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!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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!
Have just made this with 1.1kg chuck steak. Excellent! Next time I will reduce the added water as I had to reduce the sauce for quite some time. Doesn’t taste overly Mexican i.e hot, so has lots of possibilities. Flavours are subtle . . . .
Hi could I use chipotle paste rather than powder and if so how much . In the uk powder is mail order only and expensive
I sent you a message directly, but then I saw your note about posting on the recipe’s page. This dish is nothing short of BRILLIANT! And it’s easy. 🙂
I love how you puree the reduction when “company” is coming over.
I made minor amendments – ~110g of chipotle in adobo sauce and then added ~1tsp raw sugar to reduce the harshness/vinegary overtones. When I tell you this is the best pulled beef I have ever made. Oh my goodness!! Keeper for sure!
It’s made the dinner party dish list!
I always expect the recipe to be good, but it’s always EVEN better than the goodness I am hoping for. Made this for beef enchiladas and saved a little for maybe a burrito. 😋
This has made our favourites list. It’s so bloody delicious and easy. Flavour sensation!!! Tried it with brisket too and works a treat.
We can’t quite raving about this recipe! We used 3 and 1/2 pound brisket and cooked on top of stove in my Magnalite Roaster pan. The sauce is addicting!! We used a little less Chipotle Chili powder and we put in 1/2 Tsp of Cumin along with everything else!! Thank you for this super delicious recipe!! I also made a large can of Refried Beans and added a can of Rotel Tomatoes, some sharp cheddar cheese and a little of the sauce from the meat. Than we topped everything with Cotija Cheese!
I just made this recipe for a game night with friends last night – to say it was a hit is an understatement! I used brisket, it was falling apart after 2.5 hours of cooking already. Incredible flavor! We tried some homemade hot sauces with it, it was a match made in heaven. It makes for wonderful leftovers as well!
scaled down the recipe annd made this with a lb of stew beef, for a batch of freezer burritos, sauce was on the tomato-ee side, think I’d add a little orange zest w/the juice. overall, good recipe.
The prefect shredded beef for many dishes! Like a previous comment, I also used a taco seasoning as that’s what I had on hand. It still came out delicious!! We used it on some chilaquiles and then on nachos. Sooo good! I can see this shredded beef being a favorite at parties or tailgates. So versatile!! This will be my go to recipe for making shredded beef!
This was so delicious! I made hours in the crock pot as per the directions The only thing I changed was I did not add the extra half cup of water as there was more than enough liquid, most likely because my chuck roast was only 2 lb and I probably used 3/4 of a can of crushed tomatoes with garlic and olive oil and I did drain most of the liquid from the can before I added it to the recipe. After the meat was cooked it shredded perfectly honestly I only had to use like one fork to shred it and I dumped all the liquid out of the crock pot into a pot to put on the stove and reduced to a thickness that we liked. Definitely will be adding this to my recipe book! We served with shredded lettuce, cheese and mango salsa and it was delicious!
I have made this recipe at least 20 times. It makes a fantastic meal prep dish, is high on flavour and protein and low in calories. It goes amazing with Asian Slaw and basically anything else you can imagine. I’ve made it both on the stove and in the slow cooker and it works just as well both ways.
This recipe is super delicious. Just finished eating. Husband loved it, too.
Unfortunately I found the flavour bland. The sauce didn’t thicken up so I had to add cornflour. The meat was amazing though. Not sure where I went wrong as I watched the video and read from the book step by step. 😩
Nagi, I have a question for you! 😆 The Tomatoes in this, (several comments were about it) can you really taste tomatoes in it, does it just balance everything or, not really taste, taste tomato in it?
I’m hoping it’s like the beef I buy @ a local mexican food truck!!
I’ve made this many times and it’s amazing.. has anyone ever tried substituting chicken thighs?
Good flavor, but the method wasn’t really good. Too much liquid for a braise. Basically just simmered meat. Kind of irritated that I made this. Wasted a lot of time and a good cut of beef.
Then you did it wrong 🙂
Hi Nagi, I’ve had this as per the recipe and found it delicious but was wondering if this would potentially work with a bone in lamb leg or shoulder instead? If so, how would you alter the cook time please? 🙂
If you cook this in the crockpot do you need the extra water?
I ended up making this as written for the crockpot. It turned out well but I didn’t love all the tomato flavor, (even though I do love tomatoes!)
I was trying to make shredded beef for tacos like the food trucks do but the beef at the places I go don’t taste like tomato.
I might try it again but without any tomato and see if that helps. Good recipe overall and I’m sure plenty of people will like it but I wouldn’t make it again as written
This comment is spot on. Luckily I read this. I decided to swap the 400gm can of crushed tomato for 2 chopped fresh tomatoes. Also my local store (Wooly’s in Sydney) had Chipotle chilli in Adobo Sauce. I added this in the pot with the onions instead of the marinade. Turned out amazing. Can’t wait to make more of this next time.