Birria Tacos Recipe: My Simple Beef Birria with Consommé

I’m not afraid to confess to a small failure – all my vegan birria tacos tests and experiments sort of failed. Birria is probably one of the few recipes I don’t really like in the plant-based version.

I’ve tried mushrooms, tofu, and jackfruit, and it all feels a bit weak and lukewarm to me. I’m still planning to test a more flavourful stock, most probably bringing in both mushrooms and seaweed for more umami and savouriness, but whether it truly works for birria remains to be seen.

So, if you are a flexitarian and want a once-a-week meaty indulgence, have a birria.

This is how I do it: simple, deeply flavoured, and sooooo delicious.

What Makes This Beef Birria So Good

For me, a good birria is all about two things: properly cooked meat and a rich, punchy liquid.

You want the beef to become tender enough to shred easily, but you also want that cooking liquid to stay generous, because it is not just a sauce. It is your consommé, your dipping sauce, and quite frankly part of the whole theatre of birria tacos.

That is why I cook it covered and do not reduce it too aggressively. I want plenty of liquid left at the end.

I also like using not just cleaned beef pieces, but also beef ribs or beef off-cuts. That extra collagen, fat and flavour make a huge difference to the final stock, sauce and overall depth.

Birria Recipe Ingredients

For the meat

• 1 kg beef, cut into large pieces
• 0.5 kg beef ribs or beef off-cuts

For the sauce

• 1 tbsp guajillo powder
• 1 tbsp ancho powder
• 1/2 tbsp chilli powder
• 1/2 white onion
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 cups stock
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves

For garnish

• White onion
• Coriander
• Radish

How to Make Beef Birria

Start with the sauce.

Cook all the sauce ingredients together for around 10 to 15 minutes. Once cooked, let the mixture cool a little, then blend until smooth.

Next, brown the meat pieces. This step matters, because it gives the final birria a deeper, richer flavour.

Once the meat is browned, combine it with the blended sauce. Top with more stock until the meat is fully covered. Bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for around 3 hours with the lid on.

Keep it covered because you want the liquid to remain. This is important. You are not trying to reduce it into a thick stew. You want that beautiful broth to stay plentiful so it can serve as both consommé and dipping sauce.

When the beef is ready, shred the meat and combine it with most of the sauce.

Reserve the rest of the sauce separately, as you will use it for frying the tortillas and the dipping sauce.

How to Assemble Birria Tacos

This is where the fun begins.

Dip one side of the tortilla into the birria sauce, then place it in the pan sauce-side down.

Add the meat, then top with your coriander-onion mix and radish.

Fold the taco and fry it from both sides, so the outside becomes crispy while the inside stays full of delicious meat goodness.

Serve birria tacos with a portion of the consommé on the side for dipping.

That, to me, is where birria tacos become truly irresistible: crispy outside, juicy inside, and then that rich, spiced broth to drag everything through.

Serving Suggestions for Birria Tacos

Birria tacos are already a complete experience, but I do like a few simple toppings and garnishes to keep things lively and fresh.

White onion adds bite, coriander brings freshness, and radish gives that lovely peppery crunch. Those little sharp, bright details are important when the meat is rich and the broth is deep and savoury.

And yes, I would absolutely insist on proper tortillas here. A taco like this deserves it.

Extra Ideas: Soup or Birria Ramen

One of the best things about birria is that it does not have to stop at tacos.

You can easily turn that consommé into a soup, or even what you may call a birria ramen.

Just add a portion of meat back into the consommé, then bring in rice noodles and top it with freshly boiled egg, onion-coriander mix, and radish.

It is rich, comforting and slightly dramatic in the best possible way.

Final Thoughts on Birria Tacos

If you are mostly plant-based but still enjoy the occasional meat dish, birria is one of those recipes that earns its place.

This is not an everyday meal in my world. But as a flexitarian treat, birria tacos make perfect sense: deeply satisfying, full of flavour, and versatile enough to become tacos, soup, or birria ramen.

And while I’m still determined to crack a plant-based version that has the same sort of depth and seduction, for now, this simple beef birria is the one I actually want to eat.

What do you think of the Mexi-terranean adaptation and making it all as a fish soup instead, infusing the stock with seaweed, potentially creating a flavourful bisque-like stock? Does this idea have any legs to be fused with birria sauce?

P.S. Shop the best masa harina (as reviewed in my head-to-head comparison of 3 masa harina brands here) from Masienda for your tacos.