This easy recipe for Mexican Beef Barbacoa is full of authentic flavor and can be easily made in the oven, slow cooker, or an Instant Pot!
I’ve given this recipe as much authentic flavor as possible to bring you a full flavored Beef Barbacoa that rivals anything you’ll get in a restaurant. Your family will quickly fall in love with this easy recipe. Serve it up on tacos, or as a main dish with sides of rice and beans.
The sauce for this recipe uses dried guajillo and ancho peppers. These peppers are easily found in most supermarkets in the hispanic section. They can be intimidating to work with if you’ve never done it before, but they are actually super easy!
For this recipe, you’ll need to rehydrate your peppers. Simply place them into a bowl or jar and cover them with water. Let them soak for 1 to 4 hours (or overnight) before using in the recipe.
If you need to speed up the process of soaking your peppers, pour boiling water over them and let them sit for at least 30 minutes. The heat will help soften them faster.
You can make the sauce for this recipe in either a blender or a food processor. Water is needed to thin out the sauce enough to blend smoothly. Start with 1/4 cup of water and add more if you find it necessary to get it to blend (which depends on your blender). PRO TIP: You can use the water you soaked your peppers in for extra flavor.
Barbacoa was originally made using lamb, goat, or the head of a cow (beef cheeks). This same recipe will work with ANY of those items and the meat can easily be switched out without changing cooking times. I’ve used beef chuck roast in the photos and written recipe because it is most readily available to the majority of my audience.
This recipe includes instructions for a traditional braise in the oven, as well as instructions for the slow cooker and the Instant Pot. If you aren’t familiar with the Instant Pot yet, it’s a trendy kitchen gadget that is an electric pressure cooker. It can cook your roast to tender in just over 1 hour. Pretty impressive!
Watch the video below where I show you how to make this recipe in an Instant Pot, including some basic demonstration of how the pressure release valve works which can be helpful for first time Instant Pot users.
Mexican Beef Barbacoa
- 1 3 to 5 lb beef chuck roast
- Salt and pepper
- 4 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 dried guajillo peppers soaked stemmed and seeded
- 2 dried ancho peppers soaked stemmed and seeded
- 1 chipotle in adobo
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup water
- Place dried peppers into a bowl or jar and fill with water until covered. Soak 1 to 4 hours until softened.
- Season chuck roast with salt and pepper. Heat a large cast iron pot over high heat. Add in 2 tablespoons olive oil. Sear chuck roast on all sides. Once seared, remove pot from heat and set aside.
- In a blender, add in guajillo peppers, ancho peppers, chipotle, garlic, cider vinegar, brown sugar, salt, oregano, cinnamon, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, and water. Blend until smooth, adding more water if necessary to thin it out enough to blend.
- Pour sauce over chuck roast in the pan. Place the lid on and braise in a 300 degree oven for 3 hours, until meat is tender and easily shreds with a fork.
- Shred and serve. Serving Suggestion: serve on a warmed corn tortilla with some red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno.
Pretty good recipe! I used Mexican oregano instead of regular oregano – It’s much better. I soaked the peppers in hot water for about 20 minutes. I also added a few slices of onion to the top of the roast before starting the cooking process in my Instant Pot. If you’re using an Instant Pot, I recommend adding liquid to the sauce so it’s not pasty. I used the water I soaked the dried peppers in. I also added a few things to the meat after shredding – Smoked paprika, ground cumin, ground coriander, chipotle chili powder, salt, and Mexican… Read more »
Hi Rachael,
I’d like to make your barbacoa beef recipe. I’m not certain that I can find guajillo peppers. Could you please recommend a substitute?
Love your recipes.
Thanks
Laurie
I’ve found them at Walmart (:
I am in Arizona so it is probably easier. They are dried and in a bag. I haven’t found the Ancho chilis but leaving them out has not hurt the flavor.
Absolutely delicious!! I followed the recipe to a T!! It was moist, tender and so damn yummy. My kids loved it!!
Thank you for this amazing dish!!
Absolutely delicious! We served them on tortillas with fresh diced onion, avocado, and cilantro.
I do love your recipes and this one is top on my list right now. It is so flavorful and is worth all the time it takes. I make this one almost as much as the 30 Minute Tortilla Soup. Keep posting.
First time trying this recipe. It was so easy making the sauce. I didn’t find the Guajillo, so used dried New Mexico’s along with the ancho, and soaked in boiling hot water. Puréed all in the Vitamix and It was really thick so added more of the chili soak water to get it all. Baked in a cast iron pot in the oven, shut off and left it there for a couple more hours. OMG amazing flavor and tender!
This is one of our favorite recipes! I love how easy it is (I make it in the crockpot), and we all love the taste! Thank you!
This is my go-to barbacoa recipe for both tacos and enchiladas. My family all cheer up and start salivating when I said I made barbacoa.
This is a great recipe! Everyone seems to love it. Thank you!
I made this over the weekend. I used beef cheeks instead of the roast. I ended up having to cook for about 6 hours in a 300 degree oven. But can I say, holy smokes!! BEST Barbacoa EVER!!!!! Served with Cilantro, lime wedges, homemade Pico de Gallo, green verde sauce and purple onions. Oh my, thank you thank you thank you! I have been trying to find a GOOD recipe for this for a long time. So worth the time, this will be made many more times, I am sure! I don’t have a picture but next time I make… Read more »
Ok, I’m doing this, lol…my question is that I have a small can of chipotles in adobo, do i use the whole can or just one? It’s a 7 oz can
Just one. Chipotles in adobo are super powerful. There are very few recipes out there that would call for an entire can. I’d need a fire hose for my mouth!
I loved this recipe. Is there one for Pork Roast, I love the Pork I get at Mexican Restaurants. It is so tender and so flavorful
I’m making it again and couldn’t find ancho peppers so I used fresh poblano peppers so far it’s smelling amazing. I’m in love with this recipe
When it says one chipotle in adobo is that one pepper or one can? I imagine its only one pepper as one can seems like it would be like getting a blow torch in your mouth – those things are hot.!
Thanks!
It’s only 1 pepper. Sometimes I use 2 to give it a little more kick.
How spicy is this recipe? If it’s quite spicy, what do you recommend cutting out or down on to make it less so?
It’s a medium to low spicy. But if you want to cut it down, leave out the chipotle pepper which has the most heat to it.