The best beef taco filling can be in your tummy today.
Barbacoa de res is a Mexican beef dish that’s slow cooked til juicy, soft and tender, then coated in a savory red chile sauce that has just a tiny hint of spice and a huge hit of flavor. If you love tacos and you love beef, this is the taco filling for you.
This is one of the greatest meat dishes to come out of a region full of delicious meat dishes. If you like carnitas, al pastor, adovada, carne asada, or birria tacos, you’re gonna love barbacoa. But even if you already know how amazing barbacoa is, keep on reading to find out just how crazy easy it is to make at home.What is barbacoa?
Barbacoa originated in the Caribbean as an in-ground slow cooked whole animal wrapped in leaves, but these days it’s most closely associated with Mexican food. Fun fact: Barbacoa is said to be the originator word for barbeque, and it’s basically the same idea: carefully slow cooked meats imbued with a lot of intense flavors.
Mexican barbacoa as we know it today is a juicy and super flavorful soft shredded beef/lamb/goat seasoned with dried chiles and spices and slow or pressure cooked until it falls apart. It’s sweet, tangy, just a little spicy, very complex, and irresistibly good. You can serve it in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, flautas, and so much more more. This version is a super easy and simplified barbacoa de res, which translates to barbacoa beef, although you could adapt this recipe to lamb or goat if you want.
