Beef Birria is arguably one of Mexico’s greatest dishes: meltingly tender beef slow-cooked in an unbelievably delicious tomato, chilli, cumin, garlic and oregano broth. If you love beef and authentic Mexican flavours, you’re going to love my Easy Mexican Beef Birria!
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Think Birria is hard? Think again!
Mexican Beef Birria (or birria de res) is arguably one of Mexico’s greatest dishes: meltingly tender beef slow-cooked in an unbelievably delicious broth, flavoured with 3 different types of dried chilli, tomatoes, cinnamon, cumin, garlic, onion, bay and oregano.
But Birria also has a reputation for being difficult and complicated – not so with my recipe! I have spent a lot of time researching authentic Mexican birria recipes to understand exactly how to get the flavour right, but then I have just made a few tiny tweaks to make this recipe simpler and less fiddly!
Now, I do confess, this is definitely not the quickest recipe on Easy Peasy Foodie – but it is easy and straightforward to make. And the results are SO worth it.
If you love beef and authentic Mexican flavours, you’re going to love my Easy Mexican Beef Birria!
How to make Mexican Beef Birria – the easy way!
My recipe for Beef Birria really is surprisingly simple to make.
All you need to do is place dried chillies, cinnamon, bay, onion, garlic and water in a saucepan then simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile season and fry the beef on all sides until nicely browned. Then place the beef in a casserole dish.
Next, transfer the chillies, onion and garlic, plus all of the cooking liquid to a blender. Add in a tin of tomatoes, cumin, oregano and a beef stock cube, then blend everything together until it is completely smooth.
Tip everything from the blender the casserole dish, bring to the boil, then slow cook in the oven for 3 hours. After the 3 hours is up, shred the beef using two forks. Either return the shredded beef to the broth or serve the shredded beef and the broth separately.
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
How ‘authentic’ is this beef birria recipe?
I have tried to keep this beef birria recipe as ‘authentic’ as possible, while also trying to keep it as simple as possible. I recently travelled to Mexico and had beef birria in an authentic Mexican restaurant (the type locals go to, not tourists) and it tasted pretty much identical to my birria!
I have used a few little tweaks and shortcuts, to make this recipe less complicated and ‘fiddly’ to do, than traditional recipes – for example using tinned tomatoes and leaving out some of the non-essential ingredients (the kind that turned up in some, but not all, of the authentic birria recipe recipes I studied for my research).
I also don’t strain the blended sauce before adding it to the beef in the casserole dish – this is because this step is completely unnecessary if you use a high powered blender, which is capable of getting the sauce completely smooth.
Beef Birria Tacos in Mexico
How hot is beef birria?
The truth is you can make beef birria as hot or as mild as you like! When I had birria in Mexico it was – to my British tastebuds – ‘medium hot’ and that is what I have created here.
The ‘heat’ comes only from the arból chillies. (The guajillo and ancho chillies do not really have any heat and are added for their flavour rather than heat).
I have used 2 arból chillies in this recipe and, as a result, this birria recipe comes out ‘medium hot’.
But you can easily adjust the ‘hotness’ by adjusting the amount of arból chillies: 0-1 will give you a mild birria, 3+ will give you a hot birria.
(Not sure? Try 1 to start, you can always add some hot salsa at the end if it’s not quite hot enough for you!)
Where can you buy dried Mexican chillies?
Normally on this site, I try to avoid unusual or hard to find ingredients. However, that is impossible with this recipe, since dried chillies are at the heart of Birria – replacing them with anything more readily available would ruin the whole dish!
However, these dried chillies are actually very easy to get hold of online via companies, such as The Cool Chile Company, MexGrocer, or MexTrade. You can also buy whole dried chillies on Amazon.
(The ones I use for this recipe come from The Cool Chile Company.)
What is the best cut of beef for Birria?
To make really good Birria, you need a cut of meat that is designed for slow cooking. The best options therefore are things like chuck roast (often called braising steak in the UK) and brisket.
Alternatively, you can just buy a joint in the supermarket that is called something like ‘Slow Roasting Beef Joint’, then you’ll know you’re buying something suitable for slow cooking.
I have also achieved excellent results with silverside, which is usually one of the cheaper cuts of beef.
What to serve with beef birria
Beef Birria is typically served as a stew in a bowl, usually with fresh corn tacos on the side and garnished with fresh coriander (cilantro), diced white onion and a squeeze of lime.
Alternatively, the shredded birria meat is often served as tacos, in fresh corn tortillas, again garnished with fresh coriander, diced onion and lime. If it is served as tacos, the cooking liquid – known as the consomé – is served on the side as a delicious dipping sauce. This was how I had birria when I was in Mexico. (See this recipe for Birria Tacos.)
However, you can serve Birria however you like! You could serve it as a stew with a side of rice, or you could serve it with flour tortillas instead of corn tortillas, or you could turn it into a burrito, or served it on top of nachos… and, of course, you can serve it with whatever toppings and sides you like. For example:
- Homemade Guacamole
- Homemade Salsa
- Homemade Refried Beans
- Grated Cheese
- Sour Cream
Homemade Corn Tortillas
What to drink with beef birria
Beef Birria requires a wine that can stand up to the strong 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 recently had this Beef Birria with a good quality Aussie Shiraz, from the Barossa valley, and it was a perfect match.
I really don’t recommend white or rosé wines with birria.
What to do with leftover beef birria
One quantity of beef birria is 2kg of meat. Depending on appetite and accompaniments, this is likely to be 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 a little time-consuming, I recommend you make the full quantity… but prepare for leftovers!
Place any leftovers in a plastic lidded container. The leftovers will happily keep for 3-4 days in the fridge… or much longer in the freezer.
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 beef birria?
Absolutely! Beef birria freezes beautifully. In fact, because of this it makes a great ‘fill the freezer’ recipe.
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.
You can either freeze all the birria together, divide into whole meal size portions, or divide into individual portions, depending on how you think you might use it in the future.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Easy Mexican Beef Birria
Ingredients
In the saucepan:
- 10 dried guajillo chillies stems and seeds removed (See Note 1)
- 3 dried ancho chillies stems and seeds removed (See Note 1)
- 2 dried árbol chillies stems and seeds removed (See Notes 1 & 2)
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 medium onion cut into 8 pieces
- 6 cloves garlic peeled
- 750 ml boiling water
For the beef:
- 2 kg beef brisket or chuck roast cut into 8cm/3inch chunks
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
In the blender:
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 beef stock cube (I use Kallo organic)
To serve:
- Finely diced white onion
- Finely chopped fresh coriander (AKA cilantro)
- Lime quarters
- Soft corn tortillas either homemade or shop-bought (or soft flour tortillas or rice)
Instructions
- Place all the ‘in the saucepan’ ingredients in a medium to large saucepan. Bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered on a low heat for 10 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 160C / 140C fan / gas mark 3 / 325F.
- Season the beef with salt and pepper.
- Heat the olive oil a frying pan over a high heat for 1 minute, then sear the beef on all sides until nicely browned. (I recommend you do this in batches to ensure a good sear. If you overcrowd the pan the meat will start to boil rather than sear!)
- When the meat is seared, place in a large hob-proof, oven-proof casserole dish and set aside. (See Note 3.)
- When the ‘in the saucepan’ ingredients have finished simmering, turn the heat off, discard the cinnamon and bay leaves, then transfer all the chillies, the onion, the garlic and all of the remaining cooking liquid to a blender. Add in all the ‘in the blender’ ingredients and blend everything together until it is completely smooth. (See Note 4.)
- Tip everything from the blender into the same casserole dish you put the seared beef into, then place this casserole dish on the hob, over a high heat, and bring to the boil.
- Put the lid on your casserole dish and place it into your preheated oven for 3 hours.
- After the 3 hours is up, remove the casserole dish from the oven, remove the beef chunks and place on a plate or board. Shred the beef using two forks.
- Either return the shredded beef to the broth or serve the shredded beef and the broth separately.
Notes
- Normally on this site I try to avoid unusual or hard to find ingredients. However, that is impossible with this recipe, since these dried chillies are at the heart of Birria – replacing them with anything more readily available would ruin the whole dish. However, these chillies are actually very easy to get hold of online via companies such as The Cool Chile Company, MexGrocer, or MexTrade. You can also buy whole dried chillies on Amazon. (The ones I use for this recipe come from The Cool Chile Company.)
- This recipe comes out ‘medium hot’, but you can adjust the ‘hotness’ by adjusting the amount of arból chillies: 0-1 will give you a mild birria, 3+ will give you a hot birria. Not sure? Try 1 to start, you can always add some hot salsa at the end if it’s not quite hot enough for you!
- If you don’t have a casserole dish that can go on the hob AND in the oven, simply use one that can only go in the oven. In step 5, place the meat in this casserole dish. Then in Step 7, simply tip everything from the blender into a regular saucepan, bring to the boil, then pour over the beef in your casserole dish. After this, put the casserole in the oven and continue as per the recipe.
- You will need a high-power blender to get this sauce completely smooth at this step. If your blender is not powerful enough to get the sauce completely smooth, simply use a sieve to strain the sauce into the casserole dish.
- One quantity of beef birria is 2kg (4.5lb) of meat. Depending on appetite and accompaniments, 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!
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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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!
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