Birria Tacos
The hype is real. These low carb Birria Tacos are the ultimate comfort food! This messy meal had me licking my fingers and trying to lick my face, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying every last bite.
Birria was all over my socials and every post would have me stop and drool each time. I wanted to, actually, I needed to try this recipe, only I tend to follow a low carb eating style. But that was not going to stop me, so I decided to make my very own version, after reading dozens of recipes.
Firstly, I’m based in Singapore and some of the ingredients are not readily available, so I had to make do with what I could get my hands on, so forgive me, if this is not an authentic version of the dish.
Secondly, I had to keep it on the mild side, as I have 3 young boys, who are just not quite there yet with spicy food. Actually, I lie, one of my twins doesn’t react much. Whereas the other two would probably cry.
So what is Birria?
Birria is a Mexican style stew with shredded meat, usually Beef or Goat. That is cooked and served with a spicy consommé Birria can be eaten as a stew with rice or can be added to taco’s and enjoyed with the consommé as a dipping sauce. I opted to make the latter version.
But how did you make this low carb?
Luckily, I didn’t need to make any real amendments to the Birria itself, I just swapped out the corn tortilla’s for a low carb wrap.
Ingredients:
Birria:
1 kg beef chuck - seasoned with salt
1 tbsp of avocado oil
1 white onion
1 garlic bulb
2 Roma tomatoes
3 large guajillo chilli peppers de-seeded
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp of oregano
2 Bay leaves
2cm cinnamon stick
4 cups of broth (I used pork collagen broth)
Sauce:
The stewed veggies
1 cup of the cooked broth
1 tsp of ancho chilli powder (or any mild chilli powder)
1 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of salt
Taco:
Low carb wrap or tortilla
Fat from the Birria
Cheese (I used cheddar)
The Birria
Coriander leaves (chopped)
Red onion (Finely diced)
The Consommé
1 cup of the broth
2-3 tbsp of the Sauce
The preparation stage:
Before you begin, you will need to prepare the veggies. Don’t panic, this is one of the easiest preps required. Chop the onion in half, you don’t even need to peel it. Cut the head off the garlic, so it’s exposed and deseed the guajillo peppers. Season the beef with salt and now you are good to go!
First you want to start by sealing the beef in a frying pan using the avocado oil. I use avocado oil in this recipe as it is a neutral tasting cooking oil, however any type of fat can be used to sear the meat.
The cooking
Next, you need to slow cook the beef. You want the meat to be tender enough, so that you could shred it with your hands. Just a word of warning, please do not use your hands! The meat is going to be super hot and it will be just as effective using two forks or a pair of tongs.
Although there are multiple steps to making the tacos, the first part, is pretty straight forward.
Just chuck in all the ingredients under Birria (above) into your instant pot or slow cooker. I use my instant pot but on the slow cooker setting and cook this on high for 5 hours. The best thing about slow cooking, is that I can chuck everything in and then go about my daily business.
You may have noticed that I used pork collagen broth in this recipe, this was for no other reason, than it was what I had at home at the time. Although it may resemble milk, it does not have a creaminess to it once it is cooked. But feel free to use whatever broth or stock you like.
Once the slow cooking is complete, remove the meat into a separate bowl and shred it (using some form of utensils).
The next stage is to prepare the sauce. Again another very simple step, just add the veggies (less the onion & garlic skin) into a blender with one cup of the cooked stock. Together with ancho chilli powder, cumin powder & salt. I used a ninja foodi Hot & Cold Blender (I absolutely love how easy it is to prepare both hot & cold items in here), but a hand held one could work equally as well. If you are going to be using a hand held blender, reserve some of the stock for later. At this stage you only need a cup full.
Reserve 2-3 tbsp of the blended sauce for later. Then add the rest to the shredded meat. As below.
In a separate bowl, add in one cup of the stock and mix in the reserved sauce. This will be the consommé, for dipping your tacos into.
The Final Steps
Take you tortilla or low carb wrap and dip it into the fat that accumulated on top of your slow cooker or instant pot.
You are then going to add this to a hot pan and fry on both sides, flipping it over after a couple of minutes. Once you’ve flipped it over, add plenty of grated cheese to half of the tortilla. I’m using cheddar cheese in this recipe, but feel free to use, whatever cheese you like. You want to use a cheese that will melt, so mozzarella or Monterey jack or even gruyere could be good options. But the Brit in me, is partial to some cheddar. That’s right, you can take the girl out of Blighty, but you can’t take blighty out of the girl!
Once the cheese starts to melt, you can top it with the Birria meat. Then fold it over and continue to fry on both sides for another minute or so.
Once, it is golden and toasty with beautiful melty cheese. Garnish it with some red onion and chopped coriander if you like.
Now, it’s ready to be dipped into the consommé and be devoured. Although, if your family is anything like mine, you might be stood at the stove, making back to back tacos. In which case I would just recommend eating while your cooking.
Birria Tacos
Ingredients
Instructions
- Chop the onion in half, there is no need to peel the skin.
- Chop the head off the garlic bulb, again you can keep the skin on.
- Deseed the guajillo peppers.
- Season the beef with plenty of salt.
- Add all of the prepared ingredients under "Birria" into your slow cooker and cook on high for about 5 hours.
- Once the meat is ready, take it out of the slow cooker and add it to a separate bowl.
- Using two forks or some tongs, shred the beef.
- Scoop out the veggies from the slow cooker and add them to your blender.
- Discard the garlic and onion skin.
- Add in once cup of the cooked stock.
- As well as the cumin powder, salt & ancho chilli powder.
- Blitz together until a smooth yet slightly thick sauce is made.
- Save 2-3 tbsp of the sauce and add the rest to the shredded meat and mix it in well.
- In a separate bowl add in one cup of the stock along with the reserved sauce.
- Mix well and keep aside for dipping your tacos in.
- Dip your wrap or tortilla into the accumulated fat on top of the stock in the slow cooker.
- Add the wrap to a hot frying pan and cook for 1-2 minutes, then flip it over.
- Add the grated cheese to half of the wrap and allow it to start to melt.
- Spoon some of the meat, over the top of the cheese.
- Fold over the wrap and continue to cook on both sides until it is crisp and golden on the outside with oozing cheese in the middle.
- Garnish with fresh coriander and red onion.
- Dip it into the consommé and enjoy each bite!
Notes
*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Read full privacy policy here.
