You’re going to love these birria quesadilla tacos. They offer everything you know and love about south of the border tacos, along with a tasty dipping broth that’s created with beef broth and chopped meat. You can add other ingredients to the dip if you want, such as diced onion, salsa, lime, or cilantro.
The recipe is good with beef shanks and pot roast beef, but you can also use anything you want that holds up to slow cooking, such as brisket or beef chuck. Any stewing beef works – this isn’t a recipe for filet mignon!
Plan this birria quesadilla tacos recipe ahead, as the meat takes several hours to become tender. It reheats well so feel free to double or even triple the recipe if you have enough ingredients. It freezes nicely as well.
Why You’ll Love the Recipe:
These wonderful birria quesadilla tacos are so good. They’re rich in meaty flavor, along with cheese and chiles, and they come with a flavorful dipping sauce you’ll love too.
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How to Serve It:
Serve these hot with the dipping sauce. Some kind of salad or vegetable side dish pairs well.
Can You Make It Ahead?
You can prepare the sauce ahead and keep it refrigerated. Just reheat and continue with the recipe when you’re ready.
Storage Instructions:
Leftovers will keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can also freeze the leftover tacos if you wrap them tightly in foil and then put them in a Ziploc bag. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in a skillet or hot oven.
Variations and Substitutions:
If you’re unable to find chihuahua cheese you can use mozzarella, monterey jack or oaxaca. Add or omit the chiles arbol to change how spicy this comes out.
Although this recipe takes a while to make and has quite a few ingredients, it’s definitely worth a try. The resulting meat and cheese quesadilla tacos are way too good to describe. You just have to make these yourself and then you’ll understand why these are so popular!
Birria Quesadillas Tacos
Ingredients
- 3 pounds pot roast beef
- 8 cups water
- 5 pounds beef shanks or beef bones with marrow
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 onions
- Whole head of garlic plus 8 garlic cloves
- 5 guajillo chiles
- 5 ancho chiles
- 2 pasilla chiles
- 3 or 4 chiles de arbol optional because they’re spicy!
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried ginger or 2 inches peeled fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons dried marjoram
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or a 1-inch stick
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves or 5 whole ones
- 1 cup cooking liquid from chiles
- 1 canned chipotle pepper
- 3 or 4 Roma tomatoes
- Salt to taste
- 24 corn tortillas
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- Lime wedges
- 4 cups shredded chihuahua cheese or similar melting cheese
Instructions
- Cut the beef into small chunks and put in a pot with the beef shanks and 8 cups of water (or more to cover).
- Add a halved onion, 8 garlic cloves, a tablespoon of salt and 4 bay leaves, and simmer gently.
- Meanwhile, you can make the sauce. Discard the veins and seeds from the dried chiles and rinse.
- Put the chiles in a pot and add water to cover.
- Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Put some water in another pan and boil the tomatoes in there until soft.
- Put the softened chiles in a blender with the herbs, spices, vinegar, ½ an onion, 8 garlic cloves, tomatoes, a 1 cup of cooking liquid from the chiles.
- Blend to a puree, adding more liquid if necessary.
- Pour this sauce into the pot with the meat in it, straining it through a sieve.
- Cook the meat mixture for another 3 to 3½ hours or until the meat is tender.
- Take the meat out of the broth and shred.
- Discard any chunks of fat from the meat.
- Skim the liquid fat that’s rendered to the top of the stew and put in a dish.
- Dip about ⅓ of a corn tortilla into the rendered beef fat you just put in the dish and then put it on a hot griddle.
- Swish it around a bit so the beef fat spreads.
- Add some of the beef mixture and some cheese to the tortilla and fold over.
- Cook until crisp on one side, then flip and cook for 2 minutes on the other side too.
- Repeat until you’ve used all the tortillas and all the meat and cheese.
- Put some of the beef broth and meat in a small bowl and serve this as a dipping sauce for the tacos.
