This Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef recipe is cooked slow and low and has an amazing flavor! Pair with tortillas and cilantro lime rice for a delicious tex mex meal.
Our slow cooker works overtime every week creating delicious meals. We’re obsessed with this Crockpot Bourbon Chicken recipe! Sweet and spicy, it call also be made as an Instant Pot Recipe!
Barbacoa in the Slow Cooker
In Mexican cooking, Barbacoa refers to shredded beef. Seasoned to perfection, it’s the “Instant Pot pulled pork” of the beef family.
And my recipe makes it so easy for you to make this at home!
Traditionally barbacoa is cooked in a pit (much like kalua pork). But we’re tackling the “slow and low” by using our crockpot. The result is a tender, shredded beef!
Add in all the seasoning, and you’ve go the perfect taco tuesday dinner.
- Easy weeknight meal with very little prep.
- Juicy, tender beef.
- Spicy, fruity blend of seasonings to create the ultimate flavor!
Don’t forget dessert! Our homemade fried ice cream is the perfect finishing touch after today’s delicious dinner.
Ingredient Notes
- Chuck Roast- while barbacoa is often made with beef cheeks, chuck roast is an easy readibly available cut of meat for most home cooks. The marbling and fat in the roast renders down to create a fork tender bite of beef.
- Chipotle Chilies in Adobo Sauce- provides the smoky, spicy heat. Be sure to save the leftovers from the can in the freezer for next time!
- Spices- Garlic, cumin, oregano, kosher salt, pepper, cloves, bay leaves.
- Chicken broth- can also substitute with beef broth.
- Lime juice- both apple cider vinegar and the fresh squeezed lime juice provides the perfect acidity and freshness to this dish.
How to make Barbacoa in Crockpot
- Add Meat. Add chuck roast to bottom of a slow cooker (crockpot). Set aside.
- Make Sauce. In a food processor (or blender), combine apple cider vinegar, lime juice, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and ground cloves. Process on high until smooth. Spread over chuck roast.
- Slow Cook. Add chicken broth and bay leaves to the slow cooker. Cover and heat for 6-8 hours on low.
- Serve. Remove beef and shred. Remove bay leaves and return beef to crockpot. Serve on a tortilla with all the fixings.
What to Serve with Barbacoa
One of things that my family loves most about Mexican food and Cinco de Mayo is the ability to customize dinner with all your own toppings.
So whether you love avocado or onion, you can make it your own.
Here are a few of our favorite serving suggestions:
- Cotija Cheese, crumbled (or shredded cheddar)
- Guacamole (or sliced avocado)
- Pico de Gallo (or diced tomatoes and onion)
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- Salsa Verde
- Black Beans
- Mexican Street Corn
- Diced Onions, Jalapenos, lettuce, cilantro
- Sour Cream or plain Greek yogurt
- Corn Salad
You can create a “taco” by serving on a warmed flour or corn tortilla. Or turn your barbacoa into a “bowl” with all the toppings on a bed of lettuce.
Tips and Tricks
- When making the chipotle pepper paste, use only the peppers, not the sauce. You can freeze the excess from the can in ice cube trays for future recipes.
- Want to cut back on the heat? Use just the sauce from the can of adobo peppers and not use the peppers themselves. My family loves a little spice.
- If cooking a larger roast than 4 pounds, cook closer to the 8 hour mark for the most tender results.
- Make it a freezer meal. You can combine everything in a ziploc freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator overnight, dump it all the slow cooker and cook as directed.
- Or, freeze the leftovers for meals later!
- Use the leftover Barbacoa meat in tacos, enchiladas, and quesadillas! Stir some in homemade mac and cheese for a zing!
- YES you can make Instant Pot Barbacoa too!!!
More Easy Dinner Recipes
- Chicken Avocado Enchiladas
- Enchilada Beef Rollups
- Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Mississippi Pot Roast
- Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Chili
- Pork Carnitas
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section below!
Barbacoa Beef Recipe {Slow Cooker}
Ingredients
For the Barbacoa:
- 4 pounds beef chuck roast
- 2 limes juiced
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce just the peppers, not the sauce
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 ½ Tablespoons cumin
- 1 Tablespoon dried oregano
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1½ teaspoons ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 3 bay leaves
Instructions
- For the barbacoa: In food processor (or blender), combine vinegar, lime juice, chipotle peppers, garlic cloves, cumin, oregano, pepper, salt and ground cloves. Process on high until smooth.
- In large crockpot, add roast, pepper puree, bay leaves, and chicken broth. Heat on low 6-8 hours.
- Shred beef and place back in juice, remove bay leaves. Serve on a tortilla with cilanto-lime rice, colby cheese, lettuce and guacamole. Enjoy!!!
Notes
- When making the chipotle pepper paste, use only the peppers, not the sauce. You can freeze the excess from the can in ice cube trays for future recipes.
- Want to cut back on the heat? Use just the sauce from the can of adobo peppers and not use the peppers themselves. My family loves a little spice.
- If cooking a larger roast than 4 pounds, cook closer to the 8 hour mark for the most tender results.
- Make it a freezer meal. You can combine everything in a ziploc freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator overnight, dump it all the slow cooker and cook as directed.
- Freeze the leftovers for meals later!
- YES you can make Instant Pot Barbacoa too!!!
Nutrition
This Barbacoa Beef recipe is made in the slow cooker and has an authentic mexican flair! Pair with tortillas and cilantro lime rice for a delicious tex mex meal.
This recipe looks wonderful! I’d love it if you submitted it to us here at Gooseberry Patch for possible inclusion in a new slow cooker cookbook. Just follow the link for simple directions! Thanks!
http://www1.gooseberrypatch.com/gooseberry/recipe.nsf/f.sharearecipe
Me and My husband are in l o v e with the barbacoa from Chipotle, and my husbands been bugging be for over a year to make it at home. I will def. try this recipe, looks really easy. A lot of other recipes Ive found for this calls for TONS of (weird) ingredients. Thank You!
I am in love with Chipotle, and I’m definitely going to have to try this one!
Just stopping by to say thank you so much for linking up to our Family Favorite Recipe Round-Up today! We’d love to include your recipe (and any other you’d like to share) in an upcoming Gooseberry Patch cookbook. When you have a moment, would you mind stopping by our website and sharing it with us there? Here’s a link: http://bit.ly/GBPsharearecipe Add the code RRU-FF to the Special Code field and we’ll keep an eye out for it. 🙂 If it’s selected for publication, we’ll let you know, and you’ll receive a free copy of the cookbook too! Thanks again for sharing on our blog today…we appreciate it!
Rebekah- so glad to hear it!!
Found your blog via Tasty Kitchen. This recipe is fantastic! My Chipotle-loving husband just told me I knocked it out of the park and I’m going back for seconds before it’s all gone. Thank you!
Ugh — so sorry to hear that Blogger lost your recipe and your post, but you still pulled off a winning post and recipe with terrific wit and style!
This is definitely a must-try recipe for me this summer. I’m woefully short on good crock-pot recipes, and even shorter on time, so I’m really excited to try your barbacoa recipe!
Thank you so much for coming back to “A Little Birdie Told Me…” Tuesday at Rook No. 17 this week!
Best,
Jenn
Cilantro-lime rice sounds delicious! I’m dying to make it now – will definitely try when I get home this week. Especially since barbacoa sounds amazing!
oh my I think you are heading right down the path of food my teens love thanks for sharing come see me at http://shopannies.blogspot.com
I love barbacoa! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the comment love Aimee! This cilantro rice sounds amazing and I am definitely going to work it in my menu the next time I get some cilantro.
Sorry about the Blogger fiasco, I was a little bent out of shape that day too! Thanks for linking up to Fat Camp Friday this week! See you next Friday!
@ Pretty- I too love using the crockpot. Especially on evenings when life is totally crazy with sports, or I’m busy in the garden!
@ Miz Helen- I hope you try it, so yummy! And of course I’ll be back next week 🙂
@ Laura- thanks for following, I love Miranda over at Mangoes and Chutney!
Yummy! i’m going to make this on Sunday! new follower from mangoes and chutney link party.
laura
What an awesome Crock Pot surprise. We would just love this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you next week!
I love new recipes that give me the opportunity to use my crock pot! 🙂
haha Liz- just a little Seagram’s wine cooler, or energy drinks as I like to refer to them!!
OMG that looks yummy!! Oh and I will take whatever is in that glass too!! Yum!
Thank you thank you thank you for posting this!! My husband and I love mexican food, especially Chipotle and Qdoba and we’ve been trying to master their rice and could never get it. As I was reading your post I was hoping that you would have a recipe for rice…and you do!! Thanks again!
P.S. you wouldn’t happen to know of any good corn salsa recipes like they serve at Chipotle?
Hi there! I just happened upon your blog, and it looks great! I’m now following you, and invite you to check my blog out, as well ~
I don’t eat fast food either, but I do like Chipotle (though I rarely go there, either). These recipes look great!
Looks perfect!
This recipe is amazing! Making it again tonight for probably the 4th time. My husband and kids love it. 😊