Instant Pot Birria

Instant Pot Birria makes fast work of the complex, rich, flavourful, super popular Mexican meat stew that is Birria. While traditional birria is made with goat meat marinated and then simmered for hours, our version of birria de res is done in a fraction of the time and made with more readily available beef.

In our delicious birria recipe, we take advantage of a countertop electric pressure cooker to drastically reduce the number of cooking vessels and cook time needed. Not only that, but marinating is rendered unnecessary when we cook in the pressure cooker! Party time!

You can serve this juicy tender meat like a stew or shredded in quesabirria tacos or quesadillas. I love it crisped up in a pan and served on a big old salad for lunch, too. 

This recipe is easy, but uses a couple of ingredients you may not usually keep around or aren’t familiar with, so let’s get right into it. Stick with me; the instructions are long-ish but very easy!

Birria Instant Pot

Because some of the chiles are easier to find in big grocery stores or specialty markets, I’m including Amazon links to the dry ingredients needed. 

Ingredients

1. Beef Shoulder or Chuck Roast
2. Dried Ancho Chiles
3. Dried Guajillo Chiles
4. Beef Stock
5. Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
6. Apple Cider or White Vinegar
7. Cinnamon Stick
8. Bay Leaves
9. Onions
10. Garlic cloves
11. Oregano
12. Ground Cumin
13. Ground Ginger
14. Salt

There are a whole lot of options for which cut of beef you use in your Mexican beef stew. My first choice is beef shoulder because I love the way it behaves in a dish like this. 

It’s a hard working muscle, so it’s ideally suited for a long, slow braise (or fast, furious pressure cooker braise) unlike more tender cuts. And mercifully, these tougher muscle cuts tend to be more economical. 

If beef shoulder isn’t available to you, chuck roast is another good choice. Short ribs (bone-in or boneless), rump roast, beef shank, and brisket are also good cuts for braising in this birria recipe. 

Keep in mind that you cannot swap in chili powder for the dried chiles. For the flavour closest to authentic birria, you need to start by toasting whole, dried chiles, soaking them, then blending them into a paste.

That said, if you can’t find guajillo or ancho peppers, you can use all of one type of pepper. That is a perfectly wonderful substitute. 

This is where the flavour is. And don’t worry- it’s not overly spicy- it’s just complex. Not every chile blasts you when you eat it. 

If, on the other hand, you like it spicy, you can add a canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce to your peppers and tomatoes when you blend them. That will give you a medium heat level.

Are you a real chile head? Add a couple more chipotle peppers.

Every other ingredient on our list is pretty easy to find! I do prefer fire roasted tomatoes over plain diced tomatoes. They bring a little more depth of flavour to the dish, but you can use plain if necessary.

I do recommend using whole cinnamon sticks if you can because it keeps the birria consommé or broth clearer. The flavour of ground cinnamon doesn’t hold up as well to pressure cooking and it makes the broth cloudier.

Equipment

There are many advantages to this particular cooking method for one of the Mexican State of Jalisco’s best loved recipes.

1. Instant Pot or other 6 to 8 quart countertop electric pressure cooker
2. 2 quart saucepan
3. Tongs
4. Immersion Blender or Standard Blender
5. Measuring Cups
6. Measuring Spoons

Instant Pot Birria Tacos

To make Quesabirria Tacos, simply dip corn tortillas in the reserved birria fat and lay on an oiled cast-iron skillet or frying pan. Arrange the birria meat from your instant pot birria recipe over half of the tortilla and top with Oaxaca cheese or another nice melting cheese like Monterey Jack.

Fry for a couple of minutes on one side, or until nicely browned and crispy and flip carefully to fry on the other side. When the tortilla is golden brown on both sides, serve it with birria broth for dipping.

This Instant Pot Birria is CRAZY good served with our spicy watermelon margaritas or mixed berry kombucha margaritas.

Instant Pot Birria

Season meat with 1 teaspoon of the salt and all of the black pepper and set it aside. Heat the dry instant pot on the sautee setting.

Snip the stem end off of the chile peppers with kitchen scissors and shake out the seeds. Split the pepper in half lengthwise. 

Working in batches so the peppers can be in contact with the bottom of the pan without crowding, toast the peppers. Move them occasionally or flip them over from time to time for 3 to 4 minutes, or until fragrant. 

Transfer the toasted chiles to a 2 quart saucepan and cover by 2 inches of water. Place the pan over high heat and bring it to a boil. 

Cover the saucepan, and shut the heat off. Let the peppers soak for 10 minutes, or until tender. 

While the peppers soak, drizzle the oil into the electric pressure cooker, still set on Sautee. Working in batches, brown the beef on each side and transfer the browned meat to a plate. 

With the cooker still on Sautee, add the onion wedges and cook, stirring constantly, until browned but not burned, about 4 minutes. Toss in the garlic and cook 1 minute longer, or until fragrant. 

Stir in the cumin, ginger, cinnamon stick, and cloves cloves and toast, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute or until fragrant again. Pour in the beef stock, vinegar, and remaining salt and use a sturdy spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. 

Drain the softened chiles, discard the soaking liquid, and add the chiles to the pot along with the fire roasted tomatoes and oregano. Use an immersion blender to blend until the sauce is smooth.

If you do not have an immersion blender, put the drained peppers into a standard blender along with the tomatoes and purée until smooth. Pour this into the pressure cooker. 

Return the beef to the pan and nestle the bay leaves into the sauce. Set the Instant Pot for HIGH pressure for 45 minutes. 

When the cycle has finished, quick release the pressure according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The beef should be fall-apart tender when prodded with a fork. 

If it is not, reseal the lid and add 10 more minutes of HIGH pressure. Turn off the pressure cooker. 

When the beef is tender, use two forks to shred the birria beef in the stew, discarding any large pieces of fat. Allow the mixture to stand for a few minutes and skim the fat from the top.

Reserve the fat for use in future birria tacos. It is what you’ll dip the tortillas in.

Serve the shredded meat in the consommé that formed around it as you cooked it. It is delicious topped with chopped onions, a squeeze of lime, and some fresh cilantro!

Instant Pot Birria Tacos

To make Quesabirria Tacos, dip corn tortillas in the reserved birria fat and lay on an oiled cast-iron skillet or frying pan. Arrange the birria meat over half of the tortilla and top with Oaxaca cheese or another nice melting cheese like Monterey Jack.

Fry for a couple of minutes on one side, or until nicely browned and crispy and flip carefully to fry on the other side. When the tortillas are golden brown on both sides, serve the tacos with birria broth for dipping.

Instant Pot Birria

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Rebecca Lindamood

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

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Instant Pot Birria makes fast work of the complex, rich, flavourful Mexican stewed or braised meat that is Birria. While traditional birria is made with goat marinated and then simmered for hours, our version of “birria de res” is done in a fraction of the time and made with more readily available beef. In our instant pot version, we take advantage of a countertop electric pressure cooker to drastically reduce the number of cooking vessels and time needed. Not only that, but marinating is rendered unnecessary when we cook in the pressure cooker! Party time

Equipment

• Instant Pot or other 6 to 8 quart countertop electric pressure cooker
• 2 quart saucepan
• tongs
• Blender or Immersion Blender
• Measuring Cups
• measuring spoons

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3 pounds to 4 pounds beef shoulder or chuck roast trimmed of excess fat, cut into 3-inch chunks
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt divided
• 1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
• 4 Dried Ancho chiles
• 4 Dried Guajillo chiles
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil or sunflower oil
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 onion peeled and cut into wedges
• 8 cloves garlic peeled
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups beef stock
• 2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes 14.5 ounces each
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
• 2 bay leaves
• Optional for serving: cilantro chopped onion, fresh lime wedges.

Instructions

 

• Season the beef with 1 teaspoon of the salt and all of the black pepper and set it aside. Heat the dry instant pot on the sautee setting.
• Snip the stem end off of the chile peppers with kitchen scissors and shake out the seeds. Split the pepper in half lengthwise.
• Working in batches so the peppers can be in contact with the bottom of the pan without crowding, toast the peppers. Move them occasionally or flip them over from time to time for 3 to 4 minutes, or until fragrant.
• Transfer the toasted chiles to a 2 quart saucepan and cover by 2 inches of water. Place the pan over high heat and bring it to a boil.
• Cover the saucepan, and shut the heat off. Let the peppers soak for 10 minutes, or until tender.
• While the peppers soak, drizzle the oil into the electric pressure cooker, still set on Sautee. Working in batches, brown the beef on each side and transfer to a plate.
• With the cooker still on Sautee, add the onion wedges and cook, stirring constantly, until browned but not burned, about 4 minutes. Toss in the garlic cloves and cook 1 minute longer, or until fragrant.
• Stir in the cumin, ginger, cinnamon stick, and cloves cloves and toast, stirring constantly, for about 1 minute or until fragrant again. Pour in the beef stock and vinegar and use a sturdy spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
• Drain the softened chiles, discard the soaking liquid, and add the chiles to the pot along with the remaining salt, fire roasted tomatoes, and oregano. Use an immersion blender to blend until the sauce is smooth.
• If you do not have an immersion blender, put the drained peppers into a standard blender along with the tomatoes and purée until smooth. Pour this into the pressure cooker.
• Return the beef to the pan and nestle the bay leaves into the sauce. Set the Instant Pot for HIGH pressure for 45 minutes.
• When the cycle has finished, release the pressure according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The beef should be fall-apart tender when prodded with a fork.
• If it is not, reseal the lid and add 10 more minutes of HIGH pressure. Turn off the pressure cooker.
• When the beef is tender, use two forks to shred the beef in the stew, discarding any large pieces of fat. Allow the mixture to stand for a few minutes and skim the fat from the top.
• Reserve the fat for use in future birria tacos. It is what you’ll dip the tortillas in.
• Serve the beef in the consommé that formed around it as you cooked it. It is delicious topped with chopped onions, a squeeze of lime, and some fresh cilantro!

Nutrition

Calories: 588kcalCarbohydrates: 29gProtein: 71gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 184mgSodium: 1713mgPotassium: 1537mgFiber: 10gSugar: 14gVitamin A: 7385IUVitamin C: 12mgCalcium: 123mgIron: 10mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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