Corned Beef Birria Tacos
Corned beef brisket, slow cooked in birria broth, and served in crispy tacos with cabbage and lots of cheese! The flavors of this were unreal! I was worried the birria would overpower the corned beef but in the end the flavors were perfectly balanced, and the cheese and crispy taco shells were the ideal vehicle to deliver the amazing tender meat!
The inspiration for this recipe
During the lead up to St Patrick’s day I always get excited when I am passing the corned beef on display near the meat. I LOVE corned beef, and love seeing it available more often, usually at a great price. I often try and come up with a new idea for it this time of the year but I couldn’t think of anything. Then of course, last minute it hits me – cook the corned beef in the same broth as birria and make tacos with it!
Make the birria sauce to cook the corned beef in
Whenever I make birria I reference the recipe on Isabel Eats. It always comes out so good! I made three main changes to this recipe. I swapped out a few of the chilies for chipotle because I love the flavor, but also because that is what I had on hand. Next I drastically reduced the salt. Corned beef is so salty already, I figured I could add more salt at the end if needed. Third, I added the pickling spices that came with the corned beef to the mix.
Slowly cook the corned beef birria
Add in the sauce and get it into the oven! Cook on 300 for about 3 hours
After the 3 hours I flipped the corned beef and added in some cabbage to cook with the beef for the final hour.
Prep the corned beef for the tacos
I separated the meat and cabbage from the sauce first. I made my tacos the next day so everything was fully cooled, but you could get right to it if you wanted to. Slice the meat and the cabbage so they fit nicely in the tacos.
Cook the Corned Beef Birria Tacos
Sear the meat first, then add the cabbage, and then a little of the cooking liquid.
Next, cook the tortillas with a little of the cooking liquid as well. I know I am calling it cooking liquid when it is technically the consume. Cook them on both sides, then add the cheese and corned beef and cabbage mixture, and fold over the tacos! Cook until browned and crispy.
Make the consume dipping sauce
Pour the sauce from cooking the corned beef birria into a cup that is wide enough for taco dipping! Top with onions and cilantro.
Serve the corned beef birria tacos
Lets take a moment to appreciate how amazing these look. Guess what, they tasted even better!
The corned beef flavors were strong enough to match with the birria flavors and it all came together in a cheesy crispy taco!
Twists and tips for corned beef birria tacos
I mentioned I used Isabel eats as a baseline for my birria recipe. You can elements from whatever recipe you love, or follow mine below. Just remember to reduce the salt and add the pickling spice packet from the brisket!
I mentioned I made the tacos the day after cooking the meat but you could do same day, or a few days later! And feel free to omit the cabbage if you prefer, or sear some raw cabbage when building the tacos, instead of braising it with the meat.
For more tasty birria ideas, check out my spring rolls. for more fun cheesy tacos, check out my chopped cheese tacos!
Corned Beef Birria Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
Beef
- 3 pounds corned beef brisket with spice packet
- 3 chipotle chiles stems and seeds removed
- 5 guajillo chiles stems and seeds removed
- 5 ancho chiles stems and seeds removed
- 2 tomatoes quartered
- 1 yellow onion quartered
- 3 bay leaves
- 10 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon clove
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups broth
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 small head cabbage
Tacos
- 12 soft corn tortillas
- 12 ounces cheddar cheese
- oil for the pan
- chopped cilantro
- diced yellow onion
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300
- Remove the beef from the packaging and strain the juices. Add the meat to a baking dish. Reserve the seasoning packet
- Add everything except the meat and the cabbage to a medium sauce pot. Bring to a simmer and cook about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Pour into the blender. Be careful at first when blending hot liquid. I like to keep the hole in the cover open and hold a clean kitchen towel over it. Pulse first, then blend on high until smooth.
- Pour the liquid over the meat. Flip the meat to make sure it is fully coated on all sides with the sauce. Cover and bake for 3 hours.
- Chop the cabbage into quarters splitting the core. Cut the core off each quarter. Then cut each quarter in half. Remove the meat from the oven and add the cabbage. Tuck the cabbage into the pan so the liquids are covering it. Cover the pan again and bake 1 more hour.
- Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Take the beef out carefully, letting as much sauce as possible drip off. Place on a cutting board.
- Take the cabbage out with a slotted spoon, again letting as much sauce drip off as possible, and transfer to another cutting board.
- Slice the corned beef into 1/2 inch thick slices. Chop the cabbage roughly.
- Heat a griddle to medium high heat with some oil. Add the brisket and cook to slightly brown on all sides. As it cooks, break it up a bit. Add in some of the cabbage and cook more. You can add as much cabbage as you personally want, I only added about half of it. Add a few tablespoons of the birria sauce.
- Slide the mixture to a cooler side of the griddle and start making the tacos!
- Add a tablespoon of the birria sauce and top with a tortilla. I was able to do 2 at a time on my griddle.
- Add a little more of the sauce to the top of the tortilla and flip it. Add about 1 ounce of cheese, then a scoop of the meat and cabbage mixture. Fold the taco over and press lightly to flatten. Make sure there is plenty of oil on the griddle, and continue to cook until the cheese is melted and the edges are crispy. the whole tortilla should be crispy and browned in some areas and blackened in spots. There should also be crispy cheese around the edge. Transfer this to a wire rack and you can either give it to the first person to start eating, or transfer to a wire rack and pop into the oven at 170 and continue until they are all done.
- Warm the remaining birria sauce (consume) in the microwave and split into individual bowls for each person. Top each little bowl with chopped cilantro and diced onions. Serve.
Cannot wait to make this. Can it be done in a crockpot. Just put it on low for about 6 hours
Yea, I mentioned the crock pot in the last paragraph before the recipe!
wait, I guess I didn’t mention it but yes, just throw it all in there and go low for 6-8 hours and you should be good haha