slow-cooker shredded beef tacos
February 4th, 2010
I think I may be one of the only people in the world who’s not a Chipotle fan. I know…judge away.
But…I absolutely love shredded beef tacos. :) They’re my absolute favorite thing to order at two of my favorite Mexican restaurants in town. So when I saw one of my favorite bloggers post a delicious photo and recipe of her shredded beef tacos a few months ago, I knew I had to give them a try!
In the past whenever I’ve tried making shredded beef, the seasonings have always seemed too bland. But sure enough, this recipe — rockin’ the chipotle peppers, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic and more — made for some totally flavorful tacos!!! And for leftovers later in the week…it starred again in some quesadillas and sandwiches as well. :)
So bring out your crock pot, and give this recipe a try! It’s definitely a keeper!
Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos Recipe
(Adapted from My Kitchen Addiction)
Ingredients:
- 1-2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 2 pounds beef (boneless chuck roast)
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1 cup beef stock
- 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, minced (I love spice and used two!)
- 1/2 large sweet onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- Flour tortillas
- Favorite taco toppings (**ideas below**)
Method:
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine the chili powder, cumin, and smoked paprika in a small bowl.
Rub the spice mix into the beef, covering each side evenly. Once the oil is hot (it will shimmer a bit in the skillet), place the beef in the skillet and sear on each side.
Remove the beef from the skillet and place in the bottom of a slow cooker. Leave the pan on the heat, and add in the beef stock to deglaze, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato paste and minced chipotle and whisk into the pan sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.
Add the diced onion and minced garlic on top of the seared beef in the slow cooker. Pour the pan sauce down over the onions, garlic, and beef. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Remove the beef from the slow cooker and shred with two forks. Use a slotted spoon to remove the onions from the slow cooker, and mix into the shredded beef.
Serve the beef in the flour tortillas, topped with your favorite taco toppings.
Some topping ideas include:
- guacamole or avocado
- fresh salsa
- Mexican rice
- grated cheese
- fresh lettuce
- tomato
- onion
- cilantro
- squeeze of lime juice
Ali’s Tip:
If you’re like me and rarely make it through an entire can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, would highly recommend chipotle powder! It’s now available in most grocery stores, and is so fun to have on hand. For one pepper, I usually substitute in around 1/2 tsp. of the powder.
Something about a slowcooker recipe that always gets me. It has such promise of tender, pulled meat that just melts! Perfect to go with your banana split cupcakes!
I’ve never been to a Chipotle restaurant – but I love shredded beef tacos too! I’ll have to try and find chipotle powder, it sounds like a better deal than trying to use up those cans of peppers.
What, you don’t like chipotle?? I can forgive because this recipe looks delicious! One of my favorite restaurants serves shredded beef chimichangas and tacos and I absolutely love them! Now I can try to recreate at home!
I love shredded beef, this recipe sounds and looks amazing!
I love my slow cooker. I have healthy recipes that I post on my slow cooking blog if you are interested.
Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Awesome recipe, Jen — thank you!! :)
Hi Mireya!
I know…weird. I’ve just never really been blown away there. Maybe it’s because I feel like my burritos are always 70% rice, and minimal everything else. Or because I like to scope out toppings, and you have to make super-speedy decisions in the line…ha! I’ll still go there with friends though and enjoy it. :) But love making these at home. Hope you enjoy the recipe!!
~A
I’ve always wanted to try this, and now I think I will. Thanks sis!
I wish I had a slow-cooker so I could make these, they look perfect.
I don’t like Chipotle either!! These look fantastic! I never can seem to find the chipotle chili powder in my stores…I always end up wasting almost an entire can of chipotle peppers in adobo! I need to get an ice tray and just freeze them individually I guess.
funny, I just had Chipotle today and came here for your latest ideas. And you got my Chipotle favorite here. I am sure this comes out better from home. thanks!!!
This sounds delicious and I love slowcooker recipes – will definitely try these. :)
I think Chipotle is so-so. I think the lack of spices is part of the reason why. These tacos, though, woah…they look very well-seasoned. I have a bunch of dried peppers in my kitchen from a Mole sauce I made a while ago. Do you have any ideas on how I could use those instead of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce?
Ali!
My mouth is watering!! this looks super delicious! I’d love to feature it on my site http://www.canigettherecipe.com with full credits and links back to you if you are keen.
Please let me know ASAP!
All the best and happy cooking!
Cari
My husband and I put together this recipe for supper recently. All the family adored it, most definitely I’ll be preparing it frequently from now on, it is always enjoyable to get new recommendations for tasty recipes combined with easy to understand techniques to create them. Appreciate your supplying some.
This looks amazing. I am going to try it tonight for Cinco de Mayo!
Making this tomorrow night – will blog about it when I do. Thanks for the guidance
Made this for dinner today and all I can say is, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Oh, I made the lime cilantro rice too.
Yum. This looks so delicious. Thanks for a great recipe.
WoW, Made these tonight for my 2 brothers before watching the World Series!! They were amazing! An absolute HOME RUN!! :D I will be making these again very soon! We used white corn tortillas (from a local mexican resturant) topped with white american cheese, white onion, cilantro, guacamole, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice! HEAVEN! Thank you for sharing the recipe! =]
Just ate these and they were so good, will make again for sure.
I had some previously cooked shredded beef in the freezer, so I thought I would try the sauce with it. Delicious!
I don’t think you describe it this way, but when I added the tomato paste I put all the adobo sauce in there along with 2-3 chopped up chipotle peppers. The meat definitely has some kick, but its not mouthburning or anything.
I still scooped out the goodness after I shredded the beef, but left out the juice as it was crazy spicy when I tested it on my finger.
I made this yesterday for our New Year’s Eve dinner. So good! We doubled it and plan to freeze the leftovers. Can’t wait to have another taco tonight before it goes in the freezer! You know a recipe is great when you look forward to leftovers! Yum!
I have made this twice now for parties and people rave over them. The second time around I added some beer to the saucey mix and it was a delicious addition! Thanks for the recipe!
Stumbled upon your website searching for a recipe for fajitas… these were AMAZING and such a hit. Made it for a church group and cooked for 60 people. It had everyone raving! I live in Australia now and everyone kept saying, so Americans can cook? We didn’t think you guys had any food worth eating! (We export all the average stuff… McDonalds,…) Anyway, it was a huge success. I couldn’t find the Chipotle peppers here, but no fear. This was really quite easy. I did end up with a lot of excess liquid (maybe because tripled the recipe?) Instead of removing the meat and onions, I removed the liquid, reduced it by boiling off the excess and had a more intense/concentrated flavor. Thank you, thank you! I will use this one for years to come.
I’m way behind here but…. When I open a can of chipotles in adobo I fish out whatever I’m not using in the recipe and place them (seperated) on a cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper and put in the freezer. Once they are frozen (maybe hour or 2) I remove them and place them in a freezer storage bag with the date. Then when your next recipe call for one of those hot and tasty little peppers just get what you need out of your little stash in the freezer. (They are easier to chop up when frozen too~bonus!)
Going to make these for my Bunco group next week. They sound delicious!!
I’m about prep everything and get it in the slow cooker! My mouth is watering :)
Would this work with stew meat?
Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe?
Thank you! This was exactly what I was looking for! I added the Chipotle powder, not the actual pepper, and it was fantastic! Thank you so much for this reicipe. I will be making it again next week!
I made these tonight and they were so delicious … thanks so much for a fantastic recipe :)
I made this last night it was so easy and very good but I didn’t use the chipotle peppers I couldn’t find them.
This recipe is FANTASTIC. Can also use a well-marbled tri-tip instead of chuck roast.
i am also not a big fan of chipotle. this recipe looks delicious
I made this exactly as you said and it came out very dry :( What did I do wrong? It was only in the slow cooker for 5 hours. I want to attempt this again bc it looked sooooo yummy!
Re: Your tip for chipotle peppers in adobo sauce: I buy a can, and freeze what I don’t use.. then when you need one or two peppers, pop the baggie out of the freezer.. and just take out what you need.. A can will last a while this way!
You can also freeze the chipotles. I freeze them in small ziplocs so that I can always have them on hand. They are also fab if you add them to your beans when making bean burritos! Yum!
I tried this last night and it was oh so delicious! I used two peppers and took the leftovers to freeze individually, they last up to 6 months I think and they’re great to quickly thaw and throw in soups, veggie sides, etc. Either way, these tacos were amazing and incredibly easy. My friend kept sneaking into the kitchen to steal more meat and my roommate couldn’t get enough! Thanks for the great recipe, I’ll definitely be making this again for my picky brother.
Looks yummy! My husband has never been a Chipotle fan and last year he got the stomach flu after going there for dinner so now he really doesn’t like Chipotle. Just thought I would let you know you aren’t alone. :)
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This recipe is fantastic! Making it again tomorrow :-)
Want to try this for a large group. Can you tell me how many people this recipe will serve? Are there tricks for doubling or tripling the recipe?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am a novice for sure and want to make this for the teachers at my son’s school this Thursday. Thanks for your response!
I’m not a fan of chipotle either … but this recipe sounds amazing so I will make this later this week. Thanx for sharing!
Not a fan of chipolte either … but this recipe sounds good. I will try this. Thanx for sharing!
Looking forward to trying this recipe (even though I freaking love Chipotle and think its the best) but was wondering about it not having salt on the ingredient list. Does it really not need any salt added?
Quick question. How many people do you think this recipe will feed? I have family coming in for Thanksgiving and thought I’d try this for one of the other days. Lots of boys. 10 people in all. Thanks for your time.
Made a HUGE batch of these for a football party and they were devoured. Only one little taco worth of meat left.