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 is always a winner!
We use this as a base for nachos, burritos and enchiladas at least once a fortnight. Delicious!
A weekly staple in our house. We turn it into burritos, nachos or enchiladas
Easy crowd pleaser
We tried it in tacos with the stuffings you recommended. It is really awesome. I had thickened the sauce with corn starch because i put less quantity of meat. Yummy ! Thank you so much !
Hi Nagi, would a 4L crockpot be large enough for this recipe? Thank you 🙂
As a native Southern Californian, I’m used to a different flavor…however, this meat was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! Making again for the second time in 2 weeks 😁😁😁
Holy Cow. I made this 2 weeks ago. I am making it again. It has become my husbands favorite beef dish. I know that I can never go wrong with your recipes. Thanks so much Nagi
OMG this is so good! We eat as tacos with homemade tortillas and then make enchiladas or other with leftovers… my teen has made me promise to make it again and again… we love it! Can’t find cheeks here, make with what’s on special, rump
This go round, could be dry but sauce makes up for it!
Another delicious meal packed full of flavour. Great for taco’s and burritos.
Delish delish delish
Made the slow cooker version, amazing flavours. Smells like Mexico!!! It had a faint taste of Birria, a common dish from Jalisco Mexico
I’m wanting to make this for a lunch. In slow cooker what would the cooking time be if it was on high?
Nagi, this was so tasty, as are all your recipes. We’ve had this meal 3 nights in a row!! And your Dozer is gorgeous.
Great tasting and smokey. Used the slow cooker for 8 Hrs and it turned out perfect. Adding a bit of the sauce to the meat again and making the perfect Burritos. Great mix of spices. Love dit.
Hi Nagi! With the instant pot cooking, is it a NR (natural release) or QR (quick release) after the cooking time? Thank you x
I did 10 min natural and then released and it was perfect.
This is absolutely amazing!! I did make a few substitutions though… I didn’t not have any chipotle powder so I subbed it with cayenne. Since cayenne is spicier, I only used 2 tsp. I might up it to a full TBSP next time. To make up for the smokiness of the chipotle I would be missing, I used smoked paprika instead of regular. And then instead of 2 tsp of garlic powder OR onion powder, I used 1 tsp of each.
Makes a nice size portion to stretch over more than 1 meal. This fed 6 people tacos (including 3 teenage boys!) and we still have leftovers for quesadillas in a few days.
We will definitely be adding this recipe to our dinner rotation!
I made this in the slow cooker yesterday for today’s tacos. I’m doing both beef and fish. I was sceptical about the orange juice, but Nagi hasn’t steered me wrong yet so… The taste of the finished beef in the sauce is incredible! Can’t wait for dinner!
I’ve made this several times now in the pressure cooker after work – It’s ready to eat in 50 minutes and is super tasty!
After looking around online, I had a pretty good feeling this would be good. Good shmood. It was unreal. Thank you! I’ve actually bookmarked a few of your recipes, so more to munch soon.
This turned out so well! The beef just fell apart as soon as I touched it with the fork so ended having to shred it in the pan as I couldn’t pick it up. I used the oven method and I did find that the liquid all dried up around the 2. 5hr mark, so I added about 1/2 cup of water at that point and put it back in. I took it out once it reached 3hrs 15m as it looked pretty dry again. Once I shredded it all up it still looked dry so I added another 1/2 cup of water, and I’d say now it’s juicy/moist, but I definitely wouldn’t say saucy, it doesn’t have anywhere near the amount of sauce left as in your video. Wonder what I’m doing wrong? I used a large saucepan with a lid in the oven at 160c, it is fan forced and I wondered if this was why it was drying out, so I turned it down to around 140c at 2.5hrs. Should I just add more stock/orange juice/water at the beginning in future?
Either way a delicious recipe I will definitely be using again! Can’t wait to put it on my nachoes tonight 😍
Hey Rachel, I did the oven method and mine was super saucy. Like BBQ sauce level saucy. I’m wondering if you cooked it without the lid on, or: if you did have a lid on: check the seal on the lid. I’ve been having a rough go with dry meats lately and the one post I read said to make sure your pot or slow cooker or whatever you use is sealed tight or wrapped in extra tinfoil to prevent steam loss. I used a broiler this time with a tight lid seal and o think that did the trick.
Hope that helps!!
Yum!! I’ll be making this again! Tacos, next day nachos. I even saved the sauce to make enchiladas in the future! Thank you!!