This Mexican Shredded Beef has incredible depth of flavour! The sauce is really rich and thick, and there is PLENTY of it. Fantastic for tacos, burritos, enchiladas and quesadillas, piled high on Mexican Red Rice or stuffed in rolls to make sliders!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Mexican Shredded Beef
I have a “thing” about shredded meats. I just love how it acts like a mop for sauces, so every mouthful is so juicy.
From Shredded Chicken Tacos to Pulled Chicken Nachos, Shredded Beef Ragu Pasta and Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken and Rice Soup to Crispy Chinese Shredded Chicken, if the eating experience is better when the meat is shredded – I shred it.
And Mexican Shredded Beef makes the cut – tenfold!! In fact, I adore it so much I’ve recently published another version – Beef Barbacoa. This version is slightly tangy and punching through with flavour from chipotle chillies!
The sauce for this Mexican Shredded Beef is loaded with big flavours – and there’s PLENTY of it!
What goes in Slow Cooker Mexican Beef
There’s a ton of spices in this that makes up the flavour of the braising liquid which becomes the sauce!
The secret ingredient is orange juice – it’s actually quite a common ingredient in Mexican cuisine. For example, it’s used in Carnitas (Mexican Slow Cooker Pulled Pork) and the marinade for Chicken Fajitas.
It doesn’t make the broth taste orangey at all – it totally transforms when slow cooked, and adds a touch of sweetness and flavour into the sauce.
How to make Slow Cooker Mexican Beef
The making part is very straightforward and mostly hands off time:
Cut beef into big pieces and sprinkle with spices
Sear aggressively: browning = flavour on both the beef and in the sauce (from the brown stuff on the base of the pot)
Add everything else into the pot
Slow cook on the stove, oven, slow cooker or pressure cooker until fall apart tender
Shred
Toss back into the sauce
Transfer to serving platter
Devour in desired form! (Tacos in this case 🙂 )
What to make with Mexican Shredded Beef
The beauty of this Mexican Beef is that it’s 100% freezer friendly and can be used for dozens of dishes, making it a brilliant standby for quick meals. Here’s just a few ideas:
Obvious uses
Tacos (this recipe)
Nachos – switch out the chicken in this Shredded Chicken Nachos recipe
Burritos – freezer friendly!
Quesadillas – switch out one of the fillings for this beef
Beef Enchiladas – skip the ground beef/mince filling and spices, just use this beef instead. (Still make the Enchilada Sauce, use the refried beans etc)
Mexican Plates – Piled beef over Mexican Red Rice with a big dollop of Guacamole, Pico de Gallo and sour cream, corn on the cob, finish with lime wedges and fresh coriander/cilantro
Some less obvious, mighty tasty ideas
Sliders – stuffed into bread rolls to make sliders!
Mexican Toasties 🥑🧀 – toast bread → smear with avocado → pile on shredded beef → top with cheese → MELT → devour 🙌
Mexican “Empanadas” – make triangles/parcels (like this)using puff pastry, seal with egg, brush with egg, bake until golden. Try adding corn and black beans to fill it out!
Mexican Cottage Pie – mix through sautéed onion, capsicum/bell peppers, zucchini, corn and other chopped veg of choice. Pour into casserole dish, then top with mashed potato and bake per this Cottage Pie recipe. Or try Mexican Beef Chicken Pot Pie!
Mexican Beef Lasagna – layer this beef with tortillas in a baking dish, top with loads of cheese and bake! I’d fill it out with veggies.
Fully Loaded Mexican Breakfast! – make Shakshuka (Middle Eastern Baked Eggs) which, really, is made with thoroughly Mexican flavours, and serve with a generous pile of this beef and warm tortillas. OMG….
Breakfast Enchiladas – skip the bacon, use this beef instead
Shredded Beef Tacos
Here’s what I use to make a simple Shredded Beef Tacos spread- something that’s super quick to assemble:
This Mexican Shredded Beef
Warmed or charred tortillas
Sour cream
Lime wedges
Fresh lime wedges
Fresh coriander/cilantro leaves, whole or finely chopped
You won’t need a separate sauce because this shredded beef is so juicy and saucy.
So really, if you have a batch of this Mexican Beef on hand, then you’re just 15 minutes away from the taco spread pictured above because all you have to make is the Pico de Gallo (and if that’s all too hard, just slice some tomatoes!!) – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
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Mexican Shredded Beef (and Tacos)
Ingredients
Spice Mix
- 1 1/2 tbsp chipotle powder , adjust spiciness to taste (Note 5)
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp All Spice powder (ground All Spice)
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp onion powder or garlic powder OR 1 tsp of each
- 1 tsp salt and pepper , each
Beef
- 1 – 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 lb / 1.5kg beef chuck or brisket (or gravy or any other slow cooking beef) cut into 4 pieces
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 onion , diced (yellow, brown or white)
- 3/4 cup (185 ml) orange juice
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 14 oz / 400g can crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups (500 ml) beef or chicken broth/stock
- 1/2 cup (125ml) water
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Combine the Spice Mix ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle 4 teaspoons over the beef and pat so it sticks.
- Heat the olive oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Add the beef (in batches if necessary) and brown well on all sides. Remove onto a plate.
- Turn the stove down to medium. If the pot looks dry, add more olive oil.
- Add the garlic and onion and cook for 3 minutes until soft.
- Add the orange juice and lime juice, and scrape the bottom of the pot so the brown bits mix into the liquid.
- Add tomato, beef stock, water and remaining spice mix. Mix, then return beef into pot.
- Put the lid on, bring to a simmer then turn the stove down so it is bubbling gently, not rapidly.
- Cook for 2 hours, then remove lid and simmer for another 30 minutes until beef is tender enough to shred. (Note 2 other cook methods).
- Remove the beef from sauce, shred with 2 forks.
- Leave the sauce to simmer with the lid off for 10 to 15 minutes to reduce and thicken to your taste. Adjust salt to taste. Optional: puree with stick blender to make it smooth (I do this for company)
- Toss beef back into the sauce (can reserve some Sauce for drizzling on tacos if you want, there’s plenty).
- Transfer beef into large dish and serve. See notes for suggestions.
Tacos
- To make tacos, serve the beef with warmed small tortillas, avocado slices, Pico de Gallo, shredded cheese, sour cream, lime wedges and extra cilantro/coriander leaves.
Recipe Notes:
- Mild – reduce to 2 tsp to 1 tbsp, add 1 tsp extra coriander, plus add 1 tsp cumin
- Medium – use 1.5 tbsp per recipe (I do this for groups of friends, good mid point)
- Spicy, but not blow your head off spicy – increase to 2 tbsp (I like this)
Nutrition Information:
Originally published September 2015, updated July 2019 with new photos, new video, new step photos and Life of Dozer section added. No change to recipe!
Life of Dozer
Bushwalking with Dozer – best done in winter when it’s snake free!
This recipe can be adapted for a crock pot, right? Or would you recommend cooking it on the stove?
Hi Rae! It sure can 🙂 I have slow cooker instructions in the notes.
If it is monday today and I want to make this for a birthday party wednesday evening, how much can i do in advance?
All of it! 🙂 It will keep very well for 2 days!
Made this today for Sunday lunch. We had it with roast potatoes and steamed veg. Awesome!
I love Mexican food, and tacos are my absolute favorite! I’m definitely craving a good beef taco right now! And this looks like just that recipe! Thanks for sharing! 😀
You and me both!! Hmm, I might have to defrost some in the freezer and have these for dinner again tonight! 🙂
I think you and I like the same types of food. Are you sure that Mexico isn’t closer to Australia? These sound and look fabulous!
I think we love the same type of foods too!! Mexico is way too far away from Australia….I can’t WAIT to go!!! 🙂
Oh my goodness I can’t wait to try this recipe. It looks w o n d e r f u l!!!
Thank you Norma! I do hope you try it!! I really loved the sauce – it’s so rich!
These look scrumptious and the flavor combination sounds amazing!
Thank you Sabrina!! 🙂
This looks super yummy – I’m surrounded by TexMex here in Texas so I’ve def eaten quite my fair share. I totally would love to try this out for a party (and freeze the rest)
This is PERFECT for parties!! 🙂
There is it…there is my favorite tablescape pictures…it just looks like you are waiting for me to come over to dinner…but you are aren’t you? And that salad is calling my name! But I do love how that sauce glistens…so lovely Nagi… I love freezer meals like this! Make, freeze, forget 🙂
My freezer is chock full of freezer friendly meals!!! 🙂
Oh my goodness, this looks so good Nagi! I can’t wait to try it. Oh yes, and I’m ALWAYS in the mood for Mexican!
ME TOO!!!! N x
You know, Nagi, I just love Mexican food, but lack confidence to make it very often.
You’ve explained this so well that I feel completely happy about giving it a go. I love the sound of the spices (did you find the Chipotle powder easily in Oz?) and … orange juice? Mmmm! Really like the idea of having oodles of meat left over to pop in the freezer, too.
P.S. A reader made my 6-ingredient chocolate cake after reading about it here and loved it – thank you, darling!
Nagi, I’m the guilty party who made Helen’s cake–twice in a week, actually! I assume you will have time to shop for spices when you come to the US in November. If not, I’m happy to do a spice run for you before we meet. I love chipotle chiles and powder. Can you get the ones canned in adobo sauce in Australia? They keep in the frig almost forever. I will try this recipe soon. I’ve made others in the slow cooker but I bet yours is better!
I am obsessed with chipotle in adobo!! I was planning to create a recipe to share soon. I’m thinking a slow cooker shredded chicken made with an adobo sauce! It will be so delicious I think!!! And YES I will be stocking up on a lot of food when I’m in LA!! Thank you so much for the offer to do a spice run though! N x
Hey Helen! Chipotle can be annoying to find here in OZ. I don’t know why the supermarkets don’t carry it!! But I see it in most delis and green grocers. 🙂 Don’t worry, you’ll find plenty of it around when you come “home”! 🙂
The pictures are driving me crazy, what an awesome recipe!!
Thanks Matt! Tacos. Hard to go wrong!!! 🙂
Great to see this recipe and how you have made it. I make this similar beef a lot but have never written down the recipe. I am on the right track it seems because this looks delectable Nagi
Well it makes ME feel better knowing that a talented cook as yourself has a recipe along these lines! 😉
Oh my gosh, the close up of the sauce is KILLING me. I am loving the look of these tacos!
Hi Nagi. Is there anything I could substitute for chipotle powder (it’s not something I’ve ever used here in NZ). I think you can get chipotle sauce at some supermarkets here but don’t have any in the cupboards at home…would chilli powder work? Or cayenne pepper?
Hi Naomi! Chiptole powder can be annoying to find in Australia too, sometimes 🙂 It’s not sold at supermarkets yet, but I often find it at fruit & veg stores and delis. And speciality gourmet stores too, but it’s more expensive! At green grocers, it is quite cheap, around the same price as other spices. It has a very smoky flavour so I think the best substitute would be smoked paprika + cayenne pepper + cumin powder. 1/2 tbsp of each. Thank you for the question, I will update the recipe!
This looks heavenly! I need to make tacos soon! We normally used minced beef, but this looks gorgeous and rich!
Oh, me too! As in – I usually use minced beef. 🙂 So shredded beef is a nice change! And fab for feeding a crowd too! 🙂
This sounds a lot like the carne asada I just made (in the slow cooker because I bought the wrong cut of beef). The one I made didn’t have tomatoes, but it had a lot of oil, because it was supposed to be a marinade. We’ll try it for dinner tonight, but even if we like it, I’ll give this recipe a try. Actually I think it’s sort of a cross between the slow cooker BBQ beef I made recently and the carne asada. Making yours would be a good choice. (of course!) 🙂
Hi Susan! I keep meaning to share my Carne Asada 🙂 It’s a bit different – the sauce is definately richer. I do hope you consider trying it! I would love to know what you think!
Nagi – I so love your “staging” – those last 2 pictures just before the recipe are so lovely to look at – not only is the food mouthwatering, but the shredded beef tacos are staged so well!
BTW – that chipotle and citrus spiced sauce sounds wonderful!
Aw, thank you Shashi!! You just made my morning 🙂 Working on table spreads. They take ages to set up (and clean up) but it’s worth it when I have time!! N x
Look at you go again, wowza ! I bet there’e people out there licking their computer screen just about now , yummy !
You flatter me Florentina! That’s what people do when they visit YOUR blog!! N x
you are making me drool all over my keyboard Nagi
Well now, that’s a high praise! I’m so GLAD to hear that! Just keep tissues nearby when you visit my blog – te he!! 🙂
Now this is my kind of meal. Even though it’s only breakfast here, I could totally do with a couple of those tacos. 🙂
Ba ha! I just said the same to a reader – I felt like a bowl of this for breakfast! Stuff cereal – way too boring!! 🙂