Slow Cooker Beef Barbacoa

Do you love ordering this type of meat at Chipotle or your favorite restaurant? Now you can make a batch of slow cooker beef barbacoa right at home! That means it’s cheaper and you don’t even have to leave the house. Just one of our favorite easy Crockpot recipes. 😉

I have had this stuffed into an enchilada at our favorite Mexican food place. I asked once what type of meat was inside and this was it! With all the smothered cheese and rice I just couldn’t make it out. First I experimented and made it in my pressure cooker (will share that recipe below). This time my other pot wanted a try.

Best Cut of Beef for Barbacoa

It started with lamb or goat but these days people typically use pork or beef. It’s a bit cheaper that way but any of the 4 would work great. You can make it this way, on the stove, or over an open fire even. Low and slow is always best if you ask me when it comes to large chunks of meat.

Nowadays many make slow cooker beef chuck roast for this to soak up flavors which is really inexpensive compared to others. You do NOT want a cut with fat though. Fat = flavor and tenderness.

This hunk of meat is used a lot in my house because it tends to be less expensive with tons of flavor. Shredded is the best way to make it. Like this, or our Crockpot roast beef and gravy which is great too.

Slow Cooker Barbacoa with Frozen Roast

If all you have is frozen chuck roast you could use that and the timing wouldn’t change much, maybe 30 minutes – 1 hour. The biggest difference is that the meat won’t soak in the flavors as much because it takes quite a while to defrost and become tender enough to shred and soak, soak, soak.

How to Make the Sauce

To make things easier you are going to start with dry taco seasoning, a great way to add a ton of different seasonings all together in one shake. Garlic powder is nice followed by cumin. Chipotle peppers come canned with adobo sauce, that’s the handiest form. They can be mild all the way to quite spicy.

Apple cider vinegar gives it that tang. Beef broth or stock, if you make homemade stock out of the bones from your slow cooker oxtail it’s amazing. Fresh cilantro and limes with bay leaves are optional.

How to Make Spicy

Of course when it comes to the rub, or if you add one, that part is up to you. You could use a bottled steak seasoning that is a bit peppery, an amped up taco seasoning type with chipotle peppers like we have here, or use our tri tip rub.

Heat is another add in that you can adjust to your taste buds. Smoked green chiles, diced hot chipotles in adobo sauce or canned are another choice to use.

You will want to cut your piece into smaller chunks. This will make it become as tender as possible and get more and more of the flavors really soaked in. You can trim a little of the fat off at that point but leave some on, that will give it moisture.

How Long to Cook Beef Barbacoa in Slow Cooker

Once you toss everything together so it is nicely coated you just cover and cook it. You let it slow cook for 6-7 hours and let the machine do all the work for you beyond that. Start it in the morning and just let it go, no need to stir the contents during the day. Leave it on low so it will fall apart easily at the end, high isn’t recommended.

Can you cook this on high?

If you want to make this faster, try our Instant Pot barbacoa beef instead. This one cuts down the 7ish hours to closer to 60 minutes total including prep so there is a big difference for sure. I would not cook on high as you need time to soak up the juices properly in this case.

Since it is cut into chunks initially there is no wait after the cooking time is over to let it rest either. Typically you’d want to remove beef and account for an extra 30 minutes or so to keep it tender and juicy before slicing. This way is much faster and easy to eat as it’s already in bite size pieces.

You can leave as is or shred at the end, we like doing that. Serve with some Instant Pot black beans inside tortillas with cheese or over a bed of Instant Pot Jasmine rice.

Remember this timing is for when you have time (and the memory) to put the food into your low and slow cooker in the morning. If you forgot I have instructions to use your pressure cooker below instead. Both come out incredibly well and I wouldn’t say one is better than the other. It just comes down to remembering. 😉

It’s fun to buy those little Hawaiian rolls and pile this on top to serve as sliders for dinner. If you need football party food ideas this is a great one too. You can leave it on warm for a few hours after it is done and people can enjoy it all evening long.

FAQ

If you have been to any Mexican restaurant in the past I bet it is on their menu. It’s very popular and if you’ve had it there you’re likely to want to make it yourself at home using this method. Shredded beef is obvious as far as the look and texture go but the taste is like no other.

Traditionally it does have a bit of heat to it. The amount depends on whom is making it. If you make it homemade like we did here you can adjust this easily to your liking. You can find chipotle peppers in a can in different heat levels at the store. I suggest starting with medium or mild to start.

How to save leftovers

If you have leftovers make sure you add the liquid into your container too so it stays really moist. Allow it to completely cool to room temperature before storing it into the fridge. Rewarm in a bowl in the microwave with juices for about 1 1/2 minutes stirring intermittently.