Shredded Beef Tacos

These Shredded Beef Tacos are delicious and the recipe can easily be increased to feed a crowd.  These aren’t your momma’s ground beef tacos with seasoning out of an

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envelope!  Shredded Beef Tacos do take longer to make though.  There isn’t a lot of hands on effort required so it is pretty easy to get it started and then ignore it for the day.

I love using my Staub dutch oven for this recipe because I can sear the roast in it and then toss it into the oven.  If you don’t have one, you can sear in a fry pan and then transfer to a oven safe dish with a lid.  Even smarter, buy one from the Amazon link on the right.  I would not give mine up for anything and use it for everything from roasts to sourdough bread!

A cross rib or blade roast is a perfect cut to make these tacos.  I mix up the dry rub then rub it on all sides of the roast.  I like a mix of salt, granulated garlic, onion powder, smoked paprika, cayenne powder and chile powder.  Sometimes I add some cumin in as well.  Stir to combine it and then rub it on all sides of the roast.

Let the roast sit with the rub while you put together your braising liquid.  I like to use some canned tomatoes, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, red onion, oregano, salt, pepper and paprika.  The recipe below calls for two chipotle peppers but you can increase that if you like the heat.

Put your oven on at 300F and get your sealed cast iron dutch oven heating on the stove top.  I happen to have some beef tallow in my freezer so I used that as my cooking fat but you can use cooking fat of your choice like vegetable oil.

Once the oil is shimmery in your dutch oven, sear each side of the roast until it is nicely browned.  After you have seared all sides, remove from the heat and gently pour the braising liquid into the dutch oven.  Don’t pour it over the roast itself or you will remove the rub that you worked so hard to coat the roast in.

Put a lid on the dutch oven and put it in your oven for a few hours until it is easily shredded with a couple of forks.  You can basically ignore it although I do turn the roast over after a couple of hours.  If I am in the kitchen anyways, I will turn the roast a few times but it is not truly necessary.

When the roast is done, it will be EASILY shredded with a couple of forks.  If you are having to pull the roast apart and work at shredding it, it is not done yet and wants more time in the oven.  Remove any twine holding the roast and shred the meat in the dutch oven.  Once the meat is all shredded, I stir it up with any remaining braising liquid and put it back in the oven.  The time is really not specific for this recipe which means you can start it in the morning and then let it sit in the oven until you are ready to use it.  If the braising liquid has all evaporated, just reduce the heat to 200F to hold the meat until you are ready for it.

If you are close to wanting to eat, wrap soft tortillas in some foil and pop them in the oven to warm.  If you are eating gluten free, just make sure to use gluten free wraps.  In fact, if you want, you can ditch the wrap altogether and serve it on top of a bed of lettuce for a nice salad.

Next, make the Avocado Cream.  It isn’t required and isn’t in the recipe below but I think it is a great addition to the flavour of the taco.

I take an avocado and remove the seed.  Scrape the avocado into a food processor with 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt.  Juice one lime in as well as salt and pepper.  Blend until smooth and then taste and adjust seasoning as needed.  Set aside in a bowl while you finish up chopping your toppings for the tacos.

When you are ready, take the meat out of the oven and add juice from 1/2 a large orange along with some orange zest and lime zest.  Stir it up and you are ready to assemble your Shredded Beef Tacos!!

I like to top these Shredded Beef Tacos with avocado cream, lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheddar, pickled red onion, cilantro and salsa.  Yum!  Let me know how you like them.

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Shredded Beef Tacos

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 5 hours

Total Time 5 hours 10 minutes

Servings 8

Calories 330 kcal

Ingredients

• 2.5 pound blade roast
• 1 tbsp garlic granulated
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 tsp chile powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 14 ounces tomatoes canned `
• 2 chipotle peppers with adobo sauce, diced
• 1/2 red onion large, diced
• 1 tbsp oregano dried
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• 3 tbsp beef tallow or vegetable oil
• 1/2 Large orange Juiced
• 1 Tbsp Orange zest From 1/2 orange
• 1 Tsp Lime zest From 1/2 lime

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 F.

2. In a bowl, mix together the garlic, onion powder, smoked paprika, cayenne, chile powder and salt.

3. Rub the mixture over all surfaces of the roast.  Set aside.

4. In another bowl, mix together the canned tomatoes, chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, red onion, paprika, salt and pepper.

5. Get a dutch oven (preferably sealed cast iron) and heat up the fat until it is shimmery.  Sear the roast on all sides.  

6. Once the roast is completely seared, add the braising liquid that you mixed up.  Try to pour it into the dutch oven on the side so you don't remove the rub from the roast.

7. Put a lid on the dutch oven and place in the oven for at least four hours.  The roast is done when it easily shreds apart with a couple of forks.  If you have to really pull the meat, it needs more time.  

8. Shred the roast in the dutch oven and then return to the oven for another hour.

9. Drain any excess liquid from the meat and then juice the 1/2 orange into the meat and add the orange zest and lime zest.  Mix well.

10. Serve on soft taco shells with shredded lettuce, fresh tomatoes, grated cheddar, pickled red onion and avocado cream

Recipe Notes

The nutrition info is only for the meat.

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