Love tacos? Love birria? Then you are going to LOVE these Easy Beef Birria Tacos! Meltingly tender, slow-cooked beef served in soft corn tortillas, with a bowl of the most delicious birria consomé on the side!
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Surely one of Mexico’s greatest dishes?
I am a huge fan of Beef Birria (or birria de res). It is arguably one of Mexico’s greatest dishes and features meltingly tender beef slow-cooked in an unbelievably delicious tomato, chilli, cumin, garlic and oregano broth.
It can be served in bowls as a stew, but hands down my favourite way to have birria is as birria tacos – the shredded birria meat is served in fresh corn tortillas, garnished with fresh coriander (cilantro), diced white onion and a squeeze of lime. The insanely delicious broth – known as the consomé – is served on the side as a delicious dipping sauce. This was exactly how I had birria when I was in Mexico recently.
If you love Mexican flavours, meltingly tender, slow-cooked beef and tacos, then you’re going to LOVE these Easy Beef Birria Tacos!
How to make Birria Tacos
Birria tacos are a little time-consuming to make, but if you follow my easy peasy beef birria recipe it is still easy – and in any case, the oven does most of the hard work!
All you need to do is make the birria as per this recipe: Easy Mexican Beef Birria (this will take approximately 3.5 hours, but most of this will be ‘in the oven’ time, leaving you plenty of time to prepare the tortillas and all the toppings / side dishes etc.)
When your birria is ready, shred the beef as per the recipe, but don’t put it back in the broth. Instead place the shredded beef on a serving plate, then drizzle a very small amount of the broth over the meat.
Serve the shredded beef, corn tortillas and all the toppings in the centre of the table, so everyone can help themselves.
Serve the broth (AKA consomé) in little bowls – 1 per person, so everyone can dunk their birria tacos into their own little bowl of consomé.
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
What to serve with Birria Tacos
Birria tacos are typically served quite simply. The birria meat is served inside freshly cooked corn tortillas and topped with fresh coriander (cilantro), diced white onion and a squeeze of lime juice. The consomé is served as a dipping sauce on the side.
However, you can absolutely add your own twist! In the recipe below I have suggested adding other sides such as guacamole, salsa and grated cheese.
You could also switch the corn tortillas for flour ones, which are easier to find in the UK.
Where can you get authentic corn tortillas from?
For the proper, authentic birria tacos experience, you need taco-size corn tortillas… but getting authentic corn tortillas in the UK is not easy!
Supermarkets in the UK simply do not sell them (sometimes they sell something called ‘corn tortillas’ but when you look at the ingredients, they are nothing like the corn tortillas you get in Mexico!)
You have 2 options – you can make them at home (I have 2 recipes one for the normal yellow corn tortillas and one for blue corn tortillas) or you can buy them from a specialist Mexican online retailer like MexTrade.
If you do buy them from a specialist retailer, look out for ones which are freshly made and where the ingredients are just maize flour, salt and water – that is why I like the corn tacos from MexTrade – they are pretty much exactly like the freshly made ones you get in Mexico!
If you can’t get hold of corn tortillas, you can always use regular flour ones, which all supermarkets sell – they won’t be quite as ‘authentic’ but they will still work!
Homemade Corn Tortillas
Birria Tacos vs Quesabirria Tacos
You might be wondering what the difference is between Birria Tacos vs Quesabirria Tacos. Birria Tacos are tacos which contain birria, whereas Quesabirria Tacos contain both cheese and birria. (Queso means cheese in Spanish.)
Typically with quesabirria tacos, the corn tortilla is dipped into the consomé then lightly fried, then the birria and queso is added and the tortillas are fried on both sides – so a quesabirria taco is a bit like a cross between a birria taco and a quesadilla.
And, just to confuse things, sometimes people use the phrase ‘Birria Tacos’ to mean Quesabirria Tacos. And sometimes Quesabirria Tacos are just called ‘Quesabirria’.
This is what I got when I ordered Birria Tacos in a restaurant in Mexico recently…
Birria Tacos in Mexico
What to drink with Birria Tacos
Birria Tacos require a wine with a bit of ‘oomph’ that can stand up to the robust flavours in this dish. I recommend either an Australian Shiraz, a Syrah from the Northern Rhone, an Argentinian Malbec, a Tempranillo from Spain or a Cabernet Sauvignon from the USA or South Africa.
I really don’t recommend white or rosé wines with birria tacos.
What to do with leftover Birria Tacos
Tacos, once made up, do not keep very well as the corn tortillas start to disintegrate.
Instead, I would always recommend you serve all the individual elements of the tacos separately, then if you end up with leftovers, you can store the individual elements separately, as they keep much better separately.
For example, if you have leftover corn tortillas, simply wrap them in foil and store in the fridge, and if you have any leftover salsa or guacamole, you can simply cover them with some clingfilm or foil and store them in the fridge too.
And, of course, the actual birria keeps beautifully in the fridge. Place any leftover birria in a plastic lidded container. The leftovers will happily keep for 3-4 days in the fridge… or much longer in the freezer (see below).
To reheat, simply tip the birria into a saucepan with a splash of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until piping hot all the way through.
Alternatively reheat this birria in the microwave until piping hot all the way through.
Can you freeze Birria Tacos?
Again, I do not recommend freezing already ‘made up’ birria tacos, but the beef birria itself freezes beautifully.
Simply put the cooked and cooled birria into a plastic lidded container and place in the freezer, where is will keep for up to 3 months.
Defrost overnight and reheat as above, then serve with freshly made tortillas, guacamole, salsa etc.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Easy Beef Birria Tacos
Ingredients
Birria Tacos:
- 1 quantity Easy Mexican Beef Birria (See Note 1)
- 32 taco size (12cm/5inch) soft corn tortillas either homemade or shop-bought (See Note 2)
Instructions
- Make the birria as per this recipe: Easy Mexican Beef Birria (this will take approximately 3.5h, but most of this will be ‘in the oven’ time, leaving you plenty of time to prepare the tortillas and all the toppings / side dishes etc.)
- Start making your homemade corn tortillas about 1h before your birria is ready. Store in a tortillada to keep them warm. (Alternatively, start warming through your shop bought tortillas about 20 minutes before your birria is ready.)
- Prep your other toppings (coriander, onions, grated cheese) about 10 minutes before your birria is ready to come out of the oven. (You can prep these earlier if you prefer, but they will be fresher if prepared just before your birria is ready.)
- When your birria is ready, shred the beef as per the recipe, but don’t put it back in the broth. Instead place the shredded beef on a serving plate, then drizzle a very small amount of the broth over the meat so it is not too dry.
- Serve the shredded beef, corn tortillas (in the tortillada), and all the toppings in the centre of the table, so everyone can help themselves.
- Serve the broth (AKA consomé) in little bowls – 1 per person, so everyone can dunk their birria tacos into their own little bowl of consomé.
Notes
- One quantity of beef birria is 2kg of meat. Depending on your appetite, this may too much for 1 meal – even for 8 people. However, given that birria is hard to make with less than 2kg of meat AND it’s quite time-consuming, I recommend you make the full quantity… but prepare for leftovers!
- You can either make your own homemade corn tacos OR buy them. If buying them, I recommend these corn tortillas from MexTrade as they are made just like homemade corn tortillas. If you buy them I still recommend warming them up in a frying pan and putting them in a tortillada to stay warm. Alternatively you can buy regular-size or taco-size tortillas from the supermarket – but just be warned, they won’t be nearly as good as fresh corn tortillas! I have suggested 32 tortillas for 8 people, but obviously this will depend on appetite and other accompaniments – do make/buy more if you think you will need more than 4 tortillas per person!
- In an ideal world you would use Oaxaca cheese – however I have NEVER seen Oaxaca cheese for sale in the UK, so I recommend you sub with grated mozzarella, which is quite similar in flavour and texture. Alternatively you could use crumbled feta… or good old cheddar!
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Disclosure
This blog post contains affiliate links, this means if you click on a link and go on to buy the product I recommend, I will get a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more – thanks in advance!
Sprunki says
This recipe seriously makes me want to try making birria tacos at home! The slow-cooked beef sounds incredibly tender and flavorful, and serving it with that rich consomé for dipping just takes it to another level. I also appreciate the tips about corn tortillas—never realized how tricky it can be to find authentic ones here. Definitely bookmarking this for my next taco night!
Eb Gargano says
Aw – yay, that is so great to hear – enjoy!