If you have never had Birria before than you are really missing out. While lots of folks make Birria tacos – I like to put the tender slow cooker – slightly spicy – beef into quesadillas. This recipe for Slow-Cooker Quesabirria takes a little bit of process in the beginning and end but you mostly let the crockpot do the heavy lifting.
I’ve turned this succulent meat into quesadillas but you can use the same meat for Tacos, burritos, nachos or a burrito bowl. This meat is also great for a meal prep situation one week. Pair it with some rice and black beans and add a flour tortilla – you’ve got lunch for a week!
Substitutes and Variations:
I like to use mozzarella cheese as it let’s the flavors of the meat shine through – and its super melty. You can use your favorite quesadilla cheese to make these. I also only add cheese and the chopped green onions. You can add more – like a corn salsa or beans (black or pinto). I also only serve with the birria liquid – known as consumme – for dipping but you can have some sour cream too.
Suggestions for Sides:
These are some hefty quesadillas- but classically you would serve rice and beans with something like this. You can go for the tradition red Mexican style rice (rice cooked with tomato sauce and chili powder) or cilantro lime rice. Beans could be whole or refried and you could go black or pinto.
Tools that may make this recipe easier:
You will definitely need a slow cooker or crockpot for this recipe. And you will need are larger oval one – at least an 8 qt crockpot. You need enough room for about 5 pounds of meat and about 6 cups of liquid. You also need some sort of small blender – or even a smoothie blender to get the ingredients to a liquid form.
Now Let’s Get Cookin’!
Slow-Cooker Quesabirria
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4-5 lb Chuck Roast cut into 2inch chunks
- 3 Cinnamon Sticks
- 4 Bay Leaves
- Cooking spray
- 15 Burrito-sized Flour Tortillas
- 6 cups Mozzarella Cheese shredded
- 4 stalks Green Onion chopped
For the Chili Mixture
- 3 Roma Tomatoes quartered
- 1 Red Bell Pepper stemmed, seeded and quartered
- 1 Yellow Onion quartered
- 8 Garlic Cloves peeled
- 3 Dried Guajillo Chilies stemmed and seeded
- 6 Dried Chile de Arbol stemmed
- 6 cups Beef Broth
- 1 tbsp Whole Black Peppercorns
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
- 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
- 1 tbsp Whole Cloves
- 2 tbsp Mexican Oregano
Instructions
- Add chunks of chuck roast, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves to the bottom of the slow cooker.
- Add remaining ingredients to blender (in batches, if necessary) and blitz until smooth. Pour over chuck roast. Secure lid and cook on low for 10 hours.
- Once the meat is tender enough to shred with tongs, remove meat from slow cooker. Ladle some of the consommé meat, to keep moist.
- In a large wide saute pan over medium-high heat, spray with cooking oil. Add tortilla and layer with cheese, meat, and green onions, then add second tortilla. Spray top with cooking oil. Let cook about 4 minutes then flip and cook another 4 minutes. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
- Cut each quesadilla into 6 or 8 pieces and serve with a small dish of the consommé.
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Estelle Forrest self-published this cookbook after a lot of playing around in the kitchen. You can purchase your own copy here:
AVAILABLE IN PRINT OR KINDLE eBOOK VERSIONS
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Looks delicious! I love slow cooking so I’ll have to give this a try.
Visiting from Esme’s linky today.
You’re most welcome to join me in a cuppa at Tea With Jennifer anytime.
Dear Estelle, Congratulations, your post will be featured at SSPS 394
Thank you so much Esme! What a treat