This slow cooker birria recipe is the perfect way to enjoy rich, authentic Mexican flavors without spending all day in the kitchen.
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Traditionally from Jalisco, Mexico, birria is a slow-cooked stew made with tender beef simmered in a deeply flavorful chile-based sauce.
Whether you serve it as a comforting stew or turn it into crispy birria tacos, this dish is guaranteed to be a family favorite.
Table of Contents
👩🏼🍳 Instructions
Sear the meat all sides on medium heat to lock in the flavors. Mmm… imagine the smell! It’s Mexcellent! 😃
The best cut of meat to use is boneless beef chuck roast. Chop into beef chunks for searing in batches.
Originally, this recipe was made with goat meat. You might also find people who make with lamb.
These dried chiles are what give amazing smokiness flavor to the beef. We’re using guajillo chiles and ancho chile.
Full ingredients list is below in the printable recipe card.
It’s easy to devein and remove the seeds from the chiles. Start by cutting off the tops, or the stems.
Then cut them lengthwise. Do you see the seeds? You don’t want these in your sauce. Remove them. You won’t be able to get all of them. Just remove as many as you can. If you can remove any veins, remove them too.
Place your stems removed, deveined, and seeds removed chiles in a stock pot. You will need to use a pot that can handle all the chiles.
Reconstituting chiles means they have to soak in hot water. This does not take long. 5-10 minutes at the most.
There really are no substitutions for these two types of chiles. If you can’t find guajillos, use chipotles. They have great smoky flavor.
To make this birria sauce recipe, you will need all these aromatics. Spices like ¼ cinnamon stick, thyme, Mexican oregano, cloves, laurel leaves (or bay leaves), salt, and pepper. It sounds like a lot, but each spice brings a lot of flavor to the dish.
Add the spices, the reconstituted chiles, liquid, bouillon, and garlic to the blend. Blend until smooth. Since we are not straining, make sure it is fully blended. You might need to blend a second time.
Not a fan of bouillon? Use beef broth instead.
For a smoother adobo sauce, strain the sauce. Set this aside until ready to use. This is what will help create a rich consommé.
If the sauce tastes too spicy, add 1-2 tomatoes to the blender and blend away. They will help reduce the heat level.
Back to our beef… salt and pepper the side that’s up. Then turn and sear the uncooked side. You really want color on your beef. Don’t skip this step. It helps lock in some amazingly delicious flavors.
The slow cooker is your friend in the kitchen. You can go shopping, go horseback riding, watch two movies, and your food will not burn. Gotta love that!
This crockpot birria recipe is sure to be a hit, but just in case… Stovetop and instant pot instructions are in the recipe card below.
Now time to add the sauce. You want the sauce to cover the entire piece of beef. If it doesn’t for some strange reason, add more water and a little more salt or simply add beef broth.
Slow cook the meat – Set it on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 4-6 hours. The meat will be fall-apart tender and ready to eat.
🫙 Storing & Reheating Instructions
- Store leftovers in airtight container in the refrigerator.
- Reheat in a microwave covered for 2 ½ to 3 minutes.
🥘 How To Serve
- Beef Birria is typically served with raw diced onion, chopped fresh cilantro, lime wedges, and a dozen tortillas.
- Or, you can take it up a notch and use the shredded meat to make Birria Ramen, Instant Pot Birria Tacos (also known as quesabirria tacos), Birria Burritos, even Birria Tamales!
🥩 More Mexican Beef Recipes
- Barbacoa de Res (Beef Barbacoa)
- Carne con Papas (Beef and Potatoes)
- Salpicon de Res (Cold Beef Salad)
- Caldillo (Mexican Beef Stew)
- Milanesa de Res (Fried Beef Steak)
- Carne Asada Street Tacos
This slow cooker birria recipe delivers bold, authentic Mexican flavor with minimal effort. Juicy shredded beef and a rich consommé make it perfect for tacos or serving as a stew.
😋 Hungry for More
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Slow Cooker Birria Recipe (Birria de Res)
Ingredients
- 4 lbs roast beef
- 3-4 cups water
- 5 dried chile guajillo
- 2 dried chile ancho
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 clove
- ¼ whole cinnamon stick
- 1 tablespoon beef bouillon
- 2 laurel leaves or bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat the griddle, or pan.
- Toast the chiles on the griddle for 2-3 minutes.
- Turn frequently.
- Make sure they do not burn.
- If they burn, discard the chiles and start again.
- Once toasted, transfer to a heatproof bowl.
- Add 1 cup hot water and let the chiles soak for 5 minutes, or until pliable.
- Seed and devein the chiles, saving the water.
- Don’t worry if some seeds remain.
- Add the saved water, the chiles, garlic, oregano, thyme, clove, cinnamon, bouillon, laurel leaves (or bay leaves), salt and pepper in a blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Set aside.
- In a large pot, heat two tablespoons oil.
- Add salt and pepper to the beef.
- Sear the beef on all sides.
- Once the meat is brown, transfer to the slow cooker.
- Add the chile mixture from the blender.
- Add enough water to cover the meat.
- Set slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours.
- Shred beef.
- Serve with diced onions, chopped cilantro, and tortillas.
Video
Notes
- Make the sauce as instructed above.
- Add oil. Press Saute.
- Season the beef with salt and pepper. Sear the meat on all sides.
- Remove the meat and add the chile sauce and water.
- Return the meat to the pot.
- Cover with lid. Press Pressure Cook. 55 minutes.
- Release pressure. Serve and enjoy.
- Make the sauce as instructed above.
- Keep the meat in the pot.
- Pour sauce over the meat.
- Cover with lid and cook for 2 hours.
- Until fork tender.
Can’t wait to make it myself, my sobrina who happens to have the same name as you, Maggie has made it a couple of times so I asked for the receta I’m in love with the delicious birria thanks for sharing it!!!
So glad you enjoyed this!
Originally from Zacatecas here too. I stumbled upon this recipe and it’s delicious. Since my parents retired and moved back to Mexico, I was looking at making something that reminded me of home.
This is the perfect recipe then. Hope you try it!
Looks so good. I am going to make this in the next week
Hope you try it, it’s delicious!
I made your crock pot birria recipe today and I’m so happy I finally got brave enough to try my hand at birria
It’s something I’ve wanted to cook for many years and didn’t think I could do it justice
But your recipe was simple and easy to follow
My family loved it!
We will definitely be having it again
So glad you enjoyed this Ruth!
This is my husband favorite meal now. He is a picky eater and knows good birria . I made it for the first time for thanksgiving. My husband wanted it again for Christmas. Now he wants me to make it a third time for New Years . With humble gratitude, Thank You!!!!! The recipe is very delicious and very easy to make.
Thank you very much. I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed this!
This was so delicious!! YUM! I used the Insta Pot and it was very easy.
So glad you enjoyed this Angela!
Oh my goodness. This was a fantastic recipe! Super easy and the meat was perfect at 7 hours, the flavor was incredible. I can’t wait to make them again! Thank you !!!
So glad you enjoyed this!
I’ve been looking around for recipes on simple birria, a lot of sites want to make it “over the top” which takes away from it’s authenticity. Just reading yours I can imagine it is delicious with simple instructions to follow. I can’t wait to make this and I’m positive it’ll be a hit! Muchas gracias Maggie.
This recipe it’s not hard to make and it’s delicious! Hope you try it
My son who never tries anything new, love this. He is 13 and a picky eater. He will not eat anything but bean and cheese tacos when we go out to eat at a Mexican restaurant and now this is his favorite dish. Thank you for making this possible for my son that is a picky eater.
So glad to know you son loved this recipe! It’s one of my favorites too.
Hola, yo me animé hacer esta receta porque me gustan mucho los caldos, vi la manera de escribir la receta y es muy parecido a como yo cocino, deseo que me quede delicioso igual que a las demas personas que ya lo han hecho,
muchas gracias por compartir.
Les comentaré mañana que tal me quedó! 😉
Esta receta es la favorita! Espero te haya quedado deliciosa!
Thanks for the recipe! Its sound simple and easy to follow.
I am going to make this for Thanksgiving dinner, and this will be the first time for me.
Hope it will turn out good.
Glad you liked this recipe. It’s delicious!
So good! I’ve made it 3 times already. My daughter asked for it for her 18th birthday!
It’s delicious! Glad you enjoyed it.
Made this today for my husband. He raved about it. You should know he always finds something to say about any meal -needs more salt, not enough salt, too dry, etc. This one he went as far as to say I could sell it by the pound. Thank you!
So glad to read this! This recipe is amazing. I’m glad you and your husband enjoyed this recipe!
My sister made this yesterday for a birthday dinner and I begged her for the recipe. It was DELICIOUS! I can’t wait to make it myself. Thank you so much for sharing. Saludos desde California 🙂
So glad you enjoyed this recipe. Saludos Martha!
Making this again tomorrow, so good! This is good for tacos too.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Victoria!
Maggie, is the sauce used to dip tacos like the consume? If not do you have a consume recipe?
Thanks
Sorry, just saw your question. There are a lot of questions here. lol. This recipe makes the consomme for dipping. If you want to make more consomme using this recipe. Add 1 cup of beef broth about 1 hour before the meat is done.
Hola..mi hijo y sobrina fueron a comer Ayer a un lugar aca en Tucson, Arizona. Nunca pense que les gustaria..ahora les hare y los sorprendere. Tu receta de ve muy facil, rapida by exquisita.. gracias
Esta receta es deliciosa! Espero sea del agrado de toda tu familia.
I seriously have NO words for how good this is !!! Thank you!!
So glad you liked it! This recipe is delicious.
I’ve been hesitant to make birria but this sounds doable and delicious. My maternal grandmother was born on Zacatecas and my paternal grandparents were from Durango and Chihuahua. Thank you for posting this, my family will love it. Please keep sharing your recipes.
Like you said this recipe is pretty doable. Hope you try it!
I need the side salsa. The really spicy one. For the birria tacos. Please. Se me la estoy saboreándomela. Thank you for always sharing good recipes.
Glad you enjoyed my recipes Mayra!
This dish is so rich with flavor. I am a big fan of all things beef but this one satisfies me on a whole new level.
Glad you enjoyed this recipe!