicier, use HOT diced green chiles, add more chipotle peppers, and/or add a jalapeno to the chipotle sauce ingredients.
- MILDER – To make this recipe milder, use less chipotle peppers, omit the adobo sauce, and/or make sure you’re using MILD diced green chiles.
- BEER – For some extra flavor, in the chipotle sauce, use a bold Mexican beer instead of beef broth.
- OTHER MEAT – Traditionally, barbacoa is made with beef cheeks, goat or lamb. You’re more than welcome to swap the chuck roast out for one of those proteins, I just chose the beef because it’s more readily available for the vast majority of my readers.
- COOKING METHODS – this is made for the Instant Pot, but I’ve detailed how to make this in a slow cooker or in the oven if you’d prefer. Those instructions will be down in the “recipe notes” section of of the recipe card.
TOPPINGS FOR A BEEF BARBACOA TACO
The sky is the limit when it comes to a great taco, but here are a few of my favorite options.
- Fresh cilantro
- Squeeze of lime juice
- Cotija cheese (or shredded Mexican blend cheese)
- Quick pickled shallots (mix sliced shallots, juice of a lime, pinch of salt and granulated sugar – let sit in a bowl for 20 minutes)
- Avocado
- Queso
MAKING BARBACOA AHEAD OF TIME
As with most braised meats, this barbacoa beef tastes even better the next day! Those flavors sit and meld together.
To store, I find it best to store the beef in one container, with a little bit of the cooking liquid, and the rest of the cooking liquid in another container.
This way, when the fat in the liquid cools, you can easily scrape it off the top.
Reheat with the beef and the liquid together.
FREEZING
Cooked beef barbacoa can be frozen for up to 3 months.
STORAGE
Leftovers should be refrigerated in an airtight container and consumed within 5 days.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT FOR THIS RECIPE
- Instant Pot – I recently upgraded to this model and I love it!
- Slow Cooker – I’ve had this slow cooker for years and it still works perfectly.
- Dutch Oven – LeCreuset is my favorite brand, but they’re really pricey, so this Lodge version is a great alternative!
BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN TO CHECK OUT OTHER READERS’ COMMENTS FOR TIPS AND REVIEWS.
AND DON’T FORGET, IF YOU’VE MADE THIS RECIPE, LEAVE A COMMENT AND PLEASE GIVE IT A STAR RATING LETTING ME KNOW HOW YOU ENJOYED IT!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
CHIPOTLE SAUCE
- 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (individual peppers in the can - NOT the whole can)
- 2 tsp adobo sauce (from the can)
- 3 Tbsp lime juice (fresh is best)
- 1 Tbsp better than bouillon beef base (optional but recommended)
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 5 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 3 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp oregano (mexican oregano is amazing if you have it)
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup beef broth (reduced sodium is best)
BARBACOA
- 4 lb. beef chuck roast
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 4 oz can diced green chiles drained
- 3 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup beef broth (reduced sodium is preferred)
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
MAKE CHIPOTLE SAUCE
- Add all chipotle sauce ingredients to a food processor or blender, and process until smooth. Set aside.
MAKE BEEF BARBACOA
- Trim visible large sections of fat from roast, then cut roast into 6-8 large pieces. Season beef with 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper.
- Add vegetable oil to Instant Pot and select "Saute". When hot, add beef and cook for a minute or so on each side, until browned. Depending on the size of your beef, you may need to do this in batches.
- Remove browned beef to a plate and add onion. Saute for 2-3 minutes, until soft.
- Add in 1 cup beef broth and scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to remove any browned bits. Add in tomato paste, green chiles and bay leaves.
- Press "Cancel - or Keep Warm/Cancel". Return browned beef to the pot and pour pureed chipotle sauce over the top. Top with both halves of the lime.
- Close lid securely and make sure the valve is set to "sealing". Select "Manual" or "Pressure Cook" and adjust the +/- button until it reads 60 minutes.
- When finished cooking, carefully turn the valve to "venting" for a quick pressure release. When the steam has all escaped, and the pin has dropped, remove the lid and discard bay leaves.
- Remove beef pieces to a large bowl and shred, discarding any purely fat parts.
- Toss shredded beef with as much of the cooking liquid as you'd like.
TO THICKEN SAUCE
- In a small bowl, stir together 2 Tbsp cornstarch with 3 Tbsp water until smooth. Pour this mixture into the pot with the sauce and select "saute".
- Cook for several minutes, stirring often, until thickened to your tastes.
- Toss shredded beef with as much of the thickened sauce as you'd like.
TO CRISP THE EDGES
- Line a baking sheet with foil, and preheat broiler to high, adjusting oven rack to the upper third position.
- Spread shredded beef into an even layer, then broil several minutes. Stir. Continue broiling and stirring until crisped and charred to your liking.
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
Chef Tips
- some readers have noticed a bitter taste when pressure cooking with the lime halves in the pressure cooker. I have never had a problem with it, but if you're worried, feel free to remove the lime halves before pressure cooking!
SLOW COOKER INSTRUCTIONS
- Process sauce ingredients.
- Sear beef in a skillet on the stove.
- Add all remaining ingredients to slow cooker, top with seared beef, top with chipotle sauce.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours, until beef is tender enough to shred easily.
OVEN DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 325 F degrees.
- Process sauce ingredients.
- Sear beef in a large dutch oven on the stove.
- Add in onion, tomato paste, green chiles, and bay leaves.
- Reduce beef broth to 1/2 cup and pour in chipotle sauce.
- Cover and bake for 3 - 3 1/2 hours, until beef is tender enough to shred easily.
STOVETOP DIRECTIONS
- Process sauce ingredients.
- Sear beef in a large dutch oven on the stove.
- Add in onion, tomato paste, green chiles, beef broth, and bay leaves.
- Pour in chipotle sauce.
- Cover and simmer for 2 - 2 1/2 hours (removing the lid the last 30 minutes of cooking), until beef is tender enough to shred easily.
- If desired, remove beef, shred, and continue simmering sauce for 10-15 minutes until thickened.
Video
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Karen says
can I use an Eye of round roast for this recipe?
The Chunky Chef says
Any cut of beef that’s good for slow cooking will work in this recipe. That being said, I’ve only tested this recipe as written. From my understanding, eye of round roast doesn’t have much marbleization, which makes it less than ideal, but it’s ultimately up to you.
Bernie says
Hi! I want to try this tonight 🙂 It looks delicious but one small problem I don’t have beef broth…could I use extra beef boullion to still add the flavor needed?
Amanda says
Yes, I would use an equal amount of water, and add a bit extra of the beef bouillon to counteract the loss of flavor from the broth.
Connie says
This was fabulous on my very first try – husband loved it!
Carlena says
I’m just learning how to use an insta pot. How do I double this recipe? Do I double all ingredients and what about time? Do I double cook time? Thanks for your help!
The Chunky Chef says
Welcome to the wonderful world of pressure cooking 🙂 Yes, if doubling the recipe, you have to double all the ingredients… however I don’t think double the ingredients would fit in an Instant Pot, as this is fairly full as written. When it comes to pressure cooking, no need to double the cook time, in fact it’ll stay relatively the same, maybe add 5-10 minutes. Again, that’s IF it will all fit, you don’t want to fill the pot past the line inside the pot that says max fill.
Bev Reid says
Oh my! Is this ever delicious! Made this once before but used a crock pot and only used one pepper because I was afraid it would be too spicy for the grandchildren. This time followed the recipe exactly and used the insta pot. What a difference! The meat was so juicy and tender and honestly I just want to pour the sauce in a glass and drink it with a straw. This is definitely my new go to recipe. Thanks for this recipe!
Bev
Instapot rookie says
Really good! Had a lot of cooking liquid after the meat was removed. Used some on the meat after shredding, cooked a bit too long under the broiler. Sprinkled a little lime juice over the meat also.
Shirley Burke says
I am making this in a COSORI pressure cooker which is basically the same as an INSTAPOT. In reading the directions it doesn’t say what button to push to cook. Just set to manual and time to 60 mins. It’s cooking but am not sure if the temperature is correct. There are no lights on the temperature setting. Will this be ok for the next 60 minutes?
The Chunky Chef says
Unfortunately, I only have experience cooking this recipe on an Instant Pot, and don’t know how the controls for your specific pressure cooker. Manual on an Instant Pot is high pressure.
Olivia D says
Quartered the recipe so I could use 1# of stew meat then used it for enchiladas. WOW was it amazing!!! My 7 year old son and 13 year old daughter had 3 servings. This will definitely be made again. So yummy!!!! I’m thinking tacos next time.
Olivia D says
I should add that we made it via the stovetop method.
Melissa Fisher says
This is a great way to cook a roast! You can play with the seasonings and give it any twist you want but the basics are there in the recipe for cook times and prepping the meat. Thanks for a great turn out!
Juan says
Delicious! Easy to follow recipe, I used thick cut chuck steak cubes.
Anna says
OH NO! I accidentally added the whole can of chipotle peppers and all the adobo sauce! Is it even going to be edible?
The Chunky Chef says
I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be pretty darn spicy!
Dale says
Great recipe! I always make a new recipe as written, how can I judge it any other way? The only thing I did that was different was to leave out the whole cut limes. I’ve had the same issue of tasting bitterness when using lemons or limes this way, so did not want to take a chance. When I opened the pot there was hardly any liquid in it, I only made 1/2 recipe maybe that was the issue. I thought I had burned it, but once I added some water to the pot and heated it up it turned into a great sauce without having to thicken it. There was just enough liquid to moisten the meat. I used it for tostadas. it was excellent! I might use what is left on taquitos. Thanks for the wonderful recipe and all the variation that you provided.
Sherry says
Hi, I tried your recipe and it came out great!! I did tweak it with 3 pounds of meat, an extra 1/2 cup of beef broth bc I have an 8 qt instant pot, and a few other things. But this gave me a great foundation and tools to make the barbacoa. Thank you for your tips. Especially the broiling technique after cooking. I am glad I found your site! 🙂
Sherry says
Going to try this next week in either the crock pot or instant pot. Thanks for the tips. This looks amazing!! 🙂 I am new to your site.
Melissa G. says
If I wanted to make this in the instant pot the day before serving, could I just do the broiling part the day of serving? I have a roast in the fridge that really needs to be cooked, but want to serve to guests the next day.
The Chunky Chef says
Yes, you can definitely do that 🙂
Diane Lepore says
GREAT recipe! I made this for taco night. I also had only a 2lb plus roast and made the sauce per the recipe, but also omitted the lime halves. I always add more garlic. After the beef cooked and was removed, I had a couple of chicken breasts that needed to be cooked… so, I threw them in for 7 minutes on manual and it was very good with that sauce. This way I had chicken and beef tacos. This was the first instant pot recipe where I sautéed the meat in the pot…however, I’m going to stick with browning in my cast iron pan and deglazing the pan and adding the juice to the pot.
Elbert Jones says
Please do not call this dish BARBACOA. REAL barbacoa is made with a cow’s cheeks;tongue and ears. It’s an ORGAN MEAT DISH. Mexican immigrants are not afraid to eat those cuts of beef. They know that eating them saves them MONEY. I grew up in Texas. So I know what real Barbacoa is made from.
The Chunky Chef says
Apparently you missed the part during the body of the post where I talked about what barbacoa is traditionally made with and why I chose to use the meat I did.
Nicole says
People love to “reach” for attention.
Nevertheless, this recipe is great & delicious too!!!
Thank you for sharing!
Ronnie says
lol, Barbacoa is not from Mexico nor is it traditionally made from cow’s cheek, tongue, and ear. Calm down just because you live in Texas doesnt make you an expert.
Robyn Corcoran says
Fantastic recipe! Just the right amount of spice for someone who likes a bit of kick, but not a ton. I followed the recipe as stated except 1) I omitted the sliced lime while cooking because of the number of comments about bitterness, and 2) I ran out of lime juice so only added 2 Tablespoons of juice to the barbacoa sauce instead of 3. It came out excellent with no hint of bitterness, not even an aftertaste. For those wondering if cook time should be changed for smaller roast: I used a 2 lb roast instead, but made no changes to the amount of sauce and cooked it for the same amount of time as the recipe states for the larger roast. I did have quite a bit of extra sauce, but having that amount of liquid to bring it up to pressure and keeping it at the same amount of cook time as the larger roast was important. One change I did make is I did a 15 minute natural pressure release instead of the quick release. It was fall apart tender and not dry at all even before the sauce was mixed in. Definitely a keeper!
Matt says
instead of browning the meat in the instaport I am thinking I want to grill it to get some added char to it. Also thinking if grilling to start adding some sort of dry rub to it. Do you have any suggestions ?
The Chunky Chef says
I’ve never cooked it that way, but maybe a mix of salt, pepper, and some chili powder for the dry rub?
Chris says
As wonderful as i anticipated. My chuck roast was only 2 1/2 lbs but I made the full recipe. I have such wonderful sauce left, I’m thinking of doing another small roast using the extra sauce. Should be really flavorful.
Thanks for the great recipe.
Sandra BB says
This recipe was absolutely delicious!!! I made it for my whole family as our weekly ‘Sunday Dinner’. It was a huge hit. All 14 (adults & children) LOVED IT😋👏🏼👏🏼
My family asked that I put a star beside this recipe to be sue to make it again. I followed the recipe exactly, except that I omitted the pieces of lime, as some found it added a bitterness. Thank you. A family sharing good food is a great way to begin a happy week!❤️