Homemade Barbacoa Beef (Slow Cooker)
Slow cooked barbacoa beef that is just exploding with flavor! It's simple to make, requires no babysitting, and the meat is just fall-apart tender and delicious. Use this shredded beef on tacos, burritos, salads or anything else you please!
Servings: 10 - 12 servings
Ingredients
- 2 ½ - 3 pounds chuck roast with fat trimmed cut into 2 inch pieces or a bottom round roast
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2-4 chipotle peppers to taste
- 2 tablespoons lime juice about 1 lime
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 4 teaspoon cumin
- 2 1/2 teaspoons Mexican oregano regular is fine too
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 medium onion sliced
Instructions
- In a blender, blend together the apple cider vinegar, garlic, chipotle peppers, lime juice, beef broth, cumin, oregano, cloves, tomato paste, oil, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.
- In the slow cooker, add the beef, bay leaves, and sliced onions. Add the sauce from step one. Toss to combine. Cover and cook on the low setting for 6-8 hours or on the high setting for 3-4 hours or until the beef is tender and is falling apart easily when shredded with two forks.
- Discard the bay leaves. Use two forks to shred the beef into pieces. Toss the beef in the juices, cover and allow the barbacoa beef to sit and soak up the juice for another 10-15 minutes. Serve over tacos, burritos, nachos, burrito rice bowls, or however you please.
Notes
- Leftover beef should be refrigerated in an sealed container with the juices for up to 4 days. This recipe can also be frozen for up to 2 months.
- Blending the ingredients together in the blender is optional but I believe it provides more impactful flavor if you do blend it.
- The meat can be seared with a few tablespoons of oil in batches in a dutch oven prior to placing it in the slow cooker, but again that's optional.
